Featured New game: Yea or Nay?

I have hundreds of paintings and many of them are already photographed. I thought it might be fun to create a little exercise here that will get people's opinions and get at some kind of insight into what art appreciation really is. I am going to post pairs of paintings that are different from each other for opinions. I would like to know:

1st.) Do you like it?
2nd.) Why?
3rd.) Provide some kind of critical analysis and any other comments you might have.

There are no right or wrong answers here. It is more about exploring why someone likes particular artworks as well as why they may dislike them. None of the works will be by very famous artists, though some may be by listed artists.

I will not provide any information about the artists up front. Once some comments have been given, I may come in and provide some information about the works and/or my opinions. Once the comments seem to be exhausted, I will post another pair.

For now, let's restrict this to some works I have and let this evolve over time. If someone wants an opinion on their own works and can't wait, go ahead and open another thread. If this gets tedious, we can end it at any time but I am hoping it has some worth to people interested in art here.

I don't pretend to think that these are great works of art but do see merit of some kind in most of them. Needless to say, there is some reason why I bought these works if only to make a buck or two. However, I am more interested in what you all have to say. Don't hold back on your comments. You will not hurt my feelings if you do not like something. Have some fun with this. It is OK to go off topic.

For clarity, I will post pictures in separate posts and label each as posted. This will follow the pattern of first pair - paintings A & B, second pair - paintings A & B, etc. When making reference to paintings please use this terminology when necessary (particularly if commenting about something further back in the thread). I will try to provide some spacing between pairs but see how this could get confusing if there is not some sort of reference to fall back on.

I'll post the first pair shortly ........

 

Bring it on, Brad!
I love the idea!
I wonder about "art appreciation" all the time, as you know, I think.

 

First Pair

Painting A


Painting B

 

Book - hold down the control key and hit + a few times.

 

I'm in ...... AND permission to go off topic?????!!!!!
OMG!
Let me at them!

 

Painting A
I like it a lot. I love birds... and these are pretty, realistically posed, with personality. I like the sorta abandoned castle background. I get a nature-prevails-over-human-corruption vibe (one of my fave left-wing anti-industrialist themes). The flowers take over the battlements and the birds thrive. Pretty sky.
Painting B
It's okay. I see a sort of landscape, maybe a deep cross-section of earth. OR a weird dark-haired lady with blue feathers in her hair (looking to her left at her hand, and a red feather at her bosom. I just don't usually love paintings with no clear figures... I'm a little embarrassed by that; I feel unsophisticated or rigid when I admit it, but that's how I feel.
So.....................
They do sorta "go together" somehow, producing a rather moody motivation to get philosophical about the meaning of life (yeah, that again!). And in my view, both have bird elements, but I see birds everywhere.
Gila

 

See if this is better. You should be able to enlarge the main image and I provided details on the one. .....

Painting A








Painting B

 

A>
1st.) Do you like it? - Yes
2nd.) Why? - I like the colors and composition*.
3rd.) Provide some kind of critical analysis and any other comments you might have. - *An odd composition this but still interesting to me. I would have it.
B>
1st.) Do you like it? - Yes.
2nd.) Why? - I like the colors and composition.
3rd.) Provide some kind of critical analysis and any other comments you might have. - I am unsure if it's right side up. It looks like reflections in water. I could live with it.
~
How's that?

 

That is good King ...... You can go off topic now .... LOL!

 

Well thanks!
I'm straining at the bit!

 

First Pair A and B

I wouldn't give either one wall space in my home, frankly. However, I'll give credit to the artist of A for the creation of the bird images. Nicely done. Did anyone else notice that the birds are eating the remains of a human picnic?

B is just not to my taste at all. I don't understand the point of all the "threads" obscuring the woman - who has an outrageously wrong and way too long neck!

 

Sorry Gila...........
A>
All those birds are about to die from the impending Tsunami.
As large as they are....I don't want to step there.
Perspective is off a feather in that arch.
I am NOT eating that potato baguette.
B.
Is this A AFTER the tsunami?
It looks better to me rotated horizontal with the blue at bottom.

 

Wait.............
"...hundreds of paintings ..." !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

The thread's a cool idea, Brad.

First Pair

A -- I like it, but don't see it as wall art. It looks to me like a scene from a children's book or an animated children's film. I can see Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella walking into the scene at any second. The sky treatment gives the painting some life, and the birds add a sweet, delicate touch. The rendition of the stuff in the bottom right doesn't look as well done to me... it's hard to make out what it's supposed to be.

B -- Not my cup of tea and I can't picture it as wall art, either. I didn't realize there was a woman in the picture until Bakers mentioned it. I'd say either the artist was a woman who was feeling entrapped in horrible stuff when she painted it, or a man who was feeling a need to entrap women! Either way, looking at it doesn't make me feel good... and usually I appreciate works of art because they make me smile for one reason or another.

 

I noticed a similarity in the compositions, too.

 

Painting A -- is that a cat crouched at the right side of the loaf of bread? I do see "cat eyes" in that area as well as a slightly hunched back of a cat. Hmmm, perhaps the cat is why the birds are so "scattered" in the painting.