The painting “A Spritz of Blue” by Hannah Kington exhibits a cartoon like painting of an elephant in the lower left corner. The elephant is decorated with a cool colored teal swirl design on the elephant’s face. As you move up the painting you see an upright facing trunk with a three-dimensional eruption of cool colors turning darker as they stream out. At first glance this painting may seem like a harmless, fun painting of an elephant, but after a closer examination you see it depicts the eruption of hurt and emotion elephants endure in the entertainment industry. This can be determined by many aspects of the painting including the colors the painter used, lines, texture, designs, and style.

If you take a look at the cartoon elephant in the corner you can see its mouth is open almost in a distressed-like manner. It appears the elephant is crying out for help. This is the first clue this painting represents a greater meaning. The elephant appears distressed because of its abuse in the entertainment industry. We know this from the anguish on the elephant’s face. Designs similar to this are painted on elephants in fairs, circuses, and tourist attractions. What people fail to realize when they see these magnificent creatures painted is how painting a six-thousand-pound animal came about. It surely is not instinct for these wild animals to politely sit still while humans paint intricate designs on them for hours. Trainers attempt to “tame” them, most of the time starting at a young age by chaining them up, starving, and beating them to break their spirits and making them fear humans. The harm animals endure is not just physical but mental as well. It should also be noted that the lines of the design on the elephant in the painting are long and smooth painted in bright, cool, welcoming colors. The long smooth lines are supposed to be calming, and the cool bright colors are supposed to be inviting. This is so that when we see the designs are immediate thoughts are not of abuse, but are inviting and happy. These are exactly the emotions and thoughts people experience when they see painted elephants at circuses and fairs. People see how beautiful and festive they look, not that they are wild animals painted up like circus clowns.

Another aspect of the painting to pay attention to is the fact that the elephant is a cartoon. This downplays the importance of the painting which is parallel to how the importance of animal rights is downplayed in society. If the elephants were painted as a real life elephant rather than a cartoon then people would be able to identify with it as a real creature. Since the painting portrays a cartoon elephant people automatically view it as unreal. They disregard the emotions and feelings of the animal which is exactly what people do to animals in captivity. They see them as property and do not consider their emotions.  Animals in captivity is commonly overlooked and not seen as a problem today, which is why most people could look at this painting and see nothing wrong with it. Likewise, carton paintings are commonly overlooked as just a cartoon with no deeper meaning. 

As you move up in the painting another key focal point to pay attention to is the trunk. The elephant’s trunk is painted upward, which is ironic for this painting. An elephant with an upward facing trunk is one of the oldest sings of good luck, which is the opposite of what the elephant in the painting is experiencing, and more importantly what elephants in the world today are experiencing. You then see a three-dimensional eruption of colors coming out of the trunk. The colors start as cool colors, which again are supposed to be warm and inviting, streaming out first showing how people in the animal entertainment industry wants people to view the animals. They want people to believe the animals are happy, heathy, enjoying life. After all who wants to go to the zoo and see physically and mentally ill animals? The industry masks the animal’s emotions and illnesses by heavily medicating them so that they appear happy. The colors in the painting then begin to turn to darker tones, which are cold and uninviting. This begins to show the real emotions of the elephants behind the masks. The dark colors show the hurt, anger, sadness, and pain the elephants in this industry endure. Elephants are extremely emotional animals.  Captive elephants are forced to live a lifestyle that is physically harmful because of incompatible habits which causes them emotionally stress than can be detrimental to them. Being ripped from their herd, living in a stressful environment, depending on humans for their survival, being limited to only a few areas when in they are designed to travel miles a day, being forced to live in confined spaces with elephants from other herd that they may or may not be compatible with, and many other aspects of animal captivity quite literally make the animals go crazy. They suffer from anxiety, depression, and other mental illnesses that must be masked by drugs to appear normal for their customers, us. The eruption of colors coming from her trunk could also be interrupted as the elephant exploding with emotion. This could be the elephant’s cry for help, showing that she is tired of masking the pain and is ready to be heard.

 Another interesting thing to notice is the texture of the eruption on the painting. It is three dimensional. The fact that is eruption of colors is three-dimensional is the painter’s way of showing that these are very real problems that animals are facing. They are three dimensional and happen here in the real world. This is not an issue that we just read about online or see in art. This is an issue that happen all around us and people are ignoring. This is Kingtons’ call to action that people need to go out and do something about it. Instead of spending your hard earned money contributing to zoos, circuses, fair rides, and animal tourist attractions spend it on something else and quit funding animal captivity and abuse.

The colors, style, the cartoon like drawing, designs on her face, eruption of colors, dimension of the painting, and many more aspects are all important clues that demonstrate the real meaning Kington is trying to convey. Without a close and careful reading, you may have overlooked this painting as a meaningless cartoon elephant, but when you take a look at all these aspects you begin to realize the true meaning. This is a painting depicting the emotion and abuse of elephants in the entertainment industry. 