#2438 "Autumn Sunflowers"

This larger studio painting is based on #2436 "Sunny Day Sunflower". I loved the design of the smaller painting and thought that it very much deserved a larger format. The Tri Art canvases are the best surfaces that I had at the time. I hoped that my efforts would be deserving of the fine archival surface. In addition, I felt that #2437 "Linda's Sunflowers" needed at least one companion. There might even be more. It was a mix of sun and cloud outside with a chilly northerly breeze below freezing. A Nor' Easter storm was pounding Nova Scotia and Singleton was caught up in that circulation. I needed something to work on in the Singleton Studio. 

As I painted on Sunday December 6th, 2020, I got to thinking that this date could be the anniversary of Pearl Harbour. Remembrance Day and the memories of those recent paintings were still in my mind. In fact, I was a day early but the Japanese Navy would have been sneaking up on Pearl Harbour back in 1941. The United States were not in the war at that time although they had ample intelligence that the Japanese were planning a surprise attack. Some very diligent and competent military people had it all figured out but no one was listening. Would I be able to paint these sunflowers if our side had not won the war against the Axis aggression? It would have been a very different world for sure. President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed December 7, 1941 as "a date which will live in infamy" and I never forgot that phrase. Canada declared war on Japan even before the United States responded to the attack. 

The COVID pandemic has certainly changed the world as well. We have decided to self-isolate for the duration and surround ourselves with nature and creativity. The life of a hermit artist is pretty much isolation anyway. I had canvas and oils enough to last several years. The Greatest Generation had fought and won the bloodiest, longest and largest war in history and I have them to thank for my freedom to paint. I will never forget. 

As I write these notes and remembrances as I paint, I think that they mimic the letters that Vincent wrote to his family - mainly his Brother Theo. Without those letters, the stories behind Vincent's art and thoughts would have been lost. Without Johanna Gezina van Gogh-Bonger, the Dutch editor and translator of those letters of the van Gogh brothers, all of it would have been lost. Johanna was the wife of Theo van Gogh, art dealer, and the sister-in-law of Vincent. She became the key player in the growth of Vincent's fame. Without Johanna, Vincent would have likely been unknown more like Johannes Vermeer – but that's another story. 

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