Manuel Sanchez was born in Cordoba, Spain grew up in the United States and returned to Spain where he resides presently.. He began drawing and oil painting at a very young age and has been an artist ever since. Over the past 40 years, when Manuel wasn’t painting in his spare time, he was traveling the world as a professional flamenco dancer. In fact, it was through his international dance contracts that he became a professional painter because it gave him the opportunity to sell his artwork wherever he went. While he has recently retired as a dancer, he recalls how he enjoyed every minute of his experiences and is the type of person that loves to live life with passion, love and improvisation. Presently, Sanchez continues to express his love for art on canvas by mostly painting wild animals, portraits and of course Spanish themes like Flamenco, bullfighting and the wild Spanish bull. Manuel admits he is a hard worker and will not sign a painting until his heart and soul tells him its finished. Like his dancing, his paintings are filled with love, fire, passion, and feeling.

This is reproduced verbatim from the ABC news website (ABC.net.au). The author is AM Europe Correspondent Rachael Brown with ABC staff.

[i] 'The authors of a new biography of Vincent Van Gogh claim the artist died after being accidentally shot, and did not kill himself as is commonly thought.

Van Gogh: The Life claims the impressionist painter was shot accidentally by teenage brothers with a malfunctioning gun at a farm in Auvers-sur-Oise in France.

One of the authors, Steven Naifeh, says Van Gogh was grateful for his approaching death and decided to take the blame himself, protecting the teenagers and casting himself as a martyr.

Van Gogh, who suffered from depression, cut off part of an ear, and committed himself to an asylum, is widely believed to have ended his own life at age 37. He died in 1890, two days after suffering a gunshot wound to his chest. It has been believed that he shot himself with a revolver.

I recently found out that the Mona Lisa is a work in progress that will never be finished. I found this shocking! How could the most beautiful painting I've ever seen be unfinished? I investagated, and I fond out that Leonardo Da Vinchi's model died before he was finished, so he estimated some proportions, then he was adding more and more detail. But, he never finished his masterpiece. He died befor he could finish. I don't see how he wasn't done, but maybe you readers could find something unfinished? I need your help! since i can barely see through my glesses, can you look thouroughly? Maybe you'll see somehting my eyes overlooked, like an undone line, or an unfinished color? Maybe someone will solve the mystery, maybe it will forever remain a mystery! no on knows!