This week I took a break from my studio and headed down to the South of France on a bit of a Van Gogh Art tour.  It was fascinating to see how little of an impact Van Gogh had on Arles, whilst some of his most amazing paintings come from there.  If you know some of Van Gogh’s paintings, it is hard not to see his paintings in every building! They all look like Van Gogh art work to me. 

It was brilliant to see the site of ‘The Yellow House’, where he painted and lived with Gaugin in Arles.  Unfortunately, the house was bombed during the second world war, but the background buildings are still there, so it’s easy to imagine the two inspirational painters living their life out in this beautiful part of the South of France.  And the colours are amazing – beautiful light and soft stone.

The Romans also thought so, and there is far more to see regarding the Roman architecture, including a stunning Roman amphitheatre, where Van Gogh painted his painting ‘Spectators in the Arena At Arles’. 

And one of my particular favourites is ‘The Café Terrace at Night’ and again, in viewing seeing this in real life, it looks just like a Van Gogh painting!

Another busy week in my French art studio this week as I complete a large garden painting commission as well as begin an oil painting of Lake Windermere in the Lake District. My elaborate underpaintings have taken a lot of time this week as I use geometric pattern to create a base for my unique landscape paintings. And this week I am heading to the South of France to check out Arles and the home of Van Gogh and Gaugin in their Yellow House, so make sure you subscribe to my channel to see updates of my art history tour this week.

Beatriz Milhazes is a Brazilian artist with an exhibition on currently at Tate St Ives (until September 2024). I am particularly drawn to her paintings because of the similarities I see in my own work. Milhazes' studio is in Rio de Janeiro and as such she is influenced by the landscape around her and the botanical gardens of Rio de Janeiro.