Today’s featured artist is Alex Perez, a fourth-generation painter from Chile whose work ranges from detailed, realistic landscapes and seascapes to nearly abstract impressionist pieces.
Color, of course, plays an integral role in Perez’s work. As any landscape painter will tell you, the colors present in the sky, in the shadows, and in the various features of the land all combine to represent the time of day, temperature, and so much more.
For example, take a look at the colors in this painting.
Notice those intense blues and purples found in the cast shadows of the boats? Subconciously, those colors say something to us.
You see, in real life we experience the effect of the sun ourselves, as warmth on our skin or a blinding bright spot in the sky. In a painting, vivid shadow colors are one way of explaining the same phenomenon, because the brighter the sun the bluer the sky will be—and cast shadows always reflect the color of the sky.
But Alex Perez’s more impressionist pieces are full of gorgeous colors too:
I absolutely love the way he’s painted that tree near the center of the painting, using yellows, reds, and browns. . . with only the barest amount of green.
Sure, too many colors in a painting could easily become chaotic, but Alex’s use of directional brushstrokes to add perspective (in the road) and to create three-dimensional shapes (in the roofs and walls of the houses) pulls this painting togother into a surprisingly cohesive whole.
Finally, I wanted to end by pointing out another great use of brushstrokes in the sky section of this little plein air piece by Perez.
By just changing the direction of his strokes Perez managed to give depth and movement to his clouds. . . it’s subtle, but still effective.
If you’d like to see more of Alex Perez’s paintings, please visit his website, A-Perez.com or check out his art blog for nearly daily updates.