March 1, 2015
When you are tempted to put down someone's artwork or music, remember this quote from an "artist" named Tersteeg: "Of one thing I am sure, you are no artist." He said this to Vincent van Gogh!
"Choo Choose" Scratchboard, Sunflowers and a massive book on Vincent van Gogh's artwork
My goal today is to cull the best lines and tidbits out of the two biographies I have been reading for the past three months:
BBB sketches and Daily Whipouts amongst the massive, dueling bios of van Gogh.
For all of us who attempt to do something original and true, there is much to admire. When Vincent was starting on his artistic journey in the fall of 1880 (when Billy the Kid, Wyatt Earp and Jesse James were in their prime) Vincent was mocked, shunned and humiliated as he tried to sketch in public places. He was asked to leave more than one location and the police in Paris kicked him off the street for drawing (in Paris!!!!!). On a visit to a potato market, someone in the jostling crowd "spat his quid of tobacco" on van Gogh's paper. And it never ended. Right up to the end, Hooligans would mock him, grab his paint tubes and squeeze them on the sidewalk. That he continued to go out and seek the real things in everyday life, is damn brave. I realize this is sacrilege, but, to me, he was braver than those guys at the O.K. Corral because unlike the 27 seconds the cowboys and the Earps endured at the street fight, Vincent's fight lasted almost ten years and he endured hundreds of put downs, insults and incarceration and still went down swinging. As I said, there's much to be admired in this crazy Dutchman, but his fanatic focus in the face of scorn and failure is nothing short of breathtaking.
"An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail."
—Edwin H. Land