One
of my favourite projects in Guatemala
is Brillo de Sol, a school for kids
with special needs. I already had the pleasure to paint two murals there, now I
just finished the third for the kids from The Universe (Grade 1 & 2). When
Ilene Kradin offered to sponsor it (her second mural already! She also
sponsored the one of the girl with rabbit and Luna the dog!), well, it was a
done deal! I didn’t even have to make a design because the teacher, Ms. Jenny,
had asked me if I could paint Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night. Well, of course! It happens to me one of my favourite
paintings and to be able to paint it on such a large scale (3.8 x 2.9m) was a
joy!
Usually
I only paint my own designs, but to pretend to be Van Gogh for a change was a great
opportunity. I was looking forward to use Van Gogh’s rough brushstrokes and
follow his swirls and curls. It’s not easy to paint someone else’s style, but
it is also a great way to really get to know a piece of art and of course learn
a lot.
Last
Saturday, Ilene and I (besides sponsoring the mural she also offered to help!)
started with a grid and than painted most of the sky. We made good progress,
but by the end of the afternoon I was not quite satisfied and couldn’t tell
exactly why. So it was good to leave it for a day and come back on Monday,
today, to finish it.
And
this morning I realized what it was I didn’t like Vincent’s brush strokes! As
much as I love them (in the original painting), they were too strong, too
fierce, too imposing… So I decided to paint over them, blend colours, soften
the whole image and make it lighter. Sorry Vincent! The result is much more
tranquil and that is a good thing, because many of the kids in this classroom
have concentration issues, so the last thing hey need is a crazy, frantic mural
in their learning environment....
For
the same reason, I also changed the Cyprus tree on the foreground. It
was too dark and gloomy, too scary. Now it’s dancing in the wind with much lighter
tones of purple, green and brown.
I
sincerely apologize to Vincent van Gogh for making changes to his masterpiece.
I hope he’d understand why. I can only say that the teacher and kids are happy
and that’s what matters most to me.
Thanks
a million to Ilene Kradin for sponsoring this and the previous mural, as well
as for helping out!
And
now that we’re back to the topic of sponsoring, the rest of the kids want a
mural too! The Ocean kids (Grade 5 & &), The Forest (Grade 3 & 4)
and The Scientists (Grade 7-8) all want to transform their wall. And you can help
to do so! Sponsor a mural for only $250 and those kids will have a permanent
work of art in their classroom… (Partial donations welcome too…)
