Friday, December 14, 2007

Orange Fire

Do not call for the Firesquad! This is the name of a Daler-Rowney color, a very strong one, a quite devious one... A wonderful one if you come to master it... In this Karin nude I don't really know if I did... But the color is there and I like it. Van Gogh - they say (and he says it himself in one or two letters) loved yellow chrome. Me, I like fire orange or orange fire. Of course, I'm not Van Gogh but in the sense that anche io sono pittore. My paintings are not, in all probability, to be ever sold with the record 75 (or 82 in other sources) millions USD as The Portrait of Dr. Gachet did, bought by Mr. R. Sato (or some other japanese name soundin like it)... By the way, the record sale was topped in 1994 by The Boy with a pipe (a "periode rose" painting) by Picasso... Tough luck!
Even if I will cut both my ears and even do a Bibitt thing, I won't succed in egalizing Van Gogh posthume fame. People are kind of accustomed with all possible atrocities, after the 2 world wars, a Holocaust or two, not to mention the more recent wars and atrocities. A cut ear AND a suicide will bring you, MAYBE, a small article in a local newspaper (about the same attention Van Gogh ear got in Arles). So I better keep my ears and continue to love fire orange... At least, the possibility is not totally excluded I'll "fire"up the heart of some collector...

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Sherbrooke landscape

This is the Blanchard Park, where I used to come with my friend Clement to draw portraits... When there where no humans willing to pose I usually exerced my brushes on the surrounding landscape. This is one of the results: an acrylic ink and watercolor, on Arches paper. The season was early spring, on a windy, crisp afternoon...