tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37415109256630347712024-03-05T00:26:27.412-05:00Watercolour EverywhereJames Kisselhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12379544231155359342noreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3741510925663034771.post-36572497391531886962019-07-29T13:07:00.000-04:002019-07-29T13:07:11.092-04:00Artist's Block revisitedIt was back in May, 2017 that I wrote about <a href="http://blog.jlk.net/2017/05/i-have-got-painters-block-and-i-need.html">Painter’s Block</a>. I had it then. I have it now. Back then I cast about the Internet for other painters that were suffering from Painter’s Block. I used their discussions to make a list of ‘reasons’ that might apply to me. I never did find a good match between their problems to my own situation. All the analysis and list making didn’t help with my problem.<br />
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I have difficulty in getting started on the next painting. No lack of ideas. No lack of materials. It is a paralysis of actually starting. Everything is ready to go and I would turn away from the easel. I would sit down in my comfortable chair, and browse the internet or an art book.<br />
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I tried posting my problem on one of the art forums I follow. “From Finished to Start” was the title of the thread. No, it’s not backwards. The problem I have exists in the space between the finish of the current painting and the start of the next one. A few interesting posts but nothing I could use. Another source warned me that other artist’s work methods wouldn’t work for me.<br />
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Having revisited this problem my subconscious must have been working overtime. I may have found a solution. I envisioned a painting that was very quick and very simple to start. Completing the middle stage requires little if any thought. This stage of painting does need an enormous amount of effort and time to complete. I can start or stop painting at any time. I also don’t need a large block of time to be productive when painting this middle sequence.<br />
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I did start it and even worked on the middle state for a few minutes. I then set it aside so I could work on a pair of abstracts for the great room to flank the fireplace. Got to work on the big abstract that Jill has requested. And I also started on my third series of paintings.<br />
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Four projects on the go. Painting every day now. Loving it. The block is gone! And what of the solution to my Artist’s Block painting you may ask? It sits in the ready position, untouched. Neglected and unneeded. Gathering dust. It is ready to move to the easel if required. The thought of it being there is enough to ward off the dreaded Artist’s Block. <br />
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I hope this mojo continues to work for me. You or your muse may be able to conjure something like help you over your Artist’s Block.<br />
<br />James Kisselhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12379544231155359342noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3741510925663034771.post-65654067762158424932019-06-17T13:21:00.000-04:002019-06-17T13:21:07.525-04:00A Tribute to Franz KlineI’ve been suffering from a form of artist block for several years. I have an abundance of ideas, but it is only with considerable effort that I can force myself to the art table and put brush to paper. It is not too much effort to paint once I get going. And finishing a painting proceeds at a good pace.<br />
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Unfortunately once completed, I will wait a month or three before forcing myself back to the table and another start. The Internet is to blame to some extent. Besides the e-mail and the regular websites I follow, I will revisit art sites and blogs from my bookmarks. Sometimes this will kindle in me a desire to paint, but mostly it is a time waster.<br />
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Then I stumbled across a couple of images of some small abstract paintings that had been arranged in a grid. Totally unbidden, the idea of “a tribute to Franz Kline” popped into my head. <br />
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Let us get the record straight: I don’t like Franz Kline’s work. I have looked over photographs of his work on images.google.com on several occasions, but I never took a shine to it. Until my muse kicked this idea into me, I had never even read his bio or looked at his Wikipedia page.<br />
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It is without a shadow of doubt that I can state that creating this collage/paste up was effortless. I quickly figured out the size that individual drawing needed to be and produced a stack of 18 cards. It seemed to take no time to locate the first 6 or 8 images and produce my own interpretation of the originals. The next few took a little more time. The last four were a bit labored, taking as 3 or 4 times a long produce.<br />
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I mounted them in the same order that I ‘created’ them. Top left being the first and bottom right being the last. On reflection, #5 and #6, second row from the top, left-most and the drawing adjacent to it, look to be of the same subject. It’s possible as I didn’t reference any of the previous drawings when producing the next one. Having said that, #2 and #16 do appear to have been created from the same reference image. I guess I just was very impressed with the Franz Kline original.<br />
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Individual drawings are 6 ¾ by 4 ¾ on Saunders Waterford 200# C.P. mounted on a full sheet of Saunders Waterford Bright White 200# Rough.<br />
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Enjoy.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Dm4fRjuD1WX5267WNZHHC1QgMJYqVhMxI9QfFF1TRV1PGYoj0Erk64LjfreDpXqdyvrrISl7dqlrjuc50BZv50JCtF74ZVMXWxHX3E9hGkxr0NdDKClzKBIoum_Vhf2A0gbc7qQyNg/s1600/A+Tribute+to+Franz+Kline_sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="440" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Dm4fRjuD1WX5267WNZHHC1QgMJYqVhMxI9QfFF1TRV1PGYoj0Erk64LjfreDpXqdyvrrISl7dqlrjuc50BZv50JCtF74ZVMXWxHX3E9hGkxr0NdDKClzKBIoum_Vhf2A0gbc7qQyNg/s320/A+Tribute+to+Franz+Kline_sm.jpg" width="234" /></a></div>
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p.s. I’m almost finished with a second painting I started immediately after finished ‘A Tribute’. It is early days, but perhaps my block has been overcome.<br />
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James Kisselhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12379544231155359342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3741510925663034771.post-88104804408284786082018-06-10T11:49:00.000-04:002019-09-09T12:17:05.673-04:00I am a Compositional junkieI am a Compositional junkie. I can waste an entire day of paint time following up on a will-o-wisp article with a minor mention of Visual Composition. I will studiously look up every artist mentioned, their website, read the bio and artist statement hoping to add a trivial amount of composition knowledge to my large and growing and sadly, only partially digested collection of articles, notes, images, and online references on Visual Composition.<br />
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In the manner of a beginner painter who asks endless questions about paint, paper, and brushes trying to discover that significant secret, tool, or technique, I pursue every reference found in the most insignificant note on Visual Composition. Just as the beginner painter knows that if he or she buys this signature brush, the one that will suddenly transform their paintings into masterpieces, I continue to look for the Philosopher's Stone of Visual Composition.<br />
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The beginning watercolourists should decided on a good quality paper, a few serviceable brushes, and some reasonable quality paints, and then should just get on and paint. <b>In the same vein</b> I already have a compositional framework <b>that works for me</b>: the Picture Planes 0-6. I have a process <b>that gets me</b> from an idea or view of a scene through a series of composition sketches, I use Notan, to a large value or colour study with detail, and finally to the scaled up drawing that is ready to paint. Why should I continue to search for some additional compositional techniques when I have a full toolkit that works for me? <br />
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I have finally decided to take the pledge and stop ‘Snipe Hunting’ and just get back to painting. It is time to stop searching the Internet and spinning my wheels in what <strike>may well</strike> will turn out to be a fruitless search. Am I going to stop learning? No! I am just going to go back to painting using to composition LRPGI, laws, rules, principles, guidelines, and ideas that I know and understand. LRPGIs that work for me. My LRPGI may only partially work for you or they may not work at all. I know that the LRPGI, framework, and process, that one adopts or is comfortable with, changes with: subject, time, evolving style, even time of day. </div>
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By the way, there a very vocal group of artists/critics that deny that any LRPGIs exist. They are welcome to their own opinions. I pledge that I will not engage in debate as to whether or not LRPGIs exist or not. Nor will I debate whether or not LRPGIs detracts for one’s own spontaneity. It is sufficient that within my chosen genre/style/framework they work for me and I do not feel any constraints of my spontaneity. Your mileage may vary (YMMV) as they say in automobile adverts.</div>
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James Kisselhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12379544231155359342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3741510925663034771.post-15324800618733682262018-05-11T23:21:00.002-04:002018-05-11T23:21:54.028-04:00OCA is not for me!The Open College of the Arts (<a href="http://www.oca.ac.uk/">www.oca.ac.uk</a>) has been offering distance learning art courses since 1987 and they have been part of the University for Creative Arts (www.uca.ac.uk) since 2016. The offer 16 undergraduate degrees and a MA in Fine Arts.<br /><br />I had bookmarked their website some time ago when searching out online painting and/or design courses. Right now I’m literally between two places. Our current house in Ypsilanti is for sale and I’ve moved most of my art materials to the new house in Plymouth but we haven’t moved there (yet). So my frustration of not being able to make art was moderated somewhat by browsing through my bookmarks and clearing out some of the junk and dead links when I followed the bookmark to OCA.<br /><br /><div>
Maybe it was all ego, but for the past couple of weeks I’ve been giving serious consideration to going back to school! Yes, a really old fart, is considering going back to school, no less University! Most university students would consider anyone 25 or older, really old. Really old in this case is someone that could have had their ‘Bus Pass’, 4 years ago.<br /><br />Maybe it was all ego but the thought of earning a BA (Honors) in Painting is/was a big incentive. But the more I investigated the less the idea appealed to me. Firstly, I read through the curriculum several times and a first year course ‘taster’ that appeared to be the first couple of weeks example notes/assignments. Interesting, but it did not engage me and it did not make this a ‘must have’ course. This could just be my reaction to this subset of a full course.<br /><br />Then there was to omission of a visual composition/visual design course. Perhaps elements of these subjects are incorporated inside one of other courses. The first course you must take is a drawing course. Nothing wrong with that except that you must complete this course before you can start on any of the other courses. As a mature student, I have reasonable facility at drawing and would embrace a drawing course to add polish to my existing skills and as a fundamental element to a painting course, it is a good idea. I do object to it being a gating function to all other course. I am here to learn painting. It why I’m taking this course. Don’t make me wade through 400 hours of drawing coursework before getting to do any painting.<br /><br />Looking deeper into the course work description, I find repeated references to a ‘learning log’. Documentation of your work on each assignment, results, thoughts, musings, whatever. The suggestion is that you should spend 20% of your study time writing this ‘learning log’. You can not view the learning log documentation until you have registered, so you really don’t know what you are committing to. So do the math: .2 * 400 = 80 hours of writing a learning log.<br /><br />Then I find that 2d and 3d year courses have a large written component in what appears to need to be written in ‘art speak’.<br /><br /><i>“You will need to undertake your own research into these areas by doing a lot of reading and researching, and by developing research strategies.”</i></div>
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<br /><i>“You will develop a broader understanding of your work within a range of contexts, including an awareness of the social or ethical impact you have on the world or how other contemporary practitioners operate”</i><br /><br />This isn’t what a painting course is about IMOSHO. But I haven’t completely dismissed the idea of taking this course so I did a bit deeper digging and look over the tutors, their education, experience and art making activities. I surveyed more than 20 tutors connected with the BA (Honors) Painting course. Most of the painting tutors don’t paint as their primary art making exercise!<br /><br />And then there is this statement: “you are expected to move towards taking more responsibility for your own learning and demonstrate this through more personal explorations and personally led project work, with increasing independence and through your own initiative.”<br /><br />I’ve been have taken responsibility for my own art making and painting education and have been doing so for the past 8 years. I have to ask myself: “what could this course of study provide me that I could not find locally or online?”<br /><br />The final blow came in a weekly e-mail newsletter from OCA that I had subscribed to in an effort to better understand why I should enroll and what I could expect from the instruction provided. The e-mail newsletter was titled: “What is drawing?” The following quote drove the last nail into the coffin of “not for me”:<br /><br /><i>“... he attached traditional drawing tools to the bottom of weeping willow tree branches and allowed the elements to dictate the marks created.”</i> <br /><br />YMMV<br /><br />Postscriptum: While reading Jackson’s Art blog I came across “Are Art Schools a waste of time?” (ref. <a href="https://www.jacksonsart.com/blog/2015/06/05/are-art-schools-a-waste-of-time/">https://www.jacksonsart.com/blog/2015/06/05/are-art-schools-a-waste-of-time/</a>) Hugo Grenville says: "<i>... right up until the late 1960s, anyone could go to art school and be robustly assured of being taught to draw and paint. From the mid 70s onwards, art schools abandoned their commitment to educate students in practical and technical skills, in favour of a conceptual approach. The result today is that anyone wanting to learn how to paint will have to attend a private art school."</i><br /><br /><br /></div>
James Kisselhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12379544231155359342noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3741510925663034771.post-792313650668603192018-03-07T22:13:00.000-05:002018-03-07T22:13:19.026-05:00The artist that has most influenced me<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The artist that has most influenced my art is Ian Roberts and his book “Mastering Composition”. Before I read his book, I did not know how to design a composition. Oh I knew about the 7 elements and the 8 principles, how to use a viewfinder, centres of interest, the golden rectangle, lead-ins, blocks and exits, tonal value and contrast, the oblique, and many many more LRPGI, laws, rules, principles, guidelines, ideas, but I realized that I lacked a design framework and a process to follow inside that framework to produce a painting. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have worked on Internet projects from a time well before the World Wide Web became the Internet in most people’s mind, so quite naturally I start my search for this elusive framework there. Over the course of many months I found many quality references to the 7 elements and the 8 principles. The actual number elements and principles varies, depending on the reference source you choose, but a framework and a process for composition remained elusive. The few online references, to visual composition, that I located, consisted of examples of good or bad compositions and a dialogue to support the goodness or badness of that particular example. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ian Roberts' “Mastering Composition” is the only book I've found that provided a clear and usable (for me) framework for visual composition. Before the first chapter of his book, he defines “What is Composition”. After reading those two pages, I knew I now had a framework for composition that I understood and could apply to my paintings. The proverbial light bulb was lit. This is where I first started to understand visual composition. Ian’s five bullet points, describing the 5 Picture Planes, presented a nearly complete, visual design framework.</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Dynamics of the Picture Plane. Each proportion and scale of every painting - square, vertical or horizontal - has its own special dynamic that affects and is affected by every mark or shape you put on it. The edges of your picture plane are the four most important lines in your composition since they, in the most basic sense, define the foundation you are starting with.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Armature: The fundamental lines of direction or flow that connect the main compositional movement to the picture plane.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Abstract Shapes: The building blocks of the painting. Each shape is interacting with every other shape. Resolving this interplay is the main arena of painting. This really is where the success or failure of the painting lies.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Subjects: Bottles, mountains, people, a river...</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Details: Highlights, wrought-iron street lamps and almost anything else painted with a little pointed brush.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is my opinion that the 5 picture planes should have been the 5 chapters in Ian’s book. Somewhere along the line, he got sidetracked and wrote a book about painting landscapes including 30-40 page filler: “Gallery or Greats”. Personally, I also don’t like Ian’s style of painting. IMOSHO, neither of these negatives, detract from the importance of his description of the 5 picture planes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Does this framework work for all genres of painting? No!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Is this framework complete? No!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Does this framework work for everyone? Again No!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">...but it does work for me, so it is important to me, and I can honestly state, that Ian Roberts, through his book, is the artist that has had the most influence on my art.</span></div>
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James Kisselhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12379544231155359342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3741510925663034771.post-36116523256513113452018-01-01T14:04:00.000-05:002018-01-01T14:04:05.258-05:00When you are “in the groove”, stay there!<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">After a very long hiatus of almost 2 years away from art making, the new house is almost done, the old house has been sold, we have moved, my “art room” is almost back together, and for the past couple of days, or evenings, I’ve been getting back into painting. First an abstract for Jill for the bathroom. Not much thought. (sorry) And it didn’t really do much for my soul but it was a start/restart to painting.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Between arranging my supplies, hanging up some old favorites, and a little painting, I was back in my old habit of reading blogs, and articles about art and making art, and art education when I came across an article on recovery from artists block. It offered simple advice: make a list.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Make a list of the art things you should be working on. So I did. About 10 small items to start with. Before I even started on it I added 6 more. Then the list took over. I was making art and enjoying the process. So much so, I forgot to update the list for several days. When I finally checked, big surprise. I had to cross 7 items off the list as completed!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Reading WetCanvas: Café Guerbois: someone had asked about ‘Resolutions’. I’m making a list and checking often, and revising it for completed items and adding new one. Well at least for the time being. It really helped be get over a reluctance to step up the drawing table and start painting.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">So what has this to do with being in the grove? My art making block is in the past. The make a “to do” art list, works for me and I am happy to say, that this morning, I was back in the grove or was for at least a couple of hours while I tackled the start of a new painting. Then I decided to take a break and order some art supplies. In retrospect this was a bad decision.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Googled my way to two different online suppliers both whom I have used in the past. I need some new matboard to re-frame some paintings for the new house. I easily found what I needed, added a couple of items to being the total up to the free shipping level and applied a discount coupon I had recently received. “Sorry, but discount XYZZY cannot be applied to your items”.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Alright, Internet chat with someone to find out why. It seems that the major items I wanted to purchase were already “on sale’ and no further discounts were possible. All this took 20 minutes of back and forth and left me in a bad frame of mind. I was angry at the retailer about the discount and similar events from previous purchases. So much for being “in the grove’. All thoughts of making art were gone.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you are ‘in the grove’ and making art, don’t stop unless the house is burning down around you, or some other life changing event is happening or about to happen. Keep making art. After the grove concludes naturally, or you exhaust yourself, or some external event ends the session, then is the time to pick up those mundane task like ordering art supplies, but not while you have that “I must make art” mindset and tempo. It’s hard enough to get there with the distractions of the day so don’t voluntarily end a productive session for any trivial, trite, tasks that can wait until later. YMMV</span></div>
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James Kisselhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12379544231155359342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3741510925663034771.post-81826501299189407342017-05-17T16:51:00.000-04:002017-05-17T18:01:42.291-04:00Painter's Block<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have got Painter’s Block and I need help. It’s my own fault; a self-inflicted injury. I stopped painting to study design of composition. Then when I finally had a personal breakthrough, finding a compositional framework that worked for me, I found that I had difficulty in painting. Not from lack of ideas but the actual act of painting. I’ve had this blocked for a couple of years now. I still paint, but nowhere as often or anywhere in the number of finished pieces I use to produce.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A number of changes in personal circumstance attenuated my Painter’s block. As Spring approached, I decided to find out if I could solve this problem and regain my mojo for painting. I Googled ‘painters block’ and uncovered some hints that helped me.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Robert Genn in “Fighting Painter’s block” said; “</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">you have to try to figure out which species of block is getting to you</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">”. He described a number of different types of blocks you may encounter.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">fear of failure after previous success</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: This one doesn’t appear to apply to me. The little I do paint is as good or better than previous paintings. No fear of failure there. Jill, my SO, agrees, particularly my use of colour which she thinks I have a totally new take on it.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">fear of success due to a sense of unworthiness</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: This may be close in regards to unworthiness but it’s not on target regarding fear of success. Elsewhere on the Internet I found a discussion of unworthiness in regards to self-doubt. The suggestion was to write down one's self-doubts and feelings of unworthiness. Did that help? In my case, it did. Exploring Painter’s Block and writing about my own experiences of my own block helped to get me painting again. If you have an artistic block of any sort, try writing about it and analyse your own blocking agents. It helped me. Writing about your block can/may help you.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">lack of potential venue</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: What? I’m not worried about displaying the few paintings I have recently painted. I just want to paint again.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">jaded attitude</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Yes! It’s an attitude problem, but I don’t think I’m jaded but then...</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">jaded adjective: tired, bored, or lacking enthusiasm, typically after having had too much of something</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Lacking enthusiasm to paint. Yes that is close to the point but not from having had too much painting. I’ve had far too little.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">crisis of confidence</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: No! From the little I paint, I’ve still know how and can produce if I can get started. Getting started is part of my problem. Even the mechanics of starting a painting is a problem for me and most of my materials are out and ready to hand. I just have to walk into my study, pick them up and start.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">evidence of persistent poor quality</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: No also to this block! People like what I paint. I like what I paint. Quality may not be show-winner but is a damn site better than the average hobby painter from what I have seen locally at a number of different venues and online forums.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">lackadaisical motivation: lacking enthusiasm and determination; carelessly lazy</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Yes, lacking enthusiasm to paint and determination to get back and create and I guess I am lazy. No cancel that. I am lazy. Note to self: You are not getting any younger. Just get on and paint!</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">common everyday shortage of ideas</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: No problem here as I have far too many ideas to paint all of them in this lifetime. My imagination has always exceeded my grasp and ability to execute. I can recall trying to paint a tile-hot plate for my mother when I was 5 or so. I think it was Kindergarden but it may have been First grade. I recall wanting to paint a sailboat, a cutter, under full sail. What i painted was a child’s boat with sails and a smoke stack. A horrible mess that finally got lost in one of the many house moves we experienced before I finished high school. Never had a lack of ideas of things to draw or paint.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">over intellectualizing</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: We know so much and have learned so much but it doesn't come off the brush. I have my doubts as to this being the root of my problems. When I decide I need to apply my compositional framework and development methods it works. My chances of success are better than any previous methods I have used but the passion comes from the application of paint.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Personal problems</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Creativity demands focus and it’s hard to concentrate if you’re getting divorced, dealing with toddlers, battling an addiction, falling out with your best friend, grieving someone special, moving house, locked in a dispute with a neighbor</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yes! A 3 year legal battle for my SO to gain access to her grandson. Emotional stress of coping with my SO’s son and his demands and rants. House hunting and then I have the problem with SO being a negative muse. There! I’ve said it. Having said it, just today, she asked me to dig through some of my old paintings. I can’t remember why. She found one of my failures and wants it framed! Not only framed, but she specified the colour of the mat! Then she saw #1 of my tree series; the Skeleton Tree and also wants it framed. This negative-positive muse is going to be tough to work with and I realize that I am going to have to work with my SO as there doesn’t seem to be an alternative solution.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Along with all my stress related problems, there is one I didn’t mention. I’m an Internet Addict. I need a 12 point plan to temper my addiction. I managed it with alcohol. Not reason I can’t control my Internet Addiction.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Poverty.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m not just talking about money, although a lack of cash is a perennial problem for creatives. You could also be time-poor, knowledge-poor, have a threadbare network, or be short of equipment or other things you need to get the job done.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m time poor and I have a non-existent Artists network. Maybe it’s time to join a local arts society and attend their monthly meetings.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This one has two possible solutions: either save up the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">time</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">/money/or other resources you need; or make a virtue of necessity and set yourself the creative challenge of achieving as much as possible within the constraints you have.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Saving up time? You must be kidding. That’s impossible. Once the hour is past, there is no going back a re-living it. It’s gone forever. This made me realize that I was going to need to change my painting schedule. When ms SO was still teaching, I had a 6-8 hour window each day to do as I pleased with zero distractions. I’m not going to get that back. I will have to work-paint within the constraints I have, and that may be doing the design and layout work on the kitchen peninsula downstairs and not in my ‘study’ or painting small passages where I can break off after a couple of minutes if necessary.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Overwhelm</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.Sometimes a block comes from having too much, not too little. You have too many great ideas. … If you suffer from information overload, start blocking off downtime or focused work time in your schedule.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My creative vision and always exceed my ability to portray it. I may be over intellectualizing but the alternative to having too many ideas seems to be an artistic dead end that should be avoided at all costs. It only becomes a problem if I let it be the reason I’m not painting. I don’t think it would be healthy to try and block or in anyway limit one’s creative vision. It’s a distraction that I’m happy to live with. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ignore uninformed feedback.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Not everyone is equally qualified to serve as a judge of your work. Carefully select a knowledgeable instructor, a sensitive and experienced art appreciator, or another artist who shares your artistic viewpoint. The list won’t always include your spouse or best friend!</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the case of my SO, a single utterance can pronounce a death sentence on one of my paintings that is under development. Even when she likes what she sees, her comments are not always helpful: “You should more of colour XYZZY in that painting”. If I did, it wouldn’t be the painting I wanted to paint. I just have to take the hit, pause for the pain to recede, and carry on painting my vision.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Limiting who you choose to take advice and criticism from may sound self-serving in that you only pick people who say kind things about art. Not! You are looking for critical advice to help grow. Sugar coated comments will not help in this endeavour. Then again overtly harsh comments art not beneficial. Critical comments that point out weaknesses in your painting show where you have to improve and praise from the same source strengthen your resolve to continue painting.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One piece of advice that known to work is persistence. Once you start to paint again, you feel that you can continue to paint. Look for a visit by the dual muses, Passion and Excitement. The more you paint the more you want to paint. Nothing succeeds like success. This is where the magic of persistence kicks in. Nether reading about painting, thinking about painting, talking about painting nor staring at a blank canvas can overcome Painter’s Block. You have to pick up a brush and paint. Painting will rekindle the Excitement and Passion you had about painting.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>James Kisselhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12379544231155359342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3741510925663034771.post-2484234266839719392016-02-01T17:38:00.002-05:002016-02-03T20:32:58.410-05:00Concept or Image: Which comes first?Over on WetCanvas, One of the more prolific contributors asked; "<i>Which comes first for you: the image or the concept? </i><i>Do you begin with an idea or concept that you wish to express or communicate and develop your imagery to that end? Or do you begin with an image... perhaps not even knowing what the painting is about until it develops</i>?". <br />
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Usually, I first have a concept in mind and develop the image from that concept. This process works for me and I had usefulness reinforced in a it humorously but somewhat sad incident at an ‘Oil and Acrylic’ course at the local community centre I recently attended. It has it been many years since I used Acrylics felt that these painting sessions might help me with this medium. From past experience with the instructor and her classes, I didn’t expect much formal instruction but it was an opportunity to get out of the studio and talk to other painters and view their work. <br />
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I wasn’t disappointed with the instruction. It follows the format of previous courses I attended with this instructor, in which she is circulating from student to student, mixing colours and painting passages for each ‘student’. The subject of the painting being left to the student: usually a copy of a colour photograph from a magazine. Most of her students accept and are happy with process and will stop and wait for her attention to a particular passage before proceeding to paint on their own This is not instruction in my book, but at least she has the nounce to not try to paint my paintings for me.<br />
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At the time, I was working on my fifth painting in my Bardo series. So far I have had four utter failures, of these “never show to anyone” class of painting but this had given me ample opportunity to become familiar with my subject material. I was determined to succeed this time and was working my way through notan thumbnail compositions and a the occasional larger rough sketch of my latest concept. Carol stopped to see what I was working on, but as I had not yet put brush to paper, she only had a salty comment that implied I did too much planning and would not finish my painting before the class was over in three months.<br />
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Her negativity didn’t distract me and I continued with my sketches. The image and the composition develops from rough sketches and notan. In these I am looking to locate the major shapes, their placement on the picture plane, an interesting division of space and the format I will use. I never spend more than a minute or so on any individual thumbnail notan. I try to see what works, including that in the next notan, and what doesn’t and leave that out. Eventually I got to an acceptable composition and then did a larger and more detailed sketch.<br />
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Throughout this process, I am aware of how my sketches and notan relate to and refine my original concept. If I have strayed too far from my original concept but have developed an interesting composition, I will usually stick with this new redefined concept-composition and paint a finished image from it. Most likely the original idea was weak or flawed in some manner.<br />
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In this particular instance, I had, in my opinion, a workable composition that was in sync with my original concept. I scaled it up to 15x22 inches and started with the first wash while in the class room. I finished the background in watercolour in my studio and had only to paint the main building and some foreground trees with acrylics in the next class. While I was painting these passages in the classroom, one of my fellow students came over and made some encouraging remarks on the colour and composition and asked, “Where’s the picture?”. <br />
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I showed her my preliminary notans and intermediate B/W sketches. “I could never paint without a picture”. This lady was one of the more talented students with in my opinion good painting skills. Sadly, from my perspective, this lady will limit herself to painting copies of photographs and never consider asking herself “Why am I attracted to this photograph so much I want to paint a copy of it?”. Until she asks herself this question or is exposed to others who are doing their own composition inspired by their own concept, she will be limited to painting copies that someone else has composed. <br />
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Your concept is much more important than the image.James Kisselhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12379544231155359342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3741510925663034771.post-7451116846577166102014-06-10T16:21:00.001-04:002014-06-10T16:21:13.676-04:00More Thoughts on a Notan Design Process<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">Notans are for exploring visual design and composition. They are fun, easy, and quick to do. That makes it fun, easy and quick to try out a number of different compositions. Forget about details for now. You are trying to find an eye catching design, to use as a guide, to creating your eye catching painting.</span></h2>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Use your notan sketches to see the big important shapes in your subject. Work from large to small, leaving out all details. The details are not important at this point of picture development. Try to identify the major shape. Can any of the small shapes be moved or joined to other shapes? If a shape prevents you from creating an interesting larger shape, consider eliminating it. You don’t have to paint everything you see in front of you! Use only what you need. Edit your subject. Just because something is in front in your still life or landscape doesn’t mean that you must copy that reality. You are the conductor. Make your subject ‘play the tune’ in the tempo and key you choosing. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A series of notans enables you to compare designs and choose one that best suits the story you want to tell. Doing a single notan will not help much with the design process. A series gives you time to learn more about you subject. A series gives you time to see. You have an opportunity to explore your ideas about how you want to present the subject. Use the series to try out different motif, patterns, or themes. This where you generate new visual ideas and test and refine them. Let your drawings do your thinking. Don’t stop to judge them. Get your your ideas down on paper. The good-great ones will obvious.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Don’t be concerned about making a mistake. There is no great investment in materials for your notan sketches. Just draw another frame and start on a new sketch. If you are not happy with a particular design, start a new one with different shapes, distribution of values, or a different proportion of height to width. Change your point of view.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Conversely, if you like a particular sketch, build on it by trying variations. Accentuate the strongest aspects of your design while de-emphasizing or eliminating the weaker aspects.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Make notes in the margins of your sketches. direction of light, tone-mode of scene, smell and sights and sound how do i feel what feeling do I want to convey? thoughts on titles!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I mentioned this previously. I use a piece of mat with a rectangular hole in it to allow me to quickly draw a new frame for the next notan. I have one small set that range in proportion from a square to a over long rectangle of 3:1 ratio. In your explorations of composition, you might consider changing the layout proportions and-or the orientation: landscape or portrait.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I titled this section </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Notan Design Process. It isn’t </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> notan process. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Notan Process</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, is the one that works for you. It’s the one that you develop for yourself, retaining the useful and practical ideas while discarding the less appealing aspects.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Advice on advice: Always feel free to accept, reject, ignore, and or modify any and all advice received to suit your own working process. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sometimes Notan doesn’t work!</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are two patterns in which Notan will not work. The gradient and the all over pattern or checkerboard. Neither have a dominant underlying pattern. Also, Notan does not work well for low contrast or foggy-misty scenes. Notan design can be elusive to artists who habitually over-think the details.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If two value notan doesn’t work or is found to not be working for a particular scene, try 3 value, then 4 or 5. Then stop. The scene may not make a good painting if you can’t find the abstract shape. Alternative thoughts: The scene may still be good to paint but not a good fit any hierarchical format or abstract armature; a’la Jason Pollock, Jasper James, or even Frank Webb. It may be a checkerboard-all over pattern, a Webb favorite or no pattern at all.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Notan Checklist</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A quick sketch of the dominant features of a scene.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Use a tool that makes bold marks. It encourages bold thinking.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">30 seconds to 5 minutes</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">quicker and bolder will be more likely to capture the essence of your subject</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Small </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">your marks will be bolder and more direct</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2x3 inches is a good starting size</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3x5 if it works for you</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bigger if you must, but it takes more time and tempts you into too much detail</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Draw in the same format as your support</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">try other formats</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">try out a ‘wrong’ orientation</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2 or 3 values </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Work with as few values as you are comfortable with. </span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If associating just dark and light is too confusing but try to limit yourself to no more than three values: a dark, middle and light</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">no more that 5 values max, otherwise you are into value sketches and not Notan</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do a series</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">build on the strengths of the previous sketch</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">eliminate or de-emphasis weakness</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">edit reality</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Felt tip pens or brush pens work well</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Use a pencil if you must, but don’t erase</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">critical to developing a strong painting</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">identify the most dominant shape</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">try to make it interesting</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">5 to 9 shapes should be sufficient</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">identify the dominant value, the one that occupies more than 50%: light, mid, or dark</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">check balance of darks and lights</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">saves time before wasting paint on a weakly structured painting</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Always prepare a notan study when assessing the viability of a scene</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In closing, remember that Nōtan for Painters may not work for you. It works for me, but I’m not you. Take anything from this that works for you and leave behind anything that doesn’t. It’s no use saddling yourself with a technique that doesn’t work for you, but give it a fair chance. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Challenge: 50 minutes to better compositions</span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here is a challenge. I want 50 minutes of your time. Pick your subject. Do one notan now. Tomorrow, do another, and the next day another. Take only 60 seconds to make the sketch. Think time is extra. Continue with this process for 50 days making 50 sketches in total. Each one based on the identical subject. You should a remarkable improvement in your design and compositions. Please let us know how you get on with the challenge.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All the best and enjoy the journey.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">References:</span></h2>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Composition: Understanding Line, Notan and Color: </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Composition-Understanding-Notan-Color-Instruction/dp/048646007X" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.amazon.com/Composition-Understanding-Notan-Color-Instruction/dp/048646007X</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Drawing Lesson – A Theory of Light and Shade: </span><a href="http://www.artinstructionblog.com/drawing-lesson-a-theory-of-light-and-shade" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.artinstructionblog.com/drawing-lesson-a-theory-of-light-and-shade</span></a></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Notan: </span><a href="http://www.explore-oil-pastels-with-robert-sloan.com/notan.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.explore-oil-pastels-with-robert-sloan.com/notan.html</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Notan of JWM Turner “Snowstorm”: </span><a href="http://artbyborsheim.blogspot.com/2011/03/notan-art-design.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://artbyborsheim.blogspot.com/2011/03/notan-art-design.html</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Notan example sketches by Barry John Raybould </span><a href="http://barryjohnraybould.blogspot.com/2008/10/notan-sketch.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://barryjohnraybould.blogspot.com/2008/10/notan-sketch.html</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Notan: Design in Light and Dark </span><a href="http://www.artcafe.net/ah/Notan/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.artcafe.net/ah/Notan/</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Seeing “Notan” – How to Make Stronger Compositions Using Lights and Darks: </span><a href="http://emptyeasel.com/2008/08/12/seeing-notan-how-to-make-stronger-compositions-using-lights-and-darks/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://emptyeasel.com/2008/08/12/seeing-notan-how-to-make-stronger-compositions-using-lights-and-darks/</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">PlainView: Class Notes: Notan: </span><a href="http://pleinview.blogspot.com/search/label/Class%20Notes%3A%20Notan" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://pleinview.blogspot.com/search/label/Class%20Notes%3A%20Notan</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Landscape Processes: A Sampling of Demonstrations and In-class Exercises </span><a href="http://www.mitchalbala.com/classes/landscape-process/landscape-process.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.mitchalbala.com/classes/landscape-process/landscape-process.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">other references</span></div>
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<li><a href="http://funwithacrylics.wordpress.com/2012/06/12/richard-robinsons-workshop-10-study/" style="line-height: 1.15; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://funwithacrylics.wordpress.com/2012/06/12/richard-robinsons-workshop-10-study/</span></a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.livepaintinglessons.com/workshop21.php" style="line-height: 1.15; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.livepaintinglessons.com/workshop21.php</span></a></li>
<li><a href="http://annbucknerpaintings.blogspot.com/2011/03/year-of-painting-yop-challenge-at.html" style="line-height: 1.15; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://annbucknerpaintings.blogspot.com/2011/03/year-of-painting-yop-challenge-at.html</span></a></li>
<li><a href="http://thecompleteartist.ning.com/profiles/blogs/plein-air-painting-in-wanaka" style="line-height: 1.15; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://thecompleteartist.ning.com/profiles/blogs/plein-air-painting-in-wanaka</span></a></li>
<li><a href="http://thecompleteartist.ning.com/profiles/blogs/notan-designs" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; text-decoration: none; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://thecompleteartist.ning.com/profiles/blogs/notan-designs</a></li>
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James Kisselhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12379544231155359342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3741510925663034771.post-6342285312069872022014-05-31T23:38:00.000-04:002014-05-31T23:38:57.578-04:00Notan for Painters<span id="docs-internal-guid-fc9f6c9c-556e-a049-db61-d66da4b77742"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Arthur Wesley Dow’s book, ‘Composition: Understanding Line, Notan and Color’ defines Notan:</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>The term NOTAN, a Japanese word meaning “dark, light,” refers to the quantity of light reflected, or the massing of tones of different values. Notan-beauty means the harmony resulting from the combination of dark and light spaces—whether colored or not—whether in buildings, in pictures, or in nature. Careful distinction should be made between NOTAN, an element of universal beauty, and LIGHT AND SHADOW, a single fact of external nature.</i></span></span><br />
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So we have a Japanese art term meaning dark-light, massing of different values, in a beautiful, harmonious combination. Notan for painters has its roots in this classical Japanese notan. We create our notan sketches-thumbnails in darks and lights. We also try to create a harmonious balance between the dark and light values, but there are differences when we use notan for the development of a painting.</div>
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<ul>
<li>Notan for painters a simplified version of Japanese notan used in the design and composition of a painting.</li>
<li>You are allowed to, even encouraged to, use more than just black and white.</li>
<li>Generally, in traditional Japanese notan, there is an equal balance between darks and lights. This is neither necessary nor desirable when using notan to develop a painting.</li>
<li>Many classical notan images contain symmetry or partial symmetry which is not usually useful nor helpful when designing a painting.</li>
<li>Notan for painters also adds consideration for the balance positive and negative shapes and the division of space in the picture plane.</li>
<li>Notan for painters is just the first step rather than an end result, although the notan design sketch may be a picture in itself.</li>
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A notan sketch is quick to produce. It only takes a minute or so to do one and you can quickly explore a number of different compositions with them.</div>
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<b>Two Value Notan</b></div>
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Two value notan, black and white, is notan in it’s simplest form. Just two values may make this form of notan the most difficult to master. This two value limitation makes it necessary for you to consider your composition in terms of its most basic shapes and patterns. It simplifies the value range of your subject into black and white shapes. With no mid-tone shapes, you must collect all the shapes into either the light or the dark family shapes. It is important that the shapes inside each family are linked together. This is also referred to as massing. This linking of shapes will unify your composition. If they cannot be linked you need to insure that they form a pleasing and eye catching pattern. </div>
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"<i>If any shape cannot be connected to another shape of similar value it's better to eliminate it.</i>” --Carl Purcell</div>
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Two value notan sketches excel at helping you discover the underlying abstract design of the scene before you. “Abstract!”, I hear you say. “I paint landscapes/still life/portraits/name YOUR favorite genre. I don’t paint Abstracts!”. In reply, I ask you, “Do you paint the shadows of the trees/pots/planes of the face?” Draw or paint the shadows without the casting object and you have an abstract shape. Even the most photorealist painters uses abstract shapes.</div>
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Thanks to the kind permission of Marcos Mateu-Mestre, I am able to include three of his notans which I believe are some of the finest and demonstrate the quality that can be achieved in two value notan. </div>
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This first sketch and notan introduces the subject: a train</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7hHc2lq8ddoOtFqtPwcqpDR7kpxvKZh1PFkE6UdVMO9hrz9UdFHKbUvlhG3oATNZoqVQv68X1ObBnmnRwbfR6hbAsDDEv5OOkI1u9GJo4LrYwcTG6RUgH4mddO_dWL3OwPsoO24omBA/s1600/scene1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7hHc2lq8ddoOtFqtPwcqpDR7kpxvKZh1PFkE6UdVMO9hrz9UdFHKbUvlhG3oATNZoqVQv68X1ObBnmnRwbfR6hbAsDDEv5OOkI1u9GJo4LrYwcTG6RUgH4mddO_dWL3OwPsoO24omBA/s1600/scene1.jpg" height="115" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2HO6iSL-6HMJQ4e5hRnUjSb2wjlVjbW840twTUr6Z9NJSnOUjpj8JVAuylVWeS4malfs86WETCdTSdlOsEJwHFF2oNWuMeTYMUOI2i2c-LgoF9GOULRhJnLFOMc4BTwDKTC-hKoVEmg/s1600/notan1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2HO6iSL-6HMJQ4e5hRnUjSb2wjlVjbW840twTUr6Z9NJSnOUjpj8JVAuylVWeS4malfs86WETCdTSdlOsEJwHFF2oNWuMeTYMUOI2i2c-LgoF9GOULRhJnLFOMc4BTwDKTC-hKoVEmg/s1600/notan1.jpg" height="110" width="320" /></a></div>
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The notan rendering of the train is distilled into just a few shapes. The train itself and the rails on which it is running. The remainder is either background or foreground.</div>
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As the train moves closer, it dominates the scene.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU6lUpYWcSuwq4EluHzd-Qu-i9xxY48wyA8uXnXNWobFemUar8HEAvV1gp9gf2G4IYM0ttXdCkfJo_gFugWsrklXByf00XqyIKvcjzt_Hkts-vldn2xHidTuOMr6p_M4HdX1TcQexh-w/s1600/notan2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU6lUpYWcSuwq4EluHzd-Qu-i9xxY48wyA8uXnXNWobFemUar8HEAvV1gp9gf2G4IYM0ttXdCkfJo_gFugWsrklXByf00XqyIKvcjzt_Hkts-vldn2xHidTuOMr6p_M4HdX1TcQexh-w/s1600/notan2.jpg" height="109" width="320" /></a></div>
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Just 4 simple shapes convey the strength and power of the train, sky and other elements of this scene.</div>
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The final viewpoint is an extreme closeup of the train engine.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcVHk4YcswzW4x5KGWwIJUa5z_1x7SiWPuXQTHAiJbFnQrI7_HOAeFDAsL2cbR5HAplYj1wEgopp70nG2w5JRyuIHXEsp6CR3hQCsN2J2dRCLWpX3jEt0w9BD6YwJZFSKcPzsJv_EcSw/s1600/notan3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcVHk4YcswzW4x5KGWwIJUa5z_1x7SiWPuXQTHAiJbFnQrI7_HOAeFDAsL2cbR5HAplYj1wEgopp70nG2w5JRyuIHXEsp6CR3hQCsN2J2dRCLWpX3jEt0w9BD6YwJZFSKcPzsJv_EcSw/s1600/notan3.jpg" height="111" width="320" /></a></div>
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This notan is about the energy and power we feel as the train speeds past.</div>
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Framed Ink-copyright: Marcos Mateu-Mestre available from Design Studio Press:</div>
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<b>Notan vs Value Sketches</b></div>
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You can easily see the difference between Notan and a Value sketch. Here is a value sketch of a sphere.</div>
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<span style="text-align: start;">...and a Notan of the same.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLg-_NvfYb18PrZJNWvGiZ6n1kLndT0Cbqd06IUUrqhSGnetiWGq6SU-Azd2-DvEk2qS08QfYRYq2HVA1FAkZXr3XWAdJ6cnINTdGEWALmFU2JI_b70o5UzTevVEo11eUrmJ1vV4KkUA/s1600/value_structure1.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLg-_NvfYb18PrZJNWvGiZ6n1kLndT0Cbqd06IUUrqhSGnetiWGq6SU-Azd2-DvEk2qS08QfYRYq2HVA1FAkZXr3XWAdJ6cnINTdGEWALmFU2JI_b70o5UzTevVEo11eUrmJ1vV4KkUA/s1600/value_structure1.gif" height="320" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div>
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Notan, distills the scene into its basic elements, their relation to each other, and their position on the picture plane: the simple structure of your painting. Essentially, its composition. In this respect, notan is much more than a value sketch with a limited number of values. Even though notan uses values, and these values may be related to the light or dark areas of your subject, the object of your notan sketches is to create a powerful but simple design that will attract the eye from across the room. </div>
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<b>More than just black and white</b></div>
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It is not possible to accurately record the actual value relationships of a scene using two value notan. Three value notan, black, white, and grey is almost as good at locating the armature/structure as two value notan. Three value notan also allows you a greater fluency of values. You may be thinking, “If I can get greater fluency with three values, maybe I should try 4 or more values?” Do what works for you, but here is a caution. The more values you use, the more you depart for the core strengths of notan and the more you are entering into the realms of value sketches. Use value sketches if that is what works for you but recognise that value sketches may disguise or hide the underlying structure and hinder your efforts to create an interesting abstract framework and consequently weaken your composition.</div>
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<ul>
<li>If two value notans don’t work for you try three value notans: black, white and mid-grey.</li>
<li>If three value notans don’t work for you try four value notan: black, white, light grey, and dark grey.</li>
<li>If four value notans don’t work for you try five value notan: black, white, light grey, mid-grey, dark grey.</li>
<li>If five value notans don’t work for you, STOP! Notan is not for you, or is not for the particular subject you have chosen. </li>
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<b>A Notan Design Process</b></div>
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Let go of the idea that your Notan will be a representational drawing. Details and representational value sketches will come later. First you want to find that abstract shape and interesting balance of light and dark that will catch the eye from across the room. This is where Notan excels. It doesn’t matter what you choose for a subject nor the values, colours, nor details that you will add later. If you base your painting on a strong and balanced Notan design you will paint a strong and balanced painting.</div>
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I prefer do my notan sketches using felt tip pens, a black and a mid-grey on white paper. You can use almost anything that can make a bold broad mark. Broad stroke making tools makes you think about the larger shapes. I suggest you avoid fine line markers and thin pencils. They can encourage linear thinking and/or a digression into detail, neither of which is desirable when creating compositional studies. </div>
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By limiting myself to just two pens, I only have to decide if a shape is white, black, or something else. I don’t get caught up in wondering whether to use a light grey, mid-grey, or dark grey for a particular shape. If it not black nor white, it’s grey. The big chisel end of the pen discourages adventures in detail while allowing you a variety of different strokes depending on which edge is used. Yes, you could use a broad, soft pencil, but you might be tempted to erase. Don’t erase. Just draw another frame and build on the previous drawing. Keep the best bits and try to improve them.</div>
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One word of advice if you decide to use felt tip pens: For the midtone choose a lighter value grey, otherwise you notan will appear too dark. </div>
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Start by drawing a frame, a border, that has the same proportion as your chosen support. Give pause as to whether a Portrait or Landscape orientation should be used. Try both! I cut a rectangular hole, about 2 inches by 3 inches, in piece of mat board. It’s about the same ratio as a ¼ sheet or full sheet of watercolour paper. It serves two purposes; a) I can quickly trace a new frame for my next notan and b) it can be used as a viewfinder.</div>
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When first starting out with notan, you may find it easier to begin with a simple line drawing of your subject and then selectively fill in the grey or black shapes where appropriate. As you become familiar with notan drawing, try to directly shade in the dark shapes. Your notan should contain 5 to 9 shapes. Try to complete your first notan in 5 minutes or less.</div>
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Draw a second frame in the same orientation and size as your first. Consider:</div>
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<li>Do I have a dominant shape?</li>
<li>Are my shapes interesting?</li>
<li>Do I have a dominant value?</li>
<li>Do I have an unequal division of space?</li>
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Pick one of the above that you consider missing or weak in your first notan, and correct this in your second sketch. Work small and do a series of notans. It’s difficult (impossible) to settle on a particular design-composition on the basis of just one sketch. You need at least two, so you have something to compare your chosen sketch against. It’s even easier to pick the ‘best’ notan from a group of sketches. Notans do not cost much in time or materials, so repeat as often as necessary.</div>
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James Kisselhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12379544231155359342noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3741510925663034771.post-23274044818858948692014-03-02T15:05:00.000-05:002014-03-09T18:46:11.189-04:00Thoughts on Visual Design and Composition<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The White Rabbit put on his spectacles. `</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Where shall I begin, please your Majesty?</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">' he asked. `</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Begin at the beginning,</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">' the King said gravely, ‘</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and go on till you come to the end: then stop.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">' -- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland</span><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If The White Rabbit were discussing painting composition: where to begin? How to begin?</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For the past couple of years, I've been searching for guidelines/rules/suggestions/NYFCN(Name Your Favourite Composition Noun) on how to compose a painting. I found and studied the 7 elements and the 8 principles, centres of interest, Fibonacci, golden ratio/rectangle/spot, the rule of thirds, value studies, and various composition checklists. I located more than 100 websites with design or visual composition information. Some very good; others not so good. I don’t know how many art books I read in addition to the 30 or so books I purchased. In all these resources, I never found a visual compositional framework until I obtained a copy of Ian Roberts' Mastering Composition, via my local library.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Early in his book, Ian introduces </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Foundation of the Painting</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and illustrations that contains the five planes of a picture.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Dynamics of the Picture Plane. Each proportion and scale of every painting-square, vertical or horizontal-has a special dynamic that affects and is affected by every mark or shape you put on it. The edges of your picture plane are the four most important lines in your composition since they, in the most basic sense, define the foundation you are starting with.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Armature. The fundamental lines of direction or flow that connects the man compositional movement to the picture plane. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Abstract Shapes. The building blocks of the painting. Each shape is interacting with every other shape. This really is where the success or failure of the painting lies.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Subjects. Bottles, mountains, kids on the beaches/</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Details. Highlights, wrought-iron street lamps and almost anything else painted with a little pointed brush.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ian comments on picture plane 1-3: "</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is where the real artistic thinking has to occur before you start to paint</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">", and on points 4-5: "</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is often where inexperienced painters focus their attention. The result is a lack of artistic clarity and drama in their paintings</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">". </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is where I first started to understand visual composition. These five bullet points present a nearly complete visual design framework. When I went back and reviewed Whitney, Brandt, Webb, Wade, Couch and others, I could see they were saying much the same thing, but with the clarity nor as concisely as Ian states it. This was a major learning event for me. I knew I now had a framework for composition that I understood and could apply to my paintings. The proverbial light bulb was lit. Decide the format and size (Plane 1), select and apply an abstract armature (Plane 2), block in the major abstract shapes (Plane 3), refine these shapes into subjects (Plane 4) and add the details (Plane 5). Absolutely Fantastic! Five steps. Big steps no doubt, but a framework I understood and one I could work inside of.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Just as there is a spectrum of techniques and materials to make art, there exists a spectrum of composition methodologies and design tools. This is one that works for me. To the next person, this may appear as so much dross. As they say in the promo ads “Your mileage may very” (YMMV).</span></div>
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James Kisselhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12379544231155359342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3741510925663034771.post-20098363684836155752014-02-18T14:27:00.000-05:002014-03-09T18:45:05.479-04:00Mastering Composition<br />
<span id="docs-internal-guid-14c822c3-466b-d3f8-d807-8aead644e923"></span><br />
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-14c822c3-466b-d3f8-d807-8aead644e923"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here is a review I wrote a couple of years ago about one of the better books on visual composition.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mastering Composition - techniques and principles to dramatically improve your painting, by Ian Roberts. ISBN No. 978-1-58180-924-4</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After a brief introduction, Roberts define: “What Is Composition” with a illustration of five planes of a painting:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">The format: square, landscape, portrait..., “The Four Most Important Compositional Lines”, the edge of your painting.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">Armature: the direction or flow of the main movement of the painting</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">Abstract Shapes: the main masses, their relationship to each other, and their interaction.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">Subjects: Bottles, mountains, people, a river...</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">Details: A street lamp, a pearl earring, a distant figure, trees.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">With reference to points 1-3 Ian said: "T<i>his is where the real artistic thinking has to occur before you start to pain</i>t". Points 4-5: "<i>This is where inexperienced painters focus their attention. The result is a lack of artistic clarity and drama in their paintings</i>".</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chapter One discusses Armatures with a study of the Masters, a discussion of Eight Common Armatures, twelve composition basics, and ends with a demonstration. This chapter also includes a very brief excursion into "The Four Most Important Compositional Lines".</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cropping and Framing are covered in Chapter Two with thoughts on Value Masses, Viewpoints, use of the viewfinder and another demonstration on planning big masses. Chapter Three discusses Color Shapes, the Color Wheel with a discussion of flow in the picture plane in Chapter Four. The accompanying DVD is also introduced.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chapters Five and Six are the inclusion of almost mandatory padding in a 'Gallery of Greats' and a gallery of the authors paintings.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The DVD provides an animated view of changes in color and value that demonstrates the author ideas on composition. There are two sections. The first section with commentary, illustrates how changes in value or color affect the composition of a picture. The second section is identical without the commentary. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Personal assessment of content: </span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">The good: A great overview of composition. </span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 17.25px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The simplicity of the framework of the 5 picture planes was a major learning point for me</span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.15;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Bad: Doesn't follow through on the overview as explained in the introduction. It was a perfect table of contents for a book on composition . </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Ugly: Unnecessary padding </span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 17.25px; white-space: pre-wrap;">of the “Gallery of Greats” </span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">and single media (oil) view of painting.</span></span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In his introduction, Ian Roberts nails composition with his 5 visual planes. I just wish he would have used this introduction as an outline for the remainder of the book. Some of the assumptions and comments regarding non-oil media are incorrect. Composition subjects are mostly limited to landscapes and still life. Finally, I would also suggest that the Elements and Principles of Design, which is not mentioned in this book, needs to be added.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The DVD, in my opinion, did not contribute significant additional material.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Personal prejudice: I not particularly endeared to the authors painting style and that distracts from my own learning experience. YMMV </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Suitability for beginners, intermediate or advanced: Intermediate onward</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Score on a scale 1-5 (1=poor 5=excellent): Best book I've found so far on composition, but limitations and omissions as noted suggest a score of 3-4</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That was my initial assessment of Ian’s book. In a separate discussion on Wet Canvas art forum I opined: “</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ian Roberts' ‘Mastering Composition’ is the only book I've found that provided a framework for visual composition. Before the first chapter he defines ‘What is Composition’. After reading these two pages I knew I now had a framework for composition that I understood and could apply to my paintings. The proverbial light bulb was lit. Decide the format and size, apply an armature, block in the abstract shapes, refine these into subjects and add the details. Great! Five steps. Big steps no doubt, but a framework I understood.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Before Ian’s book, I had read and re-read numerous articles on the 7 elements and the 8 principles of design, but lacked a framework, a gestalt, an integration of the elements and principles. Individually each made sense, but how did I apply them to creating a painting? Ian pulled it all together for me. All was good in paradise except the more I painted and the more I studied composition and design, the more I realized that I needed more than the 5 picture planes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What about a colour plan, and had I considered the mood I wanted to express? Indeed, what was about the scene before me that stirred me to paint it in the first place? I needed another picture plane before the 5 that Ian described. A zero plane. The emotional plane. Before I did the first preliminary thumbnail sketch, I needed to note down something about the emotions I felt about the painting I was going to create. I also needed to consider the value range. Should I use a high tone with a broad range or would it be better suited to a muted low tone value plan. I also needed to give attention to what I’m going to leave out of the scene.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Not all of these items can be resolved immediately but a brief note to myself is a good starting point for any painting and it might contain a title once finished. On the other end of a painting, once the details have been added, the mat and frame are needed to complete any painting: Picture Plane 6, for a total of 7 picture planes and we still need to consider the process of getting started. No one ever said that design and composition was either simple or easy.</span></div>
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</span>James Kisselhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12379544231155359342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3741510925663034771.post-65939124579241328242012-07-05T13:57:00.000-04:002012-07-05T13:57:34.398-04:00Castle Butte, MontanaEach month many of the
forums at WetCanvas.com post a monthly 'challenge'. One of the
members posts one or more photographs and the challenge is to produce
a painting in you own personal style and media. Some of the
challenges are media specific as in the Watercolor Studio forum.
Others are open to all mediums with their challenges directed towards
a particular subject such as Southwest and Western Art forum.<br />
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I usually try to visit
the Southwest and Western Art forum on a regular basis and I was
attracted to the June challenge posting. Unfortunately my muse
didn't speak to me until it was July! Here is my humble efforts to
paint Castle Butte, Montana.</div>
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Castle Butte, Montana
11x15 inches, Watercolour and Acrylic Ink or Saunders-Waterford 200#
CP</div>
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</div>James Kisselhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12379544231155359342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3741510925663034771.post-81357292316098906902012-04-14T18:44:00.000-04:002012-04-14T18:44:24.186-04:00An Abstract Sleeping Giant<style type="text/css">
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<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">It the beginning of the month and many of the WetCanvas forums will be posting a 'challenge' to be painted. I first checked the watercolour forum. No. I'm not going to paint a flower, or a least not right away. Maybe later. Next I check the Southwest and Western Art forum. 10 scenic pictures of the Helena area of Montana but nothing that reaches out and says to me: “Paint me!”. Maybe I'll have better luck on some of the other forums.</div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">A couple of days later and I still haven't found inspiration in any of the April challenges. Instead, I'm working on another of my Tuscan cityscape series. I review S&WA again. Maybe there is a picture in the rocks, the last photograph and then again maybe there isn't. </div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Eventually I check the photographs in the April challenge on the Southwest and Western Art forum for a third time. This time I carefully read the accompanying text and google 'the sleeping giant' Montana. I spend a hour or so dreaming about the second photograph in this post. I like the hard diagonal ramp for left to right in this photograph. Then there are the strong contrasts of the mid-ground hill and the dark trees that give rise to some interesting abstract shapes. Finally there is the sleeping giant itself in the distance. OK. Foreground, mid-ground and a background plus the sky. All the elements I need for a landscape painting. I'll just stir into the mix in a little Frank Lloyd Wright a'la Talissin West from Milton Sticker's <a href="http://www.miltonstricker.com/Book/">Design through Abstraction</a> and see what develops.</div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The starting point:</div> <br />
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</style> </div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Using this reference photograph, I made a full size (15x22) pencil sketch of the scene.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0SYDqaBg2VoVQ-8_8MY3M_OcAMVqqtX5eQIoQiok9kekiKTRAPjo8hi7floZXdf0QMmv_KIR0UJwford_5NFyg38VWHwipfp0FPSqZeqMspp3dM102yBD3XozdTFVKvwGSl7X9Kt6Wg/s1600/sketch1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0SYDqaBg2VoVQ-8_8MY3M_OcAMVqqtX5eQIoQiok9kekiKTRAPjo8hi7floZXdf0QMmv_KIR0UJwford_5NFyg38VWHwipfp0FPSqZeqMspp3dM102yBD3XozdTFVKvwGSl7X9Kt6Wg/s1600/sketch1.JPG" /></a></div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
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</style> </div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I taped this sketch down to my painting table and placed a second layer of tracing paper over it. My painting table is white, or mostly white so the sketch shows through without much problem. I used a small straight edge and a soft lead pencil to re-trace the sketch while removing most of the curves. I also added or emphasised some of the background mountains and sharpened their peaks.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4xztLDs2GMiBJQFZPd0S_faSMB31mvFGGEQfF-nuCVC7gwP4933_vWfUHzqQjBB2GX3ja2qDuhhLXRme39vv7trMK5Yky1Sky6qpOBiuyEbInNVpkWYst1qmzLwf6mqyQEhjCZmmkbg/s1600/sketch2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4xztLDs2GMiBJQFZPd0S_faSMB31mvFGGEQfF-nuCVC7gwP4933_vWfUHzqQjBB2GX3ja2qDuhhLXRme39vv7trMK5Yky1Sky6qpOBiuyEbInNVpkWYst1qmzLwf6mqyQEhjCZmmkbg/s1600/sketch2.JPG" /></a></div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> <style type="text/css">
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</style> </div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">In the final overlay, I further emphasised some additional lines, added some sky lines and the abstracted clouds, and the foreground abstract shape. This image was transferred to the watercolour paper by blacking the back of the sheet with a soft lead pencil and tracing the major lines with a blunt lead. This provided a light image that I could use to lay down the sky lines, profile of the mountains and the foreground lines in India Ink and black acrylic paint. Additional lines were added directly on the watercolour sheet with pens and acrylic paint pens.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEistaMymVMIT-ro6naqFoxNYF595ZHh_r0g2t-lKkJgJomMUffiwFR2Ei3ec9F99bL2MzAd45LTbVNzFccq9KuVpjjCKapElsv7YdBrVwLvZJ_Bg1ykue-uZa3vJkOvmVacGS_Q3tGyPA/s1600/sketch3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEistaMymVMIT-ro6naqFoxNYF595ZHh_r0g2t-lKkJgJomMUffiwFR2Ei3ec9F99bL2MzAd45LTbVNzFccq9KuVpjjCKapElsv7YdBrVwLvZJ_Bg1ykue-uZa3vJkOvmVacGS_Q3tGyPA/s1600/sketch3.JPG" /></a></div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> <style type="text/css">
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</style> </div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Once the ink and acrylic was dry, watercolour was added in a series of washes to complete the image.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUrt80kTx1kI8MN12axat6uOcxu_v4L0gC5_mSlH90ZvIYNUgfTpDrL1TEmcEDdxwwIBLv7nbvMbdSkbSoWsK_guJo0JKBPuOhKddXriBRHCTWlGWpsHiWxgMz0xzZf2hOyO-JUQetuQ/s1600/An+abstract+sleeping+giant+by+JLKissel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUrt80kTx1kI8MN12axat6uOcxu_v4L0gC5_mSlH90ZvIYNUgfTpDrL1TEmcEDdxwwIBLv7nbvMbdSkbSoWsK_guJo0JKBPuOhKddXriBRHCTWlGWpsHiWxgMz0xzZf2hOyO-JUQetuQ/s320/An+abstract+sleeping+giant+by+JLKissel.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
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</div> I hope you enjoy it. <br />
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</div>James Kisselhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12379544231155359342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3741510925663034771.post-36615595773443333182012-03-31T17:57:00.000-04:002012-03-31T17:57:45.621-04:00Westminster Sunrise<style type="text/css">
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<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I just love the Thames and Westminster is one of my favourite places. Maybe it a bit of obsessive compulsive feeling for this area, but I do keep returning to it in my paintings. It's usually full of tourists during the summer months. So much to see. So much to do. The south bank, London Eye, the Tate, the Houses of Parliament, Whitehall, Trafalgar Sq., the National, the Mall and Buckingham Palace and many more places to go, to see, to paint.</div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Earlier this spring, I decided to paint a skyline of Westminster bridge and the Houses of Parliament but with a twist. I had a photo of a watercolour of Venice painted in a style similar to Charles Reed. My thoughts were to use that painting style on the upper buildings and blend this into the darkness of the river. Here is that early spring attempt.</div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdnAsNXd2uD99xbfkUxFoQm6NcEmrhMdiMLKdh6eFLKs660N6vpqIsX7TDD7pa-p6SNw5w8s_e1epVZsKfx4Pu3bS1Y3yyATCnfKeL4czkmPReABEJ_Zf27fTEFwmQ1dS-GzjJJu5LlA/s1600/WestminsterDawn_James_Kissel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdnAsNXd2uD99xbfkUxFoQm6NcEmrhMdiMLKdh6eFLKs660N6vpqIsX7TDD7pa-p6SNw5w8s_e1epVZsKfx4Pu3bS1Y3yyATCnfKeL4czkmPReABEJ_Zf27fTEFwmQ1dS-GzjJJu5LlA/s320/WestminsterDawn_James_Kissel.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
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</style> </div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The buildings turned out OK but overall it was a bit of a failure. The Thames and Westminster Bridge disappeared into the blue gunk at the bottom of the painting. After some thought, I knew what I wanted and I knew that I needed to do a couple of value studies.</div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
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</style> </div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The first study (top-left) was a simple three value study. This solid, non-gradated study isn't going in the direction I wanted. The second study (top-right) with a gradation from right to left and somewhat from top to bottom exactly the image I wanted to paint. The third (bottom-left) done with a sky wash failed again. The last study in colour also is moving in the direction I wanted to go.</div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">So I've done the studies and I know where I want to take the painting. Just a quick light sketch and I'm can start to sling paint. Right? Wrong! The original painting and the four studies stayed pined to the wall for 3 three months before I decided to take them down and have another go at this subject. I think it's an improvement over the original. I also think there is still room for improvement. Maybe I will revisit it in a couple of months and maybe I'll be happy with the results and maybe fish will learn to fly. Enjoy</div><br />
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</div>James Kisselhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12379544231155359342noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3741510925663034771.post-59166153723382655452012-03-25T16:47:00.001-04:002012-03-26T15:57:19.885-04:00Abstracting a landscape<style type="text/css">
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<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">A few days ago, <a href="http://kmwithers.blogspot.com/">Kate Withers</a> started a <a href="http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1049232">new thread</a> on the <a href="http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=23">Composition and Design</a> forum of WetCanvas: 'breaking the rule of centering' (sic). She explained that she likes a centred composition and doesn't defer to the many art books and teachers that tell you not to centre your centre of interest. Kate included her recently complete painting 'Queen of Spades Range'.</div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsJ9WeMJF8tcOOzzuiJYrqMd8Da7JhZiEf3jBh1eV-Luhp7y9hA9sM9X1lyluO_wlaiTKpZXpRTgqk9P8R9QVQMso-X02iBRc3EXNn7rVup3yRz34JxPJvwC60rsHRQlvV14zLPkPHeg/s1600/queen_of_spades_range.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsJ9WeMJF8tcOOzzuiJYrqMd8Da7JhZiEf3jBh1eV-Luhp7y9hA9sM9X1lyluO_wlaiTKpZXpRTgqk9P8R9QVQMso-X02iBRc3EXNn7rVup3yRz34JxPJvwC60rsHRQlvV14zLPkPHeg/s320/queen_of_spades_range.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
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</style> </div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I was hooked at first sight. I just knew that I had to paint my vision of this scene. My compulsion was a slight overdose of Frank Lloyd Wright via a student of his: Milton Stricker and his <a href="http://www.miltonstricker.com/Book/">online book</a> on "Design through Abstraction – The Wright Source to Art and Architecture". If you are struggling as I am with trying to see and paint the abstract shapes of nature, I recommend reading this excellent publication. It's not all about art and abstraction, but the images alone make it a worth while investment of the time needed to traverse this document.</div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Google (Queen of Spades Range) turned out to be no help at all. Not a single photograph of this area which surprised me so I had to work from Kate's painting. I cropped the image she had posted and then stretched it back to a square composition. From this image I drew a light pencil sketch on 200# Saunders-Waterford CP watercolour paper. Using a ruler I straightened the curves with darker lines, some of which I extended beyond that lines of the original sketch. I then used some recently acquired Decocolor Acrylic <a href="http://www.dickblick.com/products/decocolor-acrylic-paint-markers/">paint markers</a> to trace over the straight lines. I used red for the mountain and black for the lower slopes. </div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I turned the painting so that the sky was tilted downward. First a wash of water with just a hint of Raw Senna, followed immediately by another wash with a bit more Raw Senna and finally while still very wet, a third rich wash of Raw Senna. I then removed the tilt and encouraged the paint to granulate by shaking it slightly. It was then allowed to dry completely. The mountains got a similar treatment using Ultramarine Blue with some darker blues dropped in after the main washes. The foreground received a wash of Raw Senna with some darker yellows added to give contrast. I hope you like it.</div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg68RyjIUnPwI6clpwj9LIQU4-JfzfDgdmgZUxYCdDx5KYPdlqHM86VMb5sv5T-V2qJg-W76ceYjjobauIXeGhdrGnhiC_mJl1AuEXMessI4kr4DDPHzPuupMPI846T4F3UzaFVS8f9JQ/s1600/QueenOfSpadesAbstract_afterKMWithers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg68RyjIUnPwI6clpwj9LIQU4-JfzfDgdmgZUxYCdDx5KYPdlqHM86VMb5sv5T-V2qJg-W76ceYjjobauIXeGhdrGnhiC_mJl1AuEXMessI4kr4DDPHzPuupMPI846T4F3UzaFVS8f9JQ/s320/QueenOfSpadesAbstract_afterKMWithers.jpg" width="316" /></a></div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
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</div>James Kisselhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12379544231155359342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3741510925663034771.post-10193828676404769422012-02-09T14:38:00.000-05:002012-02-09T14:38:43.971-05:00Northville Art House: 6th Annual Member Exhibition<style type="text/css">
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">If you happen to be in the Detroit area between February 3 and 18, 2012, and have a spare hour, drop in on the Art House in Northville and see the 6th<sup> </sup>annual members show. I was amazed at the quality of the work considering that it is a non-juried show. Most of the works are for sale and judging by the number of sales during the hour or so I was there on opening night, I would expect that a large percentage of he paintings on display will be sold.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Art House</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">215 W Cady St. (just north of 7-mile and Sheldon)</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Northville Michigan</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">248-334-0497</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Gallery Hours 1-5 pm Wednesday-Saturday</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">If you miss this excellent mini-show, there is a sale, 'Art from the Attic' on the evening of Friday, February 24, and during the day on the Saturday and Sunday. I expect some keen prices. Joan gave me the heads up that an Alexander Calder lithograph is being offered in this show-sale. Not too shabby for a small town art gallery.</div>James Kisselhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12379544231155359342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3741510925663034771.post-73284745835275628942012-01-28T18:47:00.000-05:002012-09-15T19:02:14.062-04:00Composition: Practice what you Preach!For almost all of the past year I have been studying visual composition. Reading books and everything I can locate on the Internet. Taking part in forum discussions regarding composition and looking over images and sketches related to composition. The one thing I haven't been doing is practising composition.<br />
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During my first year of watercolour painting I discovered that nothing but nothing beats practice. You can purchase the finest brushes, the best watercolour paint, expensive palettes, top quality paper, watch DVD's by great artists, read their books, debate the pros and cons of a particular artists techniques, but unless you put brush-water-paint to paper, you will never learn how to paint.<br />
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Also during that first year, I watched with amazement and eventually a growing irritation, one member of an artist on-line forum, debate, research, discuss, and expound on: brushes, pigments, paper, palettes, easels, and even water containers. During that year, R never posted a single painting, but he became and 'expert' on most-all things watercolour, holding forth at great length about almost anything related to watercolour painting. Then one day, one of the forum moderators grew tired of his opinions and publicly challenged him: “Put up or shut up!” This resulted in another very long complaint thread on how it was wrong to insist that members should post their work to the forum. Eventually R relented and posted one rather weak example of his work. Shortly there after, he offered all his large collection of painting supplies for sale on the forum swap shop and that was the last he was heard from.<br />
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There was nothing wrong with most of R's posts. They were knowledgeable and well researched. The only problem with R is he never painted or made any used of the excellent brushes he had accumulated. Malcolm Gladwell in 'Outliers' describes the 10,000 hour rule. Basically it takes 10,000 hours of practice to be come expert at a skill. Larry Seiler advises to paint 120 paintings as you need this many to work through your mistakes. Whatever the number, if you want to learn to paint watercolour paintings, paint watercolour paintings! Nothing else works!<br />
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...and if you want to learn composition, you need to practice composition, and I haven't practising composition until this week when I re-started attending the local adult education watercolour painting class. I missed all but one of the autumn classes due to working on our new (to us) condo. In fact, I didn't paint from July until November. Starting back painting was a big problem. I found it very difficult to get back into the grove of painting every day. With the start of the winter session of adult education classes, I decided to go along, to force myself to paint more. A New Years resolution to myself was to paint at least 4 hours a day.<br />
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I did manage to attend class for 1 day in the autumn session. The new instructor was offering a lesson series of near 'paint by numbers' watercolour subjects. A pre-composed scene with instructions to draw of trace an outline, paint this wash in this colour. Then... The same type of lessons I had from my first tutor. Zero creativity and self expression and in my opinion little learning. Oh you learn to paint a painting that looks like the one the instructor painted, but you aren't learning how to paint. A Bob Ross watercolour lesson. I didn't like it then and I don't like it now, so I decided that I would use each weekly lesson as a composition exercise. Each week I would take the components in the lesson and design a new and hopefully interesting composition.<br />
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<li>I would look at the original components, think about how some or all of them could be rearranged into and interesting design. </li>
<li>I would do some thumbnail sketches to try out these design ideas. </li>
<li>Would a format change be of benefit? </li>
<li>Do value plan/pattern need to be changed? </li>
<li>What abstract armature will work to organize the space division? </li>
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This the image the tutor supplied for us to paint for this week.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtVvKL_DZyeUTfgYXT1BZqcwiPE3gGIFszkpwPVkfXl_TR8VXVZTUDh_wqYprAK8AoHlWi9b9naRa3f-_4Zt4-X68BORTn7sNqlNlx6Yu0zTxTLgZqW-AwA0uTxs8-0cKGAkFRk5TVKA/s1600/BeginHere.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtVvKL_DZyeUTfgYXT1BZqcwiPE3gGIFszkpwPVkfXl_TR8VXVZTUDh_wqYprAK8AoHlWi9b9naRa3f-_4Zt4-X68BORTn7sNqlNlx6Yu0zTxTLgZqW-AwA0uTxs8-0cKGAkFRk5TVKA/s320/BeginHere.jpg" width="243" /></a></div>
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I decided I would try to paint within the two and half hours of the class, a completely different composition based on the photo that the instructor provided. Needless to say, I didn't manage to finish the painting, but I did manage to make a start. After a few minutes thought, my could see that a quarter sheet portrait format wasn't going to work for me. I envisioned a over long, 2:1 portrait format for my new composition. Here is the page from my sketch book with my thumbnails.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1aTzV2A_KYWIU2HCu2zLUlJxeQmgAXBbSGCVFl5dL54o93Km0FjiMHQtEGXr6l3MiUJrb99v61PKc9yZcvZv_mlr3EOM6JHUnklooxjAElbBpo5UlpUvm7o5eLkpJrsNu-H-ADD5OvA/s1600/MySketchBook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1aTzV2A_KYWIU2HCu2zLUlJxeQmgAXBbSGCVFl5dL54o93Km0FjiMHQtEGXr6l3MiUJrb99v61PKc9yZcvZv_mlr3EOM6JHUnklooxjAElbBpo5UlpUvm7o5eLkpJrsNu-H-ADD5OvA/s320/MySketchBook.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
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I admit that they are not the best thumbnails you will find. I hope you can see from the bottom left sketch that I wanted an over tall portrait painting, but I only had quarter sheets of watercolour paper with me, so I resigned myself to a working within that format in the classroom. I sketched a best fit image onto the quarter sheet, and with half an ear listening to the tutor I proceeded to paint this rather poor watercolour.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga4gYGH5wEwT7s4eSUFsufxB4WtmQtFDD2U_tE2xHhVB_bgWWayzInmAA9Am25udWwxuEYOz7aeqtfh1VjepSVgHaxa3BLvNMIQPxHxKjnhS3WR2_rvzBpZTG7ok5bn31NJCA3UERsXg/s1600/ClassRoomColourSketch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga4gYGH5wEwT7s4eSUFsufxB4WtmQtFDD2U_tE2xHhVB_bgWWayzInmAA9Am25udWwxuEYOz7aeqtfh1VjepSVgHaxa3BLvNMIQPxHxKjnhS3WR2_rvzBpZTG7ok5bn31NJCA3UERsXg/s320/ClassRoomColourSketch.jpg" width="228" /></a></div>
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The white block near the bottom was going to be the buggy. I added a stone wall in the foreground as that was what the rest of the class was doing at the time and my brook in the middle ground didn't work out either. Thoroughly discussed with the results, I put this project aside for a day. After a break and more thought, I did a full size contour sketch with the 2:1 format I originally envisioned.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCVZHZSNnkIYoZz-jQnwpyzqDjRGKFLIm5El4qqVo5btXVv292apPuqmnrjotA98z-4I5MD56QJGU6usgXEMqZiEeAuszvQnRoUWLxO6aTDY3nn1QfdsAT3HxhqY6fIrwS2tydZwVNEg/s1600/FullSizeContourSketch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCVZHZSNnkIYoZz-jQnwpyzqDjRGKFLIm5El4qqVo5btXVv292apPuqmnrjotA98z-4I5MD56QJGU6usgXEMqZiEeAuszvQnRoUWLxO6aTDY3nn1QfdsAT3HxhqY6fIrwS2tydZwVNEg/s320/FullSizeContourSketch.jpg" width="217" /></a></div>
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Using this sketch, I painted my second attempt at this subject. After some time, I realised this this was working either. I would say that the four horizontal divisions is one too many divisions. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-6ZvaB-O6jEdS52atUQcqhyphenhyphennTCyTXFXITiNVBKryy8qBKfpO1rWoINJqNW6GwS_SuF_M6_CzPWnomPjfftu3dctc3kSDK8k77gYUaV7YgLegMyNvSb0Y52edUmBZ2HFF7qYLhyliF-w/s1600/FirstAttemptByJamesKissel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-6ZvaB-O6jEdS52atUQcqhyphenhyphennTCyTXFXITiNVBKryy8qBKfpO1rWoINJqNW6GwS_SuF_M6_CzPWnomPjfftu3dctc3kSDK8k77gYUaV7YgLegMyNvSb0Y52edUmBZ2HFF7qYLhyliF-w/s320/FirstAttemptByJamesKissel.jpg" width="164" /></a></div>
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Which brings me to my final offering for this particular subject. It's still and over tall portrait format but now reduced to a foreground, middle ground, and background-sky. It thinks this one works.</div>
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I hope you enjoyed this little design exercise and maybe there was a small lesson in it for you.</div>
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James Kisselhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12379544231155359342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3741510925663034771.post-19516154387073755852012-01-12T10:33:00.000-05:002012-01-12T10:33:17.972-05:00Cortona Italy: a watercolourHere is yet another trip to the Tuscan roof tops. This time I used Cortona, Italy as a starting point and with the help of GIMP, made some minor rearrangements. I have been having a struggle and continue to struggle with settling down to paint. I turned off the tap back in June for a holiday break with Jill. Then the condo sale went through and I was very busy working on it until the end of November. Christmas was taken over by a bad head cold that dragged into January. I tried to paint throughout this time, but it seemed to be such an effort even with the new studio. <br />
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Browsing through my image library, I decided to return to my love of the Italian countryside, walled cities with red tiled roofs. I've done a couple of these Tuscan landscapes and I greatly enjoyed to process so when I came across some photos of Cortona, I decided, maybe it was time to return to this subject. Getting started on Cortona was a struggle, but once I got past the initial washes I started to get into the flow. The more I painted the better I felt and the better I felt, the easier it was to paint.<br />
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I still haven't overcome all the down feelings I have, and it remains a struggle to paint, but I know that I can choose another Tuscan scene as get back into the groove. I'm not very well pleased with the result. I expect that I will have to re-visit this scene sometime soon and try harder. I hope you enjoy it.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiojI88EZos1saUKu9cVYsLsaP9gnHcIqsSjx0EAq9b-blOVRlYA0YHAn3ghe3O6avLBEF3JiyyKuUIXwMbGj8KOc1UqcTRT33oGlvjEt1tt-tsDibGu1hFpqi4quZX9-pwafCCMc4j_g/s1600/Cortona_Italy_15x22_watercolor_sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiojI88EZos1saUKu9cVYsLsaP9gnHcIqsSjx0EAq9b-blOVRlYA0YHAn3ghe3O6avLBEF3JiyyKuUIXwMbGj8KOc1UqcTRT33oGlvjEt1tt-tsDibGu1hFpqi4quZX9-pwafCCMc4j_g/s320/Cortona_Italy_15x22_watercolor_sm.jpg" /></a></div>James Kisselhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12379544231155359342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3741510925663034771.post-15785689597955211942011-11-20T13:22:00.000-05:002011-11-20T13:22:12.860-05:00East of KayentaA month in England mid-summer and a new Condo to fix-up and move into in late August has keep me away from the easel for more than 5 months. There is a never ending supply of jobs to do around the house, but a couple of weeks ago, I went downstairs, and started to sort out the basement. All mundane stuff: set-up the art tables, unpack the reference books into a new book shelf, lay out all the materials I use on a daily basis, store the others in desk the previous owners left behind (thank you!), and install new overhead lamps and power outlets. There was only one power outlet in the entire basement. ...and finally, last but not least, start painting again.<br />
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I had promised Jill, that I would paint a picture of the Anemone Roses that grow against the back wall of my house in Surrey. We were just sitting there one afternoon when Boom! The image of the green stems and white flowers against the red brick wall coalesced into a composition that demanded to be painted. I got out my digital camera and took a dozen or so shots of the area I wanted to paint and another dozen or so reference shots of the flower heads and stems. True to my word, I started on this on a full sheet of 200# CP, but it's going to take a while as I have to mask off all the mortar joints, the flower heads, and all the stems and leaves before I can start with the first wash. <br />
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I've progressed a fair way towards the first wash but I wanted to get back into painting that I decided to make several starts. While reading the 'Southwest and Western Art November Challenge' I decided to have a go at:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXeUcE9v72RE6Mw3QlEesEXfpcZytr2pIHCQcFdYQrg8cjIjyVlh0vIzshAwXIzjxq3j1zjbrfFGwXhsYNWfn3n_cIi3STbykKy6-Rs5jD0eBTeE4Q1u36qlvWesEVXWf-QfRPTI_bqA/s1600/SW_Nov_Challenge11-800px.JPG" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="148" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXeUcE9v72RE6Mw3QlEesEXfpcZytr2pIHCQcFdYQrg8cjIjyVlh0vIzshAwXIzjxq3j1zjbrfFGwXhsYNWfn3n_cIi3STbykKy6-Rs5jD0eBTeE4Q1u36qlvWesEVXWf-QfRPTI_bqA/s320/SW_Nov_Challenge11-800px.JPG" /></a></div><br />
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and here is my interpretation: 'East of Kayenta' 22x15 on 200# CP Saunders-Waterford<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3-se0O2mLa2t186RrmNFrKmlQCU71c007osl3E3tU-3u5dJ7_a5-p-1sgOxnNef5R72mo-EV-MJKFWnNp-sO2-qO7tnwAHlRXfbCt7WJVeG1El0SHmkjW6EVlPlovQWQNfOIAtx7fcw/s1600/East+Of+Kayenta_800x500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="206" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3-se0O2mLa2t186RrmNFrKmlQCU71c007osl3E3tU-3u5dJ7_a5-p-1sgOxnNef5R72mo-EV-MJKFWnNp-sO2-qO7tnwAHlRXfbCt7WJVeG1El0SHmkjW6EVlPlovQWQNfOIAtx7fcw/s320/East+Of+Kayenta_800x500.jpg" /></a></div>James Kisselhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12379544231155359342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3741510925663034771.post-47772285222715562332011-11-06T12:27:00.001-05:002012-02-24T21:34:31.054-05:0050 sheets of watercolour paperWhen I could finally see that the condo was starting to approach a finished state, one that you could comfortably live in, I ordered 50 sheets of watercolour paper from Cheap Joe's. I thought it was a bargain and they would ship it for free. As it turned out, the condo wasn't as finished as I had hoped, and before I got a chance to use even one sheet of this beautiful hoard of paper, CJ's offered the same paper at a 10% discount and free shipping! I know the old saw: “an hour late or a dollar short”, but sure as 'grass grows green and the sky is blue...', if I has postponed my purchase, I would have finished all the jobs on the condo and sat around waiting for a small more expensive paper order to be delivered.<br />
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Anyway, the 50 sheets represents my commitment to painting for the 2011-2012 winter. Starting on the first of November, I cleared a space in the basement of said condo, set up my Ikea art table, moved the left behind desk over, installed the salvaged book shelves from the dumpster at the apartment we use to rent and started to unpack my art books, supplies, and the necessities to start painting. So far I haven't had any time to paint as the jobs in the condo continue to multiply but I did get to an artsy project. Jill wanted my “Cherry Hill” painting hanging. <br />
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I had temporarily re-framed it by reusing a one of the three frames and mats from the “Winter Weeds” series, but the burgundy mat clashed with outdoor “Cherry Hill” image so a couple of days before Jill asked me to hang it, I restored the trio of weeds to their frames. OK. Old frame + new mat will work and yes, I have some mat material that if not exactly compliments “Cherry Hill”, at least doesn't clash with it. Where's the mat cutter??? Two hours later, having twice moved everything in my large collection of art supplies I finally found my mostly black mat cutter in the bottom of a black drawer, under a pile of black electronic accessory cords. I only have myself to blame. That aside, I cut a new mat, re-framed “Cherry Hill” with the new mat, and hung it in the entrance hall. The first painting in our new (to us) condo. Not much to show for three hours effort, but at least I have a better idea where everything is, art material wise, after the move. Maybe next week will bring some time to paint. Gosh! I surely hope so.James Kisselhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12379544231155359342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3741510925663034771.post-38713773591369246842011-07-14T18:22:00.000-04:002011-07-14T18:22:16.196-04:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh57dMJvz09lFze1okL2Lv1G4PusSFsxhAEAJ32DtbEIZMcQ7L5YLtt9o0E6y7J6T7ZprjW9nf5MDfhLJMx0IDPG5IRoCr-yZiKD9DYSbLcBvUVCQgZnmvTW0fOY-jN6Px4yYe12EgA6Q/s1600/ny_composit_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="95" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh57dMJvz09lFze1okL2Lv1G4PusSFsxhAEAJ32DtbEIZMcQ7L5YLtt9o0E6y7J6T7ZprjW9nf5MDfhLJMx0IDPG5IRoCr-yZiKD9DYSbLcBvUVCQgZnmvTW0fOY-jN6Px4yYe12EgA6Q/s320/ny_composit_small.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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New York, New York (So Good They Named It Twice)<br />
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New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, so good I painted it 5 times!<br />
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Actually this is about the third or forth time I've painted a New York skyline, but this time I've painted the lower Manhattan skyline as a series of 5 watercolours, a pentaptych. All the paintings are 22x15 inches on 200# Saunders-Waterford rough paper. The left most one was painted first and I have to admit, it shows. I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do when I started. By the time I started the third panel, the centre one, I was well into the grove and by the time I finished the last panel, I needed a break for this subject. The last panel, the far right one is my favourite. Jill, my personal mentor, life partner, likes the this one best also.James Kisselhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12379544231155359342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3741510925663034771.post-14205060078086994752011-06-16T12:09:00.003-04:002011-07-06T19:23:37.026-04:00Corfe II at sunset<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi004cXyMDUi4zEXjefpJspN5AS-ZdUDFeMLqEHLAd3R3pM__loKkeWwUbCLhGrt0hWjzg7Gs0lGOYQ2D-gDMuMGlao6EsUfRjIoHHRE_gPHMlRUlw4UpTBrYU6McHIMx1hJNWSLG8M9A/s1600/Corfe_II_at_sunset_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi004cXyMDUi4zEXjefpJspN5AS-ZdUDFeMLqEHLAd3R3pM__loKkeWwUbCLhGrt0hWjzg7Gs0lGOYQ2D-gDMuMGlao6EsUfRjIoHHRE_gPHMlRUlw4UpTBrYU6McHIMx1hJNWSLG8M9A/s320/Corfe_II_at_sunset_small.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Corfe Castle is such a special place. The first time I saw it, we traveled down from Bristol where I was living at the time, across part of Salisbury Plain, through Blandford Forum, “a delightful Georgian town”, to Lulworth Cove and then on to Durdle Door, a natural sea arch. We the drove across the army ranges to Corfe Castle. I would have liked to have seen it before the Roundheads destroyed it during the English Civil War.<br />
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About a week after I finished 'Corfe at Sunset' I decided to have a second go at this subject again. I almost managed to get the sunset I wanted. I may try again sometime.<br />
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Watercolour 22x15 inches on Saunders Waterford 200# rough paperJames Kisselhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12379544231155359342noreply@blogger.com0Corfe Castle, Wareham, Dorset, UK50.638248353034008 -2.056675332275403950.58320535303401 -2.1247418322754039 50.693291353034006 -1.9886088322754039tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3741510925663034771.post-10856336721775230572011-06-14T16:30:00.001-04:002011-07-04T11:14:33.599-04:00Corfe at Sunset<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj31NsIo9OqAtOO8Qj6pVmvLUmRwt6W3M0K-znh7q-vtDBSAsICGewC5mRXnBr_nJVwWvQCWKYVJ24v1DmnZv9DJu552usme7umHqVhQJgdPbel71tBndwnFmu4Nzl4Yo8NXgbppKCyxw/s1600/CorfeAtSunsetsmall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="205" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj31NsIo9OqAtOO8Qj6pVmvLUmRwt6W3M0K-znh7q-vtDBSAsICGewC5mRXnBr_nJVwWvQCWKYVJ24v1DmnZv9DJu552usme7umHqVhQJgdPbel71tBndwnFmu4Nzl4Yo8NXgbppKCyxw/s320/CorfeAtSunsetsmall.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Corfe Castle, Dorset, England. The sky just kind of ran away from me. Someone commented that it looks a bit confused to which I replied, Corfe Castle, or the remains of, is a pile of Purbeck stone, piled on top of a pile of Purbeck stone. Never taken by force of arms...<br />
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My first painting for 2011. Watercolour 15x22 inches on Saunders Waterford 200# rough paper.<br />
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my good friend Rob commented:"<i>... but was taken by treachery.<br />
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I'd step back and ask yourself wee you painting the sunset, or were you painting the castle, or the combination of both. The 50/50 split of the painting implies both, in which case I think the grey hills create the complication in a painting which is otherwise saying, look at the similarities between all that hard Purbeck stone and the sky.If you changed the perspective so that the grey hills created a much thinner line then it would work much better, allowing the castle to jutt into the sky ~ as a result the other painting works out better.</i>"<br />
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which I think is fair comment.James Kisselhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12379544231155359342noreply@blogger.com0Corfe Castle, The Square, Corfe Castle, Wareham, Dorset BH20 5EZ, UK50.641214 -2.0595929999999547.156552999999995 -9.53029599999995 54.125875 5.4111100000000505tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3741510925663034771.post-60046602191245415092011-06-13T15:09:00.000-04:002011-06-13T15:09:25.879-04:00West Tanfield, Yorkshire, EnglandThis photo was posted on WetCanvas.com as a <a href="http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=833952&highlight=tanfield">monthly challenge</a>.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOgGcbPwwGbKx79tO8W5RqSd8sqJVxTJztOH3aTpXXhR9Aze2adJR9DnTmXkcgXL2rftnrEyA1qj9Zgjq_HMV_j5bFVT48M0-x6ZZkYSM5iOLVagz9kmrtEUppGf5YCrzdfnlAn-n58g/s1600/WestTanfield_org_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOgGcbPwwGbKx79tO8W5RqSd8sqJVxTJztOH3aTpXXhR9Aze2adJR9DnTmXkcgXL2rftnrEyA1qj9Zgjq_HMV_j5bFVT48M0-x6ZZkYSM5iOLVagz9kmrtEUppGf5YCrzdfnlAn-n58g/s320/WestTanfield_org_small.jpg" /></a></div>I cropped it down to this.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTYP2ABRGTiifXV0js1AnwgHfXzXAmk-TjdNrc8vuYKC68YB8dQxpNgEUmvHRM1uD4VYK9oKKDBqaa6MkMn76jD2p605r3D-7IDcCmrqqnc-4_E2GghE5sLpzbwiQrLYoVNsZH83RrWQ/s1600/WestTanfield_crop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="245" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTYP2ABRGTiifXV0js1AnwgHfXzXAmk-TjdNrc8vuYKC68YB8dQxpNgEUmvHRM1uD4VYK9oKKDBqaa6MkMn76jD2p605r3D-7IDcCmrqqnc-4_E2GghE5sLpzbwiQrLYoVNsZH83RrWQ/s320/WestTanfield_crop.jpg" /></a></div>and here is my watercolour painting of this lovely village.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzUMaS4xDsruy-gox4z7qq8PzzVveiYGz5oVB4hNkCJr7QWPbv7GH6eVO1j7A0uwyzuxUCMDQx-5k079uqRSxSLkRtcmyXyNsFFEJEofsf2ADSFUW_U5jpgynEJHRyPaVWcMIjDeEgpA/s1600/West_Tanfield_small.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzUMaS4xDsruy-gox4z7qq8PzzVveiYGz5oVB4hNkCJr7QWPbv7GH6eVO1j7A0uwyzuxUCMDQx-5k079uqRSxSLkRtcmyXyNsFFEJEofsf2ADSFUW_U5jpgynEJHRyPaVWcMIjDeEgpA/s320/West_Tanfield_small.JPG" /></a></div>James Kisselhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12379544231155359342noreply@blogger.com0