Infinite Universe: July 18th, 2009 - Another Starry Night

Like I don't have enough to do... let me put that another way. Like I don't have enough to do that actually makes money and contributes to the welfare of our household... I find I still have to go back and pick up some of these projects, just because. Because I have to.

Okay. Scuttling past that butchering of the English language, some time ago (November 15th, 2008 - Starry, starry mash-up) I posted a little tribute and abstractification of one of Vincent Van Gogh's images, "Starry Night.'

I found that he had also done a pen and ink on paper sketch of the more famous oil painting, both done while he was in the sanitarium at Saint-Rémy in June, 1889. The painting depicts the view outside his sanitarium room window at night, although it was painted from memory during the day. The sketch actually came after the oil painting, which I thought was interesting.

Above, a skeptical VG shown with the oil and the sketch. He seems to be saying, "Vy are you messing with my stuff, anyvay...?" However, I think if anyone would understand, he would. I feel connected with him somehow.

I ask myself, "How can a life as complex as his and art this insightful be so misunderstood...?"

Don't know.

In the older post, I sort of separated the top and bottom of both images with Paint Shop, lifted the pieces apart, swapped and morphed them back together (after matching their sizes) so that the sketch became the foreground and lower half of the work, and the oil became the upper half.

I liked the result, and it was a fun project. I vowed to pick the whole thing back up again later and reverse the roles of the images, just to see how it would work out. It is now later.

I feel it's good to do this type of thing now and again, as it's easier to learn your "Photoshopping" skills when you have a concept in mind with a direct outcome, then you can see if you can make the program do what you want.

Here are a few of my tries. I couldn't decide what I really liked the best, so I'm throwing them all up here. I think each is unique.

I have to say I really like his original sketch a lot, sometimes oil paintings are just to much for me, like classical music in the grocery store. Just too intense.

His sketch is so subtle and versatile. It could be a pen & ink drawing, a woodblock print, or a pencil drawing. It's cool.

My tries. Apologies Vincent, my hope is that as they say, "imitation being the best form of flattery."