Gabriel_Lopez



Storm Coming, an image created by David Lilie, depicts two young anthropomorphic feline creatures from another world walking along a beach on a cloudy day. The characters in the image are facing the viewer, the horizon zooms off into the distance and is divided, or rather defined by land and sea. The older of the two alien beings is wearing a pair of shorts and a flight jacket. His hands are stuffed firmly in his pocket whilst he casually shift's his feet through the wet sand. Following his line of sight, the eyes eyes are focused. He is looking down and towards his left. Beside him, the other feline is drawing a line in the sand with a long stick, and tucked under her left arm is a large conk shell. She is wearing a sweater, a pair of shorts, and a pair of leather boots. Her face is turned away from her companion as she looks toward the water. As the wind is blowing her hair one can see that her mouth is open, perhaps she is telling her friend what she sees, or is excited by what she sees. Following her line of sight the water we can see a smaller creature looking up at her with eager anticipation. A full two thirds of the strange creatures round head appears to be a mouth wrapped around a large fish, and the other third is a large eyeball. Along the creatures back is a large fin that that runs along the entirety of the spine exposed above the water.
 * Subject**

Storm Coming is an excellent example of an instance where knowing the background of the image is necessary to have a greater appreciation of its sublime narrative and meaning. The picture is of two orphans Mace and Paige, Paige was later killed and Mace is accused of her murder when he finds her body. Before she was murdered, Paige was Mace's closest friend. With the exception of whip, here taking upon himself the role of the strange sea creature within the portrait, no one believes Mace is innocent of Page's murder. Whip, who is usually portrayed as a flying cookie monster with a long whip tail, is Mace's magical pet whose squeaks are nothing but incoherent gibberish to everyone but Mace. Before her death, Paige was often depicted as a naive romantic that was bullied unless Mace was around to protect her. Mace is often portrayed as a trouble maker because he usually doesn't like to think about the consequences of his actions. This portrayal of Mace's character was what made the idea that he was Paige's murderer believable to everyone but Grun, an abusive foster parent who had raised Mace since early childhood. The orphanage where they lived is on the beach and is in a constant state of disrepair. It should also come as no surprise that the characters were also poverty stricken. The portrait is of a time before Paige's death and is far removed from Mace's journey to prove his innocence as he flees from justice. In this sense the title of the title Storm Coming had a dual meaning, one that encompasses both the approaching storm visible in the portrait and the hard times about to befall Mace, Whip, and Paige.

The study of light and contrast, known to the Renaissance painters as chiaroscuro, is exemplified in Hale Woodruff's Returning Home. The image portrays a large woman, who is wearing high heels and a straw hat, climbing up a flight of stairs that lead to the entrance of a stilt home. We can also make out two similarly styled homes adjacent to the home that belongs to the large woman of the image. The home in the center of the image is most impressive, using both light and contrast to form the complete structure of a building. In this instance, the viewer can use what they were conditioned to believe, a pattern, were aspects of a building facade complete the image from what one expects to see. The direction, shape, and distance between the lines and blocks of empty space create the sky, clouds, and mountains within the immediate background. The white lines found in the negative space continue the alignment of the black lines, which further extends the detailed illusion of wood paneling adorning the exterior of the stilt homes. This gives the image an amazing appeal by creating the illusion of depth, space, and movement, through the use of curved lines, and wide angles, that do not occur naturally in the everyday world. The image is given further impact through the use of repetition. Concepts, such as wood paneling, and shapes, such as the structure of the homes windows, peaks, and even the angle alignment, are all repeated throughout the woodcut.
 * Tone**

Vincent Van Goh's Starry Night Over The Rhone painting uses texture and color to create its illusion of depth and form. At a distance, Starry Night Over The Rhone depicts a marina under the twilight of a clear blue sky. In the foreground two boats are docked near the shoreline of an open field while another boat is covered with a tarp and obscured from view. A body of water between the marina and the shoreline almost comes alive with the reflection of light emanating from the stars and city below. The illusion has the effect of drawing you into to the landscape. In the the bottom left hand corner of the painting one can make out the forms of two indistinct human figures. The human figures, though indistinct, are supporting one another arm in arm and add a scale by which to measure distant objects within the painting. The image was created through the repetitive use of blocks of color, linear perspective, and impasto. The thick application of paint creates a grid like texture that adds a level of order to the image. The sky is painted in a thatch pattern. The water is painted in strokes that flow from left to right until it interacts with the boats on the shoreline. The field is painted in with a series of thin diagonal lines. Most impressive is the pier of the marina itself, which appears to have been made with a single curved brushstroke, and yet Van Goh has manged to create an optical illusion that transforms the image with support pillars and indistinct shadows. Thus giving a shapeless mass a distinctive form.
 * Space**

Without Borders by Peter Max uses bright clashing colors to create a whimsically magical landscape that portrays a sunset by way of a peppermint nightmare. The structure of the image uses primary secondary, and tertiary colors on the color-wheel in order to create the illusion of an almost unearthly landscape. The image appears to be of an imperfect circle colored with a red-orange gradient that fades into yellow. The circle is interrupted first by a rainbow, then by a row of clouds, followed by a treeline that connects with a lush green landscape, bordered with a golden yellow rim light that takes up two thirds of the horizon. The treeline along the remaining third of the paining intersects with red and yellow blue and purple hills. The entire landscape is divided by a river with a distracting orange and white blob possibly reflecting the setting sun in the background. The trees in the composition are given a bright candy colored reds yellows greens and blues. In the upper right hand corner the letters MAX are proudly displayed, so that the viewer knows the creation was made by Peter Max, famous for his nostalgic Woodstock Pop-art. Given the harmonious use of bright complementary and contrasting colors one might have to question the deeper meaning of the colors used. One could argue that the coloring of the sun was chosen to represent power and optimism. Perhaps the many shades of blue were meant to represent the tranquility of the human spirit. The orange blob could represent the artists bold sexuality, and purple could represent pure thought. However, the entire image could be a sublime representation of the end of ones life or career, since each new day begins with the setting sun. Forward Retreat by Mark Tansey is an excellent example of composition. The image is a display of four soldiers riding horseback, upside down and backwards in a pool of water. Three of the men appear to be holding binoculars, all of the binoculars are aligned with one another. The noses of the two horses in the center align perfectly with the helmet of the soldier leading the charge. The head of the second horse is aligned with the shoulder of the first horseman which is in line with the second horseman's arm from shoulder to elbow. The second horseman's arm is also in line with the eye of the third horse, which is again in line with the crown of the fourth horses head. The nose of the first horse aligned with the picture frame in the water. The eyes of the third and fourth horse align with the second horseman's forearm from elbow to wrist. The riding crop of the second horseman aligns with the second horseman leg from knee to foot which is aligned with the leg of the fourth horse and the bundle on the shoreline. The picture frame in the water is also aligned with the vase in the water and the blanket on the shoreline. The lines that seem intersect between form, shape, object, and subject are far too coincidental for this painting to been put together without some really elaborate planning.
 * Color**
 * Composition**