Art, Transport, Alam Spillett

 
ART SUNDAY; TRANSPORT AND A WELSH ARTIST.

This weekend I seen to have got a bit ‘stuck’ on the transport theme. This first painting is so well known it doesn’t really need an introduction. I start here because this because this is a place I have thought about visiting. To get there I will need transport, I rather like the idea of taking a train and enjoying the changing scenery along the way.
 This café was renovated a couple of years ago and, as far as possible, returned to the way it was when Van Gogh painted it. If I ever get there this place will remind me very much of all the art we have shared here.

VAN GOGH TERACE CAFÉ AT NIGHT 1888.
Cafe Terrace at Night: This exterior of a café on the Place du Forum in Arles was painted after Van Gogh moved to the south of France in 1888. Vincent van Gogh was excited by the colours and light he found in the south. He was eager to experiment and tried to show the range of colours seen at night.
In a letter from Van Gogh to his sister, he describes the painting of the night cafe "... here there is a night picture without any black, nothing but beautiful blue and violet and green, and in those surroundings the lighted square is coloured sulphur yellow and limey green."

The next two paintings are by different artists and from different times and places but both show transport over the water.

VAN GOYEN VIEW OF THE DORDRECHT 1644.
Van Goyen frequently painted the distinctive view of the Dutch town of Dordrecht. The bold bulk of its main church, the Groote Kerk, with its unfinished spire, dominates the view across junction of the busy river Maas. He painted it over twenty times from varying distances and in different weather conditions. Here blustery winds push a ferry-boat's sails and whip up the choppy waves which rock the fishermen's boat. Despite being one of Holland's most prolific landscape artists van Goyen died in debt, having lost a lot of money speculating on the price of tulips in 1637.

Ford Maddox Brown
The last of England 1855

This image reveals the mixed emotions of the emigrants as they travel from the English shore in the small boat to the ship. Clippers were ships powered by sails with three or four tall masts and were totally dependant on the wind.

And to conclude I would like to introduce a contemporary Welsh artist who paints what he describes as ''Roadscapes''

http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/mid/sites/arts/pages/roadscapes.


Artist Profile - Alan Spillett, this is how he describes himself

At my home in Aberaeron. I've been based in Aberaeron for the past 20 years. I knew the area from trips I used to make as a lorry driver. I also knew that there was interest in my kind of work in this part of the country after meeting a bus load of West Walians years ago at the Leyland Museum in Lancashire. I picked up 15 commissions in one day!
‘’am a self-taught artist. I did Art 'A' Level with a view to studying Fine Art. My parents didn't rate Art as a serious job. After I left school, I worked as a long distance lorry driver, away for the week. During this time, I would take books away with me - 20th century art, Monet etc - and study how different artists put colours together. I went back to painting in the early 1980s and entered a local art exhibition with a lorry painting. It was well received so I started to work full-time as an artist in 1984.’’
I like this mans honesty, he paints what he knows and what he is fond of. His work is unpretentious; it is what it is and claims to be nothing more. This is a working class man who is mostly self taught and who simply loves to paint. I am about to post more of his work in an album, just wish I could have got bigger pictures.

delete reply veryfrank wrote on Dec 1, '08, edited on Dec 1, '08 This is the version that is available in the US. http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/mid/sites/arts/pages/roadscapes.shtml

delete reply veryfrank wrote on Dec 1, '08 Van Gogh's night paintings have long been among my absolute favorites. It is always a pleasure to see them and an exciting experience to visit the locations where he painted. The paintings by Alan Spillett are exceptional in their attention to detail. I am quite impressed. I have a close friend, from Holland, and she has several reproductions of Van Goyen's work that she brought with her. I always enjoy studying them when I visit her home.

delete reply lauritasita wrote on Nov 30, '08 Loretta, the Van Gogh paintings are my favorite. The Museum of Modern Art still has that wonderful exhibit going on in New York. I just saw it this weekend again. Tickets were sold out in minutes !

delete reply brendainmad wrote on Nov 30, '08 I admire self-taught people too.