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bif

(23,971 posts)
Sun May 12, 2019, 11:24 AM May 2019

Something I'd like to share with the group

Before I got out of rehab, my counselor asked me what i was going to do with the time I had devoted to drinking. I had to come up with something so I said "painting". I dabbled in art a bunch of years ago, but haven't painted in probably 20 years. So a couple months ago, I started again. And I've really enjoyed it. My wife suggested I put them on a blog so here it is:

https://markdomincreative.blogspot.com

Feedback and comments welcome. Don't be too harsh, I'm new at this, and totally self taught. I'm working in two different styles. What I call "Grandpa Moses" and just straight ahead painting. You can click on the paintings to enlarge them.

47 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Something I'd like to share with the group (Original Post) bif May 2019 OP
Your paintings are fabulous LearnedHand May 2019 #1
Your Work is Beautiful! dlk May 2019 #2
Very, very, nice! Ohiogal May 2019 #3
Beautiful and compelling. NT enough May 2019 #4
Great stuff. I sketch a lot. Easy to take with me when I travel also JDC May 2019 #5
Love the Belle Ils painting. safeinOhio May 2019 #6
GREAT work! You should absolutely continue. CousinIT May 2019 #7
My favorite is also the Goldfish. pazzyanne May 2019 #9
same here. orleans May 2019 #20
"Slot cars in the 'recked room'" !! FailureToCommunicate May 2019 #8
Good for you! sprinkleeninow May 2019 #10
You're blest with incredible talent! Sunny Daze May 2019 #11
Those are great. Solly Mack May 2019 #12
Great work! jmbar2 May 2019 #13
Wonderful!!!! evilhime May 2019 #14
I love your work, bif lillypaddle May 2019 #15
Congratulations on your sobriety. Scarsdale May 2019 #16
You totally got something there. Creativity is one of the great sobriety maintenance strategies! n/t TygrBright May 2019 #17
I really enjoyed your paintings, bif. democrank May 2019 #18
"Goldfish bowl with flowers" is a master work. Totally compelling. trickyguy May 2019 #19
You have a special talent - what joy it must bring to you. Stay strong. iluvtennis May 2019 #21
They're great! I love the goldfish. CaptainTruth May 2019 #22
Actually, they are lovely. I especially like the effect you created with the fishbowl in the first tblue37 May 2019 #23
Love, love, LOVE your style! Honeycombe8 May 2019 #24
Really good! LiberalLovinLug May 2019 #25
I love them! I especially love the colors. Maraya1969 May 2019 #26
Wow! Thank you so much everyone. bif May 2019 #27
Well done!! Freedomofspeech May 2019 #28
Love, love the new goldfish bowl painting! Keep 🎨 🖼 MLAA May 2019 #29
Wonderful! Lifelong Protester May 2019 #30
Not sure about selling them. bif May 2019 #33
ok Lifelong Protester May 2019 #42
I'd hang em in my house. Amaryllis May 2019 #31
Really nice work. Thanks for going out there and sharing them. likesmountains 52 May 2019 #32
I love your perspective UpInArms May 2019 #34
Your most recent one is the best, IMHO Sanity Claws May 2019 #35
Thank you for sharing your spartan61 May 2019 #36
You can order them on-line at their corporate site... bif May 2019 #37
Really nice! Love the colors and subjects! northoftheborder May 2019 #38
Am enjoying this bright spot Mersky May 2019 #39
Like the fish bowl. sinkingfeeling May 2019 #40
If anyone's interested in my paintings, PM me... bif May 2019 #41
I added a couple new ones bif May 2019 #43
They are beautiful..and a distict style. Colors are absoultely outstanding... Stuart G Jun 2019 #44
Thank you for your encouraging words. bif Jun 2019 #45
I love them! smirkymonkey Jun 2019 #46
Thanks! bif Jun 2019 #47

LearnedHand

(4,032 posts)
1. Your paintings are fabulous
Sun May 12, 2019, 11:26 AM
May 2019

I was thinking of folk art painters when I saw them and before I saw you mentioned Grand[p]a Moses. Well done, and many years of sobriety and painting to you.

dlk

(12,355 posts)
2. Your Work is Beautiful!
Sun May 12, 2019, 11:28 AM
May 2019

There is so much color and energy in your work. I love it! Art is food for the soul so please keep on painting. It will feed your heart and help you heal.

Ohiogal

(34,612 posts)
3. Very, very, nice!
Sun May 12, 2019, 11:33 AM
May 2019

Love your goldfish bowl ... love em all.

Best of luck to you with your recovery!

CousinIT

(10,180 posts)
7. GREAT work! You should absolutely continue.
Sun May 12, 2019, 01:15 PM
May 2019

I love the Goldfish one. Not sure why. It make me feel happy!

pazzyanne

(6,601 posts)
9. My favorite is also the Goldfish.
Sun May 12, 2019, 01:27 PM
May 2019

You definitely have a style of your own that carries from painting to painting. I also thought of Grandma Moses while looking at your paintings. Carry on, you do have a talent that needs to be used!

orleans

(34,941 posts)
20. same here.
Sun May 12, 2019, 02:04 PM
May 2019

my attraction is the orange background wall and the bright orange of the fish.

and also the hot/bright mix of the blue and pink stones in the fish bowl.

it's very uplifting.

sprinkleeninow

(20,546 posts)
10. Good for you!
Sun May 12, 2019, 01:32 PM
May 2019

Enjoyed your creativity. 💛

A prayerful belief for your continued success in all things. 🕯

jmbar2

(6,088 posts)
13. Great work!
Sun May 12, 2019, 01:46 PM
May 2019

You are hugely talented. I especially like the goldfish bowl.

I think you could easily sell prints of your work, or T-shirts through various online art sites - Etsy, Spoonflower, etc. Of course, in addition to the paintings themselves.

Keep painting bro - you're very good !

evilhime

(330 posts)
14. Wonderful!!!!
Sun May 12, 2019, 01:50 PM
May 2019

Love Belle Isle along with the others but that one speaks to me! Super art, thank you so much for sharing!

TygrBright

(20,987 posts)
17. You totally got something there. Creativity is one of the great sobriety maintenance strategies! n/t
Sun May 12, 2019, 01:55 PM
May 2019

tblue37

(66,035 posts)
23. Actually, they are lovely. I especially like the effect you created with the fishbowl in the first
Sun May 12, 2019, 02:09 PM
May 2019

painting.

I very much like your sense of color and composition, too.

Honeycombe8

(37,648 posts)
24. Love, love, LOVE your style!
Sun May 12, 2019, 02:13 PM
May 2019

The colors are extraordinary! I don't know much about painting styles, but a couple of your paintings reminds me of a sort of folk art style. (the brothers is one)

I love vibrant colors, and paintings/prints that draw you in...or out...like a window that adds cheerfulness to a room.

You need to get some more done, and try to sell them.

I'd buy the goldfish one if I saw it somewhere (if I thought the orange would work for me; I have a thing against orange). But the red flowers and other colors might negate that, and the orange isn't overpowering.

I love the brothers painting. Heck, I really love them all!

I don't see how people have the patience to paint. It'd drive me nuts. I've tried drawing a few times (I did okay...painting runs in my family), but I found it drove me crazy trying to get those pictures right and sitting there for hours. Some people can do that. I have a sister who paints. She's very talented, and very laid back. So she can sit quietly and work on her paintings.

LiberalLovinLug

(14,374 posts)
25. Really good!
Sun May 12, 2019, 02:16 PM
May 2019

Speaking as a fellow painter; Your colour is amazing. Its so easy to get colours muddy if you haven't painted, at least in awhile. Compositions are interesting, and fill the space, and your balance of dark and light tones is very good. Keep it going!

bif

(23,971 posts)
27. Wow! Thank you so much everyone.
Sun May 12, 2019, 02:24 PM
May 2019

Your words of encouragement mean a lot to me. I have so many paintings in my head, I can keep going forever. And hearing from you is truly humbling. Maybe I will look into making prints from some of my paintings.

Lifelong Protester

(8,421 posts)
30. Wonderful!
Sun May 12, 2019, 06:55 PM
May 2019

Are any of them for sale?? I love the Brothers Raking the Leaves. (Even though I love them all)

bif

(23,971 posts)
33. Not sure about selling them.
Sun May 12, 2019, 09:02 PM
May 2019

I haven't really thought about it. I'll either sell them, or have prints made of them and sell those.

Sanity Claws

(22,038 posts)
35. Your most recent one is the best, IMHO
Mon May 13, 2019, 08:06 AM
May 2019

This one gets perspective so right. An earlier one, the Rivard Rakes, seemed almost Grandma Moses in its simplicity and lack of perspective.
Sorry if this sounded critical. Please consider it encouragement because you are improving and I truly love the goldfish one.

spartan61

(2,091 posts)
36. Thank you for sharing your
Mon May 13, 2019, 10:13 AM
May 2019

beautiful paintings and comments. I also grew up in the Detroit area and remember going to Belle Isle (loved the huge stove at the entrance) and absolutely loved going to Sanders for the cream puff filled with ice cream and hot fudge. I also still call it "Saund-ers" and never knew anyone who called it Sand-ers. Thanks for the memories. I'm now retired and living in Florida but I do have 6 jars of Sanders Hot Fudge in my kitchen cabinet. Now if only I could get some "Better Made" potato chips.

Mersky

(5,255 posts)
39. Am enjoying this bright spot
Mon May 13, 2019, 10:58 AM
May 2019

On a Monday morning. I'm finding your work delightful. Really like your 'eye' for things. Like the rhythm of the carnations, I'm rather enamored with the care in the layering of shadow and light in the stems. The eh, timing in the bricks is nice, too. Hehe, love those goldfish. Holler if you're out to set them up in a bigger tank. I can recommend a few things I learned as an acquatics specialist back in the day.

The light coming over the awning in the Brooklyn grocer matches my mind's eye of the scale in Brooklyn. Really makes me want to travel to NYC, prolly is my favorite area on the planet. Rather enjoy the stack of limes, and textures of the other produce, too.

Am tickled with your sharing of your work, too. I appreciate your sweet approach to DU with the journey you're on. Is inspiring and helpful for me.

bif

(23,971 posts)
41. If anyone's interested in my paintings, PM me...
Mon May 13, 2019, 02:24 PM
May 2019

I'd be willing to email you a higher res photo of them. I hadn't really thought about it before. I'm just painting for fun, not to make money.

Stuart G

(38,726 posts)
44. They are beautiful..and a distict style. Colors are absoultely outstanding...
Sun Jun 2, 2019, 10:03 PM
Jun 2019

Love them.. K and R...I need to add something about the "gas station." While the colors are very special, the felling about that one is very sad..Totally empty, No one there, grass grown through the cracks. Nothing around.
I am sure you wanted to convey that feeling, and it really comes through. That is really outstanding..

bif

(23,971 posts)
45. Thank you for your encouraging words.
Wed Jun 5, 2019, 09:15 AM
Jun 2019

Just when I think maybe I should call it quits, painting-wise, I see a post like yours. It's just what I need to pick up the brushes and have at it again.

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