Have I posted this old painting before? I don't remember. It's an 11x14" painting of a doorway that I saw in Angangueo, Mexico some years ago. I have never showed this painting anywhere.
Since I have been posting so many paintings lately, I wanted to do some wildlife photography. So I grabbed my camera and rode my bicycle along the coastal trail, past Westchester Lagoon and Spenard Crossing, then I did the entire uphill length of the Chester Creek Greenbelt up to, and through Russian Jack Park, then home.
A very ambitious workout for these old bones. With all that effort, what did I see? Just some eclipse, (ugly) plummage ducks, distant gulls, kingfishers, and geese, and almost nothing more. I did not take even one photo.
Another old, 16x20" painting of Sandhill Cranes that I may, or may not have posted before.
This 24x30", Bighorn Sheep painting is one that I'm sure has not been posted on the blog previously. It was painted close to twenty years ago, when I was doing oil painting, trying to emulate the old masters.
Eventually I came to realize that any effect that I could achieve in oils, I could do much faster in acrylics without the nasty odors, or cracking.
With this old 18x24" painting, I was trying to recreate the look of wet birds in a drenching rainstorm. The idea has merit, but it needs a better effort. This painting never saw the light of day.
Another 18x24" painting that probably should have never seen the light of day. I actually sold this one.
I used to enter the Federal Duck Stamp contest every year. At the time, I thought that this was one of my best efforts. I did not realize that the judges reject any entry that features eggs or babies. Like a dummy, I entered designs with both of those things. Now I just ignore the contest.
A very obscure subject matter, Scaled Fruiteaters in Ecuador. Someday I need to go back there because I missed seeing any species of fruiteater.
On my next trip, I want to go to Australia to hopefully see some Splendid Fairy Wrens like this one. It looks like I will have to knock over a few liquor stores if I want to go. Selling artwork is not doing the trick anymore.
You noticed that I changed the name of my blog. That is because I'm am going through one of my periodic life makeovers. It's all futile, but I try to re-invigorate my career, and entire outlook on life. A few days ago, I decided to quit painting altogether. It was a rash decision on my part. What else am I going to do? Time will tell if I can manage to make any noticeable changes at all. Anyway, I got nothing new to post until I can drum up some enthusiasm for my art.
2 comments:
Hi John, Thanks for showing us these recent paintings, amazing that you have such diversity in your work so please keep them coming. Just ended a (seemingly) long period of uninspired work myself, finally I'm starting to be happy with what I'm doing again, only thing I can say is that it will come back. My method is to keep trying different things and subjects - a life drawing class may be just the thing!
I always take the summer to explore with camera in hand. The only painting I did was a plein-air fiasco, though enjoyable as the sun was shinning and the migrating birds were non-stop rustling through the berry bushes across the road from our campsite. Since we got back home I painted a loon on our fence. Not many birds here now. Saw large groups of blackbirds and robins migrating south a few weeks ago, they were sure interesting to watch. Keep painting.
Post a Comment