Mark Keathley

Mark Keathley

“The Sabinal Starts Here”

Written by: Gabriel Diego Delgado

Art Consultant 

JR Mooney Galleries

Known more as a nostalgic landscape and scenery painter, Mark has done some amazing work painting and illustrating the Native Americans, Old West, Texas Wildlife as well as an abundance of other subjects and genres.  However, one of his newest acquisitions at J.R. Mooney Galleries is a small 6” x 8” gem titled “The Sabinal Starts Here”.  This shallow riverbed stretches out from the foreground to the background, drawing the viewers’ eye into the artwork.  The mouth of the river dominates the lower horizontal linear space.  Mixing a cool blue palette on the right side and contrasting that with a warmer orange and green mixture on the left, Mark lays out a simple composition and color scheme. Deliberate is his decision to plant a brownish cotton tail grass in the middle of the river; anchoring the compositional elements around it. The far left side is dominated by heavy underbrush and green coniferous trees. Playing on dichotomies, the right side is subjugated by a receded riverbank, exposing the sun bleached sandy beach of a dried out Texas landscape. Barren trees are dotted along the banks, revealing a timberline that draws the boundary before an unmanageable thicket. A cliffside, rolling hills and mountains peek out in the background laying claim to the ever-expanding Texas Landscape.

"The Sabinal Starts Here"