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, Tony D’Amico’s “Spray Along the Marginal Way.”
This painting invitingly leads the viewer in with just a few lights on the stones. I am sure that the rocky shore held many highlights, but the artist chose to strategically use only a few to lead you toward the focal point. The waves stay in the cool family to help complement and show off the approaching sunset. The orange of the setting sun does not have to be very bright or chromatic when set off by a neutral sky. Too often artists feel they have to load up the day-glow orange to make a statement. The artist has kept his darkest darks in the foreground and used that ocean mist to soften distant edges.
(Due to the age of this post, some images may be missing from this article)
