Art Review: Judi Russell, On My Path. 2004. Mixed media (acrylic and water color) on canvas, 20" x 16"

Essay by mr_insaneCollege, UndergraduateA, December 2006

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I first found the works of the artist in an unusual way. I was surfing internet once to search about poems and mistakenly searched under images. This painting was in the webpage. The link directed me to the artist's personal website and there were many paintings. There were some painting I noticed during the final Friday, but this painting was able to tie me due to it's life and the joyfulness.

The artist describes himself as an abstract impressionist. The painting I selected was called On My path. The artist description of the painting is "On My Path was painted to represent my joy of finally being on my path of being a full-time painter. I strongly recommend Julia Cameron's Book, "The Artists Way" if you are searching to uncover (excavate) your talents in order to determine your desired path."

The artist has used lines to define the contours of the girl and the path that she walking on.

He uses a shift in color to help the observer to get an impression of the mass of the path by using a light color in the middle of the path and generally a different color than the back ground. The mass of the girls skirt is implied by using the same technique: the shift in colors. He has abstract the girls head into a round shape. The idea of the sunlight in implied by using bright colors. It's easy to recognize the texture of the painting. He has used a discontinues short repeating brush strokes to generate the texture. The contrast between the warmth of the skyline and the coolness of her dress and the garden is conveyed by abrupt shift in value, with blue and green set against black, reddish yellow and dark red.

Vertically oriented,