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, Anthony Weitz’s “Mistra Bay, Malta.”
Backlit scenes are always fun to paint, but the challenge is to keep the sky the lightest value. What works in this painting is that the artist has kept the structures in related, deep values. When you look at the last building, you are aware that it is a light-colored building — perhaps white. But the artist has successfully kept the value key low to enhance the backlit feel. Albeit light, the reflecting water is correctly painted a few notches down in value to the sky.
