Colored Pencil on Bristol (Clare Coyle Taylor)

November 10, 2006, drawn by Clare Coyle Taylor, is an abstract drawing that is a little overwhelming when first looked at it. It is filled with geometric shapes such as triangles, squares, and rectangles, all of which add to the overall confusion the art portrays. Colors like orange, blue, green, purple, yellow, and red fill the shapes in order to give the art a vibrant and energetic feel. Throughout most of the drawing, the brighter colors tend to appear along the edges of the bristol while the darker colors tend to congregate in the middle. Some of the colors even break outside of the square artwork, making it look as if a child had scribbled away around the edges of the drawing. Throughout all this mess though, the drawing maintains an elaborate beauty from top to bottom. Even though the shapes and colors are placed randomly, it still seems as if they have been thoughtfully placed in their positions.

When first looking at the drawing, it is very hard to determine what the art is trying to portray. What possibly could come out of such a confusing mess? In abstract art, what the art portrays will be different for everyone. The bewilderment that abstract art incurs upon the viewers makes it so that each and every person will be able to take something different away the art. As I look at this drawing, I see someone that is confused yet happy at the same time. The bright colors portray Coyle's joyous mood, but their random placement among the geometric shapes show her confusion as she looks at her life.

The Fisherman's House

The Fisherman’s House, by Claude Monet, is a relatively small oil on canvas painting, measuring at only 60 cm by 78 cm. Although this size may seem disappointing to an onlooker, the size of the painting only adds to the already simple nature of the artwork. Situated near the rocky cliffs of Varengeville in northern France, Monet takes the observer to the edge of a tranquil sea. With the serene, calm waters the painting depicts, one might be reminded of the completely still, early morning waters of a lake, where not one crest of a wave can be found.

The painting itself can be divided into two halves: the lower left half and the top right half, both depicting opposite ends of nature’s spectrum. Starting from the lower left corner, the painting makes its way to the middle, losing itself in hills and weeds along the way. Many different types of lines help accomplish this. Small and medium length straight lines give the impression of weeds and bushes while long, rolling, and curving lines give the impression of hills and drop-offs. Pigments of green, white, yellow, brown, black, and blue mix together to form a landscape that is bewildering and complex, yet beautiful at the same time. A rolling line starting near the top left corner and extending to the bottom right helps portray the effect of the end of the cliff, right before it drops down into the water. Also helping separate the two halves of the artwork is a brown cottage with a red tinted roof near the left edge of the painting and what appears to be the grey and black hue of a rocky cliff near the right edge of the painting. The cottage is the only geometric design in the painting with a square base, triangular roof, and two rectangular chimneys.

The top right half of the painting depicts the still waters of the sea that lie below the cliff. The water maintains a murky blue throughout, but as it gets closer to the cliff, it begins to accumulate a green undertone that represents the shallow waters at that point. Moving farther away from the cliff the water becomes bluer, making home to what appears to be three white ships. Looking at the top portion of the painting, the viewer can see the morning fog that rises above the waters. Circular strokes in a darker hue of gray add thickness to the already dense fog. Monet paints the water in a way so that it appears as if it goes on forever, not stopping at the edge of the fog. All in all, Monet takes the viewer to a place of peace and tranquility. With no civilization in sight, it is a place to escape from the real world and enter into a land where time seems to stand still.

Daniel in the Lion's Den

In Daniel in the Lion’s Den, Sir Peter Paul Rubens translates one of the world’s most cherished Bible stories from words on a white piece of paper to oil on a blank canvas. The painting is able to demonstrate exactly what words are not able to portray. At times, it can be hard for an author to portray the true meaning of his work just through the use of words. The sentence “The boy was happy that his parents had bought him a new bicycle,” is able to describe the factual proof that the boy is happy. But if this sentence were to be transcribed into a painting, the onlookers would be able to see exactly how happy the boy is and maybe even take part in the joy themselves. Sir Peter Paul Rubens makes it so that the spectator is able to understand just how Daniel and the lions feel about the situation they have been put in.

When first looking at this piece of art, the eyes are immediately drawn to Daniel himself, who is set apart from the lions by the light that transcends through the opening in the ceiling of the cave. Daniel is afraid and hopeless, looking through the opening and praying with his hands clasped that God will save him from the ravage lions. Daniel sits on a red cloak, which can symbolize the strong emotions that are raging through his body in this moment. Bones and skulls of the lions’ previous escapades are scattered throughout the scene, adding to the hopelessness the painting portrays for Daniel.

As the story goes, God closes the mouths of the lions in order to save Daniel from getting devoured. In this painting, it seems as if Rubens has chosen the timing of the scene as halfway between the beginning and the end of the process of closing the lions’ mouths. Two lions next to Daniel have their mouths wide open, growling as if they are ready to eat a supper long deserved. Two lions have their mouths shut, one looking angry that he has to miss out on the feast and the other looking sad that the other lions get his share of the meat. Two lions have fallen asleep, acting as if nothing has gone wrong. Rubens focus in this painting was not to simply show us how this event is played out in the Bible, but to give the observer a taste of the emotions that such an event would incur.