What to do with the failed paintings?

Like most artists, I have a number of canvases with paintings that did not go as planned. I also have difficulty throwing out or wasting the canvas and stretcher bars.  At times I have just removed the canvas and re-stretched some new canvas.  You always have to be careful that your old painting doesn't come creeping through if you do decide to paint over them - so I tried painting fairly thickly over a somewhat thinner painting underneath.

With this painting, I had a large, 36 x 48 canvas that had not worked out.  So I turned it sideways and sketched in a new idea from a photograph I took in Sept. 2019 at an art fair.  I had asked a couple guys with cool retro bikes if I could take a photo of them and their bikes for a potential painting.  They agreed and this painting below is one from these photos. 

Completed 36 x 48 Oil on Canvas Title? - 'Hecks Angel' maybe (or DeathSpoke Rider - which is the name of the retro bike group here in Edmonton)

The first bit of charcoal sketching going on after gridding.

  

I outlined the charcoal in Cadmium Orange Oil paint - cause I love the bright hit of colour it provides

A close up of the face in progress

Another Process Post

the grid and drawing

One of the BEST places to visit on this planet is Haida Gwaii, on Canada's west coast.  It is spectacularly beautiful.  I travelled there with my family a few years ago and we had a wonderful time.  We learned a lot about the Haida people's culture and history, we ate great food, we met friendly people and we took an epic trip on a zodiac boat to one of the culturally significant sites.  I have painted a couple pictures from photos, but I took soooo many photos that I could probably keep painting.  I hope to get back there again some day to do some Plein air painting.

starting in with the oil paints

Nearing completion - picky details will take another couple of days

Memberships to Artist Groups

Being an artist can be a little lonely as you tend to work by yourself most of the time.  Joining an artist group is an option for some.  The different memberships for art groups I belong to are mostly arms length, where I get info and can enter artists calls, but I don't actually get to see other artists unless I attend occasional workshops.  Sometimes I reeeeaaally would like another artists feedback on some problem I am encountering, when a painting is going sideways.

I have been a member of the  Federation of Canadian Artists for a few years now.

"The Federation of Canadian Artists (FCA) is a registered charity founded in 1941 by professional Canadian working artists including Group of Seven luminaries... It has members throughout Canada and Chapters in Alberta and B.C.. The FCA is dedicated to raising artistic standards by stimulating participants to greater heights of knowledge and achievement by offering what is believed to be the first completely artists' sponsored gallery in Canada. Currently the Federation is the only national-level visual arts organization that manages their own full-time art gallery."

A group of us met in the past year to try to get a Chapter started in Edmonton, but do not currently have enough Active members to form one.   So for now I submit my art to the Federation of Canadian Artists main gallery shows in hopes of being juried into one of the shows or competitions.  Finally I managed to get the following painting, The Usual Suspects, accepted into the Active Members Exhibition starting January 7th, 2020 until January 19th, at the Granville Island Gallery in Vancouver, BC.  Hurray!  I can work my way toward being a Signature Member, I just need to get 5 more paintings successfully juried into other shows over the next 4 years.

The other painting I submitted, The Royal, was accepted but just into the on-line show - it will not be on display at the Federation Gallery on Granville Island.  It still counts toward my Signature status though, which is nice.  

In the past the Federation had on-line critiques, done by signature members, but that did not happen this year for some reason.  So I go back to relying on my family for feedback.  They are great, but often too generous or sometimes too vague - they aren't really sure what is wrong, know something is bugging them.