Meyendel - 20-12-15

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A Rather Extended Search

This pastel drawing ‘Meyendel - 20-12-15’ is the result of a rather extended search. Initially, I wanted a landscape in black and white Conté Carrés. However, after careful consideration I came to the conclusion it didn’t work. It stood in my studio for over a year pissing me off big time. The treescape (pine) was alright but it was as if it wasn’t enough. Something was needed. Those are the worst times for an artist like me. To know it’s no good but not knowing where the problem lies. Perhaps it’s even worse compared to not knowing what you don’t know. Because then at least you’re back in the matrix, feeling happy without a clue.

Push Comes to Shove

But push comes to shove at a certain moment. I remember looking at it for quite some time for it was just behind my easle. So I got a glimpse of it now and then, not completely leaving my mind. Strangely, my subconsciousness knew what to do because finallly found out what I could improve. Throughout the years my art has grown into three categories: oils, pastels and drawings. The latter I can subdivide into colored and graphite pencil drawings. Anyway, oil and pastels always have been the realm of color. With one exception: live model sketching which I often like to execute in black and white only. However, pastel landscapes, at least to me, always were about color. Strange how this works. The pastel on itself was alright but my pastel habits weren’t matching this result. Am I stuck here? I don’t know but it felt like a relief.

A Little Turn-Around

Now I decided to put my mind to it and do a little turn-around, another thing struck me. The pastel wasn’t that cubist looking and that was exactly what I would like to incorporate this time. Were my previous landscapes merely about impressionism in hatched strokes, this one should become different. In Februari 2015 I already made a cubist pastel landscape of Meyendel. By the way, a beautiful place in the dunes just above The Hague. Surely I have to do more cubist treescapes in the future.

Pastel drawing on Canson Mi-Teintes Touch paper (50 x 65 x 0.1 cm)
Artist: Corné Akkers