Is it Good or Bad?

photo by Jeff Welter © 2011

When we were hiking through Garmishpartenkirchen in November, Jeff spotted a pair of cats on a balcony of one of the houses. He took the picture for me since my camera was low on power. I was hopeful that I might get a good painting subject.

When he shared the photos with me, I thought the grey cat was particularly interesting and I wanted to do something as a Christmas card.

I didn't use any drawings or underpaintings, I just went straight to work. I had just read a great article by Eric Maisel in the latest "Professional Artist" magazine about developing your own voice. He encouraged artists to take risks and to wait to judge a painting as good or bad. My favorite thing he said was that "if you have never heard your voice, you may not recognize it."

"Bah Humbug" 7" x 5" oil on gessobord, © 2011

 When I finished the painting, I thought it was pretty ugly. Jeff on the other hand thought the cat had personality and was interesting like an illustration from a story. On his advice, I didn't try to change anything on the painting. The cat did remind me of an irritated old man, so I thought of calling the painting "Bah, Humbug."

Good or bad, Happy New Year everyone!