Seurat’s influence on Van Gogh

Van Gogh’s highly original interpretation of Seurat’s pointillism, the use of separate dots of unmixed colour, gradually paved the way for a strikingly individual and expressive method of applying colour in streaks and dashes which would henceforth typify Van Gogh’s brushstroke no less than his drawing style.

—The Letters of Vincent van Gogh

I wondered how he developed that “streaks and dashes” style! Makes sense now.

Art in the Park

Some highlights from Art in the Park, which I went to a couple of weekends ago:

  • Seeing Lisa Call’s textile paintings in the flesh. I especially loved the texture of them, but also the colour and compositions.
  • Chatting with Nic Dempster, who paints these colourful, stylised scenes of suburban houses. I really like his paintings, and he was friendly and down to earth.
  • Chatting with Pete Cernis, who trained at The Florence Academy. 😮 I absolutely love his atmospheric paintings. And his drawings… Frankly, they make me want to give up. But he was very encouraging when I told him I was learning to draw and paint, and he even said I could email him if I wanted some input. I’m not sure whether I have the guts to take him up on it!
  • Volker Hawighorst’s objects. I didn’t realise until I got up close that they were made from bread-bag tags! Some of them were quite beautiful.

I also got a free tour of Eden Park and learnt some trivia about it, which was fun ahead of going to see the All Whites play Australia this weekend. ⚽