Northern Lights (Acrylic on Canvas)

I think the ratio of bad Northern Lights paintings to good Northern Lights paintings here is probably something like 12 to 1. Possibly 15 to 1.

Care to take a guess where this one falls?

Lake Scene (Acrylic on Canvas)

There was a time when this painting would have been granted immediate “Value Village Art Gallery Favorite” status. But that time is long past. While this painting is very good and is certainly in the top ten percent of the paintings here when it comes to talent and effort displayed, it isn’t a “favorite.” The style of it is that which I have come to think of as being…well…there’s no nice way to say this…SLIMY. It just feels slimy, gelatinous, and oily. Viscous. Unpleasantly so. The colors are too rich somehow. I can’t explain it. Anyway, this is a really nicely-done painting that I would not want hanging on any wall in my home. Sorry.

Dog (Acrylic on Canvas)

This is one of those canvas painting boards with a picture already drawn on it. Kind of like a “paint by numbers” kit but for little kids. If we couldn’t see the lines, this one would be marginally interesting in a Primitive / Outsider Art kind of way. But…

Easter Eggs? (Acrylic on Canvas)

No so great. But honestly we’ve seen much much worse. It’s a 3 on my “1 to 10” scale. I am absolutely not kidding…

Confetti? (Acrylic on Canvas)

Low Effort. Medium Talent. Phoned In. On Autopilot. 

That having been said, I genuinely like this painting far more than the usual jive we see here: trolls, pumpkins, moonlit nights, owls, mushrooms, poorly-done mountain scenes, northern lights, etc.

It’s a solid 3!

Various Colors (Acrylic on Canvas)

Believe it or not, on my “1 to 10” scale, I’d call this a solid 2. 

If not for the brown, it’d be a 3…

Fictional Continents (Acrylic on Canvas)

Maybe this was for a class assignment or class project of some kind? Regardless, it’s not very good.

How does one manage to make imaginary land masses look so bad? 🤷‍♂️

Jellyfish (Acrylic on Canvas)

One of the weirdest-looking jellyfishes I have ever seen portrayed via paint upon canvas. Its head (?) looks more like a mushroom cap or a lima bean and its umm tail (?) looks like knotted ribbon. Or a crayon-colored spinal column.

Very damned odd… 

Tree Line (Acrylic on Canvas)

Previously we were talking about the concept of “bad” and how to recognize it in a painting.

Can you see it?

Fox Wearing Gru Scarf (Acrylic on Canvas)

This seems to be a day for weird-looking animals on canvases. Dang. This one is very distinctive and peculiar. I wouldn’t call it bad. It’s just…different.

When I see “bad” there’s no question. This isn’t bad. It’s just unusual. Too much white (unpainted) canvas left remaining though.

Strange Cat, Pumpkin (Acrylic on Canvas)

This was almost certainly perpetrated by the same culprit as was responsible for the odd-looking owl below. In hindsight, I realize that I should have grouped them together as one installation 🤨

This cat is so weird-looking that I think I kind of sort of maybe (?) am starting to like it. Just a little bit.

Taken together, these two paintings seem to be growing on me. Not sure why. Maybe I’m coming down with something 🤒

Owl in a Cornucopia Hat (Acrylic on Canvas)

Now that…is a very strange-looking owl.

Orange, green, black. Just a horrid combination of colors. Ghastly.

And is that…snow? What the heck?!?

Skulls and Bat (Acrylic on Canvas)

Why me?

If that’s supposed to be a tree, it looks more like coral. Feh!

But y’know, actually…those skulls are kinda cool-looking… 🧐