Personal Art Blog

Sharing the lessons I teach at the Artist Guild and the personal discoveries in my art.

Thursday, April 21, 2016

Red Teapot and Van Gogh


Tea With Van Gogh
6x8" oil on canvas panel  SOLD

Artist Note.
Good to be back painting after
being hit with a nasty virus.
I am still coughing and living
in a whirl of
tissues and nose blowing.
From now on it is fist bumps
for greetings
instead of handshakes.

A good friend came back from a
trip to Europe with a gift of two
tablecloths  - both with images of
Vincent van Gogh's work.
This one had his gorgeous"Irises" painting.
see detail below.
I have set up a couple of 
still life displays using 
the tablecloths as the background.
They are rich and exciting.

I decided to use the red teapot
to see if I could balance out
the power of the colors 
in the cloth.
The next one has fruit
in a clay bowl.
You can just see a tiny bit of it
at the right side

I started this before
Mr.blanky blankVirus
decided to form an
intimate relationship
with me and
managed to complete it today.
Yea - on the recovery road!

35 comments:

  1. Glad to hear you're getting the upper hand on the virus.
    The Van Gogh tablecloth is beyond beautiful! What a nice thing of your friend to do! Your colors work together very well, and you surely have painted it beautifully with your fracturing method. Love the solid look of the teapot and cup on the more delicately patterned cloth. Love the light right in front of the teapot. It captures my eye right at that point.

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    1. You are so good at analyzing a painting, Carol. You bring things to my attention in a different way.
      Thanks for the lovely comment.

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  2. Such a treat of a gift and wow did your painting turn out ever so beautiful. So happy you're feeling better.

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    1. Thanks Lisa. Just visited your blog and had a bog smile on my face. A feel good post. I am happy you like working in oils but you are happy working in mixed media too...like soil and petals!

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  3. Well...........Carol said it all. Beautiful and powerful. Love the intensity of the red. It works!

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    1. Good to see you managed to go out and paint in the park. I bet it was blissful after all you have been through. I like your pastels and the way the layering made them vibrate.
      Glad you like the red next to the other colors. Thanks, helen.

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  4. Julie, your painting is beautiful. I hope you drank some of that tea, too. Glad you are feeling better.

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    1. Hello Carol. Thanks and yes...lots of tea going down.
      I found your post before last, absolutely fascinating...and more than a little scary too.
      The phone bit especially.
      The fun post about the $70 piano, and hearing it being played was just a pure pleasure.

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  5. Welcome back to the land of the healthy. Love the red teapot and the cups. Beautiful painting.

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    1. Glad you like it Blanche. Thanks. I was on a roll when I started it, but the virus ended that. I can't always get back into a painting the same way when left for a week but the cloth speaks to me and made it easier.

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  6. Sorry that you've been feeling punk, Julie, but you've still made the most of your blog for those of us who follow it. Super to hear that you're now on the mend -- can't keep a dynamo such as you down for long!!
    Seems that I'm often using the terms 'jewel-like' or 'gem tones' when I compliment your paintings. They have such rich vibrance, much like the work of Van Gogh. Only too appropriate that you now have a reflection of his work to include in your own. Nice friend, indeed, and a knockout still life, too!

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    1. Not so dynamo I am afraid - in fact I am dragging.
      I like the complement "jewel like" because I love color. Learning to push it without being too gaudy was difficult because I started off very tonal. Not surprising being from Britain where the wet atmosphere veiled everything in gray. As it is, the people from here in NM don't think my colors are as bright as the people who live back east for example. In Mexico my colors are regarded as dull! Taste is definitely subjective.
      But my taste is right on when I say how wonderful your new portrait of the young boy is. How DID you make the hair look so natural? It has to be a natural gift to "see that well"

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  7. Sorry you were ill, but glad you are making your way back. These reruns are inspiring, especially the stick figure exercise. brilliant!

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    1. Thanks Linda. Glad you had a nice vacation and produced some really excellent plein air watercolors.

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  8. Amazing texture in this painting Julie!!!!!! gorgeous color in this teapot. Another beautiful piece!

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    1. Thanks so much, Hilda. I always appreciate your comments.
      The eyes in your new portrait are very special.

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  9. That is an exciting background! I think still life set ups are so versatile, really. There are so many variables to manipulate-really challenging.

    You sure managed to get a wonderful range of reds. Always a challenge for me!

    High five and a fist bump to you!
    Libby

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    1. Good to hear from you, dear Libby. You nailed the challenge with red, right off the bat. I used three different reds and then orange to warm and lighten.
      Happy to hear you enjoyed your vacation so much. What a gorgeous area and your photos record the stunning aspects words can't express.
      I lol at the hight five and fist bump - great one!

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  10. I love this teapot. I can feel its smooth roundness. Love the tablecloth and aren't you a genius for using it as a backdrop. I know how you feel about the handshakes vs. fist bumps.

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    1. Hi Sharon - glad you like the teapot. I love it and have painted it many times. It was given to me by a neighbor. Sometimes I make the handle and spout black like here - but the actual pot is all red.
      You were painting your lovely iris painting as I was painting these. Neat to think of our connection through paint.

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  11. What a gorgeous mix with the van Gogh inspired background and your lovely red teapot , and the texture is fabulous as always.

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    1. Thanks Jane - I was just looking at the wonderful texture in your new abstract. A real stunner! You can turn to abstract or impressionism. so easily. Your colors are the common denominator.

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  12. Glad you're on the mend, Julie! Something was going around here in Florida all season. I was lucky to escape it but my husband still coughs.
    Love the tablecloth as background and like the way your dark cup comes forward. Rich palette, too.
    Fist bumps and hugs to you!
    Diane

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    1. oh...poor hubby - I am still coughing too. I have not been sick for so many years and cannot believe I am not right back to normal. I am still dragging.
      I especially enjoyed seeing your sheep thumbnails. I really like sheep. I have never understood the popularity of the cow. So many artists are
      doing wonderful paintings of them, but they don't do didily-squat for my
      artistic senses. Your painting of the sheep with the red tag in its ear... now that one gave me a real surge of pleasure.

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  13. So sorry you were ill, Julie, and hope you have completely recovered. Viruses can be so nasty - and lingering. Two Van Gogh tablecloths - what a lovely gift! I hope to soon be in the Van Gogh Museum to see some of his work up close and personal! Your teapot sits rather elegantly on that blue iris cloth!

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    1. I envy your trip. Just the thought of you going to the Van Gogh Museum fills me with pleasure. Of course I would prefer it to be me!
      I really like your post of the Ballerina painting but the fact you paid tribute to Susan Roux was gratifying to read.

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  14. I try really really hard to not shake people's hand because it is the first point of disease transfer, unless they sneeze. People find it rude but i get a cold and its usually much worse for me than a "healthy" person :/

    very nice painting, the red goes nice with the other colours :)

    and I hope you get better soon!

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    1. I truly understand how important it would be for you to be very careful, Jennifer.
      I am slower in recovering than I thought I would be The cough and no energy. painting though!

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  15. So glad you are feeling better!!!! This is beautiful. I love the strength of the red teapot and cup against the cloth. I've been running back & forth with my FIL's illness...not much time to catch up on blogs lately.

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    1. I visited your blog and got caught up with all your output. I particularly love the blossom trees. I have not found a way to paint the full tree that I like so your first one encouraged me to try a similar viewpoint of close and looking up. Have a good week, Joan.

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  16. I'm so glad you're feeling better and back to work. What a lovely work of art. Just gorgeous as always. I hope you make a full recovery very soon.

    and thank you so much for your kind words on the bee, much appreciated. take good care!

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  17. Thanks for the visit,Suzanne and your kind words.
    Loved your bee - not just the way it was painted so perfectly but I found the placement of it was particularly perfect!

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  18. I'm happy you are feeling better Julie! The addition of the tablecloth is a wonderful mix with your teapot. I love the way you bring us into the painting by the way you positioned the creamers. It is a perfect painting because I am a huge fan of Van Gogh and your work, really the best of both worlds for me!

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  19. Sorry you've been poorly, Julie. Hope you're over it soon. I've been out of circulation too.

    Love 'Tea With Van Gogh,' I'll take mine strong with a dash of 'skimmed milk' ... Assam would be nice if you have it :)

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  20. Very beautiful paintings with so nice colours !!!

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Cheers,
Julie