Contrast, balance. harmony with a "Chance of Discovery"

"Chance of Discovery"  2013 Oil on canvas board 11” x 14” 

This painting is my first painting I created outside of all the finger painting in my younger years as a professional. Although I still probably chose to use my fingers in assisting me on this painting as well. The challenge of this painting, beyond being my first and being absolutely terrified of the white canvas even though it wasn't much bigger than a sheet of paper, was that we were only allowed three colors to paint with in order to create an image/s using value. This essentially taught us the value of value. Can you guess the three colors?

The most obvious contrast in the painting is the color of the shell against the ocean, the beach and the night. Along with the then seen highlighting of the ocean foam along the shore. You then also see the fine details of contrast in the highlights of the ocean's surface and the dots of the star illuminating the sky and essentially the scene of a bright night. The contrast in the layout is the position of the shell and the space it creates; positive for the shell and negative for the ocean, and sky. The ocean almost adds a little bit of positive to the beach, being that it covers and uncovers it making it solid. This idea shows the contrast psychologically with the shell and land being knowing and solid against the idea of the ocean and sky always moving and changing filled with wonderment of the unknown.

The position of the shell also creates balance, being that it takes about one third of the frame as a whole. The rule of one third is also seen in the portion of beach exposed, the layout of the ocean and more or less the amount of sky. The asymmetrical shape of the shell, gives the shell its own balance. Lastly I think balance can be seen in the shore line and the highlight of the ocean foam and it forces a frame around the shell and your eye to that point.

Harmony is in the blue hue of the whole scene, again attempting to create the scene of a bright night, when things are visible. I think the position of the shell provides harmony, because it is the focus, where as if it was placed in the back of the frame and miniaturized along the shoreline, it would be enough to look act and would change the overall message of the painting. I think it also plays on the idea that mother nature places things where she wants them and there is harmony in the sense of that is how things are suppose to be.

I titled this piece "Chance of Discovery", because when I think of walking along the beach, there is always an opportunity to discover things, like the beauty of a shell. I try to amplify the size of the shell to exaggerate that the shell wants to be found, that the beauties in life want to be discovered, shared, experienced and remembered. But the key word is "chance", because of the idea that I brought up earlier that mother nature places things where she wants them, and as we are all aware of she is constantly changing things around like a stay at home mom never satisfied with her living room arrangement. I try to play that concept into the painting  as the size of the shell begs to be discovered, but as the ocean begins to slowly push in and surround the shell, the chance is slipping away  as the shell may be submerged or swept away. I think that reflects the chances and opportunities we get in life as they come and go, but like the shoreline that leads your eye into infinity, the opportunities in life are infinite and there will be more along the way as you continue to walk the shore.