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, Gordon Dickson‘s “Frankly Speaking, Yackandandah.”
This is a quiet statement with a lot of contrast in values and action happening on the street. A strong sense of light gives you the morning feel, and the artist has incorporated the shadows into the design. The person on the sidewalk at right acts as a place-setter to offset the large mass on the left. The artist has used a lovely mixture of the complementary yellows and blue violets, making this subtle piece vibrate with light and shadow.