Courtney Lindgrens Art Review - on Deng Garangs Oil Pastel Drawing

Art Review on Deng Garangs Oil Pastel Drawing

Component 1
This art work is a representational drawing of the countryside with a small stream.
The back ground of the piece has mountains, grassland fields and one tree with
branches and green leaves. In the middle foreground of the stream is a small paddle
boat with three seats which is painted red on the outside and orange on the inside.
The boat is empty and unanchored. The boat and tree are the most predominant
features of the drawing. The art work has been drawn on square paper and the piece
looks like it has been drawn with oil pastels. The drawing techniques include:
sketching with lead pencil, then I believe the artist has coloured the sketch in with oil
pastels.

Component 2
The design elements used in this piece of art work are line, texture and colour. The
use of line in this drawing is shown throughout the whole piece the noticeable areas
are the grass, the branches in the tree, the mountains and the distinct line dividing
the land to the water.
Courtney Lindgrens Art Review - on Deng Garangs Oil Pastel Drawing

The artist has used techniques of scratching and rubbing the oil pastels which gives
the drawing a textured look. In the river the technique of rubbing has been used to
create a sense of movement and texture in the water; it looks whiter in the blue river.
In the tree, mountains and grass the technique of scratching has been used to add
texture and direction to the drawing. The colours used in the drawing are mostly
natural colours greens, browns, yellows, blues and then the boat stands out from its
background as it is red and orange. Red is a colour that catches our eye and is
usually used to grab peoples attention. Blue is a colour that symbolizes peace. It is
honest, calm, compassionate and thoughtful. (Saunders, 2014)
Most children enjoy having a toy boat. Many have one for play time in the bath.
Some are given toy boats to use in their play pools. I believe this is reflective of the
norm of children in both developed and underdeveloped countries. My observation is
that boats appear to be particularly popular in English countryside paintings due to
the small villages people live in being close to streams or man-made canals. In
documentaries I have viewed children in underdeveloped countries tend to make
their own boats out of tins and wire and sticks and have competitions in the water.
Did you have a toy red boat when you were a child? What is the story behind the toy
boat floating along the river?

Component 3
I am studying primary education to become a primary school teacher. I am very
family orientated and I love little children and I have my own babysitting business.
When I look at this piece of art work and when responding to the art my love of
children influence my emotional response. My reasoning behind this drawing is that
the red boat is an empty vessel, perhaps even a toy from the artists childhood and
the river shows the artists journey. The journey of making friends and achieving
goals as one does when a child. The boat may have belonged to the artist and the
drawing is the artist as a little child sitting in his/her boat achieving goals and moving
along the river passing the country side with family members watching the child grow
into a well-educated person following their dreams. Perhaps this childs adult boat
will fill with friends and float along the river of life and learning.



Courtney Lindgrens Art Review - on Deng Garangs Oil Pastel Drawing

Component 4
When I look at this artwork and interpret the images I think about expressionism and
the times when I have played with a boat as a child and the times I have been a
passenger in a boat and the fun that I have had. Due to the fact I am only 17 and
bought up in Toowoomba I am limited with my life experience with boats. However, I
feel this reminds me very much of my childhood metaphoric boat that was given to
me and who is travelling with me on my life journey in my boat that floats along the
river of learning and life. It makes me think that now I am coming of age (18 this
year), I can make my own decisions as to who I will choose to come aboard my boat
and be the support crew of me captaining my life and the directions I choose. It
makes me realise that I can cut people loose and throw them overboard who are not
good crew and leave them behind or put them in a little tug boat behind me. I can
stop at safe harbours along the river of life and ask those who are good to me and
support me to come aboard. Sometimes I will do good deeds in my boat and throw a
life raft to those who might be stranded or need help. I can fill my boat with friends
and my students, my businesses, my dreams and one day maybe my own family.
This drawing now rests in my mind as an emotional interpretation of expressionism.
As do much other art works of the expressionism period.
Many people from different parts of the world will view this boat differently depending
on their culture and lifestyle. Refugees for example may view the boat as an
opportunity to escape horrors of persecution and come to Australia. Others may see
the boat as a symbol of food as in a Chinese menu pot boat. Still even others may
view it as a political statement whatever floats your boat as an answer to a

Component 5
Dinham (2011, p.25) discusses authentic arts education and how it should
incorporate the development of childrens creativity, expressive capacities and
aesthetic sensibilities.
This exercise has made me realise how powerful a small drawing can be on the
emotions and how technique, colour, mediums, function and form can create this
through the visuals of the eyes and heart by personal interpretation.
I am clear now how the aesthetics of art can be transferred to children by their
learning of all of the above elements, technique, colour, mediums, function and form.
It has in a sense its own language and these comprise the roots of it, much like the
Courtney Lindgrens Art Review - on Deng Garangs Oil Pastel Drawing

roots of the tree that remain hidden under the ground in the drawing yet the tree itself
is so visual.
In order to become a better teacher I have as you can see thought very deeply about
aesthetics and what that means from a practical point of view. I am hoping this
awareness will assist my imagination in the future in being able to interpret the works
of the children and also to enhance their imaginations so they are able to think
deeply when making things and emotionally respond to what they make, rather than
just make something.
Expressionism (including the use of symbols and metaphors) (Dinham, 2011) is only
one of the ways of expressing a drawing or painting. The others according to Dinham
include formalism, social commentary and narrative. I believe children who grow up
being exposed to different fine arts, dance, music, drama, pottery, china, and
ceramics and others, will mean their aesthetic appreciation will be greatly increased.
Through this assignment I have developed an empathic understanding of authentic
arts education. I aim to apply this awareness in the classroom by having beautiful
pieces of famous masters artworks on the wall which will encourage students to first
be exposed to these pieces and secondly be inspired by them. I will also fill their
room with all their pieces of art so they be inspired to continue to be authentically
creative. By me undertaking this they will hopefully come to realise that art is part of
society and the world in which we all live.

Bibliography
Dinham, J. (2014). Delivering Authentic Arts Education. Melbourne, VICT: Cengage
Learning Australia.

Saunders, K. (2014). Color MeaningUnlock the Symbolism and Color Psychology
of Common Colors. Retrieved May 1, 2014 from http://www.macgraphics.net/color-
psychology-meaning-symbolism.php