Sunday, April 6, 2014

Vango..Lend me your Ear

"To do good work one must eat well, 
be well housed,
have one's fling from time to time,
 smoke one's pipe,
and drink one's coffee in peace." 
      
~ Van Gogh 


Crazy thing, that bit about Van Gogh's ear!
Van Gogh was born in 1853 and grew up in Holland.
His father was a minister and Vincent would
follow in his footsteps after a stint as an Art Dealer.

He worked as a missionary in a coal mining community
but art chased his soul and his life as an artist began.
Vincent moved to Paris and hung out with the likes of
Toulouse-Lautrec, Gauguin and Bernard.  Brother Theo
footed the bill for most of Van Gogh's life. 



Vincent Van Gogh took his own life in 1890 after producing
roughly 900 paintings in ten years.  He suffered with mental
illness and physical decline.  Poor guy didn't gain
notoriety until a few years after his death, joining a long
tradition of starving artistry.



900 paintings in ten years!  What does that tell you?
If you want to make your mark..practice..practice..practice.



Katie and Shade...party of two...we did just that.



We headed out for a swinging Saturday night at
Vino and Vango with our personal instructor...
the "Icon-O-Guy", Brian Hahn.



We had such a blast.  I brought copies of one
of Van Gogh's most popular paintings
"Van Gogh's Bedroom at Arles".  He did several
versions of this.  For some reason in really resonates
with people, along with the famous Sunflowers
and Starry Night paintings.




We started out on track.. but I demanded that we pull
out the turquoise for the floor and then we were all
slinging the color like it was the only color to use...
which it was!  Love it..love it..love it!

The painting above is Brian's...our pilot for the evening.



This one is Katie's.



This one is mine.  I texted a copy to my friend D.
She wrote back, "If you didn't say it was Van Gogh I
would have said it was Winnie the Pooh's bedroom.
I like it."  I had to laugh..it does look like Winnie's bedroom!





I have had three excellent painting sessions at Vino and Vango.
If you want a fun evening out with the girls, or something
different to do for a birthday party, or any special event..
check this place out.  They provide everything you need
and the instructors are so upbeat and encouraging.
No painting experience neccessary.

Thank you Brian for a really great class.  I'm in turquoise heaven!



1 comment:

  1. It was a real pleasure to paint with these two talented and witty artists and I love how their paintings turned out! The introduction of some additional colors into the palette really improved the result and we had a lot of fun in the process!

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