5 facts about Vincent Van Gogh's Sunflowers

Sunflowers - Vincent Van Gogh - 1888 - Oil on Canvas

Hello everyone,

How are you all? 

Feel like I haven't had an art post in a while so I thought I would share with you all Vincent Van Gogh's sunflowers as it has been in the press a lot recently because of the National Gallery exhibition. This is an iconic painting and remains a fond favourite of many visitors to the National Gallery in London.

Van Gogh (1853-1890) was a Post Impressionist painter and is now one of the most well known painters in the world. 

*This version of Sunflowers hangs in the National Gallery in London

*Sunflowers was painted when Van Gogh moved to Arles in Provence while he was waiting for Paul Gauguin, a fellow painter who he admired to arrive. He dreamt of setting up a community of artists here in the yellow house that he rented and for Gauguin to be his mentor and work with him in an artistic partnership.

*There are seven paintings by Van Gogh of Sunflowers

*As you can see the majority of the painting is yellow. Yellow as a colour is usually associated with happiness and in the Netherlands is often a symbol of loyalty. This is perhaps another way of showing his happiness and excitement of Gauguin visiting and also his friendship and loyalty to him.

*The colours you see in the painting are also important because they were newly invented chemical colours; colbolt blue and chrome yellow. This gave Vincent a larger range of colour choice.

Dorset Team craft fair

Hey everyone,

How did it get to April!? Been so busy over the last few weeks working on the Dorset Team which I run. Since I got back from Berlin for the summit I have made lots of changes to the team and it is exciting how fast things within the team are changing and the progress that has been made in just a few weeks. Also wonderful to see members getting more involved with the team and helping out with the running of it.  There are lots of exciting projects and team events in the pipeline.

Our next team event is the Dorset Team craft fair in May. I am not selling there myself but instead will be there to talk to people about Dorset Team and to spread the word. I can't wait! We have 40 amazing stalls booked, some from Dorset Team members and a few from other local artists and crafters. Going to be such a range of amazing items for sale.

If you are nearby please pop in and say hello and have a browse! Entry is free.

The Dorothy Days Xx

Good morning and have a great day!

The Dorothy Days Xx

Happy Mother's Day from The Dorothy Days

The Dorothy Days 

Happy Mother's Day to all my followers (in the U.K!)

Hope you all have a wonderful day. Anyone doing anything lovely to spoilt their Mum this year?

The Dorothy Days Xx

Day one of the Team Captain Summit in Berlin 2014

Hello everyone!

Long long day today so I will keep this short!! (sorry!)

Up today at 7am (6am U.K time) and got ready rather excitedly for the first day of the Etsy summit in Berlin. Spent all day talking to other captains, brainstorming ideas, giving ideas and feedback to Etsy and listening to some really inspiring presentations from other team captains. We also had a really useful talk about time management and goal setting which helped so much. Lots of food for thought and I feel like my mind is totally buzzing with new ideas for the Dorset Team! The day has certainly been full on. We started the summit at 9am and finished at 6pm (what a hard working bunch we are!) Mad dash back to my hotel room, showered in about 2 mins, changed for supper and headed back out. We were taken to a surprise location and Etsy had set up an amazing supper for us all! So full from all the tea, cake and other yummy things from the summit but the supper was so delicious I found a bit more room!

Tomorrow we are planning for the April Etsy School project, hearing more team presentations, planning for 2014 ffor the team and having a feedback session with Etsy. We are then getting a look around Etsy Berlin and having some cake! YUM!! Sounds like another very very busy day but I am excited and feel like I am learning loads. Also been wonderful to meet Etsy Admins, they are really nice and enthusastic and very willing to hear our feedback about Etsy and what they can do to help us and to help improve.

I will write a more indepth blog post on my return but for now, here are some photographs from today...

Check out my rather snazzy Team Captain tote bag from Etsy!! Will deffinatly be showing this off in some of my team meetings!

The room all ready for us and the chairs even matched Etsy's colours!

Did someone say breakfast?! Everyone made a dash for the coffee, I of course managed to find myself a tea! 

The space to work in was great, Betahaus in Berlin and Etsy even decorated with its flags!

The Dorothy Days X

Good Morning Berlin - Etsy summit 2014

Good morning Berlin!!

Just a short post as I am about to head off for breakfast with the other team captains and I have not yet finished getting ready but I thought I would first update you all with a few photos so far :)

Was so tired last night and this bed was so very comfy!! 

Good morning Berlin!

Meeting everyone in the hotel lobby in a bit and going for breakfast together, hungry so looking foward to this!

First day...what to wear?! Desicions desicions! 

Schedule for todays events, a very busy but exciting day by the looks of it!

The Dorothy Days Xx