Thursday, December 6, 2012

The Van Gogh Series :: Sunflowers


I did a guest post over at Gloria's New End Studio blog last Sunday. What a fun idea, and exciting to see myself posted over on a bloggy friend's site! Just in case you missed it click over, or read on below for my continuing Van Gogh series .....

Vincent Van Gogh is an artist who had periods of visionary creativity juxtaposed with times of deep despair. Such a complex story, but then that is what this series is about. Taking certain aspects of his life and using that as creative juices.

You might recall that I mentioned having a bowl of earring 'singles.' I have this bad habit of creating only one earring because I love the creative process, and then I grow tired of duplicating my efforts. As inspiration, I've chosen Van Gogh and his rich use of color to motivate me.

Van Gogh moved to Arles, France in 1888 where he was enchanted by the local landscape and light. His works from this period are deeply influence by intensity of color and light on his subject. Yellow is prominent in his paintings of the wheat field series, haystacks and sunflowers. A letter home from Vincent to his brother Theo noted of painting bunches of sunflowers on multiple panels "the whole thing will be a symphony in blue and yellow." He worked on it from early sunrise to afternoon when he lost the light on the flowers. You can see the richness of color throughout his many paintings during this period. And as a little inspiration I created an Etsy Treasury as a tribute to Van Gogh's sunflower yellows. 

I picked up my unfinished pair of lemon quartz dangle earrings. I love this color, but wanted to add a rich secondary color with them as the quartz can be a little timid. I don't normally mix and match colors like this, but I was going with it from Vincent's influence. I added ruby rondelles to mimic the deep richness of the center of the sunflowers which play off the yellow. That is influence for this pair that you'll find finally posted in my Etsy shop!

19 comments:

  1. The earring is so beautiful. The lemon quartz and rubies work surprisingly well together! Congrats on your guest feature over on Gloria's blog :)

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  2. Van Gogh has always been a favorite of mine...especially the sunflowers (which are also a favorite of mine)! The earrings you've created are gorgeous! Thanks for stopping by my blog and for the follow -- one of the reasons I *love* blog hops is the opportunity to meet new bloggers! :)

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  3. Beautiful earrings! I love seeing the paintings from Van Gogh and how you related them to your earrings! I clicked and commented on your treasury! Have a great one ;o)

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  4. The earrings turned out beautiful (wait...earring?? Earrings??) I continue to admire your inspiration series:)

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  5. The earrings are lovely -- Vincent would be proud!

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  6. How awesome to take inspiration from paintings in this manner! I love learning about your creation process and getting your insight about the work behind it.

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  7. Lemon and red are a good combo here ♥ I love how VG is inspiring in design, not only art.

    Thanks for being my Guest Post!

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  8. Beautiful earrings! and great inspiration!!!
    Have a wonderful weekend, dear! and my G+...

    Besos, desde España, Marcela♥

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  9. Beautiful earrings and fun to read about your inspiration!

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  10. These earrings are so pretty! I can see how you were inspired by sunflowers :)

    xo

    Ashley

    Southern (California) Belle

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  11. What a great inspiration, love how you're offset the red and yellow. Van Gogh is both gorgeous and stimulating with all those wavy golds.

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  12. I love the sunflower inspired earrings,gorgeous colours! x

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  13. a pair! You have a pair of earrings! Congratulations! I love how you related these earring to Van Gogh, a favorite artist of mine.
    The color yellow reminds me of my mother, who loved it and was a light.

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  14. oh they are so light and beautiful. They feel fluid and airy.

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  15. how wonderful that one of my favorite impressionist inspired these lovely earrings. Thank you for sharing at the Thursday Favorite Things blog hop xo

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  16. Has finally arrived!!!! Thank you very much!!!!
    Is very pretty!!! I have no words ....
    Hope you like my post, Cynthia!!!
    ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

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  17. How amazing! Congrats on your art!:) xo

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  18. very beautiful and so creative! I feel very inspired!

    Lyosha
    Inside and Outside Blog
    P.S. I'm hosting a glasses giveaway on my blog here check it out!
    p.P.S. your blog is stunning! following you now

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