this is what i'm doing on some of my blank pages instead of adding photos. this is one of V.V.G.'s lesser known paintings – oleanders 1888
and here's what MMOA has to say about it:
For Van Gogh, oleanders were joyous, life-affirming flowers that bloomed "riotously" and were "continually renewing" themselves. In this painting of August 1888, the flowers fill a majolica jug that the artist used for other still lifes made in Arles. They are symbolically juxtaposed with Émile Zola's La joie de vivre, a novel that Van Gogh had placed in contrast to an open Bible in a Nuenen still life of 1885.
except i forgot to add a title to the book. i think i'll add van gogh – the life since i'm reading it right now. i read the beginning in a park the other morning and wished i had a tissue with me. his isolation and rejection from his parents and especially his mother is heartbreaking. i wonder how much of his later torment could be traced back to those early years. i'm betting a lot.
have you ever seen a prettier napkin? i saved it from my lunch at a pub. then i used this document holder (from a package of 4) i found at the van gogh musem, as an overlay. i'm also using them as pockets.
i remember the night i painted these house numbers into my sketchbook. sitting in front of those canal windows is permanently etched into my memory. today as i write this i'm in front of more open windows. this time in my art room which looks out onto the porch. when i finish here i'm moving this laptop out of my way and opening up my travel journal into which i will draw/paint some new scene from my trip. 
i tried something new with this travel journal that i mentioned before i left for amsterdam. i wrote in all of the days ahead of time. i was sure i wouldn't like having done that, but i did! it kept me on track plus left blank pages throughout the book instead of just at the end. if i wanted to add photos chronologically it would be easy.
What I want to know is…can I retire in the Netherlands? Because I think I want to. Just sayin’.
Your talents stir two things in me – deep admiration and a bit of hope that if I would just start, I could also produce nice work. And your photographs inspire me to document more of what I see when I travel. Thank you for both. And a part of me is so happy that you love Netherlands as much as I do. My masthead is Defltshaven near Rotterdam!
Wow. This journal is your best so far and that is saying a lot. They’ve all been wonderful. You are really blossoming! So excited to be on the journey with you!
Oh that VVG quote – I think it hit a little too close to home – but thanks!
I think your drawing style has become more confident this year, I love it! Please share more!
This book is the bestest ever! The absolute bestest . The colors are joyous! I love it.
When I saw on of V.V.G.’s originals I nearly cried. It was a self portrait and there seemed to be pain in every brushstroke. The book will be next on my list. Definitely at the top.
If you google The Influential Ghosts of Amsterdam and find a link to it from the Globe and Mail or New York Times news Service you might enjoy dipping back into the space in your imagination from your recent trip.
Wonderful drawings! Beautiful photos! I’m reading the Van Gogh book too – the one that’s bigger than the New York City phone book.
I’m Walter-Mitty-ing every luscious post ,but was especially interested to hear how the writing the days into your journal ahead of time has worked out! When I finally get to traveling, I’m going to have such a wealth of ideas from you! Thank you.
Beautiful journal pages & photos! Once again I feel as if I’m traveling with you. It looks like a wonderful place. My Grandfather, who had passed just before I was born was from Amsterdam so it was fun for me to see the place he called home. Thanks for shearing your journey. Denise
Oooooh and Aaaaaah! And ooooh and aaaah again! Lovely!
PLEASE teach us to draw! Take us along with you on each step. PLEASE!
Love it all! Like Susie said, you make me go seek and study sometimes.
Re Van Gogh and torment, at one time I decided (and then forgot) that it would be interesting to study artists and insanity (odd, I know, but so many artists seem to teeter on the edge, ya know?) I recently ordered a book about Walter Anderson, an artist I had never heard of until a friend sent me a postcard of his art from a museum of his work in Mississippi. I really wanted to know more of this man who would leave his family, set out in a row boat with little food but with his painting supplies, and spend long stretches of time alone on an island painting nature. One of the reviews of one of the books about him said that if he had been anything but an artist, his insanity and abuse would not have been tolerated. I’m awaiting a book his widow wrote, not sure if I will want to read it or not after that! Loved seeing passages in a children’s book about him on Amazon called The Secret World of Walter Anderson. Sorry for the long sorta off topic comment! Keep on sketchin’….
I think this is one of my very favorite posts….the quote at the top with the stupendous painting…seems to come right from your heart!!…as though you and VanGogh had a nice long visit at the heart of things ART…… there aren’t enough words to describe how ALIVE, COLORFUL, did I say ALIVE the art is and the choices “you” make to share your experiences in drawings and color…are just so right!! ….plus you are a great writer!!! ALIVE!!! LOVE IT!!! I think the sunglasses in the boat stance, must be Hepburn…? Such a beautiful post!
AWEsome!!!!!!!!! pages Mary Ann. I am really, really blissed out when you travel and share your travels and then top it all off with pages in your journal. It is seriously the next best thing to actually going. I know it might not seem that way but you’ve shared so many amazing places that I’d have never given a thought about. You make me want to learn more about these places and so I do, pick up a book or too, re-watch your travel vids and see what else I might have missed, study photos because they give me such pure pleasure and joy. And mostly cuz of how you travel, slow and unhurried and non touristy, I like that especially cuz when I have traveled, I want to search out the places that don’t always appear in travel guides, I like hangin out with the locals, I want to see life as they live it, not that monuments and special places don’t deserve a look but I want to get at the heart of a place and to do that one has to slow down, toss the itinerary to the curb and go where your instincts tell ya to go…I’m ramblin’ but I do so love your stories, journal pages, photos…makes lookin’ forward to your next journey a fun surprise waiting to be unwrapped at just the right moment. I honestly think you will cherish this journal in a different way, all those sketches marks such distinct moments in time, sketching forces one to slow down, you have to focus and absorb the place in away that can’t be captured in another manner, I love that about sketching. And gifted as you are, all those photos you took are sure to offer up tons more things you can sketch in those pages…what is not to love in that????? Have fun and keep those Amsterdam fires burnin’
I just LOVE your work, Mary Ann. Seriously. Id be thrilled to make pages1/2 as awesome. What a beautiful place, bet it was it hard to go home. Wonderful pics too. 🙂
I just love your VVG painting! The colors and the line, you are so inspiring. Why don’t you put together a chapbook or something like that for all your legions of fans? I know I would be first in line to buy one. Your talent is so unique. Sigh. The words “if only” doesn’t seem to be in your vocabulary…if only….
Rich, rich, gorgeous! I am your ROD newbie; knowing what went in to making this journal gives me such deep appreciation and delight when I see what you painted, collected, and wrote. Heart and soul cool!
These pages are amazing. You are inspiring me to try and sketch. I am a little shy to try it, but I have to get over it and give it a go. I get such enjoyment from following your blog and your journaling. Thanks so much for sharing.
Love your sketchbook. it’s awesome. Love those Van Gogh dokument holders too. fits perfect in there.
I absolutely adore these pages! Makes me want to journal! Makes me want to travel! Makes me want to read about Van Gogh! Makes me want to be a totally different person. As always, Thank you very much for sharing.