This is a detail of the painting that has kept me busy for the last week or so. Know what it is?
Another of the birds in the painting. These are the Alaska state birds. Hence the title of this post.
This is the full painting, The Stately Birds, 16x20". They are Willow Ptarmigan in Fall plummage. I always have high expectations for my paintings when I start on them, and I'm almost invariably disappointed by the results when the painting is completed. I'm not terribly let down with this one.
This is an old 18x24" Golden Eagle painting. During a moment of discouragement, I painted over this one. I probably should'nt have acted so rashly. The following paintings also came to an unfortunate end.
Another old, 24x18" Golden Eagle painting. Either I painted over this one, or gave it away. I can't remember.
A real departure from my usual subject matter. This 11x14" Alaska native village was stolen from me along with about 15 other paintings. I was'nt too devastated because I already had a large inventory of unsold artwotk.
I spent a lot of time painting this 24x36" canvas of a Wolf with Mt. Mckinley in the background. At first I was pleased with it. Over time I started to hate it more and more. Eventually I painted over it. Too bad.
Another doomed painting that got recycled. This 16x20" Canada Goose composition deserves a better effort.
7 comments:
Hola John, espectacular te han quedado las Ptarmigan, preciosas..y el entorno perfecto, un saludo.
Everyone of your paintings is beautiful to me! The paintings of the Stately Birds are fantastic!
Love the willows and all the paintings that follow. I agree though, we are most critical of our own work and sometimes much too harsh. Ease up on the urge to cover...you may regret it later. Beautiful works on your blog John and you never cease to amaze me.
Mononoke, Friend of HK, Colette. Thank you all for your kind comments. I like the ptarmigans well enough, but I hated all the rest of them. Some of them do deserve another try.
Sometimes we are our own worst enemies when it comes to critical assessment of our work. Igessoed over a Heron in flight last year due an insane moment of discouragement and now when I look at the photo I took of it I give myself a head-smack.
Tess,
It bothers me a bit to see other artists destroy their own work. However I can't say that I have ever terribly regretted covering up my own paintings. In fact, I just sanded off 8 small paintings today. It's a lot cheaper than buying new gessoboards.
This summer i would like to paint,a willow ptarmigan in a siberian taiga environment.
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