Sun Rising or Setting Over the Ocean? (Acrylic on Canvas)

I’ve been feeling uncharacteristically charitable today with these reviews. No idea why. Maybe I’m coming down with something 🤔

Regardless: while I could do without the gray, the rest of this is kind of…okay. Seriously. It’s not bad. I don’t think much time or effort went into it, but it’s okay.

Sunshine Door (Acrylic on Canvas)

Not really sure what this is, or what it’s supposed to be. Whatever that may be, it’s reasonably okay: lines that are supposed to be straight are straight, lines that are supposed to be curved are curved. The sun is recognizably a sun, and the leaves are recognizably leaves.

Good work I guess :)

Day and Night (Acrylic on Opposite Sides of a Wooden Block)

Kind of Country Kitsch, but not bad. I mean it. This doesn’t annoy me in the least. It’s harmless and inoffensive but it feels Real. 

Real is always good in my book.

Retrospective (Acrylic on Canvas)

These all showed up on the same day so I’m assuming (hopefully correctly?) that they are all by the same artist. At a time such as this, (V)VAG patrons who are familiar with my shtick might expect that an extraordinary amount of snark might be forthcoming. Not so! While this stuff is cartoony/anime-y in a way that I usually tend to be dismissive of / cruelly unkind towards, in this specific case I feel like there’s some actual talent on display.

Would I rather that the artist had painted something Real; something from the Gut? Of course. But I’ll take what I can get. To begin:

#1) It’s charming. No idea why I like it. I just do.

#2) Not so great.

#3) Again, utterly charming. Really nice background. Very realistic, relaxed and fluid Red Dress Girl.

#4) I only included this because in person I could see what was underneath the paint over. Which appeared to maybe be another cartoony portrait ala #1) but isn’t visible in the photograph here. Oh well.

#5) Very nice. Cool in that we can see a bit of the artistic process happening.

Artist: sign your work next time. And keep painting!

POSTSCRIPT: I find myself wondering if this one (from a few months back) might be by this same artist?

https://valuevillageartgallery.blogspot.com/2025/06/greek-nude-acrylic-and-pencil-on-canvas.html?m=1

Wolf in the Woods (Acrylic on Canvas)

I’m gonna be brutally honest: in my opinion this is a very weird-looking wolf. As a matter of fact, this entire painting feels a little weird to me. Something about it is…unsettling.

Not a fan. Sorry. But I am definitely intrigued by the fact that someone held onto this this for 40+ years.

Another Freaking Flower in the Dark (Acrylic on Canvas)

We had a couple of these a few days ago. I’m not sure who is responsible for these…objects…but they need to go away.

Artist: flowers need the sun and daylight to grow. Stop sticking these poor things in the dark.

 

Untitled (Acrylic on Wooden Board)

Unreal. Just…unreal…that we have gotten in SO many really decent paintings in one day. 

This is the weakest of the Really Good Ones, but it’s still quite nice. Even though it’s abstract-y, which isn’t generally my favorite milieu (hey lookit me using dem fancy woids!)

Anyway. Nice work, artist. Keep at it :)

“Wandering Woman” (Watercolor on Paper)

Really nice. Very very appealing: stark, minimalist, but lots of motion and feeling. Almost a “Favorite” here as well. 

What a wonderful day this has been :)

Mushrooms (Acrylic on Canvas)

This one came very Very VERY close to being installed as a (Value Village Art Gallery Favorite), but one thing kept it from being allowed to join the illustrious ranks of said category here. Anyone want to guess why? Regulars here should be able to figure it out.

REGARDLESS, this is a very nice painting: appealing, reasonably competent, and well composed. We expect to hear good things about this artist one day and have Great Expectations for his or her future. Well done, my friend…

 

Spooky Swamp (Acrylic on Canvas)

 

(Value Village Art Gallery Favorite)

Well we haven’t added a “Favorite” to our gallery in quite a while but this one without a doubt fits the bill and is an enthusiastic YES from Curator SadHoboClown himself (otherwise known as me): this is certainly one of the nicest and most artistically competent/appealing/confident paintings we’ve seen here in quite a while. And believe it or not, we may have another one (or two?) to add this very same day. It’s a veritable Embarrassment of Riches for sure.

This one? There’s just something about it that feels…real. Nice composition. Nice colors and shadows. Like you could walk right into this canvas. I dig it.

M Bonnett: whoever you are, wherever you are - Nice work! 👍

Happy Bees (Acrylic on Canvas)

Something to consider: we see so much stuff like this because it’s easy. Anyone could paint bees like this. Anyone. But try painting a bee that looks like a real bee! It’s tough. But by trying to, that is how one becomes a better artist.

My point? I would rather see a bad painting of a real bee than a good painting of a fake, cartoony, stupid bee. 

Art is supposed to imitate Life. Here, we have our stupid, mindless, lowest-common-denominator Life imitating Art.