Drawings and watercolours are for me pieces in which to work spontaneously. Unlike oil painting, which calls for careful planning. They are spontaneous acts of discovery with pen, chalk or watercolour, to be followed later perhaps by a deepening of what was at first a casual encounter. The subject is largely a matter of chance, announcing itself as it were, in order to be explored further on numerous sheets of paper and possibly approached from yet another angle, if that’s thought likely to help. These visual voyages of discovery rarely result in anything that might lead to a painting; they stand on their own as independent pieces which after they are mounted, are dispatched into the world to pursue their own vulnerable lives. Vulnerable on account of their sensitivity to light and damp. And on that account it’s only right that they should be handled with care.

Co Westerik in the introduction to his survey book on drawings and Watercolours. ‘Co Westerik – Watercolours/Drawings’ Edition Walburg Press, The Netherlands, 2004