Flowering Tree

Comment

Comment by Resident Curator on November 23, 2015 at 11:36am

Curator’s Comments:  

 

I find myself wondering if these are plein air paintings.  They seem to be concerned with the fleeting effects of dappled light in a manner that makes them ephemeral, and yet classically grounded in an aesthetic tradition.  Flowering Tree is one of the more dynamic compositions spatially, without a grounding architectural structure as focal point. The abrupt changeover from dark green patchy ground to tinted red-violet light is dramatic and satisfying in its painterly sophistication.  The cooler hues in the stacked stone wall nicely offset this value contrast in the space, and offers asymmetrical balance. I also respond to the meandering warm branches which break up the middle ground, and end in stippled white dots suggesting dogwood blossoms. Cape house is another beautifully composed landscape. But while the house is beautifully constructed from an alternately warm and cool pink and orange color palette, it threatens to upstage the luscious and slightly more understated sky.