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Darja Collin – 2026-05-19

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Drawing on paper (24 x 31 x 0.1 cm)
Artist: Corné Akkers

#darjacollin #artinvesment #artcollector #artcurator #portraiture #artdeco #neodeco #chiaroscuro #cubism #pencildrawing
All of a Sudden, Darja Again! This graphite pencil drawing ‘Darja Collin – 2026-05-19’ is study after combing soft and harsh contour delineations. Linear and soft gradients combined. Short of two years ago since I made a drawing of her and I wasn’t planning for a new one. Then, on a Sunday morning I happen to hear a radio broadcast about her. Surely that caught my attention. Browsing through the VPRO radio & t.v. guide I found the announcement of that broadcast. It was adorned by a beautiful foto of her I didn’t know yet. Photographs of her are scarce and this one enchanted me right away. The resolution was newspaper quality and therefor horrible. However, the pose was beautiful. She carries this light sphere on her shoulder. Upon my word, this woman can carry a pose. You can tell she knows, from the viewer’s perspective, how she looks. The right characteristic of a true model! Doubts Creeping in I look for a better copy which I found on Pinterest. Then doubts started to creep in. The gigantic bow around her neck I found particularly bothersome. Next to this, the lighting wasn’t that great. A bit boring and her eyes seemed to be closed. Then an idea came to me to have the sphere be the main source of light. Such turned out to become the solution I was looking for. So I set out to capture her features once again, wich are slender, even sinewy of nature. True marks of an accomplished dancer in her own right. Harsh and Soft Contrasts Somewhere along the way of sketching I felt reluctant to hatch up the lower part to a complete darkness. I have done that in the past such as in Isis – 25-01-19 which had one goal only: a hidden treasure. Now I had this sphere going and her upper body wrapped around it gracefully. Why not stay geometric this time and introduce some forms in the negative space. Hence, the white rectangular spaces in the upper left and lower right corner. They encapsulate her features even more beautifully.
May 21, 2026 at 11:04 PM
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Cloudbound – 14-05-26

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Drawing on paper (21 x 29.7 cm)
Artist: Corne Akkers

#artinvesment #artcollector #artcurator #mystery #clouds #surrealism
Reclining and Looking up to the Sky This graphite pencil drawing ‘Cloudbound – 14-05-26’ connects directly to my earlier work ‘Hylas – 05-05-26’. This time a less bitter message. Imagine yourself reclining in the grass, looking up at a crystal clear dark blue sky, save for a single cumulus cloud. Wouldn’t you be impressed by its size and weight? Apparently, those clouds weigh tons of rainwater. Why couldn’t they support people as well? Combine such daydreaming with the previous drawing and an earlier painting, named 'Wet Dream (2009)', and you get this drawing. Moulding an Idea into Form In fact, this drawing that I made now already preceded as an idea both painting and previous drawing. So many ideas and so little time, I’m afraid. However, now the moment to give it a shot. Not sure how I would execute it. A first pre-sketch delivered me a bit of a lump with small tiny figures on it. Surely, not what I had in mind, which tends to make everything fit anyway. The realisation of an idea on paper can be disappointing though. Somehow I had to skip a lot of cloud dwellers and reduce them to only a couple. One bigger female cloud nymph reaching out. Her fingers seem to almost touch mine on a two dimensional surface. Obviously an illusion and unfortunately, the distance will always remain impressively far. But wait a minute: is the third dimension (depth) nothing but an illusion too? Joachim Stiller I was always fascinated by the concept a mysterious figure approaching from the distance. That’s why I devoured a book such as ‘The Coming of Joachim Stiller’ by Hubert Lampo. A stranger so close yet never to meet. The lady from ‘Wet Dream’ keeps on swimming to me and the nymps from ‘Hylas’ always keep on luring. Creators of linear art (books, music and movies) have to come up with a narrative and (un)finish the story. As a painter I can have the figure stay put. They won’t approach any further and therefor the viewer will be left behind eternally provoked.
May 16, 2026 at 6:27 AM
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Young Girl, after Von Gloeden – 18-04-26
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drawing on paper (14.8 x 21 cm)
Artist: Corné Akkers

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Wilhelm von Gloeden This graphite pencil drawing ‘Young Girl, after Von Gloeden – 18-04-26’ is an unexpected side-trip from my regular work. A realistic portrait for a change. My colleague Maria Stella Gracia is the reason for this. Let me explain. Yesterday, she gave me this book she found in a bookshop. The title was ‘Amore e Arte’ by Nino Malambri, celebrating the work of German photographer Wilhelm von Gloeden. She thought of me because of my model sketching. Perhaps I could use it for my classes or even use it for one of my own works. Of course I thanked her for this surprise gift and promised to take a shot at it. Quicker than Expected That shot came quicker than expected. This morning I worked on my quarterly V.A.T. return, almost finished. Since I had some time left before art class, waiting for my students I browsed through that book. Suddenly one portrait of a young girl stood out. Why not do a quick sketch killing time? She had this great piercing eyes that seemed to stare in the distance with a dreamy gaze. No particular drawing in progress and my In Hoc Signo project is still on the easle. So I dediced to pick out this one. Sketching Came Easy Sketching came easy. In fact, very easy and in three quarters of an hour it was finished. The goal was to finish it within the hour anyway. Two reasons. The first, students were to arrive and I wanted to practise for the afternoon model sketching sessions. We hold two of these sessions, one hour each. See what I could accomplish without taking measurements. Sometimes I provoke myself to make mistakes, just by starting sketching. Especially bothersome when you do portraits because they have to be precise proportionally. Surprisingly, the likeness was not too bad, even strikingly similar. Shrouded in Mystery Later this day I try to retrieve some information about the girl. It seems the girl on page 112 of that book (from 1999) cannot be found on the internet.
April 22, 2026 at 9:50 AM
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Solarized Geometry – 10-09-20

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Drawing on Winsor & Newton paper (29.7 x 21 0.1 cm) - A4 format)
Artist: Corné Akkers

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#pencildrawing #Cubism
Solarized Geometry This graphite pencil drawing ‘Solarized Geometry – 10-09-20’ let surrealism meet cubism. After my drawing Roundism – 29-08-20 it was time to delve into this type of solarized geometry. The latter is about properties of space that are related with distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. The square, triangle and circle in the upper left corner are a reminder that whatever complex form we might see it is build up from simple geometrical sub-forms. As such, this is an old principle every art student at art school before the World War II was trained in, when students actually still learned something of value. Ambiguous Image? Through the process of solarization I found these abstract forms derived from the female body that I could use to abstract. But only a little bit, just to have the spectator interpret and acknowledge them both at the same time. Moreover, I thought it was fun to see if something worked. Now, I’m talking about the principle of an ambiguous image. Followers of my work know what I’m talking about. In short, it’s how the mind can discover two images in one at the same time. Simply wondering if it works the same way with geometry and body shapes. Why wouldn’t it. After all, those are just forms, whether they represent a meaning initially or in abstract form create a new one. Further Abstraction Perhaps I can take the abstraction into solarized geometrical forms even further. This might bring me something ‘post-roundism’ because I think the style feels a little exhausted for the time being. Perhaps I will work out some oil paintings based after these roundism drawings. Time to move on. Got any ideas? Graphite pencil drawing (Sakura 0.5 mm, Pentel 4B) on Winsor & Newton paper (29.7 x 21 0.1 cm) - A4 format) Artist: Corné Akkers
April 17, 2026 at 8:48 PM
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Castle ‘De Wittenburg’ – 14-03-23

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#pencildrawing #artinvesment #artcurator #artcollector #impressionism
Still Gloomy This graphite pencil drawing ‘Castle ‘De Wittenburg’ – 14-03-23’ is a sound cry for Spring. Dates put in former drawings indicate I sometimes started to draw outside in early March already. For the next coming week there will be nothing but rain under gray skies unfortunately. Winter will keep its claws in us for a longer time, I’m afraid. Unfortunately I will be attending the grand Vermeer exhibition at the Rijksmuseum accompanied by lousy weather next Sunday. However, the light already has changed dramatically, here in The Netherlands. Outside it stays light longer and it’s not so blueish anymore, compared to the month of November. Therefor I have decided to do a landscape now in a desperate attempt to enforce good outdoors sketching conditions. A Quick Sketch Of course, there are other reasons to do landscapes and cityscapes. Suddenly I realized it was quite some time ago I did my last one back in August. The one before that in small A5 size outdoors was made in Ouderkerk aan de Amstel in July last year. Surely those Faber Castell Pitt Graphite Matt pencils are the boss. I missed sketching with my old 0.5 mm mechanical pen though. See what I could get doing a quick sketch under one or two hours. That’s a welcome change from the large Psyche & Amor painting I have been working on for months now. That moloch is almost finished but sucks up a lot of artistic enery. Much to the detriment of my creative ambitions that want to drive me further. De Wittenburg Speaking of gloom still being winter I found the perfect reference picture. It’s Castle De Wittenburg in Wassenaar, Netherlands. There it lies in the middle of the so-called ‘estates route’ in a forest near to my home. Often have I dwelled there in its surroundings, looking for artistic motifs. I also happen to know the castle itself from a friend’s wedding and legal seminars back in the 90s. Always on my to do list and now was the time. I simply just love doing castles.
April 12, 2026 at 9:41 AM
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Working on My Oil Painting 'In Hoc Signo' - The Thunderstorm

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April 9, 2026 at 9:23 PM
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Schiedam – 06-04-26

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Drawing on Talens Bristol paper (29.7 x 21 x 0.1 cm)
Artist: Corné Akkers

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Typical Dutch Scenery This graphite pencil drawing ‘Schiedam – 06-04-26’ shows the city in its realist glory or does it? Well, realism is preserved even though elephants dwell there too. Let me explain. A year back I was visiting the town for a trip to the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam. The Adya and Otto exhibition was on and we looked forward to seeing their lovely artworks in real life. His more abstract work is one of my inspirational sources for my own cubist works. Always a treat to visit this museum and when we got out we walked down the Lange Haven again in search for a bite to eat. There I saw this incredible scenery across the water near the Taanbrug. Foreigner surely would call this a typical dutch landscape: a canal, 17th century houses and spritsail barges. I quickly made a photo for rainy days to come. A Bit of Magic A year later such a rainy day came indeed. Since my last small series of square-sized cubist nudes I still didn’t find the right occasion to sketch outdoors. Then I remembered this photo and I thought I’d make a shot at it. At least it’s a landscape and perhaps forcefully execute one in graphite causes the weather to improve. After all, it’s spring and we the dutch long to go outside, sitting on terraces and walk in nature. This little project came easy, just a matter of getting the tonal values right. Somehow I didn’t feel like applying my personal cubist style this time. The majority of previous drawings I made in the Schiedam Series were cubistic more or less. However, realism in its pure essence doesn’t say much to me. Never has, never will. Why wouldn’t my dutch elephants decide to visit Schiedam too and so they did! Graphite pencil (Tombow Zoom 707, 0.5 mm, Pentel 4B) drawing on Talens Bristol paper (29.7 x 21 x 0.1 cm) Artist: Corné Akkers
April 7, 2026 at 8:41 PM
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De Koepel (The Dome) in Voorburg – 01-11-18

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Drawing on paper (21 x 29.7 cm)
Artist: Corné Akkers

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De Koepel This colored pencil drawing ‘De Koepel (The Dome) in Voorburg – 01-11-18’ is in color again after the last one. Strangely I just felt like doing that. Let me tell you why. When I go to teach at Studio Brugman, at Voorburg I often come across The Dome (De Koepel). It is situated in the middle of neat little estate, called ‘Vreugd en Rust’. When I saw the autumn sun burst through the trees I dreamt myself a link to the ‘inner necessity’. This was felt by people like Alexej von Jawlensky and Kadinsky from the ‘Blaue Reiter’ movement. 1 + 1 equals two: that very sun and the exhibition I visited last Sunday at the Gemeentemuseum. There I saw all Alexej’s works. Such culmunated into this piece, rather expressionistic of nature, in which I expressed my own inner necessity. Technique My graphite pencil drawing ‘Het Oude Hof – 20-10-18’ was the last landscape piece I did. This time I felt this urgent (inner) need to use colored pencil to depict sunlight. The combination with color and my roundism style makes this one unique. That is because I never did something similar in the past. The color scheme is relatively simple: red, greens, purples and yellows. That makes two complementary color combinations responsible for a maximal luministic result. Of course I should do more in the future. Were it not for other ideas that keep coming all the time. This having said, I noticed I keep coming back to colored pencil once in a while. A move to expressionism I would say. Perhaps more frequently in the future? Colored pencil drawing (Faber Castell, Albrecht Dürer) on Strathmore drawing paper (21 x 29.7 x 0.1 cm - A4 format) Artist: Corné Akkers
March 30, 2026 at 6:39 PM
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Sans Titre – 27-07-23 (Audrey Hepburn)

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Drawing on paper (21 x 28.2 cm)
Artist: Corné Akkers

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Return to Stardom This grapite pencil drawing ‘Sans Titre – 27-07-023’ is a return to stardom once more. Veronica Lake was the last one in the series. Louise Brooks I consider a series and world in her own right. Of course a star as well. Audrey Hepburn however I drew only once, almost a decade ago. In fact, it’s one of those drawing I started my new cubism revolution with. Wouldn’t you agree it was about time I’d do another portrait of her? You know, my cubist style has evolved throughout the years. See what my roundism style could do this time. Forms and Ideas Somehow I keep returning to this almost hazy vision of keeping things fluffy and airy lately. I think I succeeded doing (or keeping) that in my drawing of Veronika. Surely I have described this feeling a couple of times before. It’s a quality I always have honored Cézanne for. I sum it up concisely for those who haven’t read previous art statement on the topic. Transparency and forms unfinished I consider a kind of start of an open discussion with spectators. They have to complete them in their minds. My theory entails a more comprehensive definition of what reality is, something more meaningful perhaps. Things with names attached are nothing more than forms. By half completing them this will trigger more imagination because that is what reality basically is. Airy and Openess Consequently it’s birth of kind of überrealism, way beyond the extent of photorealism. By showing less there’s more imagination and thus more than meets the eye. As to the depiction itself initially I didn’t know what to do with the turtleneck she’s wearing. I was afraid of hatching the attire to a complete blackness and also doing that with the hair. That only would make both structures to appear lumpy. Hence I kept forms open and made all forms only partially dark. In order to have her communicate with the white negative space I kept forms open.
March 26, 2026 at 9:33 PM
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Sans Titre – 26-10-18 (Angie Dickinson)

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Drawing on paper (21 x 29.7 cm)
Artist: Corné Akkers

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March 22, 2026 at 6:55 PM
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Nina - 09-08-23

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Drawin on paper (21 x 28.2 x 0.1 cm)
Artist: Corné Akkers

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A New Model This graphite pencil drawing ‘Nina – 09-08-23’ marks something new. Not the style though. That more or less is my newly found neo deco. It’s all about the model. About two weeks ago somebody on deviantart.com replied to my last oil ‘Neo Deco – 30-07-23’. That person happened to be a model under the name ‘NinaErotique’. You know by now I’m not into sleazy, unartistic nudes. I’m here on earth to celebrate nudity forged by higher beings as the pinnacle of beauty. Not my words but communis opinio amongst artists at the turn of the 20th century. Apparently she happens to think the same way. The result is a beautiful array of tasteful pictures. Some are nudes, other are about fashion and a bit of glamour on the side. I certainly would recommend you to click that link or visit her website. Clothed She has a lovely body and appearance. However, first I was touched by a photo of her sitting wearing a sheer negligee. She has great long auburn hair flowing down from her head into curly structures. Her face ‘en profil’ looks very angelic. You’ve got to embrace happiness when it present itself. Consequently this one had to be the first work I created of her. Even though the artistic motif has a lot of muted lighting the background sets her off perfectly. So, there you have it: all the fine ingredients to create a work of art. Then again, artistic troubles are bound … Tonal Troubles When you set out to draw or paint it’s all about measuring proportions. Get them right, tweaking them anatomically. Often I can spot some cubist forms I can play with right away. This time there was no exception to these principles. However, I soon realized the hair, attire, facial expressions were only depicted in the smallest of tonal bandwidths. In the statement to my last drawing I expressed my concerns about forms becoming too lumpy. Hence, I took extra care to avoid that at all costs. Let It Breathe This time also I let positive forms breathe into the negative space.
March 12, 2026 at 7:52 PM
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The sheik of Araby - 15-10-17

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Drawing on paper (21 x 29.7 cm)
Artist: Corné Akkers

#rudolphvalentino #surrealism #artinvesment #artcollector #artcurator #pencildrawing
An Old Moviestar The Sheik of Araby is a jazz song composed in honor of Rudolph Valentino. I always loved this song. When I paint or draw I often have musical mood mends. Lately I was into jazz, playing randomly everything I have, from jazz standards to Miles Davis’ Tutu. When listening to music it often happens I made connections between music and the theme I am working on. Such was the case doing a particular nude. This very song causes me to dream of the female form tucked away in the arabian desert. Surely soon she is to be discovered. It only took an old moviestar from the 1920s to act upon accordingly. As master of the desert, steerer of sand dunes, he was the perfect guy for the job. A Bit Bored Another version of real events was that I did not have a clue what to do with the nude. The pose intrigued me but soon I felt bored. Nowadays I feel like drawing either way: roundish styled or surrealistic. If I can’t seem to be inspired to render it cubistically then I have to drag surreal elements in it. Hence, the guidance of a jazz song. Of course my previous graphite pencil drawing ‘I Lost My Contacts – 23-09-17’ still lingered in my head. Maybe I should do more in the future. Nipple Alert What could be more fun than putting a camel instead of a nipple. See if I can get away with it. Social media like Facebook and Instagram are hard hitting on the subject these days. It always makes me laugh when I protest by denying the nipple and stating it is something else. Then they deblock me. Sad though that even in the Middle Ages the Madonna with child could be depicted with a bonified nipple. Is there still hope for sexual liberation and is there an alternative for anglo saxon social media prudity?
March 9, 2026 at 9:46 PM
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Gaia - 16-03-16

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Oil on wood panel (85 x 120 cm)
Artist: Corné Akkers

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Ecological Theme A worked out oil surrealistic painting variation of the last of the '13 variations on the same theme' graphite pencil drawing series. I added the world under her so I wouldn't have that much dark negative space. It sort of got a ecological theme by it, so I called it Gaia. The beams in the upper left corner I added for the same reason: to get rid of as much as unwanted negative space as needed. A daft motif I know but it is proof that upscaling a small drawing offers new challenges: a larger scale needs to show more than a small size canvas. Ambiguous Image The things is that I saw the elephant first. As a child I was fascinated by the concept of multistable perception, induced by ambiguous images. I remember a portrait of Sigmund Freud also looking like a nude woman, called ‘What’s on a man’s mind’, hanging as a poster on my aunt’s bathroom. Now that I am a full grown man I made a whole range of art works throughout the years based on this principle like The Venus of The Hague – 23-07-20. Stacked Animals One thing leads to another and not long after that I saw the flamingo head. Then I decided to complete the whole body by adding as much animals I could tuck in, like there a blue whale, two moon fish, a male mallard duck, a small bear, a meercat. M my cat ‘Furia’, I added last. As stated before such a package comes with a rather ‘stacked feeling’. Hence the planet earth I painted at the bottom and the theme ‘Gaia’, the ancestral mother of all life, was inevitable. Thus she is the personification of Earth. Oil on wood panel (85 x 120 cm) Artist: Corné Akkers
March 3, 2026 at 8:21 PM
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Sans Titre - 21-04-18

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Drawing on paper (21 x 29.7 cm)
Artist: Corné Akkers

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Catherine Deneuve Another one in the Sans Titre series. The last one was my graphite pencil drawing ‘Sans Titre – 30-03—18’, depicing Marilyn Monroe. When I saw a picture of a young Catherine Deneuve I immediately saw the potential for my roundism style. For those who don’t know much about her I would like to say: go see ‘Repulsion’. Your life never will be the same. Roman Polinski and she imprinted a hefty image on my mind, that’s for sure. Even though this movie set her reputation as a cool and reserved beauty, she also played more cheerful roles. Anyway, I like her a lot in french movies and well, french movies in general. Cool Distant Look The challenge was to capture the cool distant look in geometrical forms, linking cubism to realism and impressionism. Perhaps you also can call it surrealism. I don’t know, that is not for me to judge. Anyway the strong tonal bandwith in the picture fortunately offered the opportunity to capture lots of light and dark plains. Combined they induce a recognizabe facial expression. Even more, they enforce her state of mind. Diagonals The diagonal beams on the left serve as a counterbalance of the vertical position of the head. They bounce straight into the vertical border to the right of her right eye. Then the eye is guided downwards and then diagonally upwads to the left. It also gives dynamics to her sullen look, like she is contemplating a crime. Her hair band somehow unifies the general composition and I put the stress on that one a little bit more. That is why its top section is flowing into the tonal regions in the negative space.
February 15, 2026 at 7:47 PM
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Hommage to a Dying Horse – 02-03-18

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Pencil drawing on paper (21 x 29.7 cm)
Artist: Corné Akkers

#artinvesment #artcollector #artcurator #horses #pencildrawing #cubism
When in Laren Go to see about a dying horse. Some time ago I saw two horses when I walked across a small meadow. I was on my way to Museum Singer at Laren, Noord-Holland, Netherlands. It so happened that they were standing close to my favorite tree I painted years ago (Autumn Tree at Laren). Dead or Sick? I am not a trained doctor in horses’ physiology but I saw from the motionless body of the lying horse and her rapid eye movements she was in poor shape, not to speak of immiment death lurking. The other horse was standing on guard next to it. How fascinated I was by the beauty of the verticality and horizontal positions of both horses! When I returned from the museum both horses were removed. Whatever happened I don’t know but I am an artist and what I can do is to immortalize that horse having shown its compositary beauty right in front of me. Hardly Any Animal Normally I do not draw or paint animals but sometimes they do occur in a work, like my graphite pencil drawing ‘Roundism – 12-04-18’. What makes this one special is that animals play the main role instead of being supporting actors. No reason to worry though, I treated them in my roundism style just the same as other nudes. Actually I am surprized how quickly I managed to capture them on paper. Personally I like the linear contour delineation at the top of the standing horse best. Even though there is a line, it enables the horse to ‘breathe’ into the paper. It connects it pefectly to the negative space around it.
February 9, 2026 at 8:08 PM
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Estate Reigersbergen 01 (2014)

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Drawing on aper (47 x 62 cm)
Artist: Corné Akkers

#artinvesment #artcollector #artcurator #reigersbergen #impressionism #pastel
Pittoresque A pastel drawing of Estate ‘Reigersbergen’ adjacent to the Haagse Bos in quite some impressionistic moves. You can see me walk there very often because I live close by. Because of my artistic activities and my need to keep up my condition I take 10.000 steps per day. Consequently this leads me to this area automatically because all other directions lead to concrete buildings and flats only. The estate forms a link between The Haagse Bos and Estate ‘Marlot’. It is an intimate and small area in spite of the arrival of the Louwman Museum. Somehow it has kept its variety of different landscapes: meadows, treelines, woods and narrow paths. Plenty of artistic motifs to spot everything I walk over there and I havent discovered all of its beauty yet. Lots of Colors The sun sometimes sets the trees on fire so it seems. I like the appearance of the sunlight deforming treescapes and rendering leaves to yellow and orange hues. Such is caused by a strong razor backlighting. It shows that no object has a static color under all circumstances. In fact’, you can see all colors in all objects dependant on the lighting. So I put this principle intro practise in this pastel. Putting this one to paper I stronly thought of impressionists like Monet, telling there are lots of colours to be found in shadows. Next Pastel The location of the prominent tree as seen in this pastel drawing is not far from the spot where I made the second drawing. That one I made in early Spring whereas this one in Summer. Now I come to think of it, Autumn and Winter are lacking. Better make some more. Epilogue In 2021 I was making this pastel drawing available as a printable. When I took it out of the storage folder I was not satisfied with the lighting. In particular the lighter tones high up in the tree I found too whitish in relation to the sun setting. I added some purples high up in the tree just as you expect them appear at that time of day.
January 30, 2026 at 10:57 PM
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Geesje Kwak – 29-08-21

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Drawing on paper (21 x 29.7 x 0.1 cm)
Artist: Corné Akkers

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In a Garden Breitner took a couple of pictures of her in some backyard, perhaps his own. Who knows? They are a bit grainy and it might be the same spot as in my graphite pencil drawing Geesje Kwak – 13-08-21. I don’t see poison ivy-like leaves and the fence-like structures above her head shown in that other photo though. There are some other bushes and some planks in the background, indications of the boundaries of a garden. Anyway, not very important but what struck me is how beautiful she is. Not a child anymore but not yet a lady. My New Totem Certainly she is a looker and eye charmer and perhaps Breitner even fell in love with her. I don’t blame him. once I heard you have to fall in love with your model a bit. This is totally true when it comes to Geesje. Apparently she is my new totem I can carve my stories in. But images are running out and all good series must come to an end. I think this one is dear to me because it shows her smiling. Back in the day people did not smile a lot in photos and certainly not many models posing for artists. This one shows an almost cheeky but also a bit embarrassed laugh. It is charming though. That coat and flowery hat, are these the clothes of a working girl? Did he buy these for the occasion? Formalistic Approach All these questions I cannot answer and only add to the mystery of a girl we know so little of. The narrative is one thing though, another one is the formalistic side of the story. That one is my real and forms play a major role in this drawing. I was struck by the 19th century coat and its puffy round shapes. They seem to show the shapes of each and every fold in the coat optimally. For some reason I was inclined to use the principles of singularity as laid down in a drawing like Roundism (Singularity) – 01-06-17. That is proof enough for my endless admiration. Last but not least, I only loosely indicated the background like the horizontal planks of the fence and bushes. Such prevented unwanted focal points.
January 28, 2026 at 9:32 AM
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Utah (2014)

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Pastel drawing on Canson Mi-Teintes Touch paper (47 x 63 x 0.1 cm)
Artist: Corné Akkers

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Utah This pastel drawing ‘Utah (2014)’ depicts a particular canyon in Utah, not Bryce Canyon by the way. Sarah Rose, a pastellist and dear colleague from the U.S. and living in Utah, once took this picture on horseback. She saw this remarkeable mushroom-like rock and asked herself whether anyone could do a painting or drawing of this. Intrigued as I was, I couldn’t resist exploring further, even though I haven’t ever been there. Hatched Strokes In order to suggest distance I saw my hatched strokes technique fit for the job. An example of such work is Hatertse Vennen 07 (2013) (sold). By their appearance, objects showing slightly jagged edges, look a little blurry and thus tend to stand farther away. Hatching is by far the technique to show color shifts. This is done by placing colorful lines (for example cooler and warmer) next to eachother. Through this process I am able to keep my patches and lines clean. The reason is that pastel can look very murky when blended too much. After all, basically it is dust and lacks the brilliancy of oils. In my eyes, blending is a mistake even though blenders no not concur. Abstract Quality The photo Sarah presented me was either a crop or showed rocks only. It made it appear to be abstract more or less because the connotation is lost. Nowhere is a tree or a bit of sky to be found. Besides that, the rock that stands only on a small base looks pretty surreal to me. Throughout the years people often tell me they still cannot detect the true nature of this depiction. They also see a rocky person sitting in a chair. That always makes me smile. Pastel drawing on Canson Mi-Teintes Touch paper (47 x 63 x 0.1 cm) Artist: Corné Akkers
January 27, 2026 at 8:11 AM
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Tour de Rijswijk - 20-07-17

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Drawing on paper (21 x 29.7 cm)
Artist: Corné Akkers

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January 19, 2026 at 10:02 PM
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Beek-Ubbergen – 12-01-26

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Drawing on paper (21 x 14.8 x 0.1 cm – A5 format)

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One of My Favorite Places This graphite pencil drawing ‘Beek-Ubbergen – 12-01-26’ is a quick under two hours impressionist sketch of one of my favorite places. A specific area on the famous N70-route that stretches from Nijmegen all the way to the Duivelsberg and even beyond. I’m talking about the Boterberg and the world that unfolds around it. Last April I made one, called Berg en Dal – 21-04-25. The actual spot in that drawing is further down the path as depicted in this one. Quite arbitrary whether this should be called Beek-Ubbergen or Berg en Dal. Not sure where the municipal boundaries are running. The whole municipality is called Berg en Dal nowadays anyway. Not particularly interesting. What truly stands out is the enormous quantity of artistic motifs lurking around every corner. Sunbeams Filtered Through Trees The most important thing is I feel at home there. Much of a hills / forest man myself and I miss them quite often, living here in The Hague. Not very bothersome though. The Netherlands is a small country and a 1.5 hours drive will take me there, almost instantly. Hence, my regular returns to these hills, mostly before I visit my parents on a Saturday. The photo I took for this one was last year. It could have been just before Spring because trees weren’t in leaf yet. Pretty much looking like today’s view from my window here. However, as a trained artist I see the days are lengthening again. There is a lot to say in favor of trees without leaves as well. Somehow I find sunbeams filtered through trees without them more attractive. Leaves often block the light too much. Makes me want to do more.
January 13, 2026 at 8:20 PM
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Bergen - 10-04-20

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Drawing on paper (14.8 x 10.5 cm)
Artist: Corné Akkers

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January 11, 2026 at 11:08 AM
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Sans Titre – 06-01-26 (Caja Eric)

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Drawing on paper (21 x 28.5 cm)
Artist: Corné Akkers

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Ziegfeld Girl This graphite pencil drawing ‘Sans Titre – 06-01-26’ shows Caja Eric in all her art deco glory. A tribute to her beauty, refracted through the lens of cubism. She is one of the famous Ziegfeld girls and portrayed by Alfred Cheney Johnston. His picture sparked this one, even though changed a couple of things. The pearl necklace I left out of the equation. The reason is that the image already looked very styled, probably by the boxed-in blocks of light. Since I wanted to keep it simple I didn’t find the necklace to be of any significant added value. Instead, I focused on drawing some geometric structures to create that boxed-in look in a representative way. I made sure not to hatch the negative space into a solid boack, as in the reference picture. Compositional Challenges The face was another thing of course and the main theme. First I thought of drawing some wavy patterns, extending from her facial features into the negative space to the right. However, they didn’t meet my expectations. The drawing became too fragmented and the curves I drew looked too small. After all, the head already looked very small in the overall composition. Therefor I decided to style the head and hair only slightly cubistic. It didn’t need much anyway. Some portraits lend themselves to go full throttle, others don’t because they are much more delicate, such as Caja’s. Who is an intriguing character anyway. I looked her up on Wikipedia. Not much information, except for her participation in the Ziegfeld folies as actress, dancer and singer. This one follows up my last on in the series, called ‘Sans Titre – 16-08-26 (Marion Cottilard)’. A perfect start to kick off 2026.
January 8, 2026 at 10:48 PM