Original artwork description:

“Before the Rain" Contemporary Impressionist Italian Landscape in Blue, Green by Mill Valley Artist Mary Anne McKernie

While working in the mountains of Albareto, Italy, my gardener hung out heavy cotton sheets to dry before the late-September rains.

Original (New) - Acrylic on canvas

My art is inspired by both natural and built environments, primarily of the Bay Area where I have resided for 45 years, but also by trips taken to countries in Europe and the Caribbean. My studio is in Mill Valley, California.

My use of color can be traced to years of interior design and color consulting. Observing that many wall paints looked dull and lifeless regardless of hue, I learned that those that seemed rich and complex—as if they glowed from within—were mixed using the full spectrum and without black. To replicate these pleasing and harmonious colors, I use a limited palette comprised of only the three primaries, two secondaries and white, and I mix my own chromatic blacks.

The scenes in my artwork are often desolate, devoid of people, distilled to the essential elements needed to convey a peacefulness that may exist for only a fleeting moment. And in that starkness is a certain drama.

Materials used:

Acrylic paint, canvas

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