I had tried several times to draw the old prison. It frustrated me. Dissatisfied I threw away the sketsches. The drawings lacked tension and expressiveness. It puzzled me what had to be done differently. I had drawn the whole building. The front of the building, the stately entrance and later the rear of the building, which used to be hidden behind a high prison wall. But it wasn't. Until it dawned on me that the drawing had to be about the most characteristic of the building; the imprisonment and holding of people. According to an old jailer, the most famous and infamous dutch criminals have been imprisoned here. Then I remembered Edward Hopper .His work inspired me to start drawing with light, strong contrasts and an oppressive sky. And above all to tell the story of the building. The knowledge that people have been locked up for decades. If you look closely you can see someone looking out of the barred window. The Schutterswei has not been used as a prison for a couple of years now. After it first functioned as a film- and televisionset, it has been thoroughly renovated and now serves as a hotel. Almost all the bars are gone and the prison wall has been demolished. The old air place is now a terrace. For a lot of money people book a former prison cell and lock themselves up for one or more nights. june 7 th
