FLOWERING PLUM ORCHARD (after Hiroshige)

There's a saying that yesterday's success is tomorrow's memories.  For sure that's how it is after yesterday's trolley northward to meet super-duper-special cousins.  I apply the 3-pronged adjective to emphasize their importance in my life.  One cannot put a price tag on time spent with those who share humor and ideals.  Our waitress was a sweet Vietnamese gal, who was genuinely cheerful and helpful.  She took photos of the foursome, and we took a photograph of her.  It's that business of preserving a snippet of time spent with a special stranger.  

On the way home, the boyfriend and I visited about the fun we had, the laughs, the silliness, the way we could talk about anything and everything, the four of us.  My immediate family is sparse at best, so my heart squeezes them tightly.  A thought just flew through my mind......maybe Our Creator saves the best for last.  Hmmmmm.  

Van Gogh was attracted to Japanese prints because they were simple, minimal and focused on nature.  He wrote that they made him happy and cheerful. Because of his financial situation, Vincent never went to Japan, but instead he created his own image of the country through the prints he collected, studied and replicated. 

Flowering Plum Orchard (after Hiroshige) - 1887

Van Gogh painted the above painting after Hiroshige's Plum Garden in Kameido (below).

Plum Garden in Kameido 
Hiroshige

Here we compare Van Gogh's painting to Hiroshige's work.  Vincent did not stick to the colors of the Japanese work, but instead made the colors more intense.  He changed the black and grey of Hiroshige's tree trunk with red and blue tones.  He added two orange borders.  The Oriental characters he painted on the frame have no meaning, but are merely decorative.

While Vincent shared an apartment with his brother Theo in Paris, he pinned Japanese prints to the walls, leaving many holes that can still be seen today.  Some even have paint or oil stains.  After a year or so, he no longer needed the prints to see the world "with a more Japanese eye." 

Theo and later his widow took care of Vincent's Japanese prints.  The majority of them eventually found their way to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.  Over 500 colorful works from his collection can be admired at the museum. 

For an extra peek into Vincent's approach to replicating Hiroshige's print, we see here Vincent's tracing.

Copy of Van Gogh's tracing 

Van Gogh believed that drawing was 'the root of everything.'  Drawings were an inseparable part of his development as a painter.  There were times when he wished to do nothing but draw.  Sometimes it was a question of being able to afford the paper and ink he needed to create his drawings.  He bought his supplies at nearby shops and used pens that he cut with a penknife from locally grown reeds.  Paints and canvases were costly and had to be ordered and shipped from Paris.  When fierce winds made it impossible for him to set up an easel, he drew on sheets of paper tacked securely to a board.  Interestingly, Vincent sometimes made drawings after his paintings to give to his brother and his friends to give them an idea of his latest work.🖌