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| Tethys Waves, an Ocean Waves quilt top |
Perhaps the cream should have been an inner round? Or perhaps it should be dark? Would applique help? Does it need a narrow cream border? I will ponder this for a while.
Meanwhile, DH and I saw the Van Gogh exhibit at the Houston Museum of Art. It was the last week and I was determined to make it. And I’m glad I did. So much in exhibitions has changed for the better. The layout made the show as much a biography, travelogue, and art history lesson as a simple art exhibit.
The curators enlarged several of van Gogh’s sketches and placed them, along with large aerial maps in each room to highlight the different areas Vincent traveled while painting. BTW, did you know he only painted during the last decade of his life and still left over 900 works?
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| Enlarged sketches by Vincent van Gogh highlight his creative journey at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts |
The exhibit brought together complimentary sketches and paintings like this pair of Montmartre.
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| Sketch and painting of Montmartre by Vincent van Gogh |
It highlighted his friendship with Paul Gaugin who visited Vincent in Arles where they set frequently set their easels side by side as each painted the same scene or model. For example, Portrait of a Man (Joseph-Michel Ginoux?) by van Gogh is believed to be the proprietor of the Cafe de la Gare in Place Lamartine, Arles. A photocopy of Gaugin's painting with the same name was included on the information card. Although at a different angle, it is the same man in the same clothes with the same lime background.
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| Portrait of a Man (Joseph-Michel Ginoux?) by Vincent van Gogh |
Van Gogh considered wheat a symbol of life. He used it repeatedly as the focus and background of his portraits of peasants such as this pair.
As you all know, van Gogh was repeatedly entered an asylum near the end of his life but continued to paint there. I think The Garden of the Asylum at Saint-Remy is my favorite in the exhibit for the movement of the leaves and his masterful use of black outlining.
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| The Garden of the Asylum at Saint-Remy by Vincent van Gogh |
Mel Beach's Summer Lovin' projects, with their black thread outlining and writing invoke a similar feeling in fabric.
Enjoy the day, Ann