"Beside Still Waters," by Thomas Kinkade |
|
 |
Thomas Kinkade’s
"Beside Still Waters" is a magnificent painting because of its ability
to please the eye. It demonstrates many of the principles and elements
of art. Harmony is created in this piece by the flowers and vegetation
repeated on both sides of the stream. The viewer’s eye goes first
to the center of the stream because that is the lightest area of the picture
and it is where the emphasis is placed. The stream’s light value
contrasts greatly with the darker values of the vegetation and rocks surrounding
it, causing the viewer’s eye to be drawn to the stream first. The
viewer’s eye then flows down the stream before taking in the flowers from
the bottom of the picture up to the light sky and moving down the stream
once more. This movement causes the eye to take a circular path around
the picture. The picture also gives an idea of depth and space; the
viewer feels almost like they could follow the stream back to its source.
I like this painting because it portrays a place that I would like to go, and does so in enough detail and realism that I feel like I could visit the stream in the picture. I would like to hang this painting in my home so I could visit this rushing stream that seems not to be going anywhere, but just playing, having nothing better to do. |
home
"Beside Still
Waters" l "Pools of Serenity"
l "Winter's End"
"Entrance
to the Manor House" l "Hidden
Arbor" l "Twilight
Vista" l credits