Someone seems to have discovered the reason why over the years Vincent Van Gogh's famous yellow
Sunflowers have been fading into a brownish haze. Don't leave us, Van Gogh's Sunflowers! Even if you
are a floral symbol of
monarchy!
(Sun = Leo = natural ruler =
divine right of kings, as they think.)
Well, truth is, I have no sunflowers about the place for publishing here but I can sympathize with one of my favorite master painters. If only he could be around to decry this unfortunate fading which is seemingly due to something Van Gogh added to his palette himself to make his colors...brighter! It's a sad and classic case of unintended consequences, right?
This reminds me of some artwork I perpetrated in 1996, the first I'd drawn on black paper since high school art classes; then I had photos taken of the pieces which were transferred onto slides - no desktop publishing then, at least not for moi.
But when I scanned the slides for my art files later on, I found that a certain fading, yellowing, or,
browning had occurred which you may just be able to
peek through in this example of an original illustration from 1996,
Pattillo Armadillo Arrives Late:
There's Pattillo on the grassy bank, upper left, as he arrives too late for an important neighborhood meeting (as the story goes.) If only the community's organizers had had
Twitter in 1996! That's a falling star plunking into the water and some curious fish investigating.
Actually, this is one of the first portraits I ever did of my children's book character
Pattillo Armadillo and it illustrates a story which I won't regale you with now. Compare the above drawing's 3rd generation, muddied tones to the much more recent drawing, same character,
Pattillo Finds Mystery Footprints (at the Pond), below:
A clear difference, yes? ;p
Well, great tasks can be accomplished these days by expert art restorers and I hope their skills and experience may successfully rescue the fading Sunflowers of Vincent Van Gogh.To read a brief yet intimate profile concerning the hero's journey of the inestimable Pattillo Armadillo, click
here for a Gather feature with pictures.
~:~
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