The compositions from Van Gogh have been quite famous for a very long time now. I had several goals with the small series and the first was to update Vincent's paintings, retaining his composition while updating his treatments of the subject matter. You see Vincent was a New Age truth seeker and trail blazer long before that area was to become somewhat fashionable. Therefore the unending energy rippling through everything he rendered was not merely some expression of a post impressionistic style but rather was an expression of what he was thinking and seeking in and from his own mind. His letters to his brother Theo had many references to understand the world he experienced everyday as well as the unseen world. Therefore my primary goal was to amplify what he was thinking in his subconsious and his hands - as these thoughts are incredibley applicable even today. My second goal was a far less ambitious one. I simply wanted to paint some pictures which everyone would respond with that queasy feeling - you know the one - when someone paints an iconic composition with far less skill than the original master had. The paintings look awkward and awful but I wanted to paint them in order to understand a little bit of what Vincent may have been thinking by walking in his shoes for a mile or two.

A series of paintings titled: Postcards to Vincent (Van Gogh)

The four paintings were for the most part painted in 2007. I have found reproductions of the compositions on the Internet and have inserted them right behind each of my postcards to Vincent.

If you would care to see a photo montage of the series titled Postcards to Vincent then click the triangle button in the box below.


A musical montage of the best of the pictures which emerged from the series.

The Paintings with some commentary . . .

Postcards to Vincent: the Sower

Postcards to Vincent: The Sower

Foam and oil on canvas

Van Gogh's The Sower
Vincent's original Sower

Postcards to Vincent: Starry Night

Postcards to Vincent: Starry Night

Metal shards, foam, oil on canvas

Van Gogh's Starry Night
Vincent's original Starry Starry Night

Postcards to Vincent: Road with Cypress Tree and Star

Postcards to Vincent: Road with Cypress Tree and StarVan Gogh's Starry Night

Vincent's original

Postcards to Vincent: Orchard in blossom

Really the most awful of the pictures in the series but I don't have the tools to paint such very tiny strokes in oil - so I punted.

Postcards to Vincent: Road with Cypress Tree and Star

Van Gogh's Starry Night

Vincent's original

I could give you all the usual rationalizations as to why the series looks so bad such as three dimensional images don't photograph well and the paintings look much better with two eyes instead of a single lense but that wasn't really the point of the series. I had no expectations that the series would look anything other than muddled and dull next to the real hand of Vincent. I did however learn a great deal about myself and therefore can not recomend any more highly than the activity of making paintings which you know will come out badly and are personally meaningless. If you paint something which can only benefit you from having done it instead of having something of value as an end product - the lessons learned are incredible. Something on a par with destroying your own works. Finally I must add that I likely will dab some paint here and there and therefore though compositionally complete the paintings are not yet finished. I have found that I must live with my paintings sometimes for months and for some years, before I really know what needs to be next.

Photo montage of my postcards to Vincent Van Gogh series set to music. This montage shows the paintings much larger. Click the back button on your browser to return to this page once montage completes. Sometimes you must hit reload the page a few times as I wrote the code for the montage and it is a little glitchy. You will know when you have seen the entire montage as you will return to the starting images.

Postcards to Vincent Van Gogh with music

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