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"
