Richard LaBarre Goodwin, Game on the Cabin Door (Birds on a Door)
For my visual analysis, I have chosen to write about an oil painting on canvas by an American artist Richard LaBarre Goodwin, Game on the Cabin Door (Birds on a Door), in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
The work, which is about fifty six inches high and thirty four inches wide, shows dead birds hanging on the wooden door. Birds are bright and vivid and contrast with a dark wooden door. The door is painted in deep hunter green color, while the birds are yellow-toned white with emerald and red details. The paint has been applied in small, light strokes, creating a very realistic effect.
The focal points of this composition is on two big birds in the centre. Birds take up most of the composition, leaving the rest for the wooden door. Game is painted in soft round shapes and appears to be in contrast with geometrical lines of the door and its details.
The drake is painted grey with emerald details and the other bird is painted in yellow-toned white, making out the lightest point and the centre of the painting. The composition of the painting is almost symmetrical, with birds hanging in the triangular shape in the middle of the door.
The artist have generally used small brush strokes in this picture to achieve a realistic effect, although the paint was applied in different ways. The door is painted in bigger strokes, while the birds and small brass details on the door are painted with small strokes to imitate small details, such as feathers. The difference in technique achieves the accurate representation of the texture: the door appears have a smooth and shiny surface, and the birds have small rough …
