Bricher's Time And Tide

Time and Tide In Time and Tide by Alfred Thompson Bricher the viewer quickly takes in the oceanic scenery of an oncoming storm near a beach. The foreground contains a shoreline with waves crashing on the wet sand. A reflection of the sky and a nearby cliff is created on the wet shore. In the top right corner there are brown-looking clouds. In the middle ground you see the vast ocean continuing through the horizon. The waves are stronger and seem to grow on the right side of the painting. To the right of the painting there is a cliff with a shadow partially casted on it, the sunrays hit the peak of the cliff; there are also a couple seagulls encircling the cliff. The background is composed of the horizon and sky, there are sailboats spread
His stokes are clean-cut throughout, especially when painting the cliff on the right side, the viewer can see the distinct on the side with the small shrubs of greenery. Another example would be the ripples on the water each of them catching the reflection of the sun. Bricher changes his brush stroke a bit when recreating the waves crashing on the shore, to give off that feeling of movement and chaos; his strokes become looser and rely on the use of stippling, multiple dot-like strokes. Since the painting is of a natural landscape the shapes involved are organic just like what you would find in the outdoors. These include the cliff, clouds, and waves all having organic shapes that are produced by Mother Nature. The color scheme of the painting includes shades of blues, browns, and white overall creating a serene atmosphere just like the ocean. Bricher uses an equal mixture of cool and warm colors; the viewer can observe his use of cool colors in the ocean and sky, especially where the storm is taking place by using blue as his main hue but at different saturation levels. The warm colors are represented in the browns in the cliff and the sand, giving a sense of sunshine or a light source. When evaluating the texture, the painting stokes are so tight and smoothed over that the canvas gives almost a photographic illusion when first seeing the painting. The only place
By placing the cliff and bigger waves on the right and extending the shoreline out with the storm in the background to the left the different views balance each other out. This is achieved by contrasting negative and positive space. The waves throughout the ocean carry out repetition, using the same technique over and over again swift brush strokes moving the eye from left to right. This can be seen again in the clouds, Bricher uses the same strokes repeatedly creating movement within the clouds and storm. The main focal area of Time and Tide are the tides, it is the first thing the viewer sees and they occupy the biggest space in the art work. The tides are so well detailed compared to everything else in the painting. The eye is especially drawn to the tides because of their photograph-like quality. Finally the piece achieves unity by bringing all the elements to harmony; the line work or strokes in the waves add movement moving the viewer’s eye around. The organic shapes produce a natural scene that flows adding to the oceanic atmosphere while the color scheme establishes an afternoon sunset at the beach with a storm in the far back. Space gives that sense of vastness that you get from the never-ending ocean and texture gives it a smooth finish, all of this producing