Balmy Evening Cockle Beach
Allyson Parsons
This is a superlative oil painting with a palpable mood and feeling. The rhythm of its gentle serpentine composition of shadows and sand patterns draws the eye towards the beautifully rendered saltbush that’s caught with a halo of light in front of its darker companions before our eye is enticed deeper into the paper and across the shimmering water.
Evening light is very complex as there are other light sources, not just the setting sun. The blue light from the upper sky, for example, persuades the long shadows emanating from the bushes to be that pale blue mauve that adds to the veracity.
We all feel like we’re on an evening stroll with the artist, just she and us, lost in the simple beauty of the ordinary, but caught extraordinarily - a triumph for the artist.
Greg Allen Jan 2024
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