– Jeanne Mackenzie reporting –
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, Tom McGregor’s “Light Industry.”
Lead Image: “Light Industry,” by Tom McGregor, 2016, oil on linen panel, 9 x 12 in.
As the sun leaves the sky, color dissipates from objects. The artist has taken these monotone objects and given them interesting color and correct values. The overhang roof still catches the colorful, reflected light of the sky. The white trailer reads correctly as a “light of the shadow,” not competing for the sun side of the grasses or pavement. The distant foliage is nicely muted to make the foreground grasses punch. The transition of the sky from dark to light reinforces the location of the sunset/sunrise and gives variety to the large sky shape.
