In this painting by Joseph Lycett, he is aiming to capture the Australian Environment. This was the role of all artists at this time in Australia, their job was to document the changes taking places as there were no cameras at the time. Joseph Lycett was one of the first professional painters to go over to Australia to paint, before him, convicts were documenting scenery.
The colours are quite interesting in this picture. They are supposed to match the Australian environment, but with the vivid colours, he has failed to do so. This was quite common wtih Joseph Lycett and John Eyre. They were very good painters, although they didn't seem to capture the essence of the Australian Bush, especially regarding to colour. They tended to be influenced by their home land (Britain) and therefore the paintings weren't very accurate in terms of colour. Nevertheless, the artwork is the only documentation we have tf Australian in it's early years.
As this is quite a realistic painting, line has not been used as such. Instead, the painting consists of darknesses and edges to create 'line' which create shapes. I especially like the shapes in this painting, many have been used in the different types of trees and it makes the painting quite interesting to look at as a whole. Tones are quite neutral and no dramatic contrasts have been used, it has quite a natural look. The main real contrast we can see is the brighter green foreground and middle ground against the pale blue sky and hills.
The main focus is in the foreground, which enough is happening anyway to keep our eyes occupied. The background is very simple and is only really there to show that there are some slight hills.
The light has a significant effect on the mood of this painting. It has quite a cheery, non-edgy mood attached to it. This has alot to do with the natural light, but not bright, lighting. If we study the painting further, we can see that the light has a focus point in the middle ground of the painting. We can see how it brings out the trees and brings our attention to the stream.
What i really like about this painting is the position of all the elements within the painting. The background of hills are placed between the frees in the foreground. Alot of these trees also 'frames' the picture and draws our eyes in further into the painting. The light focus in the center also makes us focus our attention further into the scene.
Their role as a recorder;
The overall painting is quite pleasing, no doubt the painter has some great technical art skills. Although, as a recorder, he fails in a sense because he has not truly 'captured' the Australian bush, instead he has painted a piece of art work that has made the land seem more British to please overseas buyers. Joseph Lycett has still done a pretty good job, considering he was one of the first professional artists to come to Australian from Britain to pain for the government. All the others before were convicts who didn't have much skills at all.