Yet more Van Gogh...

My next little breadcrumbs on the Van Gogh weaving trail led me to thinking about Van Gogh's painting surfaces. Sometimes he painted on linen, other times it was coarse jute and then sometimes he'd use something like a repurposed kitchen towel (torchon).

These surfaces were mentioned in Silverman's book and doing a bit more research led me to The Automated Thread Count Project and its work with The Van Gogh Museum. In short, X rays are used to look at the canvas under the paint which allows threads to be counted in an easier and more accurate way than by looking through a loupe. Matches have been made between Van Gogh's canvasses and other artists canvasses.

So I wanted to play with linen and similar materials and see where those explorations took me. A few glimpses of different work follow...

Van Gogh's Yarn Box

While I was reading Van Gogh and Gauguin by Debora Silverman, she mentions Van Gogh's yarn box. I was intrigued and hadn't remembered encountering the subject before. There's a black and white photo here along with an interesting read relating the yarn box and its possible relationship to the then new ideas of kindergarten, teaching children and play. Color photo here.

So, inspired by that object, I wanted to make some yarn to use in this Van Gogh/Weaving project. I wanted to include colors and textures that reminded me of Van Gogh - I don't yet know how I'll incorporate this yarn into the show project...below are two stages of the same yarn. Still thinking, but will post how I decide to incorporate into weaving.