A Visual Feast

I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day

by Vincent van Gogh

Starry Night Over The Rhone 

Today March 30 is the birthday of Dutch impressionist painter, Vincent van Gogh.  In just over a decade he painted 860 oil paintings, 1300 watercolors, drawings, sketches and prints despite leading a troubled life. Years of painful anxiety and frequent bouts of mental illness plagued him.  

His works include self portraits, landscapes, still lifes of flowers, paintings of cypresses, wheat fields and sunflowers. This is one of his best known works of art. 

During his brief career he sold only one painting and was not really recognized as an artist. His finest works were produced in a three year period before he committed suicide. His technique before his death seemed to grow more symbolic.  Van Gogh's works were powerful, imaginative, rhythmic and emotional. It appeared he used his art work to explain his struggle against madness and trying to make sense of the co-existence of man and nature.

I liked the simplistic outlook of this following quote by van Gogh

To do good work one must eat well,

be well housed,

 have one's fling from time to time,

smoke one's pipe, 

and drink one's coffee in peace.

Jon Hassler. Minnesota author  

March 30, 1933-March 20, 2008

Today also marks the birthday of Jon Hassler. He was born in Minnesota and grew up in the small towns of the Twin Cities area. His career path took him from schoolteacher, to author and to Regent Professor at St. John's University in Collegville. His first published book was Staggerford in 1977 when he was 42. It was in this book readers were introduced to the quirky character, Agatha McGee who later appeared in two more of his novels. Hassler went on to write over 20 books and finished his last book right before his death in 2008. He died from a Parkinson's like disease. His writing is best known for exploring small town life in Minnesota and how it shaped or limited one's human potential. Many of his major characters were Catholic or lapsed Catholics. There is a theater named after him in Plainville, Minnesota. His novels North of Hope and Green Journey were adapted for television. 

There's worse ways to get old,

than rummaging around in your memories.

by Jon Hassler