Why This Works: Muted Foreground Sends Viewer to Mid-Ground

“Fall Evidence, Catskills,” by Kayti Didriksen, 2016, oil on canvas board, 5 x 7 in.

by Jeanne Mackenzie

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, Kayti Didriksen’s “Fall Evidence, Catskills.”

This artist looks like she had a lot of fun loading on the color. No need to spell out hard edges of a barn or buildings. The viewer fills in the information with the strong punch of color. By keeping the foreground texture more muted, you jump into the middle-ground subject.


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