Burchfield, Charles (1959). Orion in December [watercolor and pencil on paper]. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC/ARS, NY.

The depiction “feels” like it is under water. The media, bubble-like stars, formatting of the ground and elongated tree forms create this impression, but the scene is above ground. The vertical character of the forest raises eye focus to the night sky. |

The subject is a wonderfully rendered forest viewed from a clearing. This work is saturated in emotional expressiveness. A sense of weightlessness, like one would find deep under water, is created. A pulsing impression of lush life radiates from the canvas. Watercolor and pencil on paper.

Line can be identified in this work, but shape is the primary visual element. They are all organic and have respectably defined edges. They are all either small and equal in length and width, or tall and narrow. Negative space outlines plant forms on the ground portion of the canvas, giving them an icy character. The color scheme is analogous. Dots, circles and vertical strokes create various patterns across the canvas. Diminishing detail is used somewhat to create spatial depth. The edges in the sky are hazy. Value is also used; the high key forms that create the ground seem nearer than the dense forms of the trees. Diminution is used in reverse; larger forms actually sink while smaller forms approach. 

Pictorial balance is required by the subject and the emotions Burchfield is trying to create. He accomplishes both: this work is approximately symmetrically balanced and static. Organic forms dominate. Where edges are light on the upper and lower thirds of this work, they are dense in the middle. Circular and thick dot-like shapes mimic each other on the terminal thirds also, inverting value format from each other. Value contrasts are also strong, and effective, in how the stars and lower plant-forms are rendered. Value also creates a pleasing and contrasting pattern across the canvas.

The pacing of the strokes the build the forest create a harmonious lateral sense of motion, but those same strokes create perpendicular lines of force, leading the eye to the starlit sky and swaying, highlighted forest floor. The vertical orientation of the canvas greatly aids the sense of weightlessness and vertical character of the forest elements. 

The title figure of this work, Orion, is placed in such a manner as to seamlessly blend the forest with the night sky. Color temperature and the formatting of the ground create a sense of cold. This evocative painting effectively combines contrasts of value, shape and patterns to create a beautifully blended work.