July 26, 2014
Last Tuesday a friend and I went to Auvers-sur-Oise, not to far from Paris. It is here that Vincent Van Gogh lived his last months. He died from a gunshot wound, either from his own hand, as we have long thought, but perhaps one of the local teens who’d been harassing him for his odd appearance.
Gogh did a painting of this church, now a famous piece. Here is my rendition in memory of this man who contributed so much to art and who received so little in return. I’d done a pen and ink/water color one a few years ago from a different angle and in preparation I did a sketch beforehand, both below. I needed to be more or less ready to paint when I get there as I doubt I can sit long enough to start from scratch. My butt just about died that day sitting on the ground perched against a tree doing the pen and ink. The angle he did it from is the one I sketched a few days before we went. There is nothing to lean against from his angle so my friend brought chairs. And a bottle of Absinthe.
