to life and art!
I have loved this particular Matisse inspired contest, since it's given me a reason to look again at the marvelous sense of color and brushwork of a truly inspired artist. Eons ago, when I was a student of painting and aspiring towards Sargent and Whistler and Eakins, I wondered if that old saw about needing to "suffer for one's art" was true...I mean, was Vincent Van Gogh's painting sublime because of the torment he suffered in his short life? A fellow painter suggested I look at Matisse as an artist who enjoyed the quiet unruffled bourgoise life, and flung all his passion and innovation into his work. Brilliant! I saw a retrospective of his paintings in Washington DC at some point in the 1980s and it was a revelation. Color! Space, Simplicity! I love the way he'd riff on an oriental carpet or Victorian wallpaper! So here's my suggestion for a tablecloth under an Henri Matisse still life. Zoom in to see how much fun I had with the brushstrokes!