Redtree Times

Vincent Van Gogh- Wheat Field in the Rain,1889

If you work diligently… without saying to yourself beforehand, ‘I want to make this or that,’ if you work as though you were making a pair of shoes, without artistic preoccupation, you will not always find you do well. But the days you least expect it, you will find a subject which holds its own with the work of those who have gone before.

-Vincent Van Gogh

I really just wanted to show these two Van Gogh paintings that feature the falling rain as part of the overall composition. I recently have been particularly interested in seeking out lesser known Van Gogh paintings. There is something quite exciting about these more obscure pieces, something that fills in the blanks between the better-known work.

But beyond that, the sentiment above from Van Gogh really resonates with me. Sometimes it seems as though those paintings which you aim at with all your greatest effort fall flat while on those days when you have little idea of where the work will go, something special emerges quite unexpectedly.

It is those days and those paintings that you crave as an artist. Oh, it is gratifying to create work that you feel is well within your body of work. That is to say, work which follows a path you have trod upon many times before. These paths are well trod because they offer the artist the fastest route to their artistic voice. And it is in that voice that originality resides. As writer Vladimir Nabokov pointed out: Artistic originality has only its own self to copy.

But to have those days where the work created takes you to new places that surprise you– well, that is beyond gratification. It has an almost religious aspect, like a confirmation of one’s belief in something greater.

But those days are often rare and come without a hint of what might emerge. Sitting here now, I don’t know if today will be one of those days. But just knowing that it is in the realm of possibility makes me anxious to get at it.

Enjoy the Van Goghs. I am going to move into my day and work with the diligence of which Van Gogh wrote.

[This is an edited and updated version of a blog post that ran in 2015. I have added a video of Van Gogh’s lesser known works. I think there is something to be gained in examining the entirety of an artist’s works, not just the highlights. It allows you to see how their style and vision forms, how they pick and choose those techniques and subjects that become a bigger part of their voice. And the one’s they discard. Always interesting to see.]

Vincent Van Gogh- Landscape at Auvers in the Rain