Tuesday, February 8, 2011

"Lost At Sea"

This piece is by illustrator Courtney Billadeau. I recently came across her work, and I really like the amount of energy she puts into each piece. As an artist, she's quite versatile and dabbles in a variety of mediums.

I think what drew me to this piece first was the movement. The sea in this piece is very violent, rushing in, tossing things around. The man, however does not seem to be drowning, or even aware of what is happening to him. In fact, he is asleep, and probably tossing and turning fitfully. There are life preservers in the water, but they do not seem to be tied to anything, and are out of the man's reach anyway. In dreams, it is often assumed that water is a metaphor for the dreamer's emotional state.

I like the overall style of this piece: the lack of outlines, the muted palette, the selective use of red, the way the man clutches the sea like a blanket.

4 comments:

  1. I really like how he's sleeping without knowing what is going on around him. I never knew that water was a metaphor for one's emotional state and in this case, I'm assuming this man is depressed. The muted colors really give off a sense of loneliness and loss which led me to that conclusion. The life preservers lead to me think that help is on his way. Great image. It really makes you think what the whole story is about.

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  2. I really love the colors the artist used in this piece. The water is so green. It interesting because green is generally a tranquil color but the movement and chaos from the water totally overrides any sense of calm from the color. I also think it was clever to have the man using the water as a cover.

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  3. This is an excellent piece. It does have a lot of violent movement to it, but the sleeping man makes it seem somehow peaceful. The contrast between some of the more blunt objects such as the life preservers with the flow of the water creates a lot of added tension as well, adding to the odd, dreamlike feel in that there are many elements mashed in together that normally wouldn't seem to fit.

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  4. I think what I like most about this image is the tonal range; how the foreground is darker and the focal point is emphasized towards the back of the picture. The detail and the texture is wonderful as well. I appreciate this piece because it's not as kitschy as some of the other illustrations; this one actually seems to have an implied motive. Or maybe I just intuitively get it more than some of the others.

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