Mountain Scene (Acrylic on Canvas)

It’s okay. About as good as the thirty or so other “Mountain Scene” paintings we’ve installed here.

Alaska’s got a lot of mountains…

Fly Fishing (Watercolor on Parchment)

Not bad. And obviously the best painting of the day.

Deer and Slogan (Acrylic on Canvas)

White. Olive Drab. And Tan.

I just can’t…

Christian Cement Truck (Acrylic on Canvas)

I have no idea what this is all about. I can’t figure out what this bible verse has to do with cement trucks, or vice versa.

I hope a grown-up wasn’t responsible for this.

Beach Scene (Acrylic on Canvas)

What could be more tropical than a dark beach done in hues of black, brown and faded orange? Very festive.

Northern Lights (Acrylic on Canvas)

A solid two on my “one to ten” scale. Really not that great.

House on a Hill (Oil on Canvas)

 (Value Village Art Gallery Favorite)

Allow me to explain something. In all seriousness, there are probably only maybe 50 or so “Favorites” in our entire gallery, which now holds something like 750 works of art. So don’t let the fact that we’ve lucked into / stumbled upon three or four in one week fool you into thinking that we bestow the VVAGF honor capriciously: far from it, actually. We’ve just had a very good week, is all.

My in-house Art Authenticator/Appraiser is of the opinion that the pink/purple flora we are seeing is possibly Fireweed, and that the building is maaaybe one of the historic landmarks in the Russian Orthodox settlement at Ninilchik. Maybe? Regardless, this is real art by a real Alaska-y person and it was found at VV so it meets the requirements for inclusion in our illustrious gallery. 

Mountain Landscape (Oil on Canvas)

 (Value Village Art Gallery Favorite)

Another VVAGF! What is this, like, three in one week? Four? I can’t remember. 

Anyway, the price tag on this painting was $299.99 which at VV is a huge sum (I once saw a lady shoplifting a Tupperware lid!) Very nice painting though. I had to consult with my in-house Art Authenticator/Appraiser on this one, and she is of the opinion that it is legit Alaskan Art done by a real human being-type person many moons ago. We’d like to know more but the problem is that, in our online searches for an artist named EJ Pollock, we keep running across some hack named Jackson Pollock, whose alleged “art” most often looks like a house painter’s tarp. Pfft. Oh well.

“Yard Dog in Seattle” (Oil on Canvas)

 (Value Village Art Gallery Favorite)

Ahhhh Art! ART! This is what I like to see! Real Art by a real artist: no snowmen, no Northern Lights, no Yodas or Ponkemons or Trolls involved: just Real Art!

Well done, my friend :)

Alaska Landscape (Oil on Canvas)

This thing was pretty huge. Pretty nice. Old too: 1970! I wonder how it wound up at VV. And who held onto it for 50+ years. And why that person (or his/her surviving relatives?) decided to get rid of it. Regardless, I like this and it shows at least a degree of talent. Nothing mind-blowing per se but definitely some Real Art by a Real human being (and not some post-Internet / Social Media / Smart Phone-addicted pod person.)

Two Thumbs Up 👍 👍 

Moose Cow and Calf (Pencil on Parchment)

Really nicely done. 

I personally am not a fan of pencil or charcoal sketching but this is a great example of it for sure.

Western Scene (Acrylic on Canvas)

“Needs Work!”

Isn’t that what teachers used to put on some badly-done homework assignments? Seems like I saw that a lot as a kid. Anyway, this really isn’t that terrible. “Things in Silhouette” is usually a bad sign around here, but other than that (and the fact that the silhouettes themselves are kinda wonky, and the birds are low effort) this isn’t absolutely horrible. 

More Flowers in the Dark (Acrylic on Canvas)

Paintings of flowers in the dark, without any sunlight, is something I will never understand.

These flowers? They’re not great, but they’re not bad. And the flowers in the bottom painting have a vague “Louis Wain at his craziest” vibe. 

But that blackness all around these poor flowers?!? Whew…

Abstract (Acrylic on Canvas)

I have no time or patience for this kind of thing today, sorry. It looks like a drop cloth in need of retirement. Pfft.

“North Polet” (Acrylic on Canvas)

Ho Hum…

Horizon (Acrylic on Canvas)

Slightly less uninteresting than the previous one. The colors here are more appealing as well. 

Birds and Sky (Acrylic on Canvas)

Thoroughly Average. Meh.

Night Time Treeline (Acrylic on Canvas)

 Not just not good. Ungood. Doubleplusungood.

Birch Trees (Acrylic on Canvas)

 (Value Village Art Gallery Favorite)

This is, simply put, the best “Birch Trees”-type painting we have ever installed here. 

Unfortunately, that’s not saying much, since literally every Birch Tree painting we’ve installed prior to this was really really…really…not so great.

But this is pretty good. Not great, but pretty good. And we are quite glad to have it.

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…only a little bit awful. Seriously. It’s not “terrible” terrible. Just slightly terrible. While not much time or effort probably went into this, somehow the sun is almost…okay. It’s adequate.

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 gay-looking wolf. And this entire painting feels a little peculiar. Something about it is…unsettling.

Not a fan. Sorry. But I am definitely intrigued by the fact that someone held onto this thing 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)

Very appealing: stark and minimalist but lots of motion and feeling. A bit of an 50s feel. Almost a “Favorite” 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! 👍