SAM VANGHELUWE PINXIT: Fifteen km of silence. Rilland, Zeeland

Found my 15 kilometers of silence!

First drawing excursion in Zeeland since ages (15 years?): I now share a car, at 29 Euro a go. Set off this morning at about 04:15, arrived half an hour later on the spot, which I had carefully chosen beforehand, and which for reasons of privacy, shall remain unspecified. Suffice it to say that in my new spot, I am no longer restricted by perspective, having a ca. 200° view of the Westerschelde. I am facing due South, Het verdronken land van Saeftinghe is just visible on the far side.
The tide was low and ebbing, temperature mild, little wind (eastern). A slight mist came floating in from the east, onto the expanse of water.

I was wary of human presence in this new place, but it turned out reasonably quiet. At 6:53 the first human being showed up; a man walking his dog. At 7:50 a cyclist passed by. Then 5 minutes later, two older men carrying bags and tripods climbed over the dike and proceeded to photograph everything and anything within view, for about an hour, all the while edging closer to where I was. Luckily, I am more or less protected by my fisherman's parasol. In these conditions the only protection I need is from prying eyes, from those who presume that a person drawing is a tourist attraction. These people reduce my fifteen kilometers of silence to mere meters. The distant din of the port of Antwerp doesn't bother me, nor the rumble of the constantly passing freighters. One has to be especially on guard with these nature photographers, though: they carry gigantic telelenses and aren't averse to spying, as one of my gentlemen proved. And they talk.

All morning swarms of swallows (swifts?,martins?) flew about, quite low, and all the time landing on the 'beach' to gather mud, apparently. The photographers trampled through this scene of course, luckily they missed the spoonbill, which had appeared at around 7:30, wading beyond the surf, fishing.

I'm very much looking forward to the next time, perhaps with a bit more weather.

p.s.: click to enlarge