Annotation of the Painting

Painting Analysis

It is difficult to determine the painting’s age simply by glancing at it. Its measurements are 536 by 640 pixels in height. Because of the portrayed natural landscape, including trees and grass, the painting is a landscape. The painting’s primary subject is a broad view, and its elements are arranged in a clear-cut way. The artwork depicts the sky, and the weather is another prominent component of the composition. This painting is a startling piece of art that depicts the natural world and all of its components alongside humanity. Although it is hard to see the surface behind the paint, this is definitely painted in watercolor on paper or canvas due the manner in which the color is absorbed as well as the texture of the finished painting. The overall appearance of the painting is smooth due to the amount of the paint that the artist put on the brush, the pressure and the motion utilized in applying it on the paper or canvas. The brush strokes looks invisible to achieve the smooth surface seen in this painting. The mood and effect that the smooth brushstrokes contribute to the painting is that of happiness.

Use of Lines

Other than the brushstrokes, the use of lines is another significant factor that has been brought out clearly in this painting. The lines beautifully define the edge of the different shapes in this painting. The lines are sharp and thin, and they seem controlled by the artist. There is so much strength and grace of line as they are defined, and dark to separate color areas clearly.

Size and Space

Since paintings are today seen as reproductions, it can be very hard to evaluate the size of a painting. Taking a moment to look at the size of the painting, one can get a mental image of the meaning of the dimensions. This painting is a miniature and not a life-sized picture. A sports stadium is too huge to have its life-sized painting on a piece of paper. The impact the size of this painted space has on the viewer is that the artist is professional to be able to put a miniature of it all as if it was real, and therefore serve as a representation of the real landscape (Duke University 1).

The artist has used the space within the painting very well. There are definitely clear divisions of the space. A glance at the use of the space is enough for an individual to see the artist’s center of interest, the game field as well as the spectators in the podiums. Some of the spectators are on one podium in the foreground, while others are on the background podium. In the middle ground is the playground where one can see the players. The perspective appears three dimensional and not flat in appearance, which makes the painting loo real. This painting is based on reality, an aspect that makes it look very skilled (Barnet 26).

Use of Color

He has used color excellently and the shapes of the targeted objects look real. There is no color that predominates more than the others, because the artist has used a variety of colors to make the painting very beautiful and realistic. There is the use of bright, light as well as dark colors. This looks like a relatively sunny day with partial clouds as depicted by the sky. In addition, there are shadows of the men in the field, which clearly shows that the day is bright. In addition, from the direction of the shadows, one can tell that it is past noon towards the evening. Some of the men that have been brought closer to the observer’s eyes are in coats while others are shown in shirts. In addition, drinks are present in the podium as refreshment. Another notable thing from the painting is that there are too many spectators, as it can be seen from the podium on the other end, which is full of people that have come to watch the game. There is a huge building that can be seen past the podium, which is a depiction of a city. The fact that the podium is not close to the building is an illustration of the urban space and its accompanying design.

Mood and Meaning

The mood that is depicted in the painting is that of excitement as well as anxiety from the ongoing match. There some people that seems excited by the game as portrayed by the men that are standing with their hands up as they cheer the ongoing match. However, there are other spectators that look bored by the game and have turned to their newspapers to keep off from watching the game. It could be that they are anticipating defeat. From the painting, it seems as if one of the sides has won in the game, as the man standing in a cap illustrates signs of victory. The beer seller in the background can also be seen as an indication that he is throwing beer to the excited spectators after their team has scored.

Light and Composition

The artist has also used the aspect of light very well. The images closer to the eye are illuminated very well and anyone can capture the details of even the smallest things like the bottles being passed over by the man in the white coat facing the people on the foreground podium. Despite that almost every object is visible, the author has shown distance in the far end podium where only the people sited at the front are visible, while others at the far end are not well illuminated to show the magnitude in numbers (Duke University 1).

Discussion of the Meaning

From the painting, it is clear that the artist saw the earth as a wondrous creation that can give boundless motivations for visual art. Everywhere the human eye looks there is the palette of nature. In this painting, the artist David Levine chose to illustrate his vision of the earth in a specific manner, where it seems as if he painted realistically, with an effort to replicate nature very closely. The proximity of watercolor and the artists mastery of the medium enables one to see exactly what it is he saw.

The painting suggests a world of time. For the painter, this is a leisure time for the many people that he has shown watching the game. It is sports time, and they have left their other chores to dedicate their time to the game. The artists wanted people to feel the representativeness in the picture by making it look so real. Looking at it, the painting creates a substantial amount of activity in the heart and mind of the viewer. It appeals to the viewer through their senses, as it grabs their eyes in some very unique way. This painting has the capability of grabbing people’s attention through its subject matter, the use of color, the realistic appearance and the thought-provoking juxtaposition of objects. The concept that the artist had was excellent and he applied high and excellent skills to execute it in the picture.

The painting’s subjects are the landscape as well as the groups of people, which together make the scene from which the artist tells the story about games and the manner in which different people perceive success and defeat. It depicts the citizens of the artist’s world at play. It is not a bombastic painting, but is about a place and a thing that is ordinary to people, a match. It is a scene of contemporary everyday life, and anyone who has ever watched a live game can quickly see the meaning of this painting. The gentleman that is standing in victory is a symbol in this painting to show people that in a game, there can be victory and defeat. While the gentleman stands and raises his hands with folded fist, it is a sign of strength that he feels after his side has won. Any viewer looking at the painting gets excited and feels positive and happy, which could probably be the intention of the artist, because people go to watch games for excitement purposes and as a way to positively relieve stress.

Some of the spectators, whose faces or part of the faces are brought to the view look happy and consumed in the event of the day. The fact that there are so many people that have come to watch the game shows that this is a very important event in the contemporary society. From the moment one sees this painting, he or she is eager to look keenly to figure out the type of game these people are watching, as the game field is centrally placed to make the viewer to quickly know that there is a game going on (Barnet 47).

The manner in which this painting catches the eye can be said to clearly depict self -confidence of the artist and his prosperity in his skills. This could be intended to be an advertisement of his skills to commissioners. Knowing the artists, one can tell that he painted what he saw in the ordinary world just the way he saw it. Therefore, this is, but one of his many paintings that depicted the reality of the world he lived in. David Levin’s incisive painting is a part of the cultural landscape that depicts the citizens of his world, which could his town Brooklyn. This painting is in conformity with others from this great artist, who painted anything he saw and stopped at nothing to ensure that the final works appeared as he desired them to. He is known to have painted the Coney Island as well as the leisure and amusement places just as depicted in this painting. No matter what event was in his neighborhood, the artist found and followed the people involved. As shown in the painting, he was keen as portraying the people with so much pride and humanity as he painted on site in watercolor with so much grace (davidlevineart.com).

Works Cited

Barnet, Sylvan. A short guide to writing about art. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2008.

davidlevineart.com. Online Galleries. 2017. Web. 26th Jan. 2017. http://www.davidlevineart.com/cgi-bin/main.cgi?action=gallery

Duke University. Visual Rhetoric/Visual Literacy Series. 2016. Web. 26th Jan. 2017. http://twp.duke.edu/uploads/media_items/painting.original.pdf