by Jeanne Mackenzie
In this series, plein air painter and instructor Jeanne Mackenzie takes a look at new paintings by contemporary artists and points out why they succeed as painted images. This week, Colleen Parker’s “Bend in the River.”
A very simple painting with large, simple shapes. But the big story is about the quietness of the scene and a place in time. The sky gives that canopy feeling by moving from cool to warm toward the horizon. The river sits down nicely; as it gets flatter, the closer it gets to your eye level. There is a nice underpainting warmth coming through that connects the sky with the landscape.