SKETCHES AND STUDIES

Welcome to the roots, or if you prefer: the foundations of my works.

From when I started writing poetry around the ago of sixteen, I always carried small books with me in which I noted about everything that sprang to mind. In the beginning these were merely words but soon I included elementary sketches. These were usually made with ballpoints. Many years later, about the time I started making trips to France, I started using pencil, only to go back to ballpoint in my on-the-road sketchbooks because 1/ it does not smear and 2/ it is pressure-sensitive.

Some of these sketches became so detailed that they could nearly be considered finished works. When visiting a museum or an exhibition where photography is not allowed, I always have my sketchbook ready. Sometimes, wards and guardians find this odd, but then again: I’m not photographing, am I? Usually they smile, and sometimes they want to have a look at what I do. This very often ends in a friendly and very interesting chat on their job experiences, which can be quite amusing.
I often appreciate their opinions on the exhibited works more than those of art-historians.

I have always liked making these sketches. In fact, I sometimes like making them even more than finishing a "real" work because they stay so close to the Source. Luckily, in my finished works I also manage to have lots of space to improvise and “let it happen”.

Despite the fact that, up to now, I never used it for a finished work, ballpoint is one of my favourite media because, as I wrote earlier, it doesn't smear. And also because ballpoint is more risky that pencil as it's impossible to correct. Every line is fixed, and cannot be changed anymore. But, just like pencil, it is very pressure-sensitive. If only the inks used in ballpoints were more lightfast...

A selection of these sketches I intend to share here with you. The oldest ones are elementary and often even badly drawn. But that’s exactly why I show them. We’re all learning through practice, and I am certainly no exception. I never was a Mozart who started composing at the age of five! Some are real improvisations, shapes that manifest themselves before my mind's eye, and some are really sketched from things that exist here in this sublunar world.

Sizes are not important here: the books vary from some 10x14cm to 15x20cm at the most.

Also, as an exception, this Gallery does not work with thumbnails of the individual works. That way it feels a bit more like turning the pages of the notoebooks.