VAN GOGH IMMERSION

I’d been dabbling with painting for a couple of years. No one in my family would have thought I’d be interested in “doing” art. When I was younger, I quit every craft project I ever started, then usually gave it to my mom to finish. Fageddabout drawing faces. I was lucky if I could draw a stick figure. But anytime I went to an arts and crafts fair or to an art gallery, I’d step back and think. “That sells? I could do that.”

I started with colored pencils. One of the first goals I found hard to meet was to fill an entire page, edge to edge. Once I could fill an 8X10 sketch pad sheet, I graduated to larger paper, then on to canvas and acrylics (although I do still work on cardboard. A 55 inch TV box is a great medium to paint on.

One day my son called and asked if I’d like to go to the Van Gogh Immersion in Orlando - catch - go with a complete stranger - his roommate’s mother. The ticket was free. Sure why not. She and I traded cell phone #’s. We found each other at the Orlando Arts Center and entered the theatre, an immense room with a bench here and there. Most people were standing, turning, gazing at the walls where the breath-taking “experience” was being projected. We weren’t asked to leave once the viewing was finished, so we stayed for a second, this time sitting. We were warmed with Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, awed by his Starry Night, captured by The Church at Auvers.

We didn’t talk much and when the show was over went our separate ways. At home, my Van Gogh Immersion experience poured out of me onto a 28” by 40” piece of cardboard - why not? An artist who showed at the Orlando Museum of art was famous for his paintings on cardboard.

I take photos of all my art. Doesn’t everyone save to digital images these days? (Who says “these days” these days?) I finished my Van Gogh Immersion painting with an iridescent wash. Look what happened when I took the photo. Talk about a Van Gogh Immersion experience!