Killer Whale (Acrylic on Canvas)

The day wouldn’t be complete without one of these things. Too much blue and purple and too much “thoroughly average”ness. I know this was probably the result of a possibly booze-infused Paint Night suggested topic, but still. There are easily 40 or more of these types of things that have wound up at the (V)VAG, and if I lined them all up (think “firing squad”) you would be hard put to differentiate them. Sorry to be a jerk. Maybe folks nowadays are more lacking in imagination than they were in previous years. This kind of thing is exhausting. And a waste of paint.

Flowers (Oil on Canvas)

Maybe this is acrylic but it kinda looked like oil to me. This is one of my favorites of the day’s installations. Nothing inept or over-the-top here, nothing that is very cloying or phony or stinking of “trying too hard”, just good ol’ legit creative-juices-infused art. Good stuff!

 

Night Woods (Acrylic on Canvas)

One of the better examples of the kind of thing we see a lot of around here. And I DO MEAN “a lot of”!!! Theres a bunch of blue, which is usually a hard no for me, but something about this one makes me not want to make fun of it too much. Its okay!

Flowers in Jar (Acrylic on Canvas)

This really isn’t that bad. Again, it appears that more effort was put in, more energy expended than we sometimes see here by our stable of dynamic and forward-thinking artistes. I like it. Not enough to buy it (“aw hell no!”) but its okay. Keep at it, pal :)

Panda (Acrylic on Canvas)

In the past I’ve mentioned that certain objets de arte exhibited here make me feel a little queasy when I look at them. This would be one of them. Not sure if it’s the color combination, or the subject matter, or what I assume to be the mindset of the culprit er um artiste that created it. All I know is that it happens to me sometimes. Urp.

Mountain Landscape (Acrylic on Canvas?)

This was in what appeared to be an old and possibly handmade frame. One of the better entries today I think. More time and effort was put into in than is typical of some of the errr “diamonds in the rough” that often wind up here. Nice work!

 

Abstract Splashes (Not Sure on Canvas)

Acrylic? Watercolor? Not sure. This kind of thing doesn’t grab me but it’s not unappealing. As I’ve mentioned in the past, I prefer it when Art looks like Stuff. I hate Warhol but I’d take a tin can over this.

That’s just me though. It’s not bad…

Seashore and Lighthouse (Acrylic on Canvas)

You may not be aware of this, but I install these artworks at the (Value) Village Art Gallery in the exact order that I find them and photograph them. So for those of you who are bad with math, this painting was number seven on Saturday August 24th 2024. WHICH MEANS that the six fairly awful paintings that came before it set the “Relativity Mood” that engulfed me when I spotted it. WHICH EXPLAINS the audible “ahhhhh” that escaped my lips when I found it. Somewhat like what one would expect to hear a man utter, after having been lost in the desert for many days, upon discovering that a pleasant oasis looms only a few footsteps before him.

Is it great? No way. 

Is it good? Yes. 

Is it, in comparison with the other installations today, practically Sistine Chapel-like in its beauty? 

Definitely.

Elephant (Acrylic on Canvas)

You know in the Charlie Brown cartoons when his head hangs down in defeat while he says “I can’t stand it”? That’s me right now.

Bee and Flowers (Acrylic on Canvas)

I hope a little kid did this. It’s not good if a grown-up did it, but it’s pretty much kinda okay if a kid did. The “tell” is the classic and readily-identifiable “little kid’s way” of conveying the idea of motion (i.e. the little dots/lines towards the lower left.) Keep trying little dude/dudette :)

If a grown-up did this, break your brushes into small pieces and burn them. Drop your tubes of paint down a mine shaft. And take up stamp collecting or bird watching.

Arctic Landscape III: Beyond Thunderdome (Acrylic on Canvas)

One more of these…things…from this…person…and he/she is going into quarantine for a period not to exceed 30 days. Banned I’m saying. Barred. Verboten! Persona Non Grata.

Sorry, but I draw the line at semi-transparent chimneys. It’s a hill I’m willing to die on.

Arctic Landscape Redux (Acrylic on Canvas)

This person again? Daaaaaang. 

One would think that some improvement would be forthcoming. 

But…one would be wrong, wouldn’t one?

Arctic Landscape (Acrylic on Canvas)

Pretty sure we’ve seen this artiste’s work here before, but since there’s no signature I can’t be 100% certain. The trees look familiar in their not-very-good-ness though. I’m betting it’s him! Or her.

Albino Tiger (Acrylic on Canvas)

White and umm teal (?) are not a great combo IMO. It looks rather like a tiger so thats good. Not so sure about the blood-red splatters on its face and chest though. Did it just finish killing and eating an albino Wildebeest? Whew!
 

Mountain Lake (Oil on Canvas Board)

Very nice. And going by canvas board manufacturer info on the back as well as the condition, this is an oldie. I like it. Effort was put in. Pains were taken. Details were seen to matter. I don’t care that this subject is overdone and trite around here. It’s good. I like it. I bought it.

Soft-Boiled Jellyfish (Acrylic on Canvas)

Is it just me, or does this look rather like a freshly-cracked egg? 

Anyway, considering the preponderance of blue and pink here, I’m surprised that I’m not exactly hating the color scheme (for more on this subject, see my previously-stated views on blue and purple.) This is a nice shade of blue, and while the pink is hum-drum, it kinda looks nice with the blue backdrop. Now regarding the subject: this could just as well be a dragonfly, or a tree, or a butterfly, or any one of the dozens of tired, overdone, boring subjects most often seen around here. What I’m saying is, the subject is uninteresting. There’s been a rash of that kind of thing lately.

Mountain Meadow (Acrylic on Canvas)

As far as the very amateur type of stuff here goes, this isn’t great but it isn’t awful in the way so many of the paintings here are. It’s basic, not much detail or skill, but it’s clear that the artist was trying hard the entire time and never gave up, and never gave into the urge to turn this into something easy, with black and blue and purple and some stars or an Aurora or something. Nice work! It’s no masterpiece but it’s a start.

Abstract Gimmick Thingy (Acrylic on Canvas)

Regulars here know that I’m not a fan of this kind of thing: I won’t go so far as to say that I actively dislike it since there’s, in general, not enough of anything to it to either like or dislike. It’s simply a technique, and one that requires little if any creativity on the part of the person making it.

That having been said, of the eight or so of these things we have showing here (I won’t call them paintings), this is in the top two. 

(The statisticians and logicians among us will gather from this data that this painting probably came in second. Since I didn’t say it’s the best one of these we’ve ever had, right?)

Regardless: for what it is, it’s not bad.

Reddish Shapes (Acrylic on Canvas)

It’s a painting of nothing in particular. There’s almost nothing that can be said about it, for or against. Other than that it’s really uninteresting.

Trippy Landscape (Colored Pencil on Canvas Board)

I like it. It’s tripindicular and colorful and I like it when the moon or sun have old-school-looking faces. Artist: next time SIGN YOUR WORK! And keep at it. This was cool.

Arctic Mountain Range (Acrylic on Canvas)

It’s a little…rough. But at least there’s a minimal amount of blue and purple in the very understated (and frankly very welcome, as executed) Northern Lights. It’s no masterpiece: probably a C+ if I were to grade it. But at least the usual mistakes weren’t made. 

Keep trying, pal.

Lightning Bee (Acrylic on Canvas)

Or is it a Bumble Bug? Not sure. But…the purple…the purple…must I be forever tormented by this thrice-damned color? When will it end? Haven’t I, we, suffered enough?

It’s okay. This was probably quite an accomplishment for whomever painted it. I hope it brought them some joy for a time.

Tree (Acrylic on Canvas)

We seem to be having a bit of an Art Drought for the past few weeks. Of course, some might argue that we’ve had one since February of 2023. Rimshot.

Anyway, it’s a tree. Which was apparently painted by some colorblind person. Puke/booger green, blood red, pink, and plum/purple glob/blots of paint absurdly and pathetically attempting to pass for leaves. Black trunk and limbs on (yep) yet another lazy, sad, soul-sucking unpainted background. Boy do I hate blank canvas! Have I mentioned that before? 

I think maybe I have.

Masks (Pastel on Paper)

These were grouped together at VV so I’m grouping them together here. Really nice. Nothing bad that one can say about them. I really enjoy finding old & verifiably “local” stuff like this. 

1981 was, objectively, a different and much better world than we are living in now. Don’t let the current rewriters of history fool you: people living in 1981 had more in common with people living in 1881 than they would’ve had with majority of people living in 2024. And I mean that as a positive for 1981, not for 2024. We have lost our way.