Roena King brings 41 years of experience to the easel. A teacher of all things art (oils, watercolor, colored pencils, and graphite) she has also earned several first place and best of show awards throughout her career. . . and today we’re going to focus on her awe-inspiring photographs depicting gorgeous scenes that make you feel as if you are right there in the picture.
First, let me ask you: is there anything more calming than an ombre sky fading from blue to orange?
Electric purple mountains (seen far off in the background of City of the Rocks Last Light) make this unique landscape appear mystical and untouched by human hands. As dusk approaches, the jutting rocks and wispy grasses are bathed in a bronze glow, while the grass, stiff and dry under crumbling, moisture-seeking soil, takes on a subdued grey hue in the shadows of enormous boulders and tufted bush.
Next, let’s take a look at Kaleidoscope Light, one of Roena’s most engaging and unexpected photographs. It sticks out like a (breathtakingly beautiful) sore thumb in her portfolio due to its dark undertones and inky black tree trunks, which draw the eye into the “meat” of the painting.
Like a kaleidoscope, the light plays tricks on the mind, turning typically-colored trees into a rainbow of mysterious blues, eye-popping red, and light-inducing tans. Background foliage is the purest green, which propels each slender tree forward into the scene.
To cap it all off, the water in this photo is perfectly still, making a mirror to reflect the landscape and creating the idea of an even denser forest in which almost anything could be hiding out.
Last but not least, take a moment to relax with Two Umbrellas on the Beach in Texas.
This is the place where nature and civilization come together in the most colorful of ways. The natural hues of the beach—specifically, the soft turquoise of the water and golden grains of sand—contain powerful messages of peace and tranquility.
Then—plop!—humans disrupt the scene, leaving a hodgepodge of glaring primary colors in their wake. The contrast between the two color palettes leaves the viewer breathless and energized, as if we, too, just returned from a much-needed vacation.
To learn more about Roena, check out her YouTube channel where she shares her painting methods and how to prepare a canvas or design a composition. And of course, make sure to click through to her website and view all of her landscape paintings as well.
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