“Mixed Blessing" Contemporary Impressionist Food Still Life in Green, Red, Gray by Mill Valley Artist Mary Anne McKernie

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Title: "Mixed Blessing"

My husband’s gourmet cooking inspired this painting of a colorful dish of mussels in broth with garlic … Read more Title: "Mixed Blessing"

My husband’s gourmet cooking inspired this painting of a colorful dish of mussels in broth with garlic crostini with their varied textures.

Original (New) - Acrylic on 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