Rural Scene (Acrylic on Canvas)

Really nice bit of Americana / American Gothic here. Legitimate, effort-expended, doing-one’s-best art. We need more like it. As usual, I find myself wondering what the story is here? 1983 is practically an eternity ago in post-SocialMedialandvilleburgshire terms. Who was Hazel Merchant? What has become of her? Why did this painting wind up at VV?

We may never know.

Repeat Offender? (Acrylic on Canvas)

This soooooo feels like a painting I’ve already installed here in the past, but if it is I can’t seem to find it. It has the usual overabundance of blue and black that we see so much of (blue and black being the most common go-to color scheme for amateur artists hereabouts.) Other than that, this isn’t a terrible painting per se: it’s just kind of blah. 

Which I just now wonder: is “blah” short/slang for blasé? 

The More You Know  💫

Abstract (Acrylic on Canvas Board)

Arguably the worst painting of the day. But the others were so darned GOOD (well, most of them) that this one is, well, kinda sorta maybe not bad, relatively speaking. If the artist had ditched the butterflies and if the blank canvas had been filled in with red or orange, I actually think he or she could have been onto something here. But that’s just me playing Armchair General. It’s still not bad (even with all that blue!)

Branches (Acrylic on Sheet Metal?)

This one is a little odd. Painted onto some kind of metal and then framed. It’s…unusual: not bad or great per se, just kind of out-of-the-ordinary. 

It’s…something. I think it’s okay.

Tugboat (Acrylic on Canvas)

Another nice one by the person who did the cabin painting below, I believe? This is “not bad” in a way that very few of our recent paintings have not been “not bad.” Which is a very left-handed way of saying it’s good, I suppose? But I really do like this. It feels…real. Organic. I’m not saying this is old, but it feels un-jacked-up in the way that the entirety of the 21st Century (and even some of the 20th Century) exhibited so much jacked-up-ness.

Nice job, artistic-type person!

Cabin (Acrylic on Canvas Board)

Very cool: I like this a lot! No nonsense, no jive, just decent art. I wish I had bought it. Well done, artist. Please keep painting :) The world needs more like you around…

 

Wine Fruit and Cheese (Acrylic on Canvas)

(Value Village Art Gallery Favorite)

I like it! Classically sedate, non-21st Century. Far from perfect but there’s just something about it that feels real, and alive, and important. As in: worthy of its own existence.

Well done, artiste :)

Lake Landscape (Oil on Canvas Board)

After so many ho-hum paintings, today we have a bunch that I really really like. And this is one of ‘em! Is it perfect? Far from it: the foreground is great but the background is weak, and boy does that rowboat look weird! But despite all that: actual art has occurred! A painter painted something worth painting and she did so in a painterly way. Darlene: I hope you’re still alive and still at it. Because YOU ROCK!!!

Horses (Acrylic on Pasteboard)

These are some really really old Paint By Numbers paintings. 

It’s been my policy in the past (with four other Paint By Numbers installations) that paintings such as these do just barely manage to meet the requirements needed for their inclusion here amongst the rarified and illustrious ranks of (Value) Village Art Gallery exhibits: they were painted by amateurs, and there is a demonstrable degree of individual human talent (or lack thereof) involved.

So there!

Marbleized (Acrylic or Latex or whatever on Canvas)

Another one of these darned things. Whew! I’m about to enact a permanent moratorium / quarantine on ‘em if they continue to inundate the shelves of VV in this manner.

Great technique here, for sure. It’s just not a technique I’m a very big fan of. I certainly couldn’t do this. But then again I wouldn’t want to.

Alaska Scenes (Acrylic on Canvas)

I’m fairly confident that these paintings are all by the same person. Although I suppose it’s possible that various random Applebees Paint Night organizers wind up with an over abundance of leftover canvases abandoned by demoralized semi-drunk and carb-loaded amateur artists. Who then go on to ditch these things in bulk at Value Village every few weeks/months. Who can tell?

HOWEVER: while these are demonstrably, provably, obviously “not very good” paintings, they really DO still somehow manage to have a kind of charm. I will maintain to my grave that a BRIGHT bad painting really is more appealing than a DARK bad one. And these are bright, boy. Like BRIGHT bright. Lots of good hokey ham handed amateur work to praise here.The Northern Lights in paintings #2 are the most appealing “Bad Amateur Northern Lights” I’ve ever seen here. The sky in painting #3 is slightly almost barely okay in an Inept Amateur kind of way. I can’t explain it. As bad as these paintings are, I just don’t hate them with the usual virulent seething hatred that courses through my veins and makes up the entirety of my being.

Would I hang one of these things on my wall? Hell no! But…they’re not unforgivably awful.

Fruit (Acrylic on Canvas)

Very kitschy. Maybe that was the intent. I like the bright colors, especially on the lower one. It would look good in a kitchen. Or on top of a bonfire.

I’m KIDDING. Someone was having fun, and doing so without injuring my eyes, my heart/soul/spirit, or my morale. Good job!

ADDENDUM (weeks later): In the painting on the bottom we have watermelon, grapefruit, kiwi, lemon and lime. But what the HECK is that other thing with all the speckles?

Hand and Glass (Acrylic on Canvas)

It’s not awful. It looks like what it’s supposed to look like. Which is a good thing. It’s just…kinda cringe? Maybe?

Very odd…

Hands (Acrylic on Canvas)

 https://youtu.be/HK5puGpaO2Q

Landscape (Acrylic on Canvas)

I was at a loss for what to call this, since I’m really not sure what it is. A lake as seen from the shore? The sky as seen from some bushes? The sky above the ocean, as seen from some nearby sand dunes? The irony here is that it appears to be painted with some skill. I just don’t know what that skill is portraying here…

Creek (Acrylic on Canvas)

Best painting of the day. It’s not a masterpiece but the artist was trying hard and doing his/her best. Good work, whoever you are. Keep painting…

Seal (Acrylic on Canvas)

Bright colors, realistic flora/fauna. It’s not my cup of tea but it‘s not bad at all, for what it is. It looks kinda comic/cartoony though with those thick black outlines. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing: I’m just making an observation. The outer edge of this stretched canvas was painted bright orange. Unconventional, but kind of appealing.

Skin Anatomy (Acrylic or Latex? on Canvas)

Just kidding with the title: but doesn’t this look a bit like a cutaway section of epidermis, dermis and hypodermis? This is one of those marbleized thingies that I’m not a fan of, technique/gimmick-wise. But that’s just me. Some folks like it a lot, obviously.

Bible Verses (Acrylic on Canvas Board)

I’m generally against artsy sloganeering, but ehhh I dunno. VV has been running low on art lately so I have to work with what I’ve got. These are demonstrably not that good, but they are not actively awful. One could say, with a straight face, that these do show a degree of promise. 

Keep painting, my friend. And may God richly bless you…

Northern Lights (Acrylic on Canvas)

Too much black! But: these aren’t the worst Northern Lights I’ve ever seen. Far from it, actually. It’s not super-realistic, but is somehow manages to be kind of appealing. I think it’s because the colors are not the usual boring “talentless artist” version of Northern Lights that we so often see around here. To the artist: keep painting. But try something not quite so trite, hackneyed and overdone. Mwah! 😘

Mountain Range (Acrylic on Canvas)

Strange choice of colors here. But since they’re bright (no black, no blue) I’m not entirely opposed to them. I’d take ten of these over a single bad painting of birch trees or Northern Lights.

Northern Lights (Acrylic on Canvas Board)

Another fairly unremarkable Aurora painting. Soooo much black. It’s disheartening..

Forest (Watercolor and Pen/Ink on Parchment)

Pardon the glare: this was framed and behind glass. Not bad but not that great either. Is that a tire rim? And a suspension spring?

Bible and Grapes (Acrylic on Canvas)

I really can’t figure out what that whispy-looking thing is that is sitting on top of the larger book: is it a toupee?

Snowman (Acrylic on Canvas)

 (Profanity Warning)

https://youtu.be/k48LcWSuKZE

Another One Of These Things (A Substance on A Surface)

It has been a really slow couple of weeks for art.

This…object…is not actively bad, or actively good: it simply exists, in a “taking up physical space in reality” kind of way. 

It just is.

Colorblind Sloganeering (Acrylic on Canvas)

Black. Grey. And Beige.

I just can’t…

Dandelion (Acrylic on Canvas)

@#$%&!

(For the post-Social Media generation: what you’re seeing above is how comic book characters used to cuss, otherwise known as grawlixes. Google it.)

Flowers, Etc. (Acrylic on Canvas)

Yeahhhh…umm…these are, well, just not that great.

I’m assuming someone had fun doing these. And that’s cool. More power to you, artistic-type person. But…as owner and curator of this online art museum I see a lot of these very very very similar paintings. And these are, well, like I said, just not that great.

My usual advice in situations such as this: Artist: go watch “Lust For Life” and “The Horse’s Mouth”. After so doing: if you still want to paint, channel Gulley Jimson and paint from the gut. Then get back to me afterwards.

What In God’s Name Is This?!? (Acrylic on Canvas)

 Seriously. What the hell?!?

Mushroom House (Acrylic on Canvas)

I feel rather ill looking at this. I think it’s the color combination. Whew.

Landscape (Acrylic on Canvas Board)

(All of today’s installations are from as far back as the last week of October: I’ve been slacking a bit):

This one is fairly basic but I think it’s charming.

Good job Slark :)