Stuck by Oliver Jeffers
This surrealistic illustration is taken from a page in a picture book, Stuck by Oliver Jeffers. Young Lloyd had his kite stuck in the tree and he tried to get his kite out of the tree by throwing more items in the tree, which all got stuck. In the middle of the artwork, there is a tree with abundant green leaves. In this tree, there are many items stuck in it, such as: a ship, a postman, a cat and others. This artwork reminds me of how people are so used at not trying to solve the root of the problem and instead, like Llyod, throws things at the problem which only compounds the problem. It creates a snowball effect where there might have even more problems than the start.
A light shadow is drawn to show the time of the day as the shadow is seen to be at 7 o'clock direction which meant that it could have been in the evening that this incident happened. The bark of the tree is seen to be drawn with thin down strokes. The brush strokes and the mix of colours clearly shows that the artwork is drawn with watercolour. By using watercolour, Jeffers is able to present the illustration as if the little kid, Llyod, had drawn it. This is congruent to the idea where he hand writes the words in the book. His brush strokes are big and precise which can be seen through the details of the different items. There might be a chance that Jeffers used coloured pencils for the tree due to the immense details (repetition of circles) as well.
With the artwork being depicted with nothing but just a splash of colors, it brings out the main focus (which is the items) easily. The artwork is balanced with the both warm and cool colours, which might present the idea of the simplicity of that of a child's mind. The tree is drawn with a repetition of circles which is used to illustrate the leaves. The simple repetition of circles juxtapose the other things that are stuck in it, which highlights these items to the viewers. This repetition of circles also do bring out the depth of the tree. Through the different shades of green in the leaves, the tree presents to have depth which in turn allows the viewer to imagine all the items to be really stuck in the tree, even if it is logically impossible.
Young Llyod seems to be really imaginative when it comes to getting his kite off the tree. From the artwork itself, it could be seen that Llyod tries to throw all kinds of items, from a non-living chair to a grumpy postman to a big ship. From the work itself, it could be seen that Llyod has thrown a ladder into the tree, which is potentially an item that could have gotten his kite off the tree. Instead, Llyod did not do so and has tried to solve the problem in a different way which failed. Just like Llyod, many people would have the solution in their grasps when they are met with a problem. However it is how they look at the solution and how they judge it, which determines if the problem is solved or compounded.
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