Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Past work -- Dust Stained Posse.

Today I am posting a painting I completed in 1996. I still think it's one of the best I've done. It has one drawback...the idea is not mine.
It was painted freehand by me from a picture reproduced in a book of the work of Frank McCarthy, an American artist. He painted such scenes and unfortunately died in 2002. This painting is on canvas 24" x 20" and I gave it as a gift to my sister and her husband. Frank's original, I am sure would be very expensive to buy, and this is almost an identical copy. He made limited edition prints of his version and they are all sold out. I am showing it here, as an example of the standard of work which really I should be getting towards more consistently, given time. The style here is not as loose as some of my more recent work, and I might try to veer back towards this somewhat. I really like the way this painting turned out, and it proved to me at the time that I could paint really well if I took the time. This painting took me five times the time it takes me to paint my 12"x16" paintings -- but I think I could be faster at painting it now. It also reinforces my belief that I should be aiming for quality as much as possible. No shortcuts!! Anyway it's here for you to enjoy, and hopefully I will paint something original soon which is equally as good! As they say...Watch this space!
In the next day or so I will post shots of what I have been painting over the last two weeks. So check back and see.

2 comments:

Francis Shanahan said...

McCarthy's is going for $700 for the print! This one is terrific though.

Jim Shanahan said...

Thanks Francis! Here is what the original made back in 2006. $57,500!!

http://antiquesandthearts.com/AW-2006-01-03-09-30-51p1.htm