Van Gogh: The Starry Night, 1889
What a gift Van Gogh left us! A series of stimulating paintings which seem like they could have been painted yesterday.
And they can be pretty well entirely painted with just one brush. How cool is that?
The hand of Van Gogh. Actually it's my hand but all hands are pretty similar for the purpose of painting. In this lesson we get the opportunity to practice the basic brush stroke.
With just one brush and one stroke we can create many different textures.
Analysing focal points and composition using the rule of 3rds.
We use the ideas of Cezanne as described in my book "How to Sketch Shapes" to analyse the composition of the painting.
Perspective. What is it? How do we use it to paint a landscape?
Analysing the work as a traditional landscape painting.
Van Gogh uses a contrapuntal arabesque as his central motif.
My simplified painting of the scene enables us to clearly see the brush strokes and textures. We also use printouts and a large computer display.
Students in this class invariably come up with their own versions of the painting. Attend the class and create your own!
