Looking for Notan
One of my pieces was recently critiqued by Greg Albert. in the Art Clinic Online, from the ArtistsNetwork.com for June’s Art Clinic. Albert talked about "notan—the idea that a successful painting should be based on an abstract pattern of tonal values, even if it’s a representational image. Notan literally means dark-light and can be defined as a pleasing and attractive design made of contrasting light and dark shapes. The Japanese call this visual music."
Ever since that critique I have tried to pay more attention to contrasting light and dark shapes. An art club that I belong to (Valley Artists' Guild) hosted a demonstration by an artist named Frank Yang. Yang used computers to aid him before and during the painting process. He starts with a black and white image of what he wants to paint so that he can choose the colors that he wants without being influenced by the colors in the "original". He enhances the contrast to bring out the darks and lights more clearly. He has a loose impressionistic style and his work includes a wonderful mix of colors that vibrate and make happy music. However when his painting is nearing completion, he then takes a digital snapshot which he downloads into his computer and using the simple program that came with his camera, he enhances the contrasts then plays with different color shifts to see what might punch up the painting to get the best effect.
I like the idea of using the digital image near the end of the painting process because it helps me really look at the dark and light contrasts and patterns so that I am more likely to achieve "notan".
I wonder what most people do.. Do you have a favorite process?
Ever since that critique I have tried to pay more attention to contrasting light and dark shapes. An art club that I belong to (Valley Artists' Guild) hosted a demonstration by an artist named Frank Yang. Yang used computers to aid him before and during the painting process. He starts with a black and white image of what he wants to paint so that he can choose the colors that he wants without being influenced by the colors in the "original". He enhances the contrast to bring out the darks and lights more clearly. He has a loose impressionistic style and his work includes a wonderful mix of colors that vibrate and make happy music. However when his painting is nearing completion, he then takes a digital snapshot which he downloads into his computer and using the simple program that came with his camera, he enhances the contrasts then plays with different color shifts to see what might punch up the painting to get the best effect.
I like the idea of using the digital image near the end of the painting process because it helps me really look at the dark and light contrasts and patterns so that I am more likely to achieve "notan".
I wonder what most people do.. Do you have a favorite process?
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