Tequila is now bourbon

 

10"x8" acrylic on canvas

Bourbon can go with limes, right?  Maybe if you're making a mule?  

When I originally did this painting 5 years ago, it was tequila and limes.   Then today I updated it to be bourbon bottles.

original tequila version from 2015

I am proudly displaying the new bourbon version in our half bath, which I recently updated to have a bourbon theme.

Check out the sweet oak shelves Nate built.   We had to cut down an oak tree in our yard, and he's been lumberjacking like crazy ever since.   The oak also ties in with the oak bourbon barrel theme and all the pictures I framed from the Kentucky bourbon trail:

Still stuck in the past

 

12" x 12" acrylic on canvas

I'll probably start a new painting eventually.    But for now I'm stuck in a groove of trying to improve my reject pile.  This one is from 4 years ago.  Here's the before:

old version from 2016

Old barn, new sky

12" x 12" acrylic on canvas

This barn painting originally looked like this in 2015:

old 2015 version of the painting

I was never happy with the sky or grass, so I gave it a makeover.  

Dang, the new photo is so foggy.  My phone got a crack in the glass right over the camera lens, and it's making my photos not as crisp.  Hopefully it is getting fixed this week.

By the way, my paintings have their own Instagram account now: @venividipainty .  I'm posting some of my favorite old paintings on there for now, and then I'll start posting new ones.    Or maybe I'll just keep trying to improve my old paintings forever.  Listen, if George Lucas can makeover the original Star Wars trilogy, everything is fair game.

Another redo

 

12" x 12" acrylic on canvas

Let's dip into the reject pile and do another paint-over.  I took one that was already weird and gave the top half a make-over.  Here's what it looked like before:

Tree tunnel redo

12" x 12" acrylic on canvas

Do you remember that tree tunnel painting I did 6 years ago?  Of course not.  It looked like this:

this version of the painting is no more

I loved it when I first did it, but then it ended up in the pile of shame in the basement.  The shapes aren't great, color is washed out...   Anyway, I dug it out of the basement, dusted it off, and reworked / painted over it.   I was inspired by Erin Hanson's style to use bolder colors.    What do you think?  Before / After:

 

Minka

 

10" x 8" acrylic on canvas

A portrait of my friend's cat! Not sure if it is a sweet tribute or ironic kitsch.  Either way, I like it.

Starling

 

8" x 10" acrylic on canvas

Here's a quickie from today.  I painted over top one of my failed attempts at Falling Water.

Don't forget to play my Bird Bingo game!  Every time you reload it, it shuffles the birds in a different order.  Just tap the bingo card to mark the birds.