And so it begins...

With only 30 minutes to analyze and describe a piece of art, I have to admit that I am a little overwhelmed. As I sit staring at Clare Coyle Taylor's colored pencil piece titled "November 11, 2006," I am first attracted to the colors. Shades of blues, yellows, reds, oranges, purples, they're all there. Simplicity and madness mix to create this abstract piece. The simplicity comes from the geometric shapes that are drawn throughout. Squares, triangles, and other geometric figures that fill the paper add to a dynamic feeling.
Even though the shapes do add a simplicity, the piece is overwhelmingly energetic. There is not one place that is simply one color. A blue right color is a dark blue with light blue on top. Below that there is a parallelogram that seem to have almost every color that is featured in the piece. Coyle also adds spirit to sketch with her energetic lines that make it up.The colored pencil lines go outside of the box, making the color leap towards the viewer.
After looking at the piece for 30 minutes, hoping that some message will jump out to me, I can only grasp the happiness and energy that this sketch brings. There is something wonderfully childlike about the simple shapes and myriad of color. What Coyle had in mind upon creating this, I cannot say, but I do not think it is necessary. The abstractness speaks to each viewer differently, and for me it exudes a vibrant energy.

The Scream - Formal Anaylsis attempt

The Scream by Edward Munch uses his lines and brushstrokes to lead the viewer’s eyes throughout the painting. It is composed of tempera and pastels on cardboard. The onlooker is first drawn to the man in the foreground. The contrast between his dark attire and the lightness of his face make him appear skeletal. Munch drew the man with simplicity adding to this emaciated appearance. The curving of the man’s body is reflected throughout the painting, as are the blended yet visible lines.

The viewer’s eyes are drawn next into a series of these blended lines to the right of the figure. Mixed with blues, greens, reds, and yellows this section is a melting pot of all the colors present in the painting. The lines curving to the right act as transition to the next portion of the painting. The eyes quickly move up to the diluted landscapes. Here, the lines are in no particular direction. Instead, the curves form the landscape in itself. Blue water is painted with strokes of lighter blue clear to the viewer on top of a darker shade. The arching strokes enfold an area resembling an island with a color of similar shade to the face of the screaming man. The difference between light and dark is once again visible. The curvilinear strokes and the similar colors create remind the viewer of the man in the foreground.
The landscape is concluded with dark blue rolling hills in the background. The rolls of the hills are mirrored in the fiery sky. The stripes appear to be a continuation of the hills that continue to the top of the painting. The blazing orange and yellow stripes of the sky give it a glow that is only seen in the sky.

Finally, the viewer’s eyes are directed to two muted silhouettes and a boardwalk that lead back to the man in the foreground. The figures in the background are painted in muted colors with blended forms, showing that they are not the focus in this painting. The boardwalk is a series of lines all directed towards the main figure in the foreground that leads the eyes back to the beginning. The straight lines of the promenade are disparate from the sweeping lines elsewhere in the painting.

Going from the man in the foreground and then in a counterclockwise direction around the work of art, the eyes end on their beginning with the man in anguish. Taking a step back, the contrasting colors and curvilinear lines are the most striking. The lines allow the eyes to flow with ease throughout the painting, but still put the most importance on the man in the foreground. After viewing this painting, the viewer is left with an eerie feeling of anxiety from the contrasting colors, swirling nature, and utter agony of the twisted individual that is the focus of the piece.