Vincent - Self Portrait - Original

Vincent Van Gogh was a troubled soul. He spent many years of his life trying to live up to the expectations of his family, his community and his artist friends like Gauguin. His father wanted him to become a priest, but his creative soul could not live with the strictures of the clergy. He lived amongst the poor and his partner for many years was a prostitute. He painted profusely but never sold one painting before he died. He had many bouts of mental illness and he was confined to a Sanitarium, where still he painted. He is most famous for his mutilation and self-harm of cutting off his ear, but few people acknowledge the depression and "madness" that Van Gogh experienced.

For me he symbolises a creative soul who tried his best to use his art to put his depression to rest.

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I am a professional artist based in the beautiful Sydney Australia. I’m originally from South Africa but have been living in Australia for nearly 13 years and I have found it to be incredible. The people are so inviting and generous and I have just loved it from day dot. I am currently enrolled in the National Art School in Darlinghurst as an aged student as a very young sixty something and I’m enjoying it very much.

A few personal things to mention about my art…
I have always felt like an outsider, except when I am being creative and brave. In recent years I have been haunted by bouts of severe trauma and great internal suffering. After not having the capacity to get out of bed or do anything for years, I have fought hard to carve out a reconnection to my creative soul. This connection still feels tentative, so I continue to use art as a healing practice every day.
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I work in mixed media - acrylics, inks, oxides, pencil, pen and markers. My style is bold, graphic, illustrative, notanized (black and white) and rich in symbols, patterns and icons. Colour and textures represent my pain and healing.
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My work is inspired by a diversity of ideas, images, cultures and people.

I hope you are inspired by my soulwork, that it speaks to your heart and that you connect with the inspiration to my healing process.