Creating Wijk bij Duurstede - 13-05-19

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Website link: https://corneakkers.com/2019/07/05/wijk-bij-duurstede-13-05-19/
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In the Middle of the Netherlands

I came to visit Wijk bij Duurstede, a small city near Utrecht. Just outside the city center there is this park towards the river Lek. When you enter it you immediately see the park is actually a former bastion. In the middle there are the remnants of a once bigger castle Duurstede. It’s everything one can expect from a medieval castle. There’s a moat, a keep and a perfect preserved round Burgundian tower. Not the first time I’ve been there but the first time there wasn’t a lot of sunshine. As a discipline of the light I need the atmosphere around objects to be bright and dark.

Majestic Things

So there it was, the second time there was plenty of sun and for that matter also cast shadows. Next, let me tell you about a challenge each artist faces trying to capture majestic things. Buildings, trees, castles and what not can look very smallish if rendered with harsh contour delineations. The trick is to put them into context with surroundings. Therefor I didn’t fine detail the tower in order to keep it at some distance. By doing less I tried to make it appear to be larger, taking Monet’s message (Rouen series) to heart.

Hatched Strokes

Just as in the previous drawing of Veere I kept this one in my hatched strokes style. I experienced this suits me best to do landscapes and cities with. Especially in small format like A5 and A6 forms look not too small as explained in the previous paragraph. One could say these have become a style in their own right. Surely way different from all things cubist and surrealist I create as well.

Graphite pencil drawing (Pentel 0.5 mm, 3B) on Canson Bristol paper (10.5 x 14.8 x 0.1 cm – A6 format)
Artist: Corné Akkers