Dear Vincent, You are Still Relevant

Vincent van Gogh set an auction record in 1987 with the sale of his "Sunflowers" painting for $39.9 million at Christie's (read more here). In stark contrast, van Gogh supposedly only sold one painting during his lifetime.

I'm fascinated by the tremendous success some artists achieve posthumously, despite struggling financially during their lifetime. What did collectors not see during the artists' lives? Did the artists fail as marketers? Van Gogh made incredible paintings in his last two years of life, and I wonder if more financial success or popularity in those years would have saved him from his ultimate mental demise.

If I could write Vincent van Gogh a letter, I would tell him people care about his artwork--he is still relevant.

Relevance has to be one of my greatest motivators in art. Financial success aside, I want to know that my artwork feels relevant, that people care about what I create, that it has a place.

A wonderful man named Gregg purchased my painting of sunflowers this winter. Gregg shared the photo below with me, along with a thoughtful message about how much sunflowers mean to him, his wife, daughter and mother. The photo depicts his daughter in 1996 standing near his mother's sunflowers. Thank you, Gregg, for giving my painting a home.

When an eggplant is more than a vegetable

Abdi Haji dug through his basket of eggplants in his booth at the Capital City Public Market to find me these two luscious, deep purple beauties. With a broad smile, he told me he picked them that very morning. Abdi made the effort to find these particular vegetables once he understood my rambling explanation of using them as subjects for an oil painting.

Buying locally grown produce for my still life paintings adds an extra layer of meaning for me. Supporting local producers means keeping funds in our community and often benefits refugees. Abdi, a Somalian refugee, owns Umoja Na Uhuru World Farm and has sold produce at Boise's longstanding public market for three years.

Many refugees come to Boise through Idaho state programs, the top five countries being Iraq, Congo, Bhutan, Burma, and Somalia (see Idaho Office for Refugees for more information). An abrupt relocation often means they arrive not speaking English and with few possessions. Organizations like Global Gardens and Create Common Good offer agricultural-based programs to help refugees transition to a sustainable life here.

Out With The Stuffy!

Artists paint objects from life -- still life -- in part as a way to flex our technical muscles. We demonstrate our ability to portray textures, reflections, light and shadows through still life. The usual model is to arrange the composition with a strategic color scheme, triangular relationships and to pull your eye throughout the painting. The common viewer may not think about these devices (or care about them); they just know they like the painting.

While I put a lot of thought into the composition, I ultimately want the painting to appear beautiful. So that's my first priority. My next priority is to remove the stuffy, elitist feel a still life painting can connote. I did not make this painting for the people who make up the top 10 percent of wealth in this country, even if one of them buys it. What do you think when you visit a museum and see a large realist painting of exotic flowers in a decorative vase or a Dutch Golden Age still life with pheasant, gourds, copper kettles, figs and the like? I think, damn, what an incredible painting and a talented painter. And then I think, damn, the patron must have been wealthy. I bet that painting hung in their foyer over a gold brocade chaise lounge with velvet pillows and a Pomeranian dog.

My figs got drunk. They are leaning on each other, falling over and dancing on the cheese. I named the painting "Full-boded with a Hint of Fig," not "Still Life with Figs, Cheese and Wine...hurr, hurr, schmee, schmee" (insert tightening of a neck tie and a golf clap). I made this painting for people who appreciate a beautiful work of art but don't take themselves too seriously.

By the way, my sister commissioned this painting and my aunt and uncle commissioned me to make another one using grapes in place of figs. I'm pretty tickled that my family gets me.

Handmade Pottery & Snow Giant Peach

Midwest potter Karen Brinson, whom I found on Etsy, made this lovely blue vase custom for me. I wanted a vivid cobalt blue vase with a shiny finish that would reflect subjects set next to it. She nailed it. Karen and her husband Ken own KK Brinson Studio and work in a barn they built in their backyard. Visit KK Brinson Studio on Etsy here.

I purchased the luscious snow giant peach at the Boise Farmer's Market.Half the fun of painting fresh produce subjects is getting to consume them after I apply the last brush stroke. This peach really delivered, not to mention that I paired it with a bowl of vanilla bean ice cream. Good food fuels the soul.

I will show this painting at my upcoming BOSCO open studio tour event October 9-11. I hope you Southern Idahoans can make it.