Like many people in Central Florida, I migrated from the north, northern Illinois to be exact. I was born in Aurora, and lived a good chunk of my life in Chicago. So I LOVE snow. When we would get blizzards coming off the great plains and swirling over Lake Michigan and hitting us again with lake effect, it was awesome. However, sad for me, most schools stayed open unless it was a Mass Extinction Event. Landscape With Snow takes me back.
But I have fond memories of walking to school through deep snow. We would build snow forts and have snowball fights. My teacher, Sister Mary Thaddeus, would join us. She threw a nasty snowball!
16″ by 20″ acrylic on canvas in a natural Cedar frame #18-005
$1,200
Van Gogh achieved a special atmosphere in this great painting. So much so that it was requested to be displayed at the White House. Sadly, all that came back was an insult. Art ought to be above politics, and thousands of DC visitors would have enjoyed it.
In Donald Trump’s role as President of the United States, he and First Lady Melania Trump asked the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum to let them borrow Landscape with Snow to decorate the White House’s Executive Residence. The Guggenheim’s Artistic Director and Chief Curator, Nancy Spector, declined, offering America, an 18K gold toilet, by contemporary Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan instead. – Wikipedia
Landscape With Snow / Van Gogh 1888
The original was oil on a 15″ x 18″ canvas, so mine is slightly larger. I’ve never felt confident painting snow. It’s tricky and hard to paint. But it seems using blades instead of brushes worked this time. Pure luck! If ANY President or First Lady requests it, I will donate my version. For now, it is on display in the entryway of KellGrace Salon.
ABOUT the artist, Ed Lowe . . . Email:ed@edplanet.com Text: 407.267.6977 KellGrace Salon / 110 S. Park Ave / Winter Park, FL 32789
https://www.edplanet.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_9d4.jpg8781024Ed Lowehttps://edp2022.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/EdPlanet-logo-300x181.pngEd Lowe2018-08-03 20:45:092020-03-02 22:20:46Landscape With Snow, After Vincent van Gogh
Seascape is a painting about danger and adventure. Nobody wants to be in danger at sea, but if you want adventure it may require something that puts you in harms way.
The Navy hymn is from a poem written in 1860 by William Whiting based on Psalm 107:23. Here is the first stanza . . .
Eternal Father, strong to save,Whose arm hath bound the restless wave, Who bidd’st the mighty ocean deep Its own appointed limits keep; Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee, For those in peril on the sea!
You get that out-to-sea feeling in the movie, “The Perfect Storm” with George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg. Most of us, thankfully, have never been so far out in gigantic waves, but life often makes us feel that way. I can remember days in my life when I felt lost at sea. Those experiences are in the past, and I’m glad for that. I hope anyone who looks at this painting can see the storm as something they got through, not something they are facing in front of them.
My Seascape painting came out darker and scarier that Vincent’s. It seems almost as if a great white shark is about to surge from the background!
18″ by 24″ acrylic w/ blades oakwood in a natural Cedar frame #18-008 On display at KellGrace Salon, 110 S. Park Ave, Winter Park, FL 32789
$1,500
Vincent seemed to be facing storms most of his life. He was never appreciated by his peers. Local townspeople scorned him. Young people taunted him. He only sold one painting while still alive (Red Vineyard). He was rejected and denied love.
But he had his brother Theo who stood with him to the end. He provided supplies and income for Vincent and was always there for him. Because of Theo, Vincent was able to totally devote his life to art. Vincent died at the age of 37, Theo at 33.
Seascape at Saintes-Maries by Vincent van Gogh
ABOUT the artist, Ed Lowe . . . Email:ed@edplanet.com Text: 407.267.6977 KellGrace Salon / 110 S. Park Ave / Winter Park, FL 32789
https://www.edplanet.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Seascape-VvG-18x24.jpg24483264Ed Lowehttps://edp2022.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/EdPlanet-logo-300x181.pngEd Lowe2018-10-04 20:12:152020-05-01 07:27:12Seascape After Vincent van Gogh – Danger and Adventure
Sowing is what we all do for all of our life… then we reap what we sowed. It seems to me this Van Gogh masterpiece of the Sower speaks through the centuries. We all agree that our selfishness can lead to loneliness, our greed can lead to gluttony, and our cowardice can lead to shame. But we also know our kindness can lead to friendship, our generosity can give others hope, and our courage can make a difference. A great man once wrote,
So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone. Galatians 6
The painting of the Sower (Van Gogh’s title is “Sower With Setting Sun“), addresses a much wider theme than the obvious agricultural one. The student studies hard to get good grades and to prepare for a future career. The athlete works out so he can win. The actress practices so she can dazzle audiences. The musician spends tireless hours to be the best. Whatever we do, we reap what we sow.
I can apply this idea ad nauseam, but it is one of the truest things in life. There are exceptions, you know like, “Bad things can happen to good people,” and visa-versa. But it holds up most of the time. Actually, a sad example of that is Vincent van Gogh. It seems to me he got a bum rap in life. Some of it he may have brought on himself, and some historians think he suffered from mental illness, but it has always bothered me that he didn’t benefit in his short life from his great paintings. However, many of his family did.
18″ by 24″ acrylic on canvas oakwood in a natural Cedar frame #18-007
$1,500
A smaller version original . . .
8″ x 10″ acrylic on canvas paper in wood frame with matte & glass #18-006
$550
Here is my inspiration for these two paintings . . .
Van Gogh’s original painting is 25″ x 32″
ABOUT the artist, Ed Lowe . . . Email:ed@edplanet.com Text: 407.267.6977 KellGrace Salon / 110 S. Park Ave / Winter Park, FL 32789
https://www.edplanet.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Sower-With-Sunset-a1-18x24.jpg24483264Ed Lowehttps://edp2022.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/EdPlanet-logo-300x181.pngEd Lowe2018-10-04 19:33:202020-08-17 23:41:32Sower With Sunset – We Reap What We Sow – After VvG
In Chicago Rain, I’m looking back at the years of my youth and strength. I grew up in Aurora, but spent two decades in the urban bliss of the Windy City. I married there, and all three of my children were born at the Swedish Covenant Hospital on the Northwest side.
10″ x 12″ acrylic with blades on a solid wooden block #17-019
$450
Actually, Aurora is considered a part of “Chicagoland,” as it is only forty miles west. A city itself, but small compared to Chicago with about 100,000 population, hardly a village. We actually had a twenty-story skyscraper in town. But the allurement of the big city is magical. Let me tell you about my first trip to the big city, many years before Chicago Rain. I was in 8th grade and along with two of my pals, decided to skip school and go to Chicago. None of us were old enough to drive, but Aurora has a commuter train that goes straight into Union Station. Back then the tickets were probably less than ten bucks, so we saved up for our big hooky day trip!
I thought I was street wise, but it turned out I was not. At 14, the world belonged to me; Chicago was just the first stop. We got off the train in Union Station and somehow got out on the streets through the throngs of humanity. No problem, easy peasy. I was tough, Chicago streets did NOT scare me. (They should have.) We roamed around aimlessly acting as if 100-story skyscrapers were normal things, but our necks were bent a lot that day.
Then we ventured into the subway system. We acted cool, yet had no idea how to read the complicated maps on the station walls and in the trains. While transferring from the NW routes to the Southside routes, I got separated from my friends. They were ahead about twenty or thirty bodies in the sardine can of the subway car. When they got off, I had to rush to an exit or be forever on my own.
Running as fast as I could, I spotted them ahead going up a huge escalator. Some pals they were – they didn’t even notice I WAS MISSING! I jumped on the escalator and found myself squished in the midst of a large group of teenage boys. (Hmm, I thought, why weren’t they in school?) Must be trouble-makers for sure. Or wait, worse . . . gang members? Yikes, they didn’t smile at me, but glared.
That’s the last thing I remembered until my friends were splashing water in my face to wake me up on the floor at the top of the escalator. And for some reason all of my pockets were empty. Too bad those punks couldn’t find a rich kid to rob. All they got from me was a couple of bucks and my comb (don’t need one of those anymore.) Then the swelling in my face and head started. They sucker-punched me!
Chicago Rain is a painting about years later when I moved to the city. I was much more cautious and wise, and instead of a gang, I found the love of my life (click on the about link below to see her).
ABOUT the artist, Ed Lowe . . . Email:ed@edplanet.com Text: 407.267.6977 KellGrace Salon / 110 S. Park Ave / Winter Park, FL 32789
https://www.edplanet.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Chicago-Rain-v.3-10x12.jpg24483264Ed Lowehttps://edp2022.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/EdPlanet-logo-300x181.pngEd Lowe2018-03-11 07:00:112020-08-19 18:44:37Chicago Rain, A Young Man Faces Down The City
Eerie Lake Eola is a creation of contrasting feelings based on a real lake in Orlando, Florida. It is a city of lakes, but right in the middle is a small one called Lake Eola. It’s a place of dreams come true. Not far from Disney World, Universal, Sea World, and a plethora of entertainment venues, Lake Eola is renowned as an urban focal point. Many great events are held there to the delight of the locals and vacationers alike. It’s a very special place, especially since it is in the middle of a major city.
Lake Eola Park is an oasis located in the heart of Downtown Orlando. Amazing variety of birds, great place to dog and people watch. Restaurants and bars located within view of the Park. Great place to hang out.
16″ by 20″ acrylic on canvas on panel board in a black wooden frame #16-003
$1,250$950
Why is Lake Eola My Subject?
But in my conception the lake is viewed at night, and from a darker insight. It may come from my first visit to Twin Lakes, Wisconsin. As a ten-year old kid I was excited to go on a big trip to a lake, but my fun was ruined because I was abandoned in a boat for hours. It wasn’t a traumatic experience, however, it was a disappointment. I even had a fishing pole, although fishing by oneself is lonely.
That may have altered my idea of lakes, but there are also the skyscrapers. In my painting these structures emote an urban lostness and sense of despair. The huge darkened monoliths with illuminated windows convey humanity in the background. A lake is a place of life, yet here it is bordered by a sort of life that offers no hope. Eerie. The scene conveys a gray and clouded sky joined with streaks above and below resulting in a strange mood. Humanity may not be lively in this picture, but there is life.
ABOUT the artist, Ed Lowe . . . Email:ed@edplanet.com Text: 407.267.6977 KellGrace Salon / 110 S. Park Ave / Winter Park, FL 32789
https://www.edplanet.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Eerie-Lake-Eola-16x20.jpg23662924Ed Lowehttps://edp2022.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/EdPlanet-logo-300x181.pngEd Lowe2018-03-10 09:39:332020-05-01 07:36:42Eerie Lake Eola Haunts Orlando Skyline
The Red Vineyard was a fun project. When I do an “after” piece using a master’s inspiration, I never consider copying the work. But usually I utilize the basic layout and make changes to make it mine, usually drastic alterations. In this case I got flipped around by starting with the big beautiful orb of the sun. I like the way mine turned out, then I realized it was on the wrong side! OOPS. Then it increased the challenge as I had to mentally flip everything else. Oh well, I’ve always been a sort of backwards guy anyhow. Also I made the colors different and the people smaller.
Understanding The Red Vineyard
The allurement of hard work is a mystery. There are some people who avoid it at all costs, especially physical work like the fields. Van Gogh is known for his feature paintings of peasants around a table having a meal. They are the potato eaters and they are content, and probably didn’t realize how poor they were. They had food, work to do every day, and each other. After a hard day in the fields, they would gather together for food and relaxation. The aches and pains of the day would wear off and they would sleep well.
The Appeal
On the next day they were ready to get back in the fields. The Red Vineyard was calling to them; it’s harvest time! They loved the earthy smells in the morning, the dew on the plants, and the crisp and cool beginning of another productive day. Nobody told them they were poor.
36″ x 48″ acrylic on canvas on a MightyWood stretcher # 17-039
$2,400$2,400 On display at KellGrace Salon
The workers in the field must hurry before the sun sets.
According to some accounts, this was the only painting Vincent van Gogh ever sold. Van Gogh did the original in 1888. It is on display at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow.
ABOUT the artist, Ed Lowe . . . Email:ed@edplanet.com Text: 407.267.6977 KellGrace Salon / 110 S. Park Ave / Winter Park, FL 32789
https://www.edplanet.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Red-Vineyard-24x36.jpg22012908Ed Lowehttps://edp2022.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/EdPlanet-logo-300x181.pngEd Lowe2018-03-08 08:40:112020-08-18 11:53:57The Red Vineyard is the Only Painting Van Gogh Sold
While meditating on nature and Van Gogh’s propensity to portray it, I thought his solitary Cypress tree in “Starry Night” needed a companion. The result was “Starry Cypresses,” and the after painting looks quite different.
36″ x 45″ acrylic on canvas on a MightyWood stretcher # 17-005
$2,800$2,200
A Companion is Added, and I Call it Starry Cypresses
This is obviously an “after” painting. I love doing Van Gogh pieces. The swirling sky alone makes it an adventure to paint. Mountains and hills are my life-long passion; I will always tend to create them. With Starry Cypresses, I took the liberty to add sweeping mountain slopes, an extra cypress, and more intense swirls in the sky. And instead of a night scene, I changed it to more of a dusk or dawn scene. In my mind the sun has just set behind the mountains and the villagers are settling in for the night. Dusk is a precious time; it is the last chance of a given day to go out and embrace the beauty of nature just before the darkness swallows it up.
The feel and depth generated gives the painting an interesting feel. Standing in front of it draws you in and places you in one of the humble cottages nestled in the hills. This is unfortunate for me, because I live in a flat terrain. There are forests with pine and oak, and there are swamps, but in my area there are no hills.
Van Gogh’s Original is a Great Masterpiece
Here is the original by Vincent van Gogh called “Starry Night.” It is one of his most famous paintings from 1889. The view of the scene has been identified as being from his bedroom window, looking east.
Through the iron-barred window,” he wrote to his brother, Theo, around 23 May 1889, “I can see an enclosed square of wheat . . . above which, in the morning, I watch the sun rise in all its glory.
So I did it again, Van Gogh was facing east, my painting faces west.
ABOUT the artist, Ed Lowe . . . Email:ed@edplanet.com Text: 407.267.6977 KellGrace Salon / 110 S. Park Ave / Winter Park, FL 32789
https://www.edplanet.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Starry-Cypresses-36x45.jpg24483264Ed Lowehttps://edp2022.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/EdPlanet-logo-300x181.pngEd Lowe2018-03-07 08:05:382020-05-01 07:47:17Starry Cypresses Team Up From Van Gogh Inspiration
I’m not sure if this one is “after” Van Gogh or not. There certainly is inspiration in the sky, but I went a different direction with Starless Cypresses . . . no stars . . . many cypresses . . . and a village swallowed by an eerie mountain slope. Darkness tends to highlight the natural environment in a special way. Of course, I don’t mean total darkness because then nothing would be highlighted. But even on a moonless cloudy night there is minor light from stars or bouncing off the cloud cover, especially if civilization is nearby.
Vincent’s Original Sketch
Starless Cypresses – A Cosmic Disturbance
My swirling clouds in the sky have their own special blueness, therefore illuminating the scene. It’s alien, mystical, and ethereal, but I don’t think it can be called unnatural because nature has a great number of weird effects. Maybe the clouds came through fronting a storm, or perhaps they are the storm, or even a tornado. It could be a cosmic event because it transcends normal atmospheric activity.
Dark, Starless Cypresses Embrace the Frail Mountain Village
So let’s consider those poor souls in the tiny cottages clustered together in the mountain valley. Why would people live there, it doesn’t seem safe. They could live in a town or city. Are those safe? Where is the greatest threat? Is it nature, or is it humans?
A Wall
The starless cypresses form a wall of security and safety for the people. They stand tall in the dark mountains as if to defy them. They are unaffected by the harsh conditions, they are not afraid of heights, and the darkness only makes them bolder. Peering through their windows, the people see sentinels and guardians. They sleep peacefully.
34″ x 42″ acrylic on canvas mounted in a frame with a white mat, no glass, the texture is exposed # 17-011
$1250$950
ABOUT the artist, Ed Lowe . . . Email:ed@edplanet.com Text: 407.267.6977 KellGrace Salon / 110 S. Park Ave / Winter Park, FL 32789
https://www.edplanet.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Starless-Cypresses-34x42.jpg14732004Ed Lowehttps://edp2022.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/EdPlanet-logo-300x181.pngEd Lowe2018-03-06 22:29:472020-05-01 07:49:08Starless Cypresses Where Darkness Reigns Supreme
Surviving the harshest elements on earth, the mountains stand firm, because the lonely tree stands with them. Mountains are one of the most magnificent parts of creation, hence, they were made to be painted. As far back as my memory goes, I’ve loved drawing and painting them, and I think I can paint the Lonely Tree with my eyes closed. Getting the shape of the hills right has almost become a muscle-memory reflex for me. The same for shading and texturing the individual slopes.
Mountains and hills are often harsh natural environments, while cities and towns are controlled. There is hard rock, steep slopes, and above all, snow in these scenes. The snow, of course, conjures coldness, whereas the tree signifies life and strength. Similarly, this contrast infuses the painting with inspiration.
16″ x 20″ acrylic & gesso on canvas on a MightyWood Stretcher # 16-038 On display at KellGrace Salon, 110 S. Park Ave, Winter Park, Florida 32789
$600$500
My companions are of stone and not wood, yet they are my friends
Also, the scene conveys a sense of fellowship or companionship while the solitary tree awaits others. It’s possible, and likely in nature, that seeds have fallen nearby that hence will yield more trees. But who can say the tree doesn’t find companionship and fellowship with the hills? I’d like to think they do, and my painting shows it!
However, solitude is a relative condition. Those who isolate themselves from only those of identical attributes will inevitably be alone. And if there was a way for them to be with only clones of themselves – they would be at war forever!
ABOUT the artist, Ed Lowe . . . Email:ed@edplanet.com Text: 407.267.6977 KellGrace Salon / 110 S. Park Ave / Winter Park, FL 32789
https://www.edplanet.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Lonely-Tree-16x20.jpg24483264Ed Lowehttps://edp2022.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/EdPlanet-logo-300x181.pngEd Lowe2018-03-05 22:20:282020-08-18 11:58:02The Lonely Tree Awaits Fellowship in the Mountains
The artist is Ed Lowe who is co-owner of KellGrace with his wife Cathy and daughter Kell. He has been painting sceneries since 1971. Back in the early days he did scenes for children as an inner-city Christian worker in Chicago. They were tempera medium on newsprint paper donated by the Chicago Sun Times and the Chicago Tribune.
Ed and his team would drive a mission van down to the loading docks and they would help him load up waste-end spools of paper. Most were 32 inches wide and the rolls were up to 12 inches thick. That’s a lot of paper, but a roll lasted a long time. He would also share the rolls with about ten or so fellow workers in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Boston, Washington, Minneapolis, and a few other cities.
In the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s thousands of amazing large paintings, “32 x 48”, were given out to inner city kids to remind them of the Bible stories. Even Kell and her sister and brother helped her dad when they were kids. Often Ed would be disheartened when he would see one of his painting deteriorating on a child’s wall in a home. Newsprint paper is very thin and intended to be thrown out after you read the news. (Actually, in some cases the content as well.)
Finally in 2012 it occurred to Ed to make some paintings for KellGrace Salon. Because KellGrace was a start-up business at the time, he didn’t really get around to actually doing the paintings until 2016. This time around, the paintings would be done with acrylics on canvas or oakwood that LASTS! They are displayed and sold at KellGrace Salon, and often given as gifts to special people.
On Edplanet.com many of the paintings are displayed. In Ed’s studio there is an extra room he calls “The Hall of Shame,” for the paintings that suck and that he doesn’t like (It’s a large room.) But being frugal, the artist recycles and remakes many of these. Strange enough, some turn out to be favorites.
Also Ed is a story-Teller so he seizes the opportunity to write and share the inspiration behind certain creations. If it is a work done by Vincent van Gogh, he will acknowledge that fact and called it an “after van Gogh” piece.
This artist his builds own wood stretchers called MightyWood Stretchers, makes cedar frames called SimplyCedar, and customize cuts the canvas. Last year he was challenged to do a re-creation of Van Gogh’s 1888 “Landscape With Snow” because the First Lady likes it. Ed’s “after VvG” is posted on the homepage portfolio, fourth image shown, and framed in cedar.
CONTACT INFO:
Email: ed@edplanet.com Text: 407.267.6977 Phone: 386.873.7101 Address:
110 S. Park Ave, Winter Park, Florida 32789
https://edp2022.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/EdPlanet-logo-300x181.png00Ed Lowehttps://edp2022.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/EdPlanet-logo-300x181.pngEd Lowe2018-02-23 19:56:362023-03-24 23:25:10Artist in Central Florida, Orlando, Tampa Bay, Daytona Beach
