So far, Sea Otters and puffins have been a sure sell for me in Gary's gallery, The Sea Lion, in Homer Alaska. No matter how badly I paint them, I have sold every one that I have sent to the gallery. I think Sea Otters are pretty cool, but to me they are a boring subject to paint. It has been very difficult for me to come up with an interesting composition with them. I already forgot the name of this 8x10" painting.
As you can see from these two Sea Otter paintings, I have been in a bit of a creative slump since my return from Uganda. This is a larger painting, 12x16". I forget the name of this one as well.
Although I have painted many puffins, they have all been Tufted Puffins. This is the first Horned Puffin painting I can remember doing. It looks terrible to me. I'm almost certain that it will sell anyway. It's another 8x10" painting.
Normally I sketch out the basic elements of a painting before applying paint with a brush. With this 4x6" miniature I just started painting without even knowing what animal I was going to paint. The whole thing only took an hour or so to paint. I am satisfied with how it turned out.
Things started to come together creatively with this, 9x12" Goshawk painting. I will probably make a few adjustments with it. The angle of the bird's legs looks wrong to me. The tree could use some work as well.
Life in the Clouds, 16x20". Finally, I feel like I'm almost back on top of my game. The actual painting looks so much better than the photo. It is a pair of Plate-billed Mountain Toucans in the Andean cloud forest of western Ecuador.
The idea I had in my head was very different and I suffered some frustration that I could'nt get the painting to look as good as I wanted it to look. That is the way it goes with most of my paintings. Now I'm off to the coastal trail to see what has just showed up from the south.
1 comment:
You have some great artwork here John! Artists tend do be their worst critics so don't be too hard on yourself. But I do understand as I am the same way...
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