Hello Friends!

Yesterday, I decided to do two more pages in my Van Gogh journal. I made the portrait of Vincent into him looking like a priest. Why? He grew up in the Protestant Dutch Reformed Church in Groot-Zundert, in the North Brabant region of the Netherlands where his father was a pastor. He went to the University of Amsterdam to study theology and planned on becoming a priest. He studied hard but failed his seminary entrance exam. This was hard for him, because he wanted to help people. He loved God, and he loved people. He believed God had called him to be a pastor like his father. But thank God it didn’t work out; otherwise we wouldn’t have his incredible work today!

He did love people, though. When he went out to draw and paint, he often drew laborers, field workers, weavers, and many other people. He cared deeply about how they struggled to make a living especially after he decided to pursue art for his own life’s work. He knew he couldn’t buy art supplies without the financial support of his brother, Theo. This was difficult for him, but he and Theo loved each other very much. Vincent appreciated everything his big brother did for him. I think this is why he tried so hard to become a success and hoped to sell his work.

Obviously, I have depicted him as a Catholic priest, but that was because I just watched a movie called “Puzzle” the other night. The woman in the story is a struggling Catholic and is shown with ashes on her forehead for Ash Wednesday in a scene. That’s where that idea came from. The black and white photo in the corner is of a painting Vincent painted of his father.

And the girl on the left-hand page is a copy of a girl I drew in charcoal on cardboard last year. The quote below her says:

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else, is the greatest accomplishment.”   –Ralph Waldo Emerson–

Some of the other random pieces of collage are from copies of some of Vincent’s art as well as my own. I prepared the pages with some black and white gessos and also put some gold and green acrylic inks in places. The “spiral” in the middle is from a copy of some of my art with the sketchbook wire. I liked adding that in! This was fun as usual.

Have a wonderful day! 😀