Van Gogh

It seems like when you ask most people what their favorite painting is, the go to piece is the classic Starry Starry Night. When you ask someone who their favorite artist is, the answer that I generally hear is Van Gogh. Vincent Van Gogh no doubt has an interesting and twisted history. His life style is that of a classic tortured artist. On the verge of losing his mind the man even cut off his ear for his love of a prostitute named Ursula as the story goes.

His parents never believed in him, he lived most of his life in isolation and he lived through letters to his brother. I.e. this is the perfect concoction for a true artist cocktail. Talent, pain, grief, a dash of mad, and poof we have an artist.

No doubt Van Gogh's art is amazing. I could stare at it for hours and admire his unique technique. There's no wonder why when you walk into a dorm anyone with even a slight interest in art has some painting from Van Gogh hanging on there wall.

In fact, I happen to be guilty of this as well!

However I have one confession that I have about Van Gogh.... Am I allowed to say that I'm sick of seeing his classic paintings everywhere? I see it on people's Wardrobe, Bags, I've seen Starry Starry night credit cards,  Umbrellas,and Ties. Please for the love of God, I know it's a beautiful painting but find another way to channel your inner artist please. If I see one more way in which Starry Starry Night has been mass produced to make money, I'll feel even more blank when I look at the painting that used to inspire me.

So, this brings me to my main point. As I was web searching I came across a web site that seemed to breath some life into Van Gogh. Using the new tilt-shift feature Van Gogh's painting takes one a new spin.

Shift-Tilt Photography , in a nutshell is selective focus. The cool part is it makes pictures simulate a miniature scene. I've seen this effect make large cities look like a room in a doll house.  Simply put, it's really unique and cool. 

So when I found that Serena Malyon used the shift-tilt on Van Gogh's artwork I instantly breathed a relieved sigh. Finally a spin on Van Gogh's work that utilizes his painting's depth and shows off his talent instead of exploiting it.

I think this is a creative way to mix old classic art with new technique. In fact it inspired me to try out some shift-tilt artwork of my own... To say the least I need practice but with this tutorial practice is made easy.