John O'Grady Art-The Clearing in the Wood IV | an atmospheric original landscape painting
The Clearing in the Wood IV, ©John O’Grady
19.75″ x 19.75″ x 1.75″, Oil on deep edge canvas, ready to hang

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As you can guess from the title, this is a continuation of last week’s piece.

I felt a strong connection with last week’s painting so when I realised I had a larger square stretched canvas, I decided to further explore the theme.

The atmosphere and feeling are very much the same: a magical view of sunset light filtering through vegetation and illuminating still water while around all his darkening.

This time however, it’s less about texture and more about colour. I have used two pairs of near complementary colours to enhance the piece’s sense of mystery and wonderment.

The lemon green sky work with the deep violet shadows in the undergrowth and trees and the powder blue pines in the distance are complemented by the deep cadmium orange glow of the setting sun.

The colour interactions are played out again in the still pond’s reflection in an echo that fits the enclosed space.

The two pairs of colour intensify the energy of the painting.

The muted grey violets and blues of the shadows act as a strong counterpoint to the vibrant lemon green and oranges.

Using colour in all its richness brings an emotional strength to this piece, redolent of the force of nature and the sultry heat of a summer evening.

I’d love to hear what you think.