In his painting, Lake Superior Landscape, George Morrison uses a combination of the visual elements line, texture, and color with the principles of design of repetition and visual unity to create an intriguing, abstract take on the traditional landscape painting.
Morrison depicts the horizon at the top of the painting in purple, with the lake directly underneath it in blue. The bottom half of the painting is a representation of the cliffs that border much of Lake Superior.
Morrison uses a combination of horizontal and vertical lines to create context in his rendition of Lake Superior. Horizontal lines seem placid and stabilizing, and Morrison uses unbroken horizontal lines to differentiate the water of the lake from the cliffs. These stabilizing lines run throughout the entire work, but in the bottom half where the cliffs are represented, the horizontal
…show more content…
In some areas, the paint used in the dots is the same color as the block of paint adjacent to the one the dots are inside. For example, in one of the purple quadrilaterals adjacent to the green expanse of color, the dots are a dark green that is similar in shade to the green used for the overall tree line.
The vertical and horizontal lines on the cliff face create a series of quadrilaterals that give the painting rhythm and repetition. This repetition is almost soothing, offsetting the assertion of the vertical lines and complimenting the placidity of the horizontal ones.
Overall, the unity of the painting comes primarily from the visual elements. On the sliding scale from blandness to chaos, this piece falls in the center of the spectrum. The quadrilaterals and the swath of green keep the painting interesting, and the soothing colors and horizontal lines make sure it doesn’t become too chaotic. The quadrilaterals, horizontal and vertical lines, and the analogous color scheme are the primary visual elements that come together to give this piece a feeling of visual