Red Flowers (Acrylic on Canvas)

While I am not exactly a fan of the bland tan background, this is actually…not unlikable. Which is to say: I can stand looking at it. And on some days hereabouts, that means a lot.

Keep painting, C. Belle…

Woodland Landscape (Acrylic on Canvas)

It’s…not so great. But: I feel like the artist was trying hard, doing his or her best, and painting something reasonably worth painting. Besides: compared to the rest of today’s installations? Fuggedaboudit. This person is practically a genius in the making…

Jar and Hearts/Bugs (Acrylic on Canvas)

Formulaic, trite and hackneyed. Sorry, but this kind of thing is soul-sucking in its dreariness. Paint something that matters next time. Even if it’s awful, it’ll be more relevant and organic than this…

Northern Lights (Acrylic on Canvas)

Really not that great…

Suns/Flowers? (Acrylic on Canvas)

Considering how commonplace and low-key these paintings are, they are moderately appealing I think. They have a vaguely MCM or Brutalist feel to them. Not bad…

Landscape (Not Sure on Parchment)

This was framed and behind glass. I didn’t look as closely as I should have so I don’t know what medium was used. Is it pastel? Crayon? Colored Pencil? I’m thinking pastel. It’s not great but it is pretty good. The mountain and orange section of skyline is a little more appealing than whatever we see going on in the foreground.

Lake Castle (Acrylic on Canvas)

I like it. We get some truly awful paintings, we get some truly run-of-the-mill paintings, and then we sometimes get stuff like this. It’s not great, but it is good. And it is so much better than the “not good” majority here that it winds being really really appealing. So I like it! I hope you do too…

Bible Quote and Cactus (Acrylic on Canvas)

I appreciate the bible quoting. But this is one underwhelming cactus. It appears…furry? And it looks like it is growing out of a felt flapper hat. And my usual complaint: too much left-unpainted canvas. Ugh.

Horseshoe and Wheat (Pen and Acrylic on Canvas)

Technically proficient. But rather uninteresting, subject-wise. Just my two cents: maybe some cowpoke or desperado might think it’s perfectly lovely.

I will say this: that is some nicely-done and realistic-looking barn wood!

Green Forest (Acrylic on Canvas)

I looked this fella up and he’s Italian. As in “Born in Italy, Living In Italy, Speaking Italian”-Italian. And this painting is pretty nice I think. How this thing came to be in Fairbanks Alaska I have no idea. The general consensus (that’d be me and my wife) is that these might be Birch trees, which we have a lot of around these here parts. But maybe not. I sent this guy a message via FB asking if this was his work and what his deal is. No answer yet.

Black Forest (Acrylic on Canvas)

Black, and Grey. Those two colors (along with “left-unpainted canvas” white, purple, pink and blue) are my most hated colors, painting-wise. That having been said, this painting doesn’t really annoy me that much, for some reason. It’s not great, or even good, but something about it has risen above the level of “actively bad”. 

It’s…reasonably okay!

Carnival Mask (Acrylic on Canvas)

I’m really starting to hate this place.

Anyone want to buy an online Art Museum?

(Just kidding. I actually love doing this. For realz.)

This thing is kind of terrifying though.

(Not kidding. At all.)

Alaska (Acrylic on some kind of slate?)

Again with the blue and purple. Sigh. 

This thing should come with a seizure warning.

Castle (Acrylic on Canvas)

Awful awful colors. So much black. And so much blue and pink and purple (i.e. the Unholy Trinity of Amateur Artist’s most frequently overused colors.) Despite all this, there is something about the castle that’s…not absolutely horrible.

Elsa (Acrylic on Canvas)

Plebian and Pop-Culture-y? Definitely. And while there are parts of this that are ehh a little off (the weird smallish arm, the malformed hand, the smushed and angular face, the braids, etc) overall it’s really not bad! Someone was trying hard and doing their best. And we support that.

So keep painting, Shira! 🙂 Just next time maybe paint something that’s…more worth painting? Something more worthy of your talents!

Skull and Rosary (Ink and Acrylic on Canvas)

Strange and creepy but technically proficient. Not my cup of tea (too much unpainted canvas, pink/purple paint, DEATH!) Still. It’s pretty good, I guess. That is, it’s pretty good if you happen to be a goth moping around your darkened garret, burning candles and thinking about morbid stuff.

Cheer up for Ghod’s sake!

Turtle (Watercolor, Colored Pencil and Crayon on Paper)

“Kid Art”: framed and behind glass. We support this kind of thing 100% here at the (Value) Village Art Gallery. Some lil’ dude or dudette was having fun and being creative. “Iiiiiiiii Recommend It!”

The Origami fish and smiling / kind-of-waving Starfish are a nice touch.

Keep up the good work, kiddo!

Raven and Moody Atmosphere (Acrylic on Canvas)

(Value Village Art Gallery Favorite)

Holy Buckets! What a painting! It’s not perfect but for what it is, it is really quite something. Just look at those branches! And the choice of colors! Whew! Real Talent here, for sure. 

To gcA or jcA or whateverthehell your name is: keep painting, my friend…
 

Roses? (Acrylic on Canvas)

Safe, inoffensive, palatable art. “Bank Art”, as a friend of mine used to call this kind of thing. But it is definitely better than I could do. 

Speaking of “I could do”: I could do with artists using far less black paint than they like to use nowadays. But that’s just me…

Marbleized Canvas (Some Kind of Goop on a Surface)

 “I lied…” <—— My “Commando” (1985, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rae Dawn Chong, Dan Hedaya, Vernon Wells, James Olson, David Patrick Kelly) Quote of the Day.

Yes: I lied. A while back I said that I was done installing these voiceless and mostly gimmicky/mechanical/“knack”-like things. But I lied. Here’s one more. Pfft.

Internal Organs (Acrylic on Canvas)

Not bad: a little cartoony, a little weird, but not bad at all. It’s its own thing.

I support this!

 

Elephant (Acrylic on Paper)

It’s wonderful! And no, I am not being sarcastic. This has effort, heart, intensity and sincerity. And it shows promise. Little dude or little dudette: keep painting! 👍

Sweetheart’s Tree (Oil on Canvas)

Another old one, I’m guessing 1970s/1980s? 

Hard to believe it, but someone appears to have taken a Sharpie and written over the original “Heart and Arrow” tree carving (maybe “3-5-25 Bob Owen”? Not sure though.) I’m not a fan of this kind of desecration. I suppose (?) the artist might have done it, long after the fact. But it doesn’t seem likely to me.

Anyway, the artist had some talent and spent a bit of time making what amounts to Real Art. I like it. It’s no Masterpiece but it’s definitely quite good, for what it is. Not a waste of paint by any means…

Bee (Acrylic on Canvas)

At first glance I thought this was a wayfair.com special. But someone actually painted this. The bee looks like a bee so I won’t “bee” too unkind here.

Haha get it?

(But: too much black! Way too much.)

Desert Scene (Acrylic on Canvas)

This is one pallid, faded and washed-out-looking color pallet. On a “One to Ten” scale this would be a solid 2.

Rainbow Rain Umbrella (Acrylic on Canvas)

 I just…I can’t even…

Very Unimaginative Mountain Range (Acrylic on Canvas)

This painting is almost entirely black and blue.

Amateur Artists: this shiznit must be stopped…

Pisces of Sh*t (Acrylic on Canvas)

It’s just not good. Aaaand we have more blue and pink. And black. Ugh. What in the Wide World of Sports is going on with the black, pink and blue lately?

Desert Scene (Acrylic on Canvas)

The foreground isn’t very good but at least it’s not awful. The horizon, on the other hand, is. It looks like a Trans flag. FML…

 

Clown (Acrylic on Canvas Board)

(Value Village Art Gallery Favorite)

Okay. So maybe you don’t like clowns. I get it. Me? I don’t like spiders. So you have my sympathy. HOWEVER: this is objectively, demonstrably a very well-done clown painting. And judging by the back of the canvas board, this is old. Like 1970s old. I dig it. In fact I digged it so much that I bought it: I’m going to restore this by touching up the chipped areas.

There was some real talent here, back in the day. It is a shame that there is no signature.

Anonymous clown-painter: the (Value) Village Art Gallery salutes you 🫡 

Gazebo (Acrylic on Canvas)

I’m not a fan of the color pallet (green and purple/pink? ugh!) but this is pretty good otherwise. Not great, just…good. 

Ocean Waves and Beach (Acrylic on Canvas)

Impressionist-y but with like almost zero effort I think? Really underwhelming. Sorry :/

Watermelon (Acrylic on Canvas)

 Tedious. Verrrry tedious.

Mountain Sun (Acrylic on Canvas)

I can’t think of anything nice to say about this. Except that, if you squint, it kind of looks like…a hamburger?

Particoloured Eye (Acrylic on Canvas)

Pretty uninteresting. Also there are the colors, awful black butterflies, and weird blue FASD corner eye droop to contend with. 

The coup de grâce? There’s too much white canvas left remaining. I hate that…

 

Something (Something on Something)

This thing was shrink-wrapped but appeared to be real amateur Art. It is far too weird to be a print or lithograph or anything done professionally by any stretch of the imagination. If someone has an idea of what the hell this is supposed to be, I’d love it if you clued me in.

Landscape and Building (Watercolor on Parchment)

I like it.

While Comparisons are Odious, the bold lines of that rope in the right foreground feel a bit Van Gogh-like. Nice moody colors, confident composition. I wish we could read the signature. Suedely? Smalley? Sally? Not really sure…

Turtle-Turkey-Peacock (Acrylic on Canvas)

Not sure what it is, but it’s not bad. It’s bold, confident and seemingly not trying too hard to be weird in a “look at me look at me” kind of way. The colors and lines are assertive. Cartoony. Despite how absurd this thing is, it came rather close to being a (Value) Village Art Gallery Favorite. Keep at it, Shel :)