Van Gogh - Inspirational Thursdays

Field of Poppies, 1890

The Man is at Sea (after Demont-Breton), 1889

These days with so much technology 

available to the average joe artist, its easy to reach for digital images for inspiration.  I mean, you can take a image easily enough then manipulate it in photoshop  and have a something totally new to base your next great piece on.  

That being said, I think its not a bad idea to remember to draw inspiration from other sources around you.  One of them is from classic art.  Now at the beginning of my journey into creating, I knew absolutely nothing about the amazing artists that came before me.  Little by little though I've been educating myself and I'm sure glad I have.  There is a whole rich history of art that we can draw inspiration from - just as they drew inspiration from their predecessors.

Two Poplars on a path through the hills 1889

The artist lately that has caught my eye is Van Gogh,  Now I'm not planning on getting into a deep analysis of his work.  What I find so interesting though, is his use of several colors to make up one big block of space in his paintings.  I love how he throws an unexpected accent color in there.  I love how he uses brush short semi-uniform strokes.   What captured my eye the most is his work from the late 1880's. But like any serious artist you can see how he progresses from series to series. 

I also like his choice of subject.  He tended to pick small moments of everyday life that could be missed in the normal routines of everyday.  Whether it was rural scenes, simple vases of flowers, portraits or city scapes,  he saw beauty where others just saw the mundane.

 

Olive Trees, 1889

I'm thinking that I definitely want to let one of the greatest artists ever inspire me.  I'm not sure if I'll it will be his use of color or line or subject matter that will work its way into my next piece.  . . but I definitely will give it a more study and thought.