Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Let's take a look at this


This message is brought to you in greatest of lazy fashion, I'm still in bed.
It's cool in the house and I'm a teeny bit tired.
But not too tired to take a look at this:

The whole general thrust of this work by Emily Carr, titled: Tree Trunk 1931, is upward.
Somehow though we are not tired of this powerful singular focus. How did she do that?
There is a slight curve to the main line of the tree and it tapers. This creates relief. Then there is the skilful use of colour to bring some areas into high focus through light values and diminish other via darks on the trunk.
Look at the curved lines in the base, they sweep along the horizontal plane creating a wonderful thick drape, as well as depth.
You will also see my favourite... glow, you will see it in all parts of the painting, in foreground, mid ground and back ground. It is good enough to eat.
Look how high yellow is used to shed sunlight., how its compliment violet is used on the opposite side of the trunk, the wonderful call and response of opposites we see in nature. The warm and cool play with each other to unify the whole. Could she have picked a more desirable green to use? The brights behind, the dulls ahead... the amazing rich neutrals.
I love how the trunk has a beginning like us, all but has no end to how high it can reach.

We can learn a ton from this trunk!

“You always feel when you look it straight in the eye that you could have put more into it, could have let yourself go and dug harder.”

Emily Carr quote

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