The action of the participants in this 1981 acrylic study, is well placed. The eye is led to the person on the right who is wearing white jeans. Body stance indicates that he is about to mark the skydiver’s point of contact. Meanwhile, relaxed observers wait to see if the skydiver is ‘on the money’. His movement indicates that this will be achieved. The mood is anticipatory and the participants are enjoying themselves.
The shades of the softly, blended sky aid aerial perspective, and they are in contrast to the foreground colours where earth tones, (burnt and raw umber with touches of sienna), form the pit. The artist used repeated, contrasting dark and light colours to form the canopy. The brownish colours on the canopy link the sky and earth, and balance the painting. The central, yellow-green section, gives the painting energy. It has been placed in the lower third of the painting, and separates the foreground from the top two thirds that has been taken up by the sky. This allows space for the skydiver’s frame to be silhouetted.
Attention has been paid to detail. The onlookers in the background have detailed, coloured clothing and the trees in the central section reflect light.
Acrylic on Masonite, 1981.
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