The Bright Field......

Another reflection as a result of my bricoge picture At the Crossroads , this time a poem about a field.  I had added a picture of a field in the bricolage from a calendar of Van Gogh images, without really considering its significance.

The field represents hidden treasure, like in the gospel parable (Matt 13:44) and the wonderful story of 'the Alchemist: a fable about following your dream' by Paulo Coelho.  With Eternal significance...

And a VanGogh(ish) pastel drawing to go with the poem: 'A Bright field'.  One I did earlier and which seems to fit .....     

The Bright Field

I have seen the sun break through
to illuminate a small field
for a while, and gone my way
and forgotten it. But that was the pearl
of great price, the one field that had
treasure in it. I realize now
that I must give all that I have
to possess it. Life is not hurrying

on to a receding future, nor hankering after
an imagined past. It is the turning
aside like Moses to the miracle
of the lit bush, to a brightness
that seemed as transitory as your youth
once, but is the eternity that awaits you.

~ R. S. Thomas ~

(Another from the wonderful anthology,
Soul Food: Nourishing Poems for Starved Minds,
ed. by Neil Astley and Pamela Robertson-Pearce)

There is a lovely reading of the poem by Nichola Davies (set to Tallis's music Spem in alium)
 

  

Bricolage - At the crossroads

Bricolage

I used an old Ordinance survey map of the Lake District dated Dec 1977  - The North West sheet, because I wanted a large canvas and I had a newer version of the map.  This represents my ‘roots’ in NW England where we settled after the Army years and my introduction to Hill Walking (A. Wainwright and his Pictorial guide to the Lakeland Fells) - my stomping ground. I wanted to think/ dream/ imagine what the future might look like in 5 years time. The picture is the outworking of this process ... 

I had sketched out a basic idea of a path leading to a cross roads and a decision to go up the slow, steep track to the left up the mountain into the unknown or to the right into the woods (also an unknown path).  Which one represents for me ‘the road less travelled?’  

I wanted a lake in the foreground on the right and something representing family in theforeground on the left. I had the idea of my two hands being visible - in one a hiking stick and in the other a compass. So the scene in front is what I would be looking at….   I intended it to be purely symbolic with no words.

I collected a pile of magazines which inevitably represent today’s interests – Time, Ramblers, Emirates In-flight magazine, Family History, Gardening, National Trust, British Heart Foundation, iCreate (Mac Mag) A Rocha - and I tore out anything that struck me. I later used 3 images from a Van Gogh calendar which are scattered throughout the picture. 

I started with the empty hands, a rough path and then did the mountains – They are Alpine (Swiss) and Himalayan – a mixture of West and East.  Somehow it is the mountains that draw me – and they dominate the skyline.  There is a group of Ramblers making their way to the foothills to start the ascent.

The Lake came next and boats surrounded by trees and flowers.  The Lake is a place for ‘messing about in boats’ and there is a mixture of a Swiss Lake steamer, and a working fishing boat and canoes.  The oriental trees  - cherry blossoms represent the East and my fascination with things Oriental.  

I liked the words: ‘Your space’ (from a National Trust mag) so added them at the side.  Birds, bees, butterflies were overlaid.   A grebe on the water,  a Great Tit feeding and the last thing I added - a Falcon (Peregrine) soaring high in the mountains (my blog/motto is: wandering4the love of God – ‘Peregrinate pro Dei amore’) 

The Natural world represents a breathing space…  a place to reflect.  And water offers the perfect reflecting space.  The 3 people sitting on a bench looking somehow reflect that. They look like Artists in their straw boaters. The water is also a place to explore and enjoy. Other words appear in the mountains:  ‘The heavens are high and the mountains are far away’. At the edge, on the fringe, there is more freedom….

The Van Gogh image added to the night sky so I ended up with day on the left and night on the right. I found a moon for the top right (twilight/ stars /eternity) and made a strong sun from Van Gogh’s sunflowers on the top left (hope/ light/ life). He also provided the field on the left and I added others, representing ‘discover your local countryside’.  I liked the ‘work, rest and play’ but ( reminded me of ‘A Mars a day helps you…’ - I always took a MARS when hill walking) and the idea of famous art, so added it as an easel, thinking about Van Gogh painting in the fields around Arles.  

I also liked the man looking wistfully off the edge to the left, a mackintosh draped over his arm.  He was part of the image with the words: 'Here I am … in my own private space’   I just kept the words ‘here I am ‘ as a sort of prayer, writ large in the sky (a prayer of submission ‘be it unto me according to your word’  - the missionary response from Isaiah 6: ‘Here I am, send me’) 

Family in the foreground 

I filled the foreground with images that connect to family - a couple with children (representing future marriage and possible grandchildren) I added sunflower heads to make them more symbolic and represent a gift from the source of life. Simple produce, a healthy heart (Jo and medicine) the farming (Andy and Ag Dev?)  And also the word ‘Development’ (I would have preferred the word: transformation). The camera (Jonny and professional photography). I don’t feel I have represented Tim and business – but there is a small beehive!   Maybe capturing micro-enterprise – certainly ‘busy bees’ and a ‘hive of activity’….

In the end the pathway leading to the crossroads and the signpost looks very cruciform, with a hanging Christ-like figure dominating the centre. And I accentuated this with a bowed head shape (and crown of thorns- maybe a little too overt!) Leaving it more subtle would have been better.    I used oil pastels to bring some continuity to the picture, sky, mountain, path, water, hands…

The crossroads does not just offer two paths: the left one up the mountain with the Ramblers and the right one to the beach and the Lake and the trees and gardens.  (Maybe the left is my masculine rugged Mountains (my side of the family) and the Right more feminine - water, gardens, flowers and sailing boats (my wifes side).  And I want both to be integrated… But there is also a third way, behind (even through) the cross, along the Great Wall of China to the Orient… where ‘the heavens are high and the emperor is far away’

Back to the hands. In the end I had a folded map in the left hand– a guide to the journey (a very local map) rather than a ‘walking stick’. I wanted a compass on my iPhone in the right hand, but left it with a drawing app: ‘Draw, play, share’ (3 very good words) the electronic devise is important since it represents connectivity to the wider world wherever I am.   I also added the iCreate logo as a title, representing my own creativity as well AppleMac’s!  I added more words to cuffs on the hands, one with Ramblers and the other Heart Matters, representing that healthy outdoor life style.  

Under Cover 

I used the inside of the folding cover for more words:  ‘Go share the gospel with the world’  - and the ‘missio dei’ (mission of God) which I orient my life around.

… ‘Open your eyes to a distinctly different ….’  On one level simply a matter of open eyed wonder at the world around, and at another deeper level representing Enlightenment. Yet the Buddhist eyes are closed (in meditation?)  And the natural world (‘eye of the Tiger’) eyes open. Maybe even more than meditation, it is natural revelation (The scripture of Nature) that is my main spiritual gateway…   

I liked the Octavia Hill (1883) quote:  

‘We all need space; unless we have it we cannot reach that sense of quiet in which whispers of better things come to us gently….(and we need) places to sit in, places to play in. places to stroll in and places to spend a day in’   

I HEARD THE VOICE OF JESUS

And finally it is all held together by one of my favourite songs/hymns:  ‘I heard the voice of Jesus say … come unto me and rest’.  I particularly like the Eden’s Bridge Celtic version. And I have recently, been asking myself the question: ‘Are my travelling days done?’ 

I heard the voice of Jesus say, “Come unto Me and rest; 


Lay down, thou weary one, lay down Thy head upon My breast.”


I came to Jesus as I was, weary and worn and sad;


I found in Him a resting place, and He has made me glad.





I heard the voice of Jesus say, “Behold, I freely give


The living water; thirsty one, stoop down, and drink, and live.”


I came to Jesus, and I drank of that life giving stream; 


My thirst was quenched, my soul revived, and now I live in Him. 



I heard the voice of Jesus say, “I am this dark world’s Light; 


Look unto Me, thy morn shall rise, and all thy day be bright.”


I looked to Jesus, and I found in Him my Star, my Sun; 


And in that light of life I’ll walk, 'til traveling days are done.

The song finishes with a couplet.  I was only hearing the last phrase… I listened to it again, set to an old Scottish tune ‘Rowan Tree’ by Wild Goose recording (Iona) - words by Horatius Bonar (1846). Interestingly the Rowan tree is the tree we planted to remember my parents and their ashes are in their church garden @ Cleveley’s Baptist Church  –

I looked to Jesus and I found in Him my Star, my Sun;

And in that light of life I’ll walk 'til travelling days are done’  

Candidates for Newness

Van Gogh seemed obsessed with the Cypress tree.  They appear in many pictures, almost church steeple like, pointing to the sky, encouraging us to look upwards. Where the heavens are a never ending movie of shifting shapes, full of Kaleidescopic possibilities.


My paintings  are both Oil Pastel drawings in my small A6, postcard size, stetch book. Copied from Van Gogh's images. They seemed appropriate images at this time of Ascension, when we seem to look intently into the skies (Acts 1:10-11).   

I  have also been reading a poem in Walter Brueggemann's excellent little book:   Prayer for Privileged People


'Candidates for Newness'   is a poem about Ascension, the space between Eater and Pentecost   anbout looking up to new possibilities but also staying close to the ground, and what we think of as reality. It  advocates a hesistant expectancy  
I found it very encouraging, when facing change and newness.....

 Candidates for Newness 

We live the long stretch between

Easter and Pentecost, scarcely noticing.

We hear mention of the odd claim of ascension.

We easily recite the creed,

"He ascended into heaven."

We bow before such quaint language and move on,

immune to ascent,

indifferent to enthronement

unresponsive to new governance.

It is reported that behind the ascending son was

the majestic Father riding the clouds

But we do not look up much;

we stay close to the ground to business and

to busyness

to management and control.

Our world of well-being has a very low

ceiling, but we do not mind the closeness

or notice the restrictiveness.

It will take at least a Pentecost wind to

break open our vision enough to imagine new governance.

We will regularly say the creed

and from time to time-

-in crises that

drive us to hope and to wish—

wait for a new descent of the spirit among us.

Until then, we stay jaded,

but for all that,

no less candidates for newness.

Walter Brueggemann Prayers for Privileged People

Street Angels: now a part of 'Big Society'

It has just been announced that Street Angels has been awarded the Prime Ministers 'Big Society' Award.  This being received by Paul Blakely MBE of Halifax Street angels who pioneered the approach,  which is now operating in 100 towns and cities across UK (including Woking)
Woking Street Angels also got an honourable mention in the House of Commons by Woking's conservative MP, Jonathan Lord, during a  debate on Hackney Carriages.

This blog's painting is loosely based on Van Gogh's Angel, in Oil Pastel......  another Angel keeping watch at night.....    I've not blogged about Street Angels for a while but have been out 3-4 times this year so far. So come reflections on the evenings...... 

Sat 31st December  New Years's Eve
a night of 2 halves (as often is the case)  of partying and fun up to around 1 or 2 am with incidents forming the sting in the tail after 2 and 3 am.

An African man was frolicking on the wall outside Woking Station under the Canopy, running along recklessly. I was concerned he might stumble and hurt himself so went to talk to him.  He got into a quarrel with a couple  and was pulled down from the wall onto his head (a very loud cracking sound!) by a passer-by who was not involved at all. It seemed to me to be a moment of blatant racism.
The Police cordoned off the area because it was a potential GBH.  I had to go and give a statement to what I had witnessed and left my fellow angels to stay with the injured man and wait for the ambulance.   I later learned it had not arrived for some reason and the police had taken him to the hospital in a van for a check up. I had no idea what happened to him, and feared the worse.

 New Year's Night:  'All is calm. all is bright' 

 Friday 13thJanuary 

I like the new Outside lights jackets - they really do glow in the dark!  Outside lights set up a table under the Station Canopy and serve free teas and coffees. They are also available to chat and talk about issues of faith. They are a great complement to the walk-about service of the Street Angels.
As for the evening itself,  the highlight was being sung to by an elderly traveller who had an excellent voice and a real twinkle in his eye.  

Outside Lights glow in the Dark

Friday 3rd February
Very Cold night - we think it was around  -6 degrees. It was so cold,  some youngsters even wore coats!  So we changed the pattern to one hour out and half hour in just to keep warm.  We  helped one very cold  girl, with a blanket and eventually managed to get her into a taxi, and she definitely did not want her boyfriend to follow.
We witnessed a fight outside Spec Savers - a bunch of blokes making a spectacle of themselves
As usual we gave out lollipops which seemed to cheer people up in the cold.  There was quite a lot of broken glass around which we ended up cleaning up.   Definitely decided hand-warmers would be a great idea and maybe even a hip flask !  Team 2's pedometer recorded 8.6 miles walked during the night shift - no wonder it was quite tiring.
The Quake had a Goth Night with about  800 youngsters, who dispersed like smoke at the witching hour.
One great relief for me was meeting Mohinda from Congo, the guy who had been pulled from the wall on New Yera's eve. He said he'd hurt his hand and not his head whihc he claimed was made of iron! However he did have a big scar on his forehead. He also tended to talk a lot about nothing, definatley not right in the head .....

Minus 6 at night:  A cold and frosty morning

Friday 16th March
The majority of the evening centred around Agnes, a young woman from Poland, who was seen by one of the Angels sitting with her two pink suitcases.   She had been kicked out of her cousin's after  a dispute over money and could not return and was intent on getting the bus back to Poland on Sunday (it does a pick up in Woking!)  She did not have quite enough money for the bus (it costs £75) nor for anywhere to stay. She'd been hoping to sit in a waiting room at the Station til the morning and go to her agency and see if she could get some more cash.   Different Angels spent most of the night talking to her  under the canopy or in MacDonald's  and guarding her luggage. Also trying different hotels and B&B's. The Police were in a similar position of being concerned but not being able to act.  We were all using smart phones to surf the Internet for solutions.

Eventually someone put her up in Holiday Inn (not on our usual circuit) and we encouraged her to come to Christchurch the following day to talk more, after she's been to her employment agency.    An unfinished story -  which highlighted her vulnerability, and also the lack of facilities to sit and keep warm in Woking in the wee hours of the morning.

No room at the Inn

For me these evenings highlight the effectiveness of the ministy and the contribution Street Angels make to the Big Society. It also illustrates some of the gaps there are that need plugging....

'mother & son day'

Mothering Sunday (4th Sunday of Lent) is the UK version of Mother's Day (second Sunday in May). So it is a day to remember mothers and give small gifts as an act of appreciation. In our church, flowers are given to all the ladies not just the mums. That's 'cos we try to be inclusive. And what woman does not appreciate flowers (and chocolates)?

One of my sons always thought it was 'Mother & Son' day, which made it extra special for him.

At our recent sacred:space in our Lectio Divina I focused on Psalm 131: 'as a child lies quiet in its mother's arms so my soul is quiet within me' For me it was a reminder of my own mother (bless her) and also the 'motherhood' (not just the fatherhood) of God

Hence the picture (one I had done earlier) based on Van Gogh's 'The man is at sea' (After Demont-Breton) painted in Oct 1889 in Saint-Rémy. It is very evocative. I love the way the mother and child are asleep - sprawled out - in the glow of the fire, the source of comfort as well as warmth. In that respect it's similar to one I blogged on earlier: Old man of sorrow

Maybe it is that child-like trust that in the end delivers us from despair, letting go of concerns and worries, so we do not end up like Van Gogh's 'Old Man of Sorrow' (at Eternity's Gate).

My heart is not proud, O LORD,

my eyes are not haughty;

I do not concern myself with great matters

or things too wonderful for me.

But I have stilled and quieted my soul;

like a weaned child with its mother,

like a weaned child is my soul within me.

O Israel, put your hope in the LORD

both now and forevermore.

The Thresher's Labour

My picture is based on Van Gogh's 'The Thresher' (after Millet) painted in Saint-Rémy in 1889. A copy of a copy which loses something in the 'translation', My picture looks more like the Grim Reaper than a farmyard thresher. But maybe that ambiguity contains a glimmer of truth...

It is a strongly biblical image, suggesting the last days and the final judgement - the seperation of Wheat and Tares - of good and evil. It becomes a metaphor for the inevitablity of judgement and punishment of wickedness.

The Thresher's Labour a poem by Stephen Duck (1730) interestingly he later became a Rector in Byfleet so maybe he is not just describing an everyday farmyard scene, but something bigger, grander and more ultimate....

lines 27-41 of the poem are quoted below (the only ones I could find online):

So dry the Corn was carried from the Field,

So easily 'twill Thresh, so well 'twill Yield;

Sure large Day's Work I well may hope for now;

Come, strip, and try, let's see what you can do.

Divested of our Cloaths, with Flail in Hand,

At a just Distance, Front to Front we stand;

At first the Threshall's gently swung, to prove,

Whether with just Exactness it will move:

That once secure, more quick we whirl them round,

From the strong Planks our Crab-Tree Staves rebound,

And echoing Barns return the rattling Sound.

Now in the Air our knotty Weapons fly;

And now with equal Force descend from high:

Down one, one up, so well they keep the Time,

The Cyclops Hammers could not truer chime...

Stephen Duck was apparently a vicar in Knaphill who came to a tragic end - drowned himslef in a canal. Jonathan Swift wrote a satirical verse -a quibbl - about him On Stephen Duck, the Thresher, and Favourite Poet. A Quibbl

"I am the Reaper"

The painting is based on one by Van Gogh of a Reaper with Sickle (after Millet). I did a painting of one of Van Gogh's sowers earlier: 'sowing seed: planting hope' The sower and the reeper complement each other:

Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. John 4:36

The poem 'I am the Reaper' is by William Earnest Henley I think they go together rather well

I am the Reaper.

All things with heedful hook

Silent I gather.

Pale roses touched with the spring,

Tall corn in summer,

Fruits rich with autumn, and frail winter blossoms—

Reaping, still reaping—

All things with heedful hook

Timely I gather.

I am the Sower.

All the unbodied life

Runs through my seed-sheet.

Atom with atom wed,

Each quickening the other,

Fall through my hands, ever changing, still changeless.

Ceaselessly sowing,

Life, incorruptible life,

Flows from my seed-sheet.

Maker and breaker,

I am the ebb and the flood,

Here and Hereafter,

Sped through the tangle and coil

Of infinite nature,

Viewless and soundless I fashion all being.

Taker and giver,

I am the womb and the grave,

The Now and the Ever

'sowing seeds: planting hope'

I have painted a version of a detail from Van Gogh’s ‘the Sower’ (1888) He did a number of versions of the painting, which according to the Van Gogh museum website, may have been inspired by a Japanese print. Another version 'Sower with setting sun' was inspired by Jean-François Millet's 'Sower' from 1850 (Boston, Museum of Fine Arts)

He painted this whilst in living in Arles. It expresses his identification with ordinary people - particulalry with the rural poor.

The sower is an obvious Biblical image. It all started with a story of a Garden, with seed bearing plants (Gen 1:11). It hints of the cosmic cycle of life:

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater… (Isaiah 55:10)

The Parable of the Sower also comes to mind (eg Matt 13) and the various conditions where seed grows and thrives, or withers and dies.

I have just been at a faith2share consultation in India: ‘we believe faith is to be shared’ We have been talking about sowing seeds of faith around the world and are engaged in making plans together. It reminded me of the Wisdom of Solomon:

If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done. God's ways are as hard to discern as the pathways of the wind, and as mysterious as a tiny baby being formed in a mother's womb. Be sure to stay busy and plant a variety of crops, for you never know which will grow - perhaps they all will. (Ecclesiastes 11:4-6)

It applies to project planning as well as gardening. To plan and plant lots of ideas and deeds and to wait and see what grows and develops. There is a certain unpredictability about it. Part of the mystery of life.

Frederick von Schiller's poem 'The sower' picks up on the 'seeds' and the 'deeds' being one

Sure of the spring that warms them into birth,

The golden seeds thou trustest to the earth;

And dost thou doubt the eternal spring sublime,

For deeds--the seeds which wisdom sows in time

In Van Gogh’s world, sowing seeds is an expression of faith, for it is from little seeds that beautiful sunflowers do grow - maybe for Van Gogh, a symbol of all that is good.

Sowing seed is an ultimate act of faith. It is planting hope.

'Pietà' by Van Gogh

Another in my 'series' of Vincent's paintings, this time Pieta 1889, Mary cradling her dead son based on another painting by Delacroix (as with his Good Samaritan) A very intimate moment between a mother and her son has been captured, with Mary cradling the body of Christ. Pietà literally means 'pity' and has been much represented in art (see wikipedia)

Vincent has identified fully with Christ in his suffering since even in my oil pastel rendition he is recognisable (just about!) It suggests that the preacher turned painter remained drawn to Christ even in his latter years....

As an artist, van Gogh remained fascinated by Christ. "Oh, I am no friend of the present Christianity, though its founder was sublime." He described Jesus as "the supreme artist, more of an artist than all others, disdaining marble and clay and color, working in the living flesh." Finally, van Gogh’s preoccupation with Christ is visually apparent in his rendition of the Pietà, in which he depicts the Christ figure with the features of his own face and red beard, languishing in the arms of Mary.

From Preaching to Painting: Van Gogh’s Religious Zeal

Old man of sorrow

Van Gogh's Old Man in Sorrow (May 1890) seems to sum up his depression and mental anguish.

I like the ambiguity as to whether he is despairing or praying, or maybe both. My old man does not appear to be as despairing as Van Gogh's. He is not as bowed over. But he is still gathered close to a fire, a source of warmth and life.

Vincent did an earlier lithographic version (1882) of this Old Man with his head in hands (at Eternity's Gate) Maybe this represents the resolution of 2 themes: despair and hope coexisting together.

There is a good article that explores some of the relgious themes in Van Gogh's paintings From Preaching to Painting: Van Gogh’s Religious Zeal I quote:

One of van Gogh’s first successful lithographs, At Eternity’s Gate (1882), depicts an old man seated by a fire, his head buried in his hands. Near the end of his life, while recuperating in the asylum at St. Rémy, van Gogh re-created this image in oil. Bent over with his fists clenched against a face hidden in utter frustration, the subject appears engulfed in grief. The work would convey an image of total despair if not for its title. Even in the deepest moments of sorrow and pain, van Gogh clung to the faith in God and eternity, which he tried to express in his work:

The expression of such a little old man -- perhaps without he himself being conscious of it -- is unspeakably touching when he sits so quietly in his chimney corner. It reveals something which cannot be destined for the worms . . .this is far from all theology, simply the fact that the poorest little woodcutter, heath peasant or miner can have moments of emotion and a frame of mind which give him a feeling of an eternal home to which he is near.

As van Gogh pointed out, the sentiment in this painting is "far from all theology," but he wanted to show that though he had rejected institutional religion, he remained profoundly religious and firmly believed in a spiritual life after death.

The Psalms are full of anguish and heart searching. Monastic communities have traditionally prayed and lived them as part of their community life and found their thoughts and feelings reflected in them. It too is gathering to the source of warmth and life - the fire of hope.

Painting Pictures

It's been a long time since I blogged - (last one was October last year) - lot's happening at work and I suppose I have been tweeting a lot .... But anyway, during the Winter break I have been doing 2 main things (i) Family History again (ii) painting (not again)

I suppose the family history is about rootedness - connecting to the story of the past. I may tell some of that on my other blog (familytreebeard) or maybe not.

And I suppose painting is also in some way about rootedness. It's certainly about noticing what is around and concentrating on the more artistic side of life. Maybe more on 'being' rather than so much 'doing'.

So I thought I would put some of the paintings on my blog. I am trying acrylics - inspired by the 'Drawing near to God' sacred:space evening we had (see link) but I have also been experimenting with a small sketch book and oil pastel crayons mainly because of portability.

So I'll start here with one of the sketch book painting and then add some more of the sketches later, maybe even backdating them to nearer the time I drew them to fill in blogging gaps!

I like Van Gogh and this is based on a painting he did towards the end of his life Church at Auvres He had been an evangelist at one point with a great passion for the poor and wanted to be ordained but was rejected by the institutional church. So maybe this painting represents something of an outsider, de-churched perspective...... It certainly inspired my own impressionistic efforts.....

Good Samaritan

As part of the Street Angel training, when we were considering our values, we looked again at the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10: 25-37) An amazing story of real non-judgmental compassion. Van Gogh captured the scene so well (a mirrored image of a painting by Delacroix) the moment when the Samaritan lifts the injured man onto his animal to convey him to the Inn. He was apparently staying in a mental institution at the time he did his painting (May 1890). I found it a stunning, totally absorbing image so had to have a try....

In my version too the priest and the Levite (the professional) can be seen receding into the background. It represents for me a committed openness to and engagement with the other (esp traditional enemies), whatever the consequences might be......

Chair without pipe

Vincent's Chair with his pipe' (1888) must be one of my favourite Van Gogh Paintings.
My version does not have a pipe. But I remember once having a 'vision' of a chair which somehow represented completeness and stability. I subsequently wrote a paper called the Broken Chair all about a consultancy I was involved in Gujranwala Pakistan about broken trust, symbolised by a broken chair leg. for me it has come to represent key values:

Rugged simplicity,
Open honesty,
Firm humility
support and trust