The Yellow Chair Finds a Home

The Yellow Chair finds a home in a corner of the sunroom, along with Van Gogh and "Starry Night Sunflowers", a painting by Valerie Jones.

I hope the chair will be happy here. I'm certainly happy to have it; I can enjoy it everyday. 

Bye, bye, Vinny's Garden

Valerie & I met at the library to dismantle Vinny's Garden.

Thanks to all who came to view our display.

We got so many positive remarks.

And Valerie sold 2 paintings!

Valerie Jones & Alex True

Artist's Statement

Artist's Statement for Vinny's Garden

I recently viewed the movie, At Eternity's Gate, which is another portrayal of the artist Vincent van Gogh and his oppressed, obsessed attempt to deal with life by painting. And the result of his "mania" is a body of work that has captivated art lovers for over a century.

I too am obsessed; obsessed with the joy of making art. I love to immerse myself in the process of manipulating paint, paper, ink, pastels, and using all the "toys" I get to play with as an artist. And my goal of this flower series was to show how much fun I had playing with the materials that make me so happy.

Lilacs from my yard.

Vincent Van Gogh painted: 
                  sunflowers,
                  cherry blossoms,
                  poppies,
                  lavender,
                  and fields of flowers, 
                  but did he paint lilacs?

Welcome to Vinny's Garden

Vinny's Garden

Van Gogh on Dark Water

Quote of the Week

"I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day."
                       Vincent van Gogh

The Color of the Week

The color of the week is: YELLOW

It's Vincent van Gogh again; this time with his painting of his YELLOW chair.

I have been looking for months for my own YELLOW chair, and I finally found it. More to come.

Van Gogh continued

The challenge: paint a portrait of Vincent van Gogh.
This really isn't what I do, so I am out of my comfort zone, but I'll give it a try.

This is what I'm working from.

Here is stage one.

Here is where I'm at now.

Believe me, an artist is more critical of her work than anyone.

This painting has a long way to go before I will be happy with it.

I can't believe I'm exposing myself like this.

Quote of the Week

"It is only when I stand painting before my easel that I feel in any way alive."
Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van toe

I was at the Philbrook Museum the other day and of course there was Vincent. He follows me everywhere. This time he brought some friends.

Sunflower + Sunflower

Van Gogh Sunflowers, they're everywhere. I snapped this one in a gallery this summer.

A real sunflower, and from my "garden". I have a small spot in the backyard that always makes me wonder: what should I try to grow this year. Well the sunflower won & did it grow! With a tape measure it was actually 15" across, and it won the Grand Champion prize at the county fair. 

Look at this !

Where was I in August? Well, I'm glad you asked. I was in Texas. And look what I found. This work inspired by van Gogh's Starry Night.

Loving Vincent

I missed the movie Loving Vincent when it was at the theatre, but thankfully the library ordered it.

It's an animated feature mostly on the end of this life, and animated in the style of van Gogh. It's real "eye candy".

And van Gogh inspired young artists to create these works for the student art show on exhibit now at Price Tower.

Vincent Van Gogh

I'm a Dr. Who fan from way back. Our local college TV station is now running the entire Tom Baker episodes.

But today I just happened to find a more recent Dr. Who episode where the Dr. takes Vincent to a gallery where his paintings are on display. I could just feel the wonderment in Vincent as he viewed his paintings. It gave me wonderful chills of excitement. Then the head of the gallery heaps praise upon Vincent & his work which brings tears to Vincent's eyes as well as mine.

As artists we can relate to Vincent's joy for being recognized for the work he loved.

Memorial Day

If Vincent had the opportunity to celebrate Memorial Day with us he would probably decorate graves with sunflowers.

Vincent & Pointillism

Self Portrait
Vincent van Gogh
technique: Pointillism

Pointillism= a Post Impressionist  technique where the paint is applied in small distinct dots of color. This technique uses to eye's ability to blend color. Up close you see dots, but back away and the colors blend.

Van Gogh Again?

I let Vincent into my life and now he's following me everywhere. Today I went to the Philbrook Museum in Tulsa and there he was waiting for me in the gift shop !!!!

My van Gogh II

I did some more work on this painting. Actually, I'm pretty satisfied with the hat; now if I can just leave it alone.