Although it had nothing to do with Vincent's death, apparently, smoking kills.

Well, where the heck did January go?

Happy groundhog day to all - Brio did not see his shadow, so I guess that means 6 more weeks for him of laying on the sofa and sleeping all day.  That being said, I can assure you that if he had seen his shadow,  the result would have been the same.   The only real prediction that can be made about Brio is that he is darn good at laying around and sleeping all day.

Speaking of laying around and sleeping all day, while Duncan was home for his College Winter Break, I decided I would paint something for him, hoping that that he could use it to decorate his dorm room.

I knew that neither Duncan nor his room mates would really appreciate the aesthetic quality of a landscape painting or a sweet picture of a vase of flowers, so I decided to take a look at some of Vincent's more bizarre works.  All of the following can be found at the online Vincent van Gogh Gallery, which is a fantastic resource for all things van Gogh.

Some of the weirder subjects in the van Gogh catlogue include:

a crab 

















 two rats -



a bat (or, as it has also been described, a flying fox...) -



bloaters (some kind of fish?) on a piece of yellow paper -




the famous bandaged ear self portrait:

a portrait of a one eyed man -




                                                                          and, of course, the skulls:

in profile



                                                                             head on (no pun intended)
                                                               






















And the most famous skull (and partial skeleton) of all, the one with the smoking cigarette:



According to the Van Gogh Museum, Vincent probably painted this portrait during the time he was a student at the art academy in Antwerp, in the winter of 1885-1886.

I think that it surely says something about how Vincent viewed the strict academic environment of the academy, or perhaps he or another student set up the scene as a joke.  Either way, the image lives on.  Which is pretty good for a skeleton.

You may be thinking that you have seen the smoking skeleton before.  It was used as the cover art on one of humorist, author, and wickedly entertaining speaker David Sedaris' books,

Notice the title!

and a quick web search reveals that, in addition to being tattooed on every imaginable part of the human body,

the smoking skeleton has been reproduced or reinterpreted on everything from coffee mugs, to neck ties to even a banana!



My favorite, though were the needlepoint interpretations; this clash of media and subject is absolutely awesome!

So the skeleton would be my next project.  I used a small, portrait sized wrapped canvas, and began by laying out Vincent's original with the triangular frame method of transfer:

I drew my sketch in with pencil.  The skeleton was very challenging to draw, primarily because it was very intricate in the way that the  bones fit together.  I think  that I was also at a slight disadvantage because I was not drawing from an actual skeleton, but rather Vincent's interpretation of an actual skeleton.  It was also very difficult to keep straight exactly where the darks and lights, foreground and background were going to be on the finished canvas.    

Next, it was time to mix up some colors.  I observed the the background, and even the skeleton in Vincent's original had a very greenish cast, so I started with Payne's grey, Phthalo green (blue); then later added in Phthalo green (yellow) and the ever popular sap green.

I filled in the background and eye sockets first, adding in ivory black to the greenish bluish black I had already mixed.  I did not do one color all over, but instead laid down dark, closely matched swirls of blended colors.

For the skull (above), I added in titanium white and a little unbleached titanium to the original dark color I was using for the background.  The teeth without lips seemed to be much simpler to execute.

OK, I will make an admission here.  I just got so caught up with the painting, and I was trying so hard to work in a very turbulent, rapid fire way, that I (again!) forgot to take all of the in between photos of the work.  Yes, I could blame Zombies, and you might even believe me, but the truth is that I was very focused on the painting, and (sadly, sorry!) not on the blog that would follow.

When I finally noticed my unused camera lying on the desk, this is what I had:

I did take additional shots as I made minor adjustments to the shading, contours and placements, but really it is difficult to see the differences between the shots.  I will throw each of them up below, and let you determine if you can see what I did.  The last piece is the final painting I sent to Duncan.

His roommates reportedly pronounced it "bitchin' awesome..."

I will take that as a positive critique.

I try on Vincent's shoes for size

Hello, again!

The painting for this week is inspired by Vincent's "A pair of leather clogs" which, according to the Google Art Project, hangs at the Van Gogh museum in Arles.

But first, a quick detour to explore the Google Art Project (GAP). If you already know about the GAP, skip these paragraphs, but for those not yet in the know, you are about to find out about an incredible tool for artists.  The GAP has partnered with a number of great museums around the world to photograph portions of their collections for viewing by art lovers through the magical series of tubes we call the internet.

While we have been slumbering, GAP elves have gone into museums each night and photographed paths past some of the world's greatest art work, as well as deeply close up images of the the paintings, sculpture, textiles, drawings, etc. on display.  Software wizards then formatted all of this digital information into an easy to navigate "Google Maps" style program which allows anyone with a computer and access to the internet the opportunity to let their fingers do the walking through the great museums of the world.

But GAP is actually much better than just going to the museum.  When I viewed Vincent's "The Starry Night" at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, I did so along with about 75 other people, with each of us jockeying for position to catch a glimpse of the surprisingly small canvas.  The closest I was able to get to the iconic painting was about 15 feet away, and my viewing experience offered very little in the way of actually connecting with Vincent's work.

When I looked up the same painting on the GAP, I was able to get out my little person icon and view the museum through her eyes - and - BEST of all - when you get to the painting, you have a close up on steroids which allows you to practically go inside!

The close up view in the GAP is SO much closer than even the best magnifying glass (if you were even allowed to get a magnifying glass that close to any museum piece, with the ever watchful "Miss, step back please.." guards...) - with the close up, you can literally dive into the painting with your eyes.  You can count the brushstrokes, see how thinly or thickly the paint was applied, find evidence of the artist's fingerprints, isolate "do overs" and so much more.

For several reasons, this super close up view is particularly useful for studying Vincent's work.  Because Vincent utilized the technique of optical blending of the colors in his work, you can see for yourself exactly the weird color choices he made; zooming in and out from individual colors to the the masterful blends of the finished works.  You can also see how (and guess why) he built up the paint (impasto) to be thicker in some areas (like the stars) and, even on some canvases, how he left blank spots where you can see the stretched linen with no paint on it at all.

These close up views allow the us to think carefully (and without someone hustling us along to the next gallery) about the choices that Vincent and other artists made in their work, which liberates us to make our own choices, which in turn, liberates us to make art.

(There will be more later about the GAP, as it is simply to awesome to describe in one blog... In the meanwhile, go look at the GAP for yourself - find your favorite artist, museum or genre and go to town!)

Many thanks to whoever it was at Google who devised and green-lighted the Google Art Project. Thanks also to the GAP elves, who keep everything going.  Your work is helping me to become an artist. Thanks!

So, now it is time for me to shut up and start painting.  Please feel free to paint along... There will be more next Tuesday.

Van Gogh was Committed, now I am, too.

Hi!

My name is Catherine, and I am trying to become an artist.  Lately, I have been reading a lot about one of my favorite artists, Vincent Van Gogh.  If you are reading this sentence, then I suppose you may be interested in Van Gogh, as well.

Catherine

You probably already know a lot about Vincent.  He painted many famous and beautiful paintings, including "The Sunflowers," "Irises," "The Starry Night" and many others.  He also cut off his ear, spent time in an asylum, and his death at age 37 was ruled a suicide.

But mainly Vincent painted.  Obsessively, purposefully, and in a way that still grabs ordinary, every day people by the collar and makes them feel something about what it means to be a human being in this world.

In the last two and a half years of his life, Vincent produced 465 paintings.

That means that for 912 1/2 sustained days - day in and day out -  Vincent was painting (on average) a complete painting (in less than) every two days.  And these were brilliant paintings, considered by many to be the best and most creative work of his life.

Keep in mind that this was at a time prior to the ease of  modern life - when Vincent wanted to paint a country scene, he had to physically walk out in the country, carrying all of the equipment he needed to paint.  He did not have the convenience of easy to clean up acrylic paints, or well equipped Art Supply websites with next day delivery.  There were no Starbucks to stop by for an icy latte to cool him as he painted in the hot sun; and even something as simple as washing flicked paint off of his trousers must have been a challenge we cannot even estimate...

But Vincent painted and drew and made art like he was on a deadline -

Which, in a way, he was.

As I said, I am trying to become an artist.  This blog is really my first public admission of that fact; and I am admitting it here, because I am hoping that, through this blog and the Vincent Project, I can commit to painting as Vincent did.

Well, sort of like Vincent did.  I know I can't do a painting every two days, even with acrylics and Fed Ex.  So I am going to produce and write about a painting a week for a year.

I am going to go through Vincent's catalogue of work and try to copy one of his paintings each week.  Some I will copy closely, trying to work out what colors and techniques he used, and some I will reinterpret in my own fashion, by just adopting the theme or color scheme or whatever interests me about Vincent's work into my own.

Each week, I plan to document my painting process by photographing my work, and I will post these photos on the Vincent Project blog.  I plan to write a little each week about my painting - the failures and successes (if any); and I will let you know if one of my ears falls bloodied to the floor during the next 12 months.

I will also upload each finished (or unfinished) painting, which I will post by midnight (CST) every Tuesday.  I will announce the new painting I will be working on each (following)Wednesday by noon.

Although Vincent painted often in isolation and with very little recognition of his effort, I am hoping that the Vincent Project will become a forum for the discussion of art and art making, and that whoever is reading this will consider painting (or drawing or working in pastels, or whatever you want to do) along with me.  I am hoping the rest of you will be able to post your own work, as well as any thoughts or insights you have about the work or the blog or both.

Well there it is.

Catherine

PS - I will be selecting images to copy from books, the google art project (www.googleartproject.com) and from the Vincent Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam (www.vangoghmuseum.nl).  If I can post the images in the blog, I will do so; if not, I will direct you to a link so you can locate them yourself.  The Van Gogh museum is also an excellent resource for historical and personal information about Vincent's life, if you are interested.

I also want to thank my family, especially my husband, for their support of this project.  Thanks!

I have posted a photo of the painting (assigned in an informal painting class) that started this below.  On the left (from a book) is Vincent's chair; on the right is mine.

Please feel free to share this with anyone whom you think may be interested in reading it.