Privileged
Walty felt privileged by her talent. When drawing with childhood friends in Artis Zoo in Amsterdam, she would draw her subject quickly and surely while the others struggled with every single line. For Walty it was simply easier. Perhaps that is why she so enjoyed doing it —and practice leads to artistry.
On this page some of Walty’s early works that are remarkable when one considers her young age.
Horse
She painted Horse around her thirteenth year. It is remarkable in that it shows how Walty succeeds at so early an age to draw the grey foreshortened. The psychedelic colours in fore and background betray the 1970s. The magical mood in this piece is evoked by the dark horizon that merges with the reddening sky. The horse’s shadow – lighter than the foreground suggests that the horse emits light.
She painted Horse around her thirteenth year. It is remarkable in that it shows how Walty succeeds at so early an age to draw the grey foreshortened. The psychedelic colours in fore and background betray the 1970s. The magical mood in this piece is evoked by the dark horizon that merges with the reddening sky. The horse’s shadow – lighter than the foreground suggests that the horse emits light.
Freedom
Her talent for drawing is given an extra dimension when Walty reaches her eleventh year. She feels she is really too old to be accompanying her father and stepmother every weekend to the yachting club. But how to be given permission to go one’s own way? Walty plays her trump card: 'I’d rather go drawing. As long as she carries her little sketchbook and drawing tools she is free to go her own way. Of course she also goes drawing but there is more than enough time to cavorting with ponies and horses, to hike through the woods and do anything that pops into an eleven-year old girl. Drawing becomes synonymous with freedom.
Her talent for drawing is given an extra dimension when Walty reaches her eleventh year. She feels she is really too old to be accompanying her father and stepmother every weekend to the yachting club. But how to be given permission to go one’s own way? Walty plays her trump card: 'I’d rather go drawing. As long as she carries her little sketchbook and drawing tools she is free to go her own way. Of course she also goes drawing but there is more than enough time to cavorting with ponies and horses, to hike through the woods and do anything that pops into an eleven-year old girl. Drawing becomes synonymous with freedom.
Gamekeeper Veen
Walty becomes friends for life with old gamekeeper Veen. From Veen she acquires an unsentimental love of nature. Nature is wonderful, but also hard, and has little to do with Disney’s fairytale woods. Veen teaches her to observe and listen, how to tell from a bird’s call if a predator is near and how to follow animal tracks. Sitting still and observing becomes Walty’s second nature. Loud scratching of the pencil on paper and the animal you are drawing will take off.
Tern on Post
Dorothy Dudok van Heel - Jansen: Boerin
portrettekening
1942
portrettekening
1942
Early Works
