Visual elements can give viewers meaning of the picture or painting by saying what does the visual text mean but for our purpose, visual elements will show how they can relate to the bigger picture or meaning. By choosing a visual element, we will discuss what effect it has on the visual text, in this case a painting, and what was the purpose of that visual element.  By looking at the paint strokes or lines, the contrast caused by bright and dark colors, and the placement of that subject which is a dog, we can see that the painter wanted the viewers’ attention focused on the dog. This is important because the viewers would focus more on the background and the viewers would not understand the painting if the painter wanted to focus more on the background. 

One visual element in the painting is the paint strokes which then creates the lines we see. The painting’s paint strokes are sloppy and the paint from the strokes are not blended in. This makes the viewers’ attention go straight to the dog because the viewers are going to see the colors that aren’t blended as well as the colors you would not expect to be on a dog. The purpose of these paint strokes are to allow the people to see the dog but it also allows the people to see the texture of the dog because dogs have fur and therefore, the painting of the dog needs fur. The paint strokes in the background are a little sloppy and some of the paint strokes are small dots. The paint strokes look like they are going to left or right of the picture. Those paint strokes could help the viewers’ attention move to the dog. The reason why it would lead to the dog because if a viewer followed the paint strokes, it would lead their eyes to the dog. The purpose of those paint strokes was to lead people’s eyes to the dog as well as blend the colors a little bit. The little bit of blended colors allows the people to move their attention to the dog. 

The painting uses bright colors as well as dark colors. This demonstrates contrast in the painting. The painting mainly has dark colors in the background but the foreground has light colors. This creates the contrast between the background and the subject. The contrast between the background and the dog allows people to see the subject because if the background had similar colors has the dog, viewers would have trouble see what part is what. For example, if the background had different shades of brown, the viewers would be able to recognize that brown is the background and brown is the dog which causes the viewers to lose focus on the overall painting. In the background, the shades of the blue and green colors created contrast. This could effect the mood people feel when they look at the painting but it can also effect how people associate the colors with things. For example, the different shades of the blue can be associated with water whether it be the ocean, pool, pond, or lake. The contrast in the dog creates shadows on the dog because of the way the light would hit the dog if it came from the right or left of it. The purpose of the contrast between the background and the subject is to allow people see the subject and it allows the subject to stand out because the subject is against a dark background causing it to stand out and be the center of attention. 

The subject of the painting is mainly centered on the canvas. The position of the subject makes people look at the center but most of the time the subject would be to the left or right a little bit because that would cause more attention to the subject especially if something is leading people’s attention to the subject. The subject is in the middle of the painting because the painting needed room to add white little dots. If the subject was not in the middle of the painting, the painting would lose an element that helps direct people’s attention to the subject. The white little dots that are also in the center of the painting allow people to follow the circular movement that eventually leads to the dog causing people to focus back on the dog. The white dots also acted as movement in the center of the painting. The white dots allow people to think that the dog is shaking water out of their fur. The purpose of putting the dog in the middle of the painting was to have enough room to put the white paint strokes but also to have the dog be the attention of the painting or have more focus on the dog. 

Visual elements do tell what the text could mean but the elements can also show how they affect the overall picture or paining. In this particular painting, the visual elements were the contrast between the dark and bright colors as well as the background and the subject, the paint strokes or lines, and lastly, the positon of the subject which falls under the rule of third. The purpose of the elements in this painting was to show how the contrast, the strokes, and position can effect the way people direct their attention to the subject of the painting. The reason why the elements show that was because the painter wanted the viewers to direct there attention to the subject. 