Almost halfway to a dry and warm July, we have crossed the Summer solstice and days will now get shorter and shorter. We are going through the second heatwave of the season and London is turning yellow.
Later in June, I visited The Courtauld Gallery at The Somerset House in London. And what a wonderful discovery! They have a fantastic permanent collection of impressionist and post-impressionist paintings and a temporary exhibition on Edvard Munch’s works. Must pay a visit if you are in town.
It was at the shop that I discovered a little jewel: ‘Vincent’s Books’ by Mariella Guzzoni. The promising title attracted my attention - I am extremely interested in the creative connection between words and images. This book is a journey through Van Gogh’s favourite authors and written works, and a map of how the stories and characters that accompanied him influenced his art and life choices.
This has been a remarkably pleasant and comforting reading. Whilst going through the pages, I had the strange feeling that I was getting to know Vincent at a deeper level, almost as if I was living his experiences and thoughts together with him: the books he was reading and the letters he wrote to his brother Theo - a sort of journal in which he would share his most personal insights.
It was also great to get to know more about his oeuvre and biography. And, Oh.My.God. Vincent van Gogh is really the proof that creativity is a muscle, a practice. He was so prolific in such a short period of time… Vincent, through Mariella’s words, has inspired me with his curiosity, his willingness to experiment and improve, and his determination to keep on learning and growing.
‘If I don’t study, if I don’t keep on trying, then I’m lost.’
‘One has to learn to read, as one has to learn to see and learn to live’
‘It’s looking at things for a long time that matures you and makes you understand more deeply’
Another book I picked up briefly and re-read some bits (I am not entirely sure how many times I have already read it) is ‘The Red Tenda of Bologna’ by John Berger, one of my all-time favourites.
It is a small and easy book you can read in an hour (so small that I can’t actually find it right now and I’d like to find some good quotes for you - Ah! Here it is. There are so many, though, but this is one of my dearests).
‘Time will tell, he used to say, and he said this in such a way that I assumed time would tell what we’d both be finally glad to hear. (…) I wait for what seems a long while. It’s not that with age I have become more patient. I’m as impatient as I was when I was eleven; it’s simply that I believe in time less.’
And because I am a bookworm, I can’t live without having a book in my hands. When deciding on a new book to read, I thought this would be the perfect time to re-explore Julia Cameron’s masterpiece ‘The Artist’s Way’. But more on that soon :)
Happy sketching! 💫✏️
Ana
What are you reading at the moment? Any recommendations? Please, leave a comment down below :)