Multiple Stories in One Painting
Early Morning, Friendship Harbor 2 is a very natural piece by Richard McKown. It has two bridges going out from the viewer’s perspective. The bridge on the left is heading deep into a harbor with land in the distance straight ahead. It is difficult to tell where the bridge ends or if it is actually touching the far off land. The top of the sky is bright blue then suddenly changes to the sun just about to set on the horizon with red between the sun and the water. As one moves across to the right side of the piece along the horizon, it quickly switches to dark land, then to bright sky and bright land. The bridge on the right leads into bright green woods with heavy trees and a cabin slightly hidden in the foliage. There is a small staircase linking the wooded area to the water. Half of the piece seems to be of the night and the other half of a bright day.
There are many symbols, meanings, and stories represented through details in his art. Depending on what aspect of the piece you are looking at, the meaning of the piece changes. The drastic color changes show separation shows a difference of day and night. His use of shadowing breaks the piece up into different sections and suggests different ways to look at the piece to see different meanings. The repeated vision of a bridge shows different paths the viewer can take, and in following each one, a new meaning is revealed. The work of art is very split up and has many sections to it.
The entirety of the left side of the piece has darker colors, which would represent the night. The right side uses bright blue in the sky and shows the land glowing as if the sun is bouncing off of it in the middle of the day. The drastic color changes show a clear separation in the piece. McKown must have wanted the viewer to look at each side as two different times or even different pieces that work together. Looking at the darker side, the sun is setting, and there is a red sky. As the...