A Yellow Painting

 

A painting I hope to see in person one day: 'The Yellow House', by Vincent van Gogh.
It was painted in September 1888, and is now kept in the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam. This was the house he was living in at that time, in Arles in France, and he called it 'The House and its Surrounds' ('La Maison et son entourage'), and later simply 'The Street' ('La Rue'). It is now known as 'The Yellow House', for obvious reasons.
On the left under the tree is the café where he used to eat his meals.


This is one of his lesser-known paintings, but I like the bright sunniness of it - and it fits into the yellow theme!

Beautiful Trees #6

The strange and beautiful Nikau palm is the southernmost growing of all the palms, and is endemic to New Zealand.  I love its strong shape and its dense, angular top. 

The palm is intrinsically of great appeal to artists, both for its shape and its associations, and appears in the works of many New Zealand painters.  This is by Jenny Bennett:

The tree grows to heights of 10 metres. The single stem (it's very rare for there to be more than one, or for there to be side branches) is marked with rings left by the marks of leaves which have fallen.
The leaves are about 1 to 3 metres long, and were used by the Māori in building. The top of the stem is fleshy and juicy and was (is?) sometimes eaten.









Here is another one of Jenny's paintings: (see www.jennybennett.com)

This is a different interpretation - by Sandi O'Neill (see www.newzealand-artist.co.nz)

To me the Nikau is a strong symbol of home.  Beautiful New Zealand, with its beaches, its forests, its magnetic pull when I'm away. Summer, sea, sand..... my idea of happiness

A Favourite Painting

This is by an artist whose work I like very much, Shane Cotton.  It is called View, and was painted in 1995.

Rob Gonsalves

A new discovery for me:

I had never met this painter's work until today, when a friend who knows that I like what he calls "wierd and interesting stuff" sent me a link to it.  And I do like these slightly surreal, somewhat Escher-esque but very well-behaved paintings.  I could live with one on my wall.
The top one is named "Tributaries", the second "De Basm".  They both have a good deal more texture than is apparent here.

Ok, I guess everyone else has been enjoying his stuff for years. *sigh*

Beautiful Trees # 1

Nokutuwhenu
by Sofia Minson