Smiling Lion Archives - LaMontagne Art

It’s always a thrill when the first prints of a new painting arrive on my doorstep, even better when it’s more than one. So it’s my great pleasure to announce the first printing of The Brazen Bighorn and The Smiling Lion, now available as 11″X14″ poster prints in the store.

The Toronto and Calgary Zoos placed two large print orders recently, eating up a good chunk of my inventory. I am most definitely not complaining, quite the opposite. The Toronto order has already arrived, and I’ll be delivering the Calgary order first thing this week, which gives me a welcome excuse to take some fresh reference photos.

Between the zoo orders and those who took advantage of the free calendar with every order of two prints, I had to label a handful of prints as TEMPORARILY SOLD OUT for the past week. But with quick production and delivery from Art Ink Print in Victoria, I’m pleased to say that the Snow Leopard, Kodiak Cub, Otter, Sire, and Smiling Tiger prints are back in stock.

I’ve enjoyed creating each of my paintings over the past 12 years, but I’m always painting new ones. My very first whimsical wildlife piece, the Grizzly I painted in 2009, is still a fan favourite. Unfortunately, while some prints remain popular for many years, others don’t perform as well as I’d like in the online store. So from time to time, I need to make room for my new work to have a chance to shine.

Recently retired prints are the Amur Tiger, Happy Baby and Lion Cub.

These retired images only apply to the prints in my store. Some of these, and other retirees are still popular in zoos and Discovery Wildlife Park, and they can order them when they like. And my entire catalogue remains available to my licensees for their products.

As a result of the zoo orders coming at the same time as my recent ‘buy two prints and get a free calendar’ promotion, a couple of people were unable to get the prints they wanted. So I was happy to extend the promotion to them until items were back in stock.

But, let’s extend that for everybody. If you buy two or more prints in the online store by 4:00 (MST) on Tuesday, August 3^rd, I will include a free Wild Animals 2022 calendar with your order.

Any questions, ask me in the comments or send me an email.

Cheers,
Patrick

To see all the little painted hairs I suggest watching this full-screen. Here’s the narrative from the video…

On a recent Saturday morning, I woke with no idea what to paint, which meant going through my photo archives, looking for reference.

None of the photos spoke to me and I began to feel uneasy.

A brown bear? No I’ve done a lot of those and just finished one. I’ve painted plenty of bears. An owl or an eagle? Painted lots of those, too.

On it went. Having painted more than 80 production pieces, plus commissions and portraits of people, finding something new is a challenge. I wanted to choose an animal I’d enjoy painting but would also appeal to others.

Was it just a bad morning or worse —the beginning of a rut?

The peanut gallery of internal critics, those loudmouths in the cheap seats, they love this stuff. Whenever self-doubt finds a foothold, that chorus of cretins is ready to attack.

“You had a good run. Time to go get a real job. You weren’t that good at this stuff, anyway. But you already knew that, didn’t you?”

I tend to overthink these things. Lately, I’ve been focused a lot on trying to figure out what my audience wants to see, the people who already follow me and support my work.

What I forget, however, is I didn’t know what they wanted to see in the first place. I painted funny looking animals and the people who liked them hung around for more. The more I painted what I wanted; the more people showed up. I don’t recall taking a poll asking if I was painting too many bears.

As I looked through hundreds of reference photos, I tried to ignore those inner voices telling me why each was not good enough, that I’m not good enough. They can’t be silenced, but they don’t deserve the spotlight or center stage.

A favorite line from the movie, Dr. Strange goes, “we never lose our demons, we only learn to live above them.”

In my frustration at failing to find the one reference image that spoke to me, the one with the perfect lighting, composition, that captured a moment, I stopped looking and started writing this narrative, instead.

And in the writing, I found a little clarity. The advice I would give another artist in this situation applies to myself as well.

Paint what you like. Stop worrying about the marketing, the likes and shares, the sales, the prints, the licensing, the niche, the pressure, the noise. Stop anticipating and giving in to the critics, real or imaginary.

If you’re creative for a living, the business stuff is important, no denying it. You can’t wing it and pretend that money is just going to flow to you. You must think like a business owner, treat it like a job, and remember this is how you pay your bills.

But not all the time. Otherwise, what’s the point of being an artist for a living?

I went back to the archives with a different goal, to paint something for me. If other people like it, great. If not, I’ll paint something for them next time.

Once I got past all the critical voices in my head, I really enjoyed this piece. I immersed myself in the long hairs in his mane, the short hairs on his muzzle, the dark shadows that defined the larger shapes, the warm colours in the fur, the bright highlights, and that contented smile on his face, which put a smile on mine.

Sure, I’ve painted lions before.

I’ll paint lions again.

That’s OK, because each will be different than the last. And all will be time well spent.

Tag: Smiling Lion

New Releases and Recently Retired

A Smiling Lion