I received an email from an individual experiencing a very difficult road in life right now health-wise, no doubt leading to very expensive care. Asking if I would know anyone that might be interested in purchasing this work he bought from me back in 1983...
The painting has a bit of history, personally...as I was finishing up my last year in college on the GI Bill...married with two quite young sons. I was a black sheep, as I would be referred to by art profs as my schooling was during the anti-art era of the 70's...and squirting paint in cow manure and whipping it at a canvas would have gone further to earn myself high marks. However, I was checking books out of the university library copying works of Frans Hals and Rembrandt to teach myself how to paint, and then taking subjects dear to me and trying my hand at it.
I was pouring brownish glazes on my works back then, rubbing off with a soft rag which was a technique of chiaroscuro developed in the late Renaissance and Baroque period of painting. It gives a three-dimensional rendering effect of form, and pulls the work together as a whole.
As it would go...the building custodians took a liking to the development of this work on my studio easel and along with others, traveled the four floors up to see it come along. Not caring much else for what other students were doing, which further led to the disdain for my work and presence.
This piece (if memory serves me right) was finished sometime in my last year around 1979...and in 1983 a good friend prodded me to paint up an entree for Wisconsin's annual Wildlife Artist of the Year competition, which I then won in 1984 and more or less catapulted my career painting.
Were my work in general, and myself as an artist to have an important place in art history...and until one's passing how shall we ever know(?)...a work such as this would have great value, showing the development of a painter. Today...I get about $5 per square inch on such sizes... (24"x 36") and would be worth $4320...painted up fresh. However with history to it, and 30 years more painting that followed arguably some broader intrinsic value.
The owner is asking $1600...and if anyone is interested, please contact me and I'll put you in contact with the buyer. Again...this will help defray his costs of his medical needs, and we wish him certainly all the best.
As always, clicking on the image brings up a larger image to view...
Larry
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