About This Work

Dancing in a Silk Dress This graphite pencil drawing ‘Darja Collin – 27-08-24’ depicts her dancing in a silk dress. She was a great dancer and I tried to capture her qualities in circular motions. However, it’s not the first time I did that. My first one was almost two years ago. Then I drew in her Eve’s costume. Smartly I let my grown love for textiles and textures commercially coincide with a decrease in a certain interest. That would be the N-word. People just don’t seem to be into that anymore, even the artistic variant. Due to an overall wave of prudishness all around the world. Still I cannot fathom the cause of it. Perhaps newcomers like Pakistan, India and other countries on the internet dilute the traditional interest present in Western countries. The Love for Fabrics All in all as to art I can see certain interests become averaged out into safer themes. Some examples: African female heads with acrylic splattering, Buddhas, pets and flowers even flock galleries like Gagosian nowadays. Not that I mind though and so I just keep on doing what I want. This getting off my chest for this moment I do want to put the stress on something positive. Somehow I feel I should discover new themes as well. Since I painted Geesje Kwak a couple of times I feel the love for fabrics. Silk, satin, embroideries, patchwork or any other techniques applied on dresses catch my attention. Surely artists like Ans Marcus and Carel Willink put their marks on depicting lush clothing worn by models. Now it’s my turn I’d say. A Bit of Cubism The actual pose looks smashing. Therefor I took the liberty to be inspired by this old reference photo from the 1930s. The swirls above her head I added to the mix. At the start I drew Darja a bit cubistically. The cubist forms got snowed under by a heavy use of graphite pigment though. Halfway I decided to only focus on the glitters in the dress. Next to this I also abstracted the hair into a more wavy pattern as well. That’s enough for the moment. But I am pretty sure I will try to capture her moves in pastel any time soon now. Pitt Graphite Matt pencil (Faber-Castell, 14B) drawing on Talens Bristol paper (24 x 31 x 0.1 cm) Artist: Corné Akkers