Lucy in the Field with Flowers

 Lucy in the Field with Flowers is an oil painting that was retrieved from a dumpster in Boston.  The artist was never discovered.  The painting depicts an old woman(or an old man in a dress) dancing in a field of flowers on a bright spring day.  She seems to be half seated in a red armchair but still standing.  An offensively bright sunset lights the entire scene.  The piece is captivating to say the least, but for all the wrong reasons.  It is likely that the artist’s identity was never discovered because he or she would rather forget that they created it.

This artwork is funny, but it's not that funny.  The woman’s face looks rather manly which works for a quick chuckle, but isn’t worth the amount of time that was likely put into this piece.  The arms on the figure seem distorted and sloppily executed.  The legs appear to be way too small for her body, and the flesh tones include a bright pink highlight that is challenging to view. 

It is very difficult to look at this work for very long because of the awful use of color.  The artist clearly had no restraint with his palette.  The colors are all in great contrast and which keeps the eye bouncing around but never focusing on the image as a whole.  The hues that make up the sun drenched sky are the most offensive.  The combination of bright yellows and yellow greens distract the viewer from the and make the rendering look flat.  The palette used on the grass in the foreground is very similar to the sky which further confuses the audience.  The white petals on the flowers seem to simply float on a layer above the rest of the painting.  They do not appear to make contact with any other elements in the picture. 

This painting is awful.  It is just tough to examine.  The color is bad, the composition is sloppy and the proportions are skewed.  It is hard to imagine that anyone enjoyed making it.  Perhaps this artist has moved on to make works that were more prettily executed, but this one would have to be seen as a learning experience at best.