Following Van Gogh

I am taking Jeanne Olivers course Studying Under the Masters, the portrait version. We begin with Van Gogh.

This Justine Waddell, isn't this just a lovely painting. The colors in this are lovely. Part of me wants to try this.To really capture his work you need to use oils which I do not have.  Not sure if I want to jump into that quite yet, but we'll see.  The reason I love acrylics is the cleanup. I don't want to mess with linseed oil and turpentine.  I have learned there is a new oil paint out there that cleans up with water. Maybe I will have to put some of those oils on my Christmas list.



I have always loved Don Maclean's song Vincent, so here is some of his art along with the music. I also loved the Dr.Who episode on Van Gogh. It makes me cry everytime.

This was an exercise in using the patterns that Van Gogh used in his sketches  Lots of simple lines and cross hatching.  Values and textures all created with varying lines.  Not the easiest thing to do but a great exercise.

This was called the Knitting woman, even though there are no knitting needles in sight. Drawn in pencil and then watercolor. I had a little difficulty mixing the browns to come out right. As with anything we want it to be perfect the first time, when it may take years of practice.

Watching Jeanne Oliver, my instructor show all these Van Gogh images was great.  So I headed to the library and brought home some books. I'll be studying Van Gogh for awhile. In the course they cover one master a week, not nearly enough time.  I am going be immersed in his brilliance for awhile.

I did discover the difference between looking at the images on line and in books.  So much better in the book.  Now of course seeing some paintings in real life sounds like it would be amazing.  Ah something new to add to my bucket list.  Now I have another reason to go to New York City.

What artists inspire you?

Kate