THE LANGLOIS BRIDGE AT ARLES

Anyone else watching the armorer's trial in New Mexico?  I confess to be on the prosecutor's side, and yesterday afternoon the defense attorney wrangled my last nerve.  The judge must've felt the same, cuz she called for a recess to settle things down.  Defense attorneys have a way of badgering witnesses.  That's a tactic used to discredit their testimony.  Sometimes the attacks are quite sharp and undeserved.  The witness was a female detective, and she was well able to protect herself with dignity and poise.  She, too, was sharp on her testimony, she knew her facts well.  During the recess, I, too, had to calm down.  How could a person have better entertainment?  For me, a legal beagle, it's an ideal way to spend a February afternoon.  Today I'll spend time in the courtroom and may snack on white cheddar cheese popcorn.  Luv that stuff!   

The Langlois Bridge at Arles
with Road Alongside the Canal - 1888
(Done in watercolor)

Note Vincent's signature in the bottom left.  First name only.  More personal, less pretentious.

Fairly soon after arriving in Arles, France, he painted different versions of this particular drawbridge located south of town.  Four paintings, two drawings, this watercolor and a sketch. 

The sky was grey when Vincent painted this bridge, setting the stage for this drab painting.  With watercolors he created the structure details of the bridge, its hardware, iron supports, braces and chain pulleys.   He combined simplicity with complexity in this painting.  Did Vincent view life itself as simple, but it is mankind who complicates it?  

If you look through the opening in the bridge, you see two tiny figures.  In his other paintings of the drawbridge, we see women washing clothes in this same canal.  Most likely that's what we see in this painting.

Van Gogh made about 150 watercolor paintings during his 10-years of painting.  He often made them a trial run for an oil painting.

Langlois Bridge at Arles with Women Washing - 1888

This is the painting that shows activity along the canal.  A yellow cart crosses the bridge while a group of women wash clothes along the shore.  Notice how Vincent uses yellows to indicate where the sun is shining.  He uses circular brush strokes to create the circular ripples of the water and blue straight brush strokes for the bridge reflection in the water.  Once again, Vincent includes an empty boat in the foreground.  Why does he suggest a sense of  absence in his works?  Does the empty boat reflect a feeling of emptiness?    a yearning for someone to share his life?  or is it merely an item of intrigue for the viewer to ponder?

Comparing these two paintings, we clearly see the difference vibrant colors make.  The difference between a sunny day and a cloudy drab day.  The difference between positive and negative, depression and activity.  Once again, Van Gogh creates and conveys two totally different moods surrounding the same drawbridge.  🖌

PORTRAIT OF JOZEF BLOK

Talk about crazy weather.  Yesterday's temperature reached the 60s, and by 10 o'clock at night snowflakes were falling.  Don't know if a measurable amount fell, but our deck is white.  Did Mother Nature get hold of some wacky weed and temporarily lose her common sense?  

Well, the monkey is gone.  She was picked up at about 2:30 yesterday afternoon.  I packed her toys, water and food dishes, food and treats into her pink flowered backpack.  Gave her a few smooches and snuggles and then relinquished custody to her parents.  We feel her absence.....she's not flying from one lap to the other and biting on her squeaky toy begging to play retrieve.  Now we appreciate our two-of-us time.

In November of 1882, in a letter to his brother Theo, Vincent wrote that he had drawn a portrait of Jozef Blok, a street bookseller who was known as "Binnenhof's outdoor librarian."  (Binnenhof, the historic center of Dutch politics.)  Jozef Blok sold books to politicians, writers and artists in The Hague.  He sold books to Vincent and his brother Theo.  Van Gogh called him, "Bookseller Blok."

Blok's portrait was detailed in pencil with watercolor and chalk.  During this time, Vincent rarely used color, as he found it difficult to work with.

Portrait of Jozef Blok, Bookseller - 1882

It appears that Jozef Blok is deep in thought.  From this early portrait, we can see that Vincent's keen eye captured Blok's intense concentration.  One's immediate thought is....what is this man thinking about?  It's more than a portrait...it's a picture of deep human thought.  The portrait invites the viewer's opinion on what that deep thought might be.  Van Gogh has captured a human soul and an alluring human secret.  Take  time to look how he masterfully structured the ear, the eyes, the creases between the eyes, the nose, the lips, the chin, the short hair cut and beard. 

Vincent sometimes traded his paintings for food and art supplies.  In 1883, he paid 21 guilders (the basic monetary unit of the Netherlands until the introduction of the euro, equal to 100 cents) and made 4 portraits of the Jewish bookseller Jozef Blok's parents to get 1870-1880 editions of the British weekly illustrated newspaper.🖌 

WEAVERS

Hiding behind these majestic night clouds is the smallest full moon of 2024, the Snow Moon. 

  "Love as the Moon loves. 

 It does not steal the night,

 it only unveils the beauty of the dark."

  ~Isra Al-Thibeh.

    

 

Weaver Facing Left with Spinning Wheel - 1884

In 1884, when Vincent was 31, he studied the everyday lives of the craftsmen and artisans who lived in his home town of Neumen in the Netherlands.  He was particularly interested in the weavers.  In a letter to brother Theo, Van Gogh wrote, "The life of weavers is tough.  After putting hours of hard work every day a 60 yard piece of cloth is what a weaver ends up making at the end of a week.  While the weaver works on loom, his wife winds up the spools of yarn.  So, essentially, it is a job of two, for whom this is the only way to make a living."

In 1883-84, he painted 28 paintings of weavers.  We'll look at three of them.  The first is identified as the 'Weaver Facing Left with Spinning Wheel.'  The colors are somber, except for the red cloth on the loom.  Single brush strokes of varying shades of brown create the wooden plank floor.    

Why did he paint 28 pictures of weavers?  Did he use a weaver's disciplined approach to weaving as a visual metaphor for his own disciplined approach to painting?  

In a letter to his brother, Vincent wrote, "I for my part often prefer to be with people who do not even know the world, for instance the peasants, the weavers, etc., rather than being with those of the more civilized world.  It's lucky for me.  So since I have been here, for instance, I have been absorbed in the weavers." 

 

A Weaver's Cottage - 1884

Notice the windmill outside the window and the lamp to the weaver's right.

~Note the intricacies of the loom and its frame~

The more I learn about this man, the more I cannot fathom the amount of art work he produced in ten years.   It is a bleeding wound of humanity that he was made to think himself a failure, that he didn't fit in, that he wasn't good enough.  Is today's society screaming with that same pain and misunderstanding? 🖌

Today we say good-bye to our little house guest.  She's proof positive that tiny souls can leave heavy paw prints on our hearts.  I'll miss her snuggles, the kind where she wiggles as close as she can to me.  But, it's time for her to rejoin her momma and daddy and be back in her home.  She brought us joy, and we, in turn, kept her safe and loved.  

Ta-ta till the morrow.  

ROSES and THE BEDROOM

This morning we're up early, 5:30 actually, because the "boss" needed to go potty.  In one week our individual roles are clearly defined.  Somehow a hierarchy formed, and I don't think I need to say which of the three of us is on the top!

Before starting my post, I want to send special birthday wishes out to my faithful blog follower in the State of Washington.  This is just for you, Sista!

Roses - 1890

 This is one of two rose paintings that Van Gogh made just before leaving the hospital.  He clearly saw flower blossoms as celebrations of renewal--as full of life.  We get this feeling from the fresh spring green of the background.  Notice the tips of the leaves, how pointed they are.  They look like small spears.  Is that a hint of the pain that is prevalent in most of his works?  The fallen leaves and white rose petals appear to have been made with hasty brush strokes.  The table has a soft hint of pink, as do the roses.  The paint appears to have been thickly applied on the canvas.  When Vincent left Saint-Remy Hospital on May 16, 1890, he explained to brother Theo, "These canvases will take a whole month to dry, but the attendant here will undertake to send them off after my departure."  They arrived in Auvers by June 24th.

Van Gogh made this next painting of his bedroom in the Yellow House.  He decorated this sacred space with his artwork and simple furniture.  Vincent made three separate paintings of his bedroom.

The Bedroom - 1888

This painting shows Vincent's knowledge of color theory, placing oranges against blues and red and greens.  Make note of his chairs.  We'll see another painting of Van Gogh's chair which will be in sharp contrast to the painting of Gauguin's chair.  Why did he not paint shadows or human figures in this painting?    Like all of us,  Vincent yearned to belong somewhere, and this bedroom was his human nest.  His own space where he could be himself and not constantly be judged by others.

Do you remember the painting of Van Gogh with his ear bandaged?  Remember the blue door in that painting?  Well, here we see that same blue door.🖌

MINERS and COAL MINE IN THE BORINAGE

Our patio door is open a titch to let the morning's crisp air into our living space.  It's a pleasure inhaling fresh and cool morning air.  It's as though the air hasn't yet been polluted by the human hand.   If spring arrives early, then we may as well adjust our sails and get the furniture outside.  Yesterday we chatted about planting chocolate cherry tomatoes in a planter on the deck.  We did that a couple of years ago, and all summer we picked and ate tomatoes like jelly beans.  The only place we can get started chocolate tomatoes is from an Amish nursery.  That will be a venture out on back roads, where we're known to drive and drive and drive, never knowing where we'll end up.  The boyfriend has a PhD in day-drive adventures.  Lord knows how many thousands of miles we have driven seeing the beauty of our own State.  

We're also going to buy a planter of hanging flowers for me to care for.  We usually get a variety of petunia that blossoms from spring to fall.  The entire Venny complex will turn into mini flower gardens, as all fifty units decorate their decks.  Despite our plans, I've still got my fingers crossed for a blasted blizzard that would shut everything down for a day or two.  That would call for a batch of chili and maybe some Bloody Marys.  One has to devise reasons to have a party.  Forever, I've called fun gatherings 'parties' cuz that's what they are.  Must be a party animal planted inside me somewhere, but I can have a party by myself with a bowl of popcorn.  

Miners - 1880

In 1879, Vincent moved to a coal-mining village in Belgium.  In this drawing, Vincent used black ink and pencil in such a way that it offers a picture of torment and sorrow, of a polluted countryside where the miners work.  Take note of the one figure on the left who appears to be a woman.  The rest of the figures appear to be men.  We see the start of "one different from the rest" in Vincent's early works.  

In April April of 1879, Vincent wrote to his brother:  "I went on a very interesting excursion not long ago; the fact is, I spent six hours in a mine.  In one of the oldest and most dangerous mines in the area no less.....This mine has a bad name because so many die in it, whether going down or coming up, or by suffocation or gas exploding, or because of water in the ground, or because of old passageways caving in and so on.  It's a somber place, and at first sight everything around it has something dismal and deathly about it.  The workers there are usually people, emaciated and pale owing to fever, who look exhausted and haggard, weather-beaten and prematurely old, the women generally sallow and withered.  All around the mine are poor miners' dwelling with a couple of dead trees, completely black from smoke, and thorn-hedges, dung-heaps and rubbish dumps, mountains of unusable coal." 

Coal Mine in the Borinage - 1879

(Borinage is an area in Belgium.  The name comes from the coal mines of the region, bores, meaning mine shafts.)

While living in this mining community, Vincent used most of his drawings as kindling to keep his hut warm.  When enormous explosions rocked the mines, Vincent went from hut to hut, tearing up his clothes to be used for bandages.  Sadly, Van Gogh's merciful nature wasn't realized until after his death, same as his artwork.

In this watercolor painting we see a man standing by himself.  As early as 1879, Vincent was painting profound solitude, a recurrent theme in his later works. 🖌

PAUL GAUGUIN'S ARMCHAIR, PORTRAIT OF GAUGUIN AND THE YELLOW HOUSE

Frost on the ground this morning.  Gee whiz, is it possible that we are blessed with a hint of winter?  Won't be long and the snowbirds will have no reason to fly down south.  

Once again it's Saturday, which means nothing, yet the weekend is something that's seared onto our brains after a lifetime of living the work week.  Normal routines stop on Friday and resume again on Monday.  Yesterday I watched the armorer's trial in the Alec Baldwin mess.  The court adjourned early, and the jury was instructed to return at 8:30 Monday morning.  When I first started working in 1964, the work week went until Saturday at noon.  Since then, it's scaled down to a 40-hour week.  Oh, there are a gazillion different work schedules out there, but I'm referring to the old-fashioned....the kind I'm most familiar with.

Today in art class, we'll visit three of Van Gogh's paintings.  There's no way we can study all 900+ works, so we'll touch on his different subjects and painting styles.  I'm intentionally saving the humdingers until the end.  The deeper I delve into Vincent's life, the more similarities I'm seeing.....between him and myself.  His love for nature, his respect for the poor and the struggling.  The way he elevates the ordinary. 

Paul Gauguin's Armchair - 1888

Paul Gauguin was Vincent's friend and fellow artist.   Van Gogh invited Gauguin to live with him in Arles, France, and create art together.  Vincent purchased 12 'exceedingly simple' wooden chairs and one ornate armchair (above), which he placed in Gauguin's room.  Vincent situated two books and a candle on the empty chair.  Some think Vincent painted this empty chair because he felt their friendship wouldn't last.  Others say the books and the candle merely represent Gauguin's favorite pastime. 

The colors are vibrant in this painting.  Vincent used dark colors to create a dark room lit up by a candle on the wall.  Note the carpet on which the chair sits.  Was this Japanese inspired?  Simple bold brush strokes create the carpet pattern.  A chair is a very personal object.  An empty chair personifies the person who is absent.  In the world of art, an empty chair can be a portrait of the person who sits in the chair.

Van Gogh painted his friend, the artist Paul Gauguin, in their studio.  He wrote to his brother Theo that Gauguin was working on 'a big still life of an orange pumpkin and some apples on a yellow background' while Vincent painted his portrait.  Note the yellow background and what might be an orange pumpkin.

Portrait of Gauguin - 1888

For 63 days in the fall of 1888, Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin, lived together in a yellow house in the town of Arles in southern France.  

The Yellow House (The Street) - 1888

Van Gogh rented four rooms with green shutters.  This painting shows their immediate surroundings.  Vincent often ate at the restaurant to the left that is shaded by a tree.  Note the outdoor cafe on the right side street.  

The time the two shared in the sunflower-colored house was productive for both artists.  Vincent made 36 canvases and Gauguin completed 21.  These included the portraits they did of each other.  Their collaboration was intense, and that may have magnified their differences, as well.  

In the autobiographical memoir Gauguin wrote the last year of his life, he reminisced about his time living with Vincent:  "Unbeknownst to the public, two men accomplished in that period a colossal amount of work, useful to both of them.  Perhaps to others as well?  Some things bear fruit."

From a study like this, we learn that life is life no matter the person, no matter the place, no matter the era.  Personal relationships exist, personalities differ.  Like these two men, we won't know if the things we do will manifest into something greater than we can imagine.  

The Yellow House no longer exists.  Bombing-raids during World War II destroyed it.  A placard on the site commemorates its former existence.🖌

15 SUNFLOWERS IN A VASE and PORTRAIT OF ARTIST'S MOTHER

Our yesterday was spent flinging a squeaky toy for the little monkey to retrieve.  Never in my life have I seen such energy.  One thing for sure, she's having lotsa fun.  As are we.

Things here are peaceful, as we like it.  Nothing earth-shaking happening.  The boyfriend went grocery shopping yesterday, taking advantage of sales.  Stores are trying gimmicks galore.  Pork butts were listed on sale for 99 cents a pound, but they could only be ordered online.  That's no big deal for us, but not everyone shops online.  Which brings me to the thought of "pork butts" which come from the shoulder part of a pig.  The boyfriend has an electric meat grinder, and he grinds the pork butt so we have ground pork for casseroles and pork burgers.  He's a meat cutter to the core.

Van Gogh made 11 paintings with sunflowers the primary subject.  They had a special significance for him.  He wrote that sunflowers communicate gratitude.

Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers - 1888
with Vincent's signature on front of vase

In this painting Vincent uses a golden palette.  Yellow, for him, was a symbol of happiness, perhaps a metaphor for the sun.  In their various stages of decay, these flowers also remind us of the cycle of life and death.  Isn't it amazing how this man was able to turn his sorrow into beauty? 

Vincent Van Gogh's father, Theodorus, was a minister.  His mother was from a wealthy family.  She was a housewife and mother of six children.  She was artistically inclined, 'filling notebooks with drawings of plants and flowers.'  One of Vincent's earliest drawings are copies of his mother's sketches of a bouquet of flowers and thistles.  Did she paint the flowers as symbols of life's good times?  the thistles the painful times?  Or, was she simply the kind of person who saw beauty in all the natural world?

Portrait of Artists Mother - 1888

In Vincent's letters, he described his childhood as cold and his relationship with his mother, tense.  He felt rejected by his mother, because he could never measure up to her ideal expectations.   This portrait was painted from a black-and-white photograph.  Vincent wrote to his brother Theo:  'I cannot stand the colorless photograph, and I am trying to do one in a harmony of color, as I see her in my memory.'  🖌

IRISES

Yuppers, we are the proud owners of a percolator coffee pot.  It's not nice to say this, but Mr. Coffee's demise was to my advantage.  It's been a fact for years that I dislike the coffee pots on sale for $9.  My argument was you get what you pay for.  Well, it took years, but finally the boyfriend suggested we get a percolator.  Well, I'm here waving my checkered flag.  I'm sipping the first cuppa, and it's full flavored and doesn't taste like fairy pee.

On we go into another unread page in our life book.  Wonder what My Maker has in store.  I've been distracted by the little fuzz bucket and haven't accomplished anything productive.  Seems I grow less and less interested in doing things I don't feel like doing.  Now I understand what it's like being a teenager.  All I want to do is fiddle faddle around on my laptop.  If My Maker wants to take me back to my childhood, well, then I'll act like one.  Some days I'm not impressed with the surprise script that He has written for me anyway.  Enuf chirping.  

Irises - 1889

Iris flowers were a favorite among Japanese artists, and Van Gogh was greatly influenced by them.  Vincent started painting irises within a month of entering the mental hospital in May of 1889, where he was allowed to stroll and sit in the flower garden.  To Van Gogh, the hospital was also his monastery and studio.  He gladly opted for the isolation.  That's exactly what he wanted...somewhere he could be by himself and concentrate on his painting.  Spending time in his own room, or cell, was an aid to his artistic creativity.  His bouts with mental instability reinforced his resolve to turn his back on the world.  He called painting "the lightning conductor for my illness."  So long as he maintained his ability to paint, he felt sure that he was not really a madman. 

• "Irises" held the record for most expensive piece of artwork in 1987, when it sold for $53.9 million, which would be about $100 million in today's economy.
• The painting was among nearly 130 artworks Van Gogh completed during his stay in a mental institution at Saint-Remy in southern France, the year prior to his death.

Each iris petal in the "Irises" painting is unique, featuring different shading, shape and size.  Only one blossom is a completely different color--white.  Might that one different flower represent Vincent?  He must've felt that he was different from the rest of society, especially while he was institutionalized.  Is it possible that these irises represent people looking at each other, talking, arguing, waving hands, excited?  And he is an outcast?

Notice that the close-up view of the flowers doesn't include the sky, and the way the flowers flow right off the edges of the canvas.  He brings the viewer face to face with the irises.  See the yellow dabs of paint in the background showing there are other kinds of flowers in the garden, but it was the irises he showcased.

We'll see more iris paintings by Van Gogh.🖌

WHEAT FIELD WITH CROWS

Temperatures in the 60s in February?  Here?  That's insane, yet that's what we're having.  When I look out our patio door, it could be May.  My sun catchers are sparkling in the early morning sun.  Buffy woke up before the sun was up, so she was the lucky recipient of a back rub and tummy rub that put her back to sleep.  She's adjusted herself nicely to our simple daily routine, and she fits in comfortably for us.  Only one problem.....attachment.  

There's not a whole lot newsworthy on my end to share.  We baked a loaf of banana bread yesterday, and it came out of the oven about one inch high.  The bread may look weird, but the taste is fine.  

On to Mr. Van Gogh......    

Wheatfield with Crows - 1890

In this painting, with the menacing clouds, the ominous crows and the dead-end path, he expresses extreme loneliness and defeat.  The wheat fields may represent the rewards of hard work.  He used powerful color combinations here, the blue sky contrasts with the yellow wheat, and the reddish brown of the path is intensified by the green bands of grass.  Once again, he pulls us into the scene by the use of curved bold green lines.   

Vincent loved the wheat fields above Auvers-sur-Oise, the village north of Paris, where he lived the last ten weeks of his life.  The fields were a five-minute walk from the inn where he stayed.

What do the crows symbolize?  Art critics offer varying thoughts, some pointing to Van Gogh's love of crows and their inspirational presence in his life.  Others say they represent a foreboding.  He conveys distance by painting the crows smaller in the background and larger in the foreground.  The birds are simple V and zigzag brush strokes.

The pathway on the far bottom right is cut off by the canvas, leaving the destination  unknown.  There are white rounded circular brush strokes in the sky forming clouds.  His thick brushstrokes create movement, conveying direction.  Notice how he made diagonal and irregular strokes of the wheat, as if the wind is blowing through it.  Van Gogh painted several fields of wheat in his lifetime.

When I started this art study, I intended to spotlight paintings at different stages of Vincent's life, rather than from start to finish.  This way we can better understand why he painted a picture, what he painted in the picture, and how he painted it.  His use of colors changed dramatically from the "Potato Eaters."  This isn't only a journey of art interest, it takes us in to learn about the life of a troubled man and his struggle to keep going. 

Truth be told, all of us can relate to good days and bad days.  How can we not in a world where violence is growing like a foreboding cloud.  How many of us are on anti-anxiety medications?  I can relate to sadness.  There have been times of tragedy in my life where I didn't think I could keep putting one foot in front of the other.  Perhaps that is the reason that Vincent Van Gogh is my absolute favorite artist.  He didn't only paint pretty still lifes and glorious country scenes like some artists did.  Nope, he buckled down and showed his real self to the world.  He was not a pretentious man.  And, that earns my high honors. 🖌

FLOWER BEDS IN HOLLAND - 1883

This afternoon between 12 and 2, Miss Buffy Boo will be dropped off for her stay at our resort.  It's her vacation while her parents jet off to Napa Valley.  Buffy's suite is awaiting her 4-pound presence, and the boyfriend and I are prepared to fulfill her wishes for one week.  My heart skips a beat just thinking about her.  That's how fast those little fuzz buckets wiggle their way into our hearts and heads.    

Back to the art gallery........

The Bulb Fields - 1883
also known as
Flower Beds in Holland

This was Van Gogh's first garden landscape painting.  Nestled among the flower beds is a quaint Dutch village of thatch-roof cottages.  In the center of the painting is a solitary figure.  His presence adds a human element to the scene.  We are left to wonder if he is the gardener or the Dutch bulb merchant.  The walking paths between the flower beds create the illusion of depth on a flat surface.  This is a linear perspective.  

There's debate whether the flowers are tulips or hyacinths.  I'd put my nickel on hyacinths.  What are you thinking?  Regardless of the kind of flowers, Vincent combined nature with rustic Dutch architecture and created a masterpiece.

We see in this painting how Vincent transformed his style from dark and gloomy to vibrant color.  As someone said, "These flower beds look more like a selection of ice cream at the parlor.  Two scoops of strawberry, one vanilla, lemon and bubblegum, if you may." 

Note the two bare-branched trees.  What do they represent?  What are you thinking?  The bare branches are a contrast to the blooming flower beds.  Is he describing how his moods fluctuate?  The colorful flowers are his good days, and the bare-branched trees are his bad days.  If Vincent was living today, the doctors would have him on medication for a bipolar diagnosis.  He wouldn't have to suffer and struggle to make it through his days.  According to recent statistics, each year about 7 million U.S. adults experience bipolar disorder.  This tells us how fortunate we are to live in an age where the medical field has skyrocketed in excellence.  The more we understand the past, the more we can appreciate the present.  We have so much more than those who lived the century before us.🖌

SELF-PORTRAIT WITH BANDAGED EAR

Last evening's gathering rejuvenated us with a combination of sharing, caring and giggling.   One of my all-time favorite quotations is by Shel Silverstein:

"I will not play tug o'war.  I'd rather play hug o'war.  Where everyone hugs instead of tugs.  Where everyone giggles and rolls on the rug.  Where everyone kisses, and everyone grins, and everyone cuddles, and everyone wins."

As a conclusion to last night's dinner, our hostess presented us with this sweet treat that was delicious to look at, as well as to eat.

 Back to Vincent, who wrote 902 letters, of which 820 were written to his brother Theo and other relatives.  In these letters he described how he was feeling, including his mental struggles.  When Vincent was about 20 years old and living in London, he withdrew from other people.  He himself mentioned living with "indescribably strong feelings of fear."  He felt "as though one is bound hand and foot, lying in a deep, dark pit, powerless to do anything."  He mentioned that dealing with people, talking to them, was painful and difficult for him.  Yet, he continued drawing and painting.

By 1883, he was overcome by great anxiety, depression, dejection and despair.  He sensed a procrastination and hesitancy in everything, which paralyzed his own passion and energy like a leaden atmosphere."

Vincent's personal crisis grew with failed relationships and an unhealthy lifestyle. He tragically grew unable to control his torrent of emotions.   Van Gogh was friends with Paul Gauguin, and the two of them had a disagreement or fight over an artistic principle.  Vincent was of the opinion that one should spontaneously paint whatever was in view.  Gauguin didn't agree.  He thought an artist should also paint from their imagination and visual memory.  This led to Van Gogh cutting off most of his left ear to make a point to Gauguin.   It was after this that he was hospitalized in Arles, France.

Self-Portrait With Bandaged Ear - 1889

Even though it was his left ear, this self-portrait shows his right ear is bandaged.  This is because he painted himself in a mirror. The blue cap, trimmed with black fur, secured the thick bandage in place and kept him warm in the winter cold.  This painting tells us that despite it all, Van Gogh was still determined to keep painting.  Notice how he includes a canvas on an easel behind him and a Japanese print, one of his main sources of artistic inspiration.  Also take note of the blue door.  We'll see this blue door again in another of his paintings.

In 1998, this painting was sold at Christie's auction for $71.5 million.  In the art world, Vincent is known as "the tormented artist."🖌

HORSE CHESTNUT TREE IN BLOSSOM

Good Sunday morning!  Sun's shining, and it's gonna be a beautiful day.  This afternoon we'll be trolleying to our friends' home in another town to share sips, snacks and sups.  Time spent with friends is a precious way to honor our allotted amount of time on this Earth.  These sentiments ring of deep gratitude for those who share their lives with us.  We're living in an age of disgraceful disrespect for the lives of others, and, to me, that's very sad.  It's easier to live one's life with the absence of sources of the world and local news.  If we think of the homeless, the forgotten, the abandoned, the ridiculed, the tortured, well, that gives perfect reason to work on seeing the good and the beautiful where it exists.  

Sunday is an ideal day for positive thinking and planning.  We're all blighted with drama (dislike that word) that has the potential to drive us nuts.  The worst part is that it gets us nowhere.  We can think, re-think, and re-think another thousand times, and our thinking changes nothing.  This is when we have to discipline our minds to find and think about only the good parts of a situation, rather than the bad ones.  I find myself having to do this a lot.  We can visualize Van Gogh working his way through his days holding a paint brush in his hand.  His works show us how someone else created beautiful things while suffering the confines of mental illness.  I cannot help but wonder if Vincent was alive today.  His mental health would be normal and treatable with medication.  He, sadly, lived in a time when the mentally ill were viewed as crazy and needed to be separated from the rest of society.  Vincent's perseverance was his strength.  What the world viewed as inferior painting at the time, the modern world now reveres as superior.  That, we must remember is the total worth of public opinion.

Horse Chestnut Tree in Blossom - 1887  

A Horse Chestnut tree is a large European tree with  clusters of white flowers that blossom in May.  Anne Frank wrote about the horse chestnut tree in the center of Amsterdam.  She saw the tree as a symbol of hope of escape and of one day, a return to normality.  Interestingly, this fits right in with Vincent's battle with mental entrapment.  Maybe he painted the white blossoms as a way to pay homage to Nature's resilience in the hopes that he, too, would be resilient to life's struggles. 

 

He paints the chestnut tree fully leafed out and flowered.  The solid canopy is painted with visible and organized brush strokes.  Notice how Van Gogh sets the tree apart from the grass and other trees with different structures and positioning of the brush strokes.  We see only a glimpse of the tree trunk and branches. Van Gogh's brush strokes are at the heart of his genius.  Each brush stroke came from his soul.  We not only are able to appreciate his work, but also feel it.     

Vincent's journey through life was marred by personal struggles, and his paintings serve as a testament to the power of passion and perseverance.  As we explore his work, we'll see how Nature inspired him to paint landscapes, sunflowers and trees, all reflecting his deep reverence for Nature.  

Before we leave this painting, notice what I believe to be two birds flying on the top left about a half inch down and about an inch inward.  They're almost unnoticeable, yet Vincent wanted them to be part of the scene.  

Research has revealed that this picture was painted on top of a previous one.  Van Gogh frequently re-used his canvases to save money.  No wonder I like him.🖌

THE SOWER (After Millet)

Tis another weekend.  Wish there was a way to stall the passing of time.  Every second that ticks away takes us closer to that fateful last second of life.  Now, that's a fretful way to start out a post.  Maybe I deserve a slap on the fingers for typing negativity.  BUT, it is reality.

Yesterday I was bummed out, and still am.  I realized the editor of our newsletter published the February newsletter early and didn't tell me. My article is my contribution to our family of friends.  Why am I finding it difficult to accept it's an oversight?  Another lesson that we're hurt the most by the things that mean the most.

Went to bed at 3 this morning and was up at 8.  My eyes are troubling me, so am going to order online from WM this moist cold and warm compress with elastic strap.  Having to wait three months for a consultation with the second doctor warrants some t.l.c. on my part.  Don't they say when things get tough, the tough get going?  It's kinda pricey at $28.99, but that's minimal if it gives relief.  I'll give myself my own personal spa day.

  Gogh started out primarily drawing with pencil and painting with watercolor.  Then he began painting in oils in 1882.  He was fascinated by the work of artist Jean-Francois Millet, who is noted for his painting of peasant farmers.  Today we see Vincent's version of"The Sower (after Millet)" done in pen/pencil and watercolor on paper.  Van Gogh did more than thirty variations of the man sowing seeds. 

The Sower (after Millet) - 1881

Van Gogh explored his interest in the ministry to serve the working people.  He eventually rejected the church establishment, yet found a personal spirituality that was important to him.  By 1879, he found he could express his love of God and man through painting.  It is said that Vincent developed a self-styled religious belief.  He saw Christ as a great poet, and his favorite part of the Bible were the parables.  This Sower (after Millet) is a painted parable.  The Sower symbolizes the eternal cycle of existence.  Sowing seeds brings forth new life.  The Sower of Seeds represents the sower of God's word.  

Although Vincent was born into a middle-class family, he came from the small town of Nuenen in the Netherlands, where he witnessed agriculture and hard labor.  He later worked in areas of great poverty, where he developed a strong respect for society's lowly class.  He said the subject of peasantry calmed his mind during times he struggled with the materialistic world.  In 1885, Van Gogh described the painting of peasants as the most essential contribution to modern art.🖌

The temperatures here today are to get to the upper 20s.  Nary a cloud in the sky from my vantage point.  We had rainbows on the walls this morning, my beaded sun catchers the simple conduits of wall whimsy.  Ta-ta till the morrow.

A PAIR OF LEATHER CLOGS

Mr. Coffee passed away.  We think he suffered a heating element attack sometime between yesterday morning and this morning.  During Covid, I wisely stocked up on Folger's coffee packets just for times like this.  Will there one day be a Caffeine Patch for us addicted coffee drinkers like the Nicotine Patch for the cigarette smokers?  Funeral arrangements are pending for Mr. Coffee, who will be interred in a garbage bag.  

Yesterday we trolleyed to my ophthalmologist appointment regarding my drooping eyelids.  Well, so much for online self-diagnosis.  Thought I knew exactly what tests they would do to test my peripheral vision.  Both of us watched videos showing how the corrective surgery is done.  I knew all about it.  OR, so I thought.

The only part of the experience that I was right about was the peripheral vision field test.  This test is done with one's eye lids drooping and the same test with eyelids taped up on the forehead.   I failed this test.  There was no question that insurance would pay for the surgery.  Next was taken to the surgeon's exam room, where a young guy wearing a mask skipped into the room, eager to take pictures of my face, primarily my eyes.  I couldn't resist asking him if he wanted my autograph too, and he chirped a muffled response and held up the electronic signature I'd provided at check-in.  

The doctor's light knock on the exam room door screamed of his meek demeanor.  A very neat petite man dressed in a white coat, expensive grey suit pants and black shoes and voice accent.  I didn't understand a word of his introduction.  I politely told him that I'm hard of hearing, to which he quickly raised his voice.....the way they do for old people.

Before entering the room, he must've reviewed my situation and failed peripheral field test, cuz he came out of the gate explaining the surgical techniques that my condition requires.  Then he dropped the bomb that he himself does not do that type of surgery.  In my case, it wouldn't work to remove some of the droopy eye lids the way I had read about.  Instead, I need to be referred to a plastic surgeon for a forehead elevation.  Holy Mother of God.  Let it be said that this is not a cosmetic procedure, but strictly one to improve my hampered peripheral vision.  The doctor wrote a litany of unintelligible words on a piece of paper, and I honestly think he expected me to decipher them.  He handed the paper to me, and I could tell he knew I was disappointed in this meaningless visit.  I felt like I was being passed on to the highest bidder. 

So, not only was I wrong about my self-diagnosed type of surgery, I need to wait another three months to see another doctor.  His first opening is May 30th.  I asked to be put on a cancellation call list.  Just when we think we have it all figured out, we're reminded that we take instructions, not give them.  Double drat.

 Here is the last of Van Gogh's paintings of shoes/boots.

A Pair of Leather Clogs - 1889

Van Gogh painted this pair of wooden-soled leather clogs in a meticulous pattern of small stripes.  French clogs were often made from a combination of wood and leather, while the classic Dutch clog is made entirely of wood.  Vincent placed the clogs on a tilted table, which is an unusual perspective.  They are positioned as if ready to be stepped into.  With their openings turned to face the viewer, the clogs pose an invitation to slip them on and walk away.  Is Van Gogh's message that no matter how difficult life may get, we must keep our feet firmly planted, keep looking ahead and moving forward?

Vincent greatly admired, and was influenced by, the still lifes of clogs done by the French painter Millet, who is known for painting peasant farmers.🖌

THREE PAIR OF SHOES

We're in mid-February, and already there have been at least 48 mass shootings in the United States, with 81 killed and 165 wounded.  Where is our beloved Land of the Free?  No longer are we free to attend gatherings, go to our local stores, walk the streets or drive our cars without the fear of someone randomly shooting us?  Our babies and our teachers are not free to go to school, without needing to learn drills for when a shooter may bust through the doors.  

This time the sports venue was attacked.  We're still waiting to hear the motive(s) for killing two and wounding some 22.  Only a few days ago a shooter attacked one of the mega churches.  Wonder what the human race looks like from the sky.  An ant colony has more class and respect for one another than we do.  Such a beautiful world, and we're staining it with our own blood.  

Maybe that's why I enjoy undertaking projects.  One must find a way to channel one's mind on paths of peace.  Where better than to look deeply and closely at an artist's individual technique and the story the artist conveys.  I have a favorite writer, too.  Those who have followed my blogs for all the years know it is Henry David Thoreau.  He and Van Gogh have influenced the way I think.  The central theme to both of their lives is simplicity.  The business of constantly needing more worldly stuff to satisfy one's soul is as far from my thinking as the moon.  

Studying one artist is a simple approach to the world of art.  I'm not thrilled by abstracts or fancy paintings of perfection.  No, I'm drawn more to a venue that lets us see the heartbeat of a peasant person, someone who toiled, struggled and was grateful for a supper of potatoes and a cup of tea.  My soul yearns for a simple life, smothered with the creative works of brilliant souls who found life's abundance in the common and the cobbled together.  After all, who among us isn't common and cobbled together?  Which brings me to today's masterpiece.......

 

Three Pairs of Shoes - 1886

Van Gogh painted five paintings of shoes.  "Three Pairs of Shoes" is the most popular among the five.  He painted these shoes over a vase of flowers already painted on the same canvas. 

He places three pairs of shoes in a diagonal line, the third shoe from the foreground is turned upside down.  By doing this, he cuts the sense of monotony.  Each shoe has its own weathered character, like the people who wore them.  If you look closely at the underside of the one shoe, you'll see hobnails and a hole worn through the sole.  He uses bold brush strokes to convey the condition of the shoes and texture of the white cloth they're sitting on.  Note the monotones, setting a tone of hardship and personal suffering.🖌  

Both Thoreau and Van Gogh left inspiration for us.  Thoreau used a pen....Van Gogh a paintbrush.  Each one of us has our own way of leaving behind proof that we were here.  

SHOES

We're up earlier than usual, cuz the little sugar plum will be dropped off in about one hour.  It's a good thing we're up.  Otherwise, I'd not have seen the sunrise with which  Our Creator begins our new day.  

There's something glorious about this stage of a sunrise.  It's like opening the cover of a book and being presented with a new unread page.  Today is a total mystery.  Oh, we keep calendars and agendas, but never are we sure our plans will pan out the way we anticipate.  Life teaches this lesson sometimes in whacks and other times in nudges.  One thing for certain, a sunrise nudges me to genuflect.

Wish the lamp post wasn't right in line with our deck.  Our shepherd's hook can also be seen in the far right of the picture.  Let's give them a purpose.  Let's pretend  they represent the obstacles we face each day.  We face them, accept them and move on.

Shoes - 1888

In contrast to the prior two paintings of rugged boots, this painting is of a pair of shoes neatly placed on a tiled floor.  These shoes look like they belong to an urban environment.   Van Gogh gives the shoes character by leaning one against the other, like friends affectionately leaning on one another.   The diagonal layout of the floor tiles draws our eyes to the center and frames the shoes like the portrait of a person.  Note how he uses simple black lines to paint the shadow beside the shoe.  The one orange tile in the lower right hand corner of the painting contrasts with the other tiles.  Might it represent Vincent's personal view of life?  being different from others around him?  Might it represent loneliness, considering he placed the orange tile in a lower corner of the painting?🖌

Happy Valentine's Day!

A PAIR OF BOOTS

Thought the meme on the right deserves priority in today's post.  She's mature, sweet, has a sense of humor, a positive attitude and loves puppies.  Her advice is on point for all of us who are in life's danger zone.  

Isn't it something how we mature beings are learning a new online vocabulary.  Up until a couple of years ago, was "meme" even a thing?  How about the "emoji?"  

More than likely I'm the only person on the planet who isn't familiar with some of the secret meanings that the younger generations use when messaging online.  Take for instance 9 or 99.  9 is code for parent watching and 99 means parent gone.  That's the kinda stuff that would irk me if I were a parent.  

A Pair of Boots is on display at the Baltimore Museum of Art.  It's obvious that Van Gogh intends for us to observe the boots closely.  Once again, he paints a stiff leathery bootlace that reaches out as if it has something to tell us.  

A Pair of Boots - 1887

Note the hobnails inserted in the bottom of the shoe and the heel.  We see hobnails under the tip of the toe in the other boot.  In Scotland, hobnailed boots are called 'tackety boots.'  They are a very old way of improving durability and providing grip.  We all need a good grip--to stop the world from sliding out from under our feet.   Is Van Gogh using these hobnails to show us that he himself is exhausted and needs reinforcement to keep going?  We will learn that Vincent had a very troubling short 37 years of life. 

Why is the boot unlaced?  Is Vincent himself coming mentally undone?  Do his paintings tell a story of someone whose mind struggles every day like the poor man who toils in the fields from morning until night?  Is he worn out like this pair of boots?  Why else would he have used rugged and worn boots to paint his story?  Does Van Gogh carry the weight of despair the way shoes carry the weight of the wearer?

Note the blue cloth.  Compared with the dark and dismal painting The Potato Eaters, here he has introduced more color.  We will see how he used rich blues in some of his famous works.  Blue was a profound expression of the misery that enveloped Vincent's mind.  He wrote about the color blue:  "As I reflect on my art, as well as how I form my opinions and view the world, I could not find this more relatable or truer." 🖌

Yesterday Buffy spent the day.  The little bugger puts the energized bunny to shame.  She flies from the floor onto our laps in a snap.  Boy, goes to show the difference age makes!  She's returning tomorrow for another day's stay.  How blessed we are.

BOOTS WITH LACES

The 2024 Super Bowl is history.  The Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers in overtime 25-22.  I didn't have any bets on the game, so watched a rom-com movie with one eye and the game with the other.  I've often wondered where sports teams get their names, like the Chiefs and the 49ers.  I find that the Kansas City Chiefs were named for the mayor of Kansas City in the early 1960s, and his nickname was Chief.   The San Francisco 49ers were named after the prospectors who arrived in Northern California during the 1849 Gold Rush.  

   Van Gogh painted a number of still lifes of shoes and work boots, one of which is Boots With Laces (below).   An acquaintance told how Vincent bought old work shoes at a flea market.  He then walked through the mud in them until they were filthy.  Only then did he feel they were interesting enough to paint. 

Boots With Laces -1886

Who wore these boots?  It looks like someone has just taken them off and set them down.  I'd say they belong to a person of poverty, someone who does hard manual labor, perhaps works on his feet all day in the fields.  Notice how the left bootlace is laced back and forth evenly, while the right bootlace is woven in misplaced holes.  Might the misplaced lace represent man's struggles and confusion?  Might the evenly laced one represent hope?  The left shoe slouches down, like its wearer who bends beneath the burden of poverty.  Whoever wore these boots is tired and worn out.  It's possible that these boots represent Van Gogh's personal life.    

Van Gogh could see the Divine in ordinary objects, opening our eyes to the humblest of things we take for granted.  Shoes tell a story of their wearer.  VG cared about the poor, which he makes obvious.  In a letter to his brother Theo, Vincent wrote, "It is good to love as many things as one can.....I see paintings or drawings in the poorest cottages, in the dirtiest corners.  And my mind is driven toward these things with an irresistible momentum.....Poetry surrounds us everywhere, but putting it on paper is not as easy as looking at it.  I dream of painting, and then I paint my dream."

Tomorrow we'll take a look at another of his paintings of shoes.  I invite comments with personal opinions.  There is no right and wrong here, which makes it fun.🖌

At 8:45 this morning, little Buffy will be coming to spend the day with us.  She'll be  my Valentine's present.  I'd rather have her than four pounds of chocolates!