Zehava Power is an artist who currently lives in Nova Scotia, Canada. Her paintings are a chronicle of sorts, showing glimpses of the community and culture that is unique to her home.
This painting, titled Mending the Net, is one of hers, and depicts a man working on a net with three ships behind him.
Zehava has taken the simple theme of “daily life” and created a large body of work around it. Her subjects are engrossed in their work or play and are unaware of any onlookers, which makes for compelling scenes that viewers can visually step into.
As a colorist, Zehava excels at using both natural color palettes and creating her own. She also pairs warm and cold colors to their maximum effect in this next painting, titled Up on the Roof.
That hot orange in the background really vibrates with the blues and cold whites of the worker’s clothes and in this case help to convey the intensity of his labor.
I also like the loose brushwork (which emphasizes the immediacy of a scene) and her excellent compositions.
In the two paintings shown here specifically, both of her subjects are tightly cropped by the edges of the canvas and fill up a large part of the painting.
For any new artists out there, take note: these are great examples of good subject/space relationships. There’s little doubt that the focus of her work is the people of Nova Scotia, and not the landscapes or seascapes of the area.
I couldn’t help but show you a detailed section of Up on the Roof, taken from the area right around the construction worker’s knee.
What a great use of the paint itself! I love seeing pure strokes of color and thick layers in paintings, and Zehava’s done a fantastic job here of just letting the paint speak.
Overall, I don’t have much criticism of her work, and I’m grateful that she took the time to send me a few images of her paintings so I could share them with you.
If you’re interested in seeing more of Zehava Power’s art, check out her website at www.zehava.ca.