Kelli Spedden - Museum Visit

This piece was painted by a French artist by the name of Armand Guillaumin. The piece is set in a beautifully intricate frame, with etched vine like engravings encompassing the whole frame. The piece itself is done with oil paints, creating a very raised and detailed look. The whole piece is done with cool colors, with white for high lights, and black for shadows. The actual subject of the piece itself seems to be bystanders standing on what appears to be a shoreline, or docks, that lead out onto a bridge the rests over the water of a city river, and that connects from the mainland to a loan little island of sorts, that appears to be a park of sorts, with a large tree at the center of it. In the distance you can see the arches of a brick bridge that the water flows under. In the far back layer of the painting, it appears that there is a set of apartment complexes with chimneys sticking out of their rooftops on the far right side, while on the left side it seems to be the start of a skyline city scape. It looks to be early morning in the painting, given the tint of the sky, and it gives you a sense of the calm that can happen at the start of every day. The light reflects off of the river, cause odd, distorted shapes to appear.

I think that is it a beautiful piece. I love how it has a sense of abstract and realistic portrayal. I am also a huge fan of cool colors verses warm, so that was also a perk for me. The piece is so calming and surreal. I could get lost in a location like this. I want to simply stroll hand in hand with my lover down the shoreline and gaze at pink hue of the sky. My judgement on the piece is that I think it was very well done. It’s framed appropriately, the whole ensemble gives for a great presentation to those who are visiting the museum for the first time. It entrances you, and to me, that is the sign of a truly great artist.

My photo is inspired greatly from the painting in that I used a water subject. The colors and shapes of everything around the pond located at Cornerstone University. They are distorted, similar to the painting. In the farthest layer of the photo, are brick structures, with objects protruding from the rooftops. The sky is painted a vibrant pink, and in my photo, it is the end of the day, where the sun is setting rather than rising. My photo in contrast to the painting has a bit more of a green aspect to in, with all the grass and trees framing the photo. However, they are again similar in the sense that they both offer the feeling of hope. They offer the feeling of calm and communing with nature.