All Things Fine Art

 If we think in terms of Notan then we must always ask ourselves one single question “…is “it” to be included in the dark shape or the light shape?”  Since other options are eliminated our subject is defined in more dynamic terms.

In last week’s post I generally described what a notan is and how it works.  In this and future installments I will break the concept down in each of  the stages of a painting’s development, from concept to completion and show how notan’s strength of structure is carried through to the end. But first, a little more about American painter and respected instructor, Arthur Wesley Dow.....

.....In the late 1800’s Dow’s ideas were revolutionary.  American artists of the time were focusing on replicating the subjects of their paintings as they viewed them with little artistic interpretation. Most were primarily copies of a reality. Dow taught his students that the function of art is not to copy but rather to create through the elements of composition, i.e.: line, mass and color. His teachings have became the foundation upon which the movement in art in America is based today. With this said, let’s look more closely at what notan does for us.

The ultimate beauty of using the concept of notan in visual art is that artistic choices are greatly simplified which adds much strength to our thoughts and the resulting art works.  Even beginning students who usually shy away from planning and jump right into copying what they see benefit.  Inexperience restricts creative ability. The simplicity of the notan concept helps students  make clear quick choices in a direct way that allows creativeness to become intuitive based.  As an instructor, I've found, over the past several years,  that my students who use this concept, no matter their skill level, more quickly adapt to the idea of value and color contrasts in their work. For this reason, I see significant leaps in their understanding and knowledge of value and color as they progress with skill building. The learning curve is greatly enhanced.

  Subject photo                                                  Example A: Line Drawing of Subject

The Demonstration

 To begin, in this demonstration,  I have selected a group of buildings on a hill as my subject matter. While the photo has possibilities it is not perfect and I did several line drawings to determine a satisfying composition.  In this case, I am keeping the house and the small buildings to the left and grouping them with the large trees in the back into one simple shape.  I've eliminated the obscure buildings on the right and will add foliage there which will help to frame and give importance to the house.  The foreground zigzag is modified to improve entry into the subject. These decisions were made through a small series of line drawings   (only one, my final choice, is shown above).

    Example B: Notan                                                     Example C: Notan

In the next step I've created two differing notan's of my subject.  Each is composed in roughly the same size ratio as the canvas I will do the painting on. Normally, I would do more of these until I get one that appeals to my sense of design, balance and harmony in space division.  However, for the purposes of this demonstration I am showing only two. On the left in Example B note that the house shape is in light and in Example C it has been placed in dark.  This gave me the ultimate contrast for consideration in the focal point of my composition. Other differences include the background trees in #B are in dark and in #C in light. 

I felt that Example B gave a better sense of tying the foreground, middle-ground and background together than does Example C.  For this reason, I will, in the next phase,  begin to explore what color variations I can create using Example B before progressing into the final painting.

Further thoughts on designing with notans....

It is vitally important to understand that all middle values have to be placed in either dark or light in a notan. A  conscience decision must be made in deciding which catagory they will join. Make this decision first so all subject mid-value's are treated the same in each notan. By doing so we create a dominance of dark or light. This dominance creates a strong design structure that will hold up through the painting process and provides drama to the subject. Illustrators have used this trick since Dow to successfully capture their audience.

When looking at raw subject matter squinting is helpful as the shapes may be easier quantified into either dark or light for the first notan which is typically pretty much a copy of what one see's. Subsequent notan's become more creative as variations are created, usually defying what we originally saw as realitiy.

One final thought.....we humans are good at making things difficult.  If there is a hard way to do it we will find it.  In creating notan's we are forcing our minds to think simply and in shapes, not in line, detail and certainly not in complex layers of value. This may be difficult at first for some.  Don't give up on this concept. Practice helps and the outcome is much improved art works. 

 When creating a notan it is recommend that black markers or charcoal be used instead of a pencil.  Remember, the idea is to configure "shapes" into light or dark, not line. There is a tendency to begin drawing with a pencil or pointed object in hand and to think too small and to lean towards detail.  With a marker or charcoal stick we think more broadly and thus our marks are also broader which lend themselves to shape rather than line.

    Color Study of Example B

NEXT IN THE SERIES:  Color studies and placing color value shapes with notan.