The beauty and power of nature - Kent graber

Two young women take a leisurely afternoon stroll, walking up a plateau to see the ocean from an elevated position. The ocean's white-capped waves reveal how windy it is on this day. The emphasis and focus of the oil painting is the ocean. Our eye naturally moves from the cliff to the ocean. Monet focuses our attention by viewing the oil painting from right to left.

Clarice Beckett has painted a scene from her native Australia in a very unique way. We are looking at the beach from another elevated position, much like Cliff Walks by Monet. The success of the painting is seen in the three-dimensional space, using an askew angle allows the viewer to imagine they are looking down on the beach.

This idyllic scene shows mostly women and children enjoying a day at the beach. This painting could have been Conder's point of view. To have the child in the foreground shows how peaceful the ocean is at this moment. There is a beautiful symmetry of reflection with the people standing on the sand bar, which represents a line. The reflections are below the line and the objects being reflected are above the line.

This photograph reflects more of what it feels to be in this moment rather than what it actually is like. The rainbow waves splashing over the three brothers reveals the simple joy of happiness of being in the moment. The ocean is in a state of playing with the brothers. The formal element of color heightens this photograph and draws attention to the waves crashing on the beach. The color creates a happier, almost dramatic, moment. The principle of movement is very dominant in this photograph. The viewer's eye naturally imagines the waves crashing on shore and the children jumping in the air.creates movement both forward and up and down.

A large ship passes through the ocean, creating a large amount of energy that disperses into very large waves. The principle of design, clearly evident in this painting, is movement. You can almost hear the wave crashing and you can almost see the wave reaching into shore as it continues its movement forward.

The skies are getting darker. The simple ripples in the water turn to white-capped waves as the wind increases the energy of the water. The ocean builds in momentum and becomes violent. Movement and three-demential space shape this painting into a more realistic vantage point. Look at the ocean near the horizon line. Monet painted the distance as very small waves, but the foreground is raging. The movement in the foreground show the ocean pouring in well past the normal length waves would reach. Monet spent a great deal of time painting in nature. There is even sand embedded in the painting, as many people speculate he was physically on the beach when the ocean turned violent.

A nineteenth-century ship struggles in the ocean, unable to use the wind to harness its energy and speed. The dark colors show how dangerous the situation is. The darker the color, the more we relate it to something violent. If the waters were blue, the ship would not seem to be in great peril. And look at the height of the wave in the foreground compared to the ship. It could easily take the ship under.

The monster wave approaches. The boat in the foreground, as small as it is, gives great context to the wave rolling in. This would be categorized as a tsunami wave finally hitting shore. The dark colors of the crest of the wave show it is not a normal white-capped wave. This is a wave of destruction. The principle of color gives us an awe-inspired view. The use of grey in the clouds tell us this is one serious storm.

This is such a sad picture when placed in context with the theme of the ocean's violence. This child is stranded, surrounded by crashing waves and a swift current. Notice the difference in color of the water from the foreground to the background. The darker colors in the foreground could be the waves reaching for shore and then pulling back all the mud into the ocean, like a real tsunami does. This child seems so isolated because there are no other children with him. Making the child very tiny and showing the ocean to be massive around him makes him very vulnerable. What started out as a calm ocean with people playing in it has now turned very violent, much like the day the tsunami hit Asia in 2004. The use of color is very foreboding, gives an ominous feel to it. The jagged rocks do not lend themselves to safety and security.

The simplicity and elegance of the flowers and the triangular shape reminds me of wreaths that are thrown overboard ships to remember someone who was lost at sea. The flowers could appear as a reflection of itself. The negative and positive space The negative space is the ocean, now finally calm once again. Notice how the ocean is only two colors, but the triangle flowers are multi-colored. There is a balance and symmetry to this photograph. After the tsunami and death, what more can be said of everything that has just happened?