Right. I have skinned the happy little tree down to a skeleton. Needed to be done. I do not paint happy trees. Happy trees make me angry. This will be a serious tree, not to be fucked with. If you saw this tree in field, you'd leave it alone.
I’m still mostly making it up and not using the Van Gogh too much as reference. I didn’t want to just slavishly copy his painting of a tree. Copying a painting is like impersonating a singer. You can do it but you lose all the spontaneity and feeling of the original. And with a painting, I am removed from the original inspiration—a real live tree, growing outside in the sunlight. It's a painting of a tree inspired by a painting of a tree. I guess now is as good a place as any to mention that Van Gogh was in an asylum when he did his painting. He wasn’t the picture of excellent mental health that I am.
I’m still mostly making it up and not using the Van Gogh too much as reference. I didn’t want to just slavishly copy his painting of a tree. Copying a painting is like impersonating a singer. You can do it but you lose all the spontaneity and feeling of the original. And with a painting, I am removed from the original inspiration—a real live tree, growing outside in the sunlight. It's a painting of a tree inspired by a painting of a tree. I guess now is as good a place as any to mention that Van Gogh was in an asylum when he did his painting. He wasn’t the picture of excellent mental health that I am.