Paint Like Van Gogh

For centuries in Western art, students copied the masters to learn from them. Artist Larry Withers leads would-be painters to recreate, step-by-step, one of Vincent van Gogh's well-known “Sunflowers” paintings (“Still Life: Vase with Twelve Sunflowers,” 1889, which now hangs in the Philadelphia Museum of Art). Using a technique called “projection,” Withers shows how to first transfer the elements of the original to a blank canvas by using a grid, then transform it into a template that works as a more complex version of the “paint-by-numbers” approach. Van Gogh was known for his use of brilliant color, and Withers shows how some colors were mixed on a palette, while others came directly from paint tubes. He discusses how matching colors and techniques can be difficult, because of the differences between paint materials in the 1800s and those of today. Finally, Withers notes that van Gogh painted with enthusiasm, and although this is the most difficult quality to imitate, Withers encourages students to paint with abandon. This DVD has a rich extras package—including a mini-poster reproduction of the original painting, a schematic of color swatches, and PDF files of reference materials. Recommended. Aud: P. (C. Block)