Van Gogh and new series

Due to the homework, I do for my art studies, I will have to paint several pictures of the “Old Masters”. So far I did not do this very often, because it goes against my grain to copy somebody else’s work. On the other hand, I do realize that there is a lot to be learned from such as task. That’s why I had started doing some “Copycats” last year, even though for most of them I used a different medium than the original.

This time my assignment was to paint watercolors from old masters in watercolor. As expected that was a very interesting and informative process. However, I could not help it to still do my own version of the painting. As a result, I had the idea to start a series called R+R – reproduction and reinterpretation.

Here are the first two paintings of this series – a copycat painting from Van Gogh’s Pollard Willow and a reinterpretation of the same painting, both painted in watercolor in March.

You may guess yourself which one is my reinterpretation. 😉

Afterward, I discovered that my reproduction is not a real one, because Van Gogh used not just watercolor but several other mediums, such as chalk, for this painting. Van Gogh seems to have been quite taken by this tree. He mentioned it several times in his correspondence with his brother-in-law (?), before he even started sketching and painting it.