Peaceful Bear
Subject: This is a painting of a bear laying in a field. There are mountains in the background. The field is green, with hints of brown that blend it together. The mountains are a gray with blue undertones. The sky in the background is a light-gray color, that blends the mountains out with it.
Technique: This painting is made with watercolors. Techniques of wet on dry and wet on wet were used to create this piece. Wet on dry was especially used to create the stippled and textured effect of the grass and the bear’s fur. Movement is shown in the way the bear holds its feet because it looks as though its in the middle of a rocking action. Harmony is present in this piece because it is common for a bear to be lounging in a field by the mountains. The piece feels like it goes together, and the bear isn’t out of place. However, there is emphasis on the bear because it is the main focal point of the paint.
Symbolism: This painting symbolizes freedom, peace, and feeling child-like. There is a freedom in the openness of the fields with the mountains in the background. The bear can go wherever he pleases or stay in the field. There is peace in the way the bear is lounging on its back. It is care-free and enjoying the peace of the field. This piece also has child-like characteristics in the way the bear holds its feet in a manner that many babies and children do.
Space and Light: The spacing of the painting is symmetrical with the bear being centered. The mountains are off in the distance, while the bear lays in a field that is in front of the mountain. There isn’t much of a light source. It would be facing the front of the painting or another source could be behind the mountains because it is lighter back there with the mountains fading into the skyline.
Historical Style: Interpretation and influence come from Monet’s Poppy Field in Giverny, 1890, because there is a field laid out in front of a mountain and trees in the background. This space and layout helped to influence my piece by having a grass field and gray mountains in my painting.
Personal Interpretation: I think that this piece is very calming to look at and has a content feel to it. The viewer can see a bear free in the field, doing as it pleases making the viewer want that same freedom and peace. The bear is relaxing and content, making the viewer picture themselves in a field, content, or other place that evokes that emotion for them.