“Before the Harvest" Contemporary Impressionist California Farm Landscape in Green, Brown by Mill Valley Artist Mary Anne McKernie

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“Before the Harvest" Contemporary Impressionist California Farm Landscape in Green, brown by Mill Valley artist Mary Anne McKernie

At a … Read more “Before the Harvest" Contemporary Impressionist California Farm Landscape in Green, brown by Mill Valley artist Mary Anne McKernie

At a riverside farm east of Willits, I was inspired by stately willow trees overlooking harvest-ready lettuce crops.

Support is a boxed wooden panel.

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. See less