Untamed Land

Untamed Land
Untamed Land

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Evolution of the Brown Bear

Back in the day, there was a strong demand for my bear paintings. I painted so many that I reached a level of burnout as I churned out one after another. This was an 8x10" study of a Coastal Brown Bear. It was'nt the worst bear I ever painted, but not quite up to par. I showed it around at a few shows, no interest, and then sent it to a gallery in Fairbanks.
Eventually they sent it back when it did not sell. I figured that I could improve upon it. That is the newer version that you see in the photo above. I toned down the grass and bear with a few glazes, and I refined the bear's facial features. Then I sent it to Homer.
It still did'nt sell. What gives? This is not a bad painting.
When I got the painting back a few days ago, I decided to give it another makeover. More refinements on the bear's head, and I raised it's shoulder hump a little. This photo does not do the painting justice. It rivals any of the small bear paintings that I have done. No more alterations. It's a classic bear study by my standards.
A detail of the bear's head. The real painting actually looks pretty good to me. Much better than the photo indicates.
Right now I'm working on a an 11x14" Brown Bear. We'll see how the new one turns out.

2 comments:

Marc Calvo said...

Yes,! not allways the pictures guive good results,but at any way i occasianally i sold a pictures that for me are horrible, but for many people really love;provably it depens on the culture of the public, the people that dont having much nature culture or art knowledge, dont apreciathe some herrors,and fix the attention in other questions like the vivid colours, the playing thonalithyes,or the composition of the picture and much other questions that for me, is incomprehensible,but, for me its better to find the suitable public.

Friend of HK said...

You are a very talented painter. Always enjoy looking at you wildlife paintings.