– 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, Gregory Little’s “ Highland Scrub.”
Lead Image: “Florida Highland Scrub,” by Gregory Little, oil, 8 x 10 in.
This simple, elegant little painting exudes sunlight. Although there is not a lot of high-key color in the ground, it is the stark contrast of the darks in the trees and the jump to the horizontal field plane that give it the sense of intense sun. Even though a sky may look a dark, deep blue, it is usually still lighter than the field. The artist has kept the sky a rich vibrant color while still keeping the value a touch lighter than the average field color. The clouds sing with their colorful shadows and ethereal lost edges.
