So, the Van Gogh plan.
As i was saying I'd like to use Van Gogh as an artist's template.
What does that mean?
His life, his work, both?
My initial thoughts were to live my life as Van Gogh lived his. At least to live in the same cities and villages as he did. Maybe I could also live life like he did: unemployed and totally consumed with his art.
One could take that idea quite literal, for example and attempt to live like a poor person did in Europe in the 1880's.
I could attempt to live without electricity and use a simple wood burner stove to cook on, grind my own paints etc.
But the reality is that the world has changed so much for that.
While it's possible to physically live without electricity, it would be difficult to accomplish in practice.
Even when one takes on a lease agreement in France (and Ireland) one must ring the electricity provider and change the account into your name. I suppose I could stop there, and basically use no electricty, but I would still be paying for the service.
Also, in France the provider charges a pro-rated amount of electricity each month and automactially debits your bank account. So in effect I would be paying for electricity whether I used it or not.
Now of course, I could reclaim this money after a year's duration, when the provider takes the final metre reading, minus the monthly fee for having the service in the first place.
Secondly, finding a living place equiped with an actual wood burner would prove difficult, not impossible I suppose.
I may have to skirt around local fire regulations however as many old places might be equipped with a chimney, the local laws forbid it's use during summer months.
**Hey i just had an idea, a small Caravan would do. I could equip it with my own wood burner, move it to the nearest campsite and not use electrictiy hookups. It would probably be low-rent living, depending upon where I can park it up.****
Anyway, doing my cooking over a woodburner is really a non-runner as I would be spending a lot of time everyday mitigating simple functions of living like cooking meals, rather than painting. So a gas burner would be a must...
Anyway food for thought.
In all reality, living life like Van Gogh did in the 1880's by itself, is not necessarily a requirement in using Van Gogh as my template. Vincent Van Gogh didn't shun the technology of his age. he used TUBES of paint and portable easels in the field. These were inventions of the time that enabled the Impressionists to undertake painting en plein air. He was a modern man living in a modern time, struggling with concepts about himself, his place in the modern world, and finding his feet in world of artistic expression and aesthetics in a particularly revolutionary time.
As i was saying I'd like to use Van Gogh as an artist's template.
What does that mean?
His life, his work, both?
My initial thoughts were to live my life as Van Gogh lived his. At least to live in the same cities and villages as he did. Maybe I could also live life like he did: unemployed and totally consumed with his art.
One could take that idea quite literal, for example and attempt to live like a poor person did in Europe in the 1880's.
I could attempt to live without electricity and use a simple wood burner stove to cook on, grind my own paints etc.
But the reality is that the world has changed so much for that.
While it's possible to physically live without electricity, it would be difficult to accomplish in practice.
Even when one takes on a lease agreement in France (and Ireland) one must ring the electricity provider and change the account into your name. I suppose I could stop there, and basically use no electricty, but I would still be paying for the service.
Also, in France the provider charges a pro-rated amount of electricity each month and automactially debits your bank account. So in effect I would be paying for electricity whether I used it or not.
Now of course, I could reclaim this money after a year's duration, when the provider takes the final metre reading, minus the monthly fee for having the service in the first place.
Secondly, finding a living place equiped with an actual wood burner would prove difficult, not impossible I suppose.
I may have to skirt around local fire regulations however as many old places might be equipped with a chimney, the local laws forbid it's use during summer months.
**Hey i just had an idea, a small Caravan would do. I could equip it with my own wood burner, move it to the nearest campsite and not use electrictiy hookups. It would probably be low-rent living, depending upon where I can park it up.****
Anyway, doing my cooking over a woodburner is really a non-runner as I would be spending a lot of time everyday mitigating simple functions of living like cooking meals, rather than painting. So a gas burner would be a must...
Anyway food for thought.
In all reality, living life like Van Gogh did in the 1880's by itself, is not necessarily a requirement in using Van Gogh as my template. Vincent Van Gogh didn't shun the technology of his age. he used TUBES of paint and portable easels in the field. These were inventions of the time that enabled the Impressionists to undertake painting en plein air. He was a modern man living in a modern time, struggling with concepts about himself, his place in the modern world, and finding his feet in world of artistic expression and aesthetics in a particularly revolutionary time.
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