I picked Van Gogh's Cafe Terrace on the Place Du Forum  to paint. I decided to paint this because it has a nice night time sky with bright stars. The people don't have faces so I can pretend that they are always happy. I also like the beautiful yellow cafe. The sidewalk reminds me of the brick sidewalk in Burlington. Van Gogh painted this in 1888 during his Arles period. If I were alive in Van Gogh's time I would have bought this painting and given him a million dollars for it .

I think I used the elements of line and color the most in my painting. I had to use lots of vertical lines to create the buildings in my painting. Also I had to use them when I drew the chairs, windows and sidewalk. Yellow is the most important color in my painting. It makes the cafe bright even in the nighttime. I have a happy feeling when I see it. I used a lot of orange in this painting for the sidewalk because it didn't have much color. I wanted to make it brighter. I tried to keep the other colors the same as Van Gogh's.        

 When you first look at my painting, you look at the cafe because it is the most detailed and interesting part. This is the part of my painting I am most pleased with.

 I think I could have painted more stars in the sky and made them brighter too.  Also I think I could have drawn more chairs and tables, rooftops and people because I don't have many of them. I also think that I should have done the painting faster.                                               

I learned that Vincent Van Gogh was a very unhappy man and also a very emotional person. He was very poor, but a great artist.  I wish that he had more happiness in his life. Out of  hundreds of paintings he only sold one of them.  I think if he were alive in this time he would have more money and would be happier because people would like his paintings more. I enjoyed this project because I like Vincent Van Gogh's paintings.

By Letty

Click here to see the original online.