Design Your Mind

For a project in my Intermediate Drawing class at school I was assigned a gallery to visit and gather some inspiration for our next project. I did not intend on participating more then just viewing the art at the gallery but when I came across Snowberries it was clear to me that I should make my feelings known. I hope Neal doesn't find my blog and kill me.

Cheers,
Aaron James Trigg

Snowberries

Artist: Neal Philpott
Medium: Oils
Dimensions: H 48in x W 54in

I found Snowberries in the last gallery I visited. It was displayed in the Lawrence Art Gallery close to a side window and was being blasted with light from the mid day sun. It stood out to me, not because it was well-lite, brighter or better then any of the other compositions in the gallery, but because it was seemingly incomplete. The artist Neal Philpott had a few other paintings on display at the gallery. They were a fully flushed out and full of life-like details; an accurate representation of the world around us almost like a photograph. Naturally, if there is an incomplete work next to these beautiful life-like compositions it will stick out like a sore thumb as it did to me.

Upon doing research on snowberries I found that they are a small winter fruit. Many animals rely on this fruit to survive the cold winter months. Snowberries are poisonous to humans and are used for seasonal decoration. In Philpott's composition one can see the changing of the season. The looming winter months are just around the corner as the forest floor turns from a lush green to the vibrant yellows and oranges shown in the painting. Snowberries could be symbolic of the struggle winter brings to the forest or symbolic of the beauty found in the struggle to achieve.

Philpott is working in a relativity large size for this painting as he usually does; H 48in x W 54in. Oil paint seems to be his choice medium on canvas. There is some sort of sponge brush work in the foliage which gives it an organic spark. The rest of the painting looks to be done in short brush strokes giving the bark a fairly pleasing smooth tactile texture.

Deploying the theory that the farther a line recedes the smaller, darker and less saturated the line becomes helps this composition immensely with its illusion of depth. Also, the over lapping of the trees (line) helps this illusion. But what seems to be missing in Snowberries that is well executed in other Philpott work is the value contrast which really hits the illusion of depth home. If the overall value contrast of this piece was bumped up it would be beneficial for its depth illusion. Atmospheric prospective could also be utilized in this piece toward the top left where there seems to be a clearing giving the piece a much more dominate focal point. Just a little bit of gradation could have made the background seem much deeper too. Philpott uses this technique often but seems to have neglected it on this composition. (I wonder if it was intentional?)

The upper two thirds of the composition is dominated by the repetition of trees. These trees create an interesting rhythm throughout Snowberries and keep the interest of the viewer. One might feel that the repetition of the colors, however, is not so pleasant, almost distracting. A solution to the monotony of the limited color pallet could have been the increasing of contrast between light and dark, not only helping with the illusion of depth but breaking up the colors just enough to capture the attention of the viewer for a bit longer. A simple solution for a major problem.