In his letters, van Gogh expressed his deep connection to sunflowers and the gratitude they represented for him. While the quote attributed to him, viz. “the sunflower is mine” is apocryphal; he as good as said it and is remembered as the painter of sunflowers.
For a couple of weeks in May, Canadians can proudly say “the tulips are ours”.
Ever since Dutch Princess Juliana first gifted Canada tulip bulbs after WWII, the Canadian Tulip Festival has been an annual celebration of that friendship and of spring. Visitors can view close to three and a half acres of colour in over 120 flower beds in Ottawa and Gatineau – by Canadian measure, that’s about nine NHL hockey rinks worth. That’s not counting the displays in home gardens.
With winter hanging around like a long overdue guest, thoughts of this bloom bring feelings of joy, optimism and gratitude that spring is finally coming. For painters, pastelists and all manner of colourists, its a compelling muse to capture. This piece is of a bunch “rescued” from a local grocery store.
Guoache, 8×10 on 140 lb watercolour paper mounted on gallery cradled board – $95
ISTVAN JOBST FINE ART 