Jacinta Taylor

Lost
Step 1: Description
In 1886 Fredrick McCubbin painted Lost with his own child Anne McCubbin as the model. It has been created using an oil on canvas technique, and is 114.3 x 72.4cm in size. The painting depicts a bushland area with many tall gumtrees in the background and a few in the foreground. It has long yellow, brown and green grass all around that comes to about halfway up the calf of a girl in a blue dress and a yellow hat with a black ribbon as the hat band. Small trees and clusters of sticks are littered mostly in the front. The sky, such a light shade of blue it almost becomes indistinguishable with the white clouds, is poking through the trees in some places and has the biggest gap in the top left hand corner. The girl is just below and to the right of being in the centre of the image. The foreground trees are all off to the side of the girl so that the only thing that obscures her is a thin layer of leaves.

Step 2: Analysis
The lines in Lost are mostly horizontal and long. Most are curvy and thin although there are some short and thick in things like broken trees. The lines are seemingly smooth and sleek, they are used to both outline and for the tone and texture of the trees, bushes and dress. The lines are not used to create movement. Instead the artist uses stillness in the lines to create a calm mood, even though the girls lost. Tone plays a major part in what makes this painting notable. The painter has used tone in the trees that provide shade and the actual shade itself. It uses contrast to help ass well in the areas with a lot of light the colours are always bright, when in the shade the colours are darker. The shapes in this artwork are all mostly organic shapes. Though, some of the trees and the girls clothes are in geometric shapes. The colour palette is a mix of warm colours, the dominant colour being grey/green. This choice makes the painting look very realistic and would most likely look like what it looked like when it was painted. The visual textures of this artwork are a beautiful combination of smooth and scratchy. This style helps make it more lifelike. The focal point of Lost is the young lady in the blue dress. Shes has this role fore shes almost in the centre of the painting, also, the colour of her dress and apron contrast to the surrounding colours.

Jacinta Taylor

Step 3: Interpretation
Lost was painted about the girl. The Anne McCubbin represents a girl picking wild flowers and placing them in her apron when she looks up and realises that with her head down she has become lost. I think Fred McCubbin created Lost because he had an idea and though to incorporate it in his artwork. I think the colours and shapes in the Lost are the exact replicas of what the actual objects are. They are very realistic. I believe McCubben chose to create the artwork the way he did because it was the best way to make it more lifelike and pragmatic to the actual setting.

Step 4: Judgement
I think the artwork is a beautiful, true to the location and successful piece. It conveys the emotion of the girl with her body language. For example she has her left hand up to her face, which may indicate that shes crying. It also shows the stillness of the outback. I believe there are no aspects of the piece that could be considered as a weakness. It doesnt particularly grasp any of my emotions through what is depicted. Lost is a very good piece if you wish to get lost in a painting and simply study and dissect it.