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, Andrew Borg’s ” Tal-Hlas Chapel Parvis, Haz-Zebbug, Malta.”
Rain-slicked surfaces are a bit like looking into the depths of shallow water. There is the base surface, the water’s texture (ripples), and the reflected scene above. Which becomes the dominant? Are you looking at the stone tiles or at the reflected sky? This painting captures that rainy-day feel with lost and found edges while bringing the foreground closer with stronger contrasts. The puddles of water deepen with diffused edges and values.
Editor: Borg later expanded this in a studio painting. You can see this process step-by-step here.
