Boundary Testing

Last week I played with the notan form...lifting harmonies of light and dark from various shapes: square rotated to triangle, rectangles, circles, and hexagons. Most of these initial designs were asymmetric, depicting natural scenes...a koi pond, a landscape of undulating, or a wood populated with oversized creatures. I found it easy to cut out shapes that depicted fully realized objects...such as a fish, tree, or lily pad. Making good use of the frame's negative space proved a challenge. 

This week, I set about exploring negative space. I began with Courbet's masterwork The Painter's Study. I found this piece particularly intriguing after reading several accounts of Courbet. Despite the near universal assessment of Courbet as an arrogant self-absorbed so-and-so, I saw a creative who invited art lovers into deep and meaningful conversations through his paintings. 

I wanted to join that conversation with Courbet too. Consequently, I chose to perform a study of the figures at the center of Courbet's painting, the painter, his muse, a small child, and a cat. Compared to muted value in other parts of the canvas, Courbet produced these central figures in strong contrast. Their arrangement fell in the bounds of a neat square. They seemed near perfect subjects for a symmetric notan. 

I had other motivations in this particular study. The notan form last week left me tinkering with landscapes. Rolling hills brought to mind draped fabrics, important to my major fashion design. Courbet's painting presented the joined challenge of separating foreground fabrics, people, and a landscape painting. 

The study offered opportunities to play with the gestalt principles of continuity and figure ground. 

I began my study by drawing the seated painter and his muse on a large drawing pad with charcoal. Once I understood the general pose, I used Adobe Fresco to sketch the notan in digital form.  

Each figure had its particular charm: the painter, his muse, the child, and the playful cat. I wanted to capture the painter's posture...leaning back in his char as his arm stretching forward to place a finishing touch, his famous pointed beard drawing a similar line. 

Once I got the white cutouts set against a black background, I set it side to side with its negative, black cutouts against a white background. Surprisingly, the notan was assembled, a face appeared. The kittens suggested a nose. The draped portrait looked like wide open eyes. The muse's silhouette suggested ears and hair. The expression of the face was astonishment; it called to mind the wild eyed expression of a young Salvador Dali. 

I liked the overall effect of the symmetric notan but its complicated design presented challenges. After the last studio session, I decided to pursue the larger image of the face. This simpler form was more easily rendered and allowed me the opportunity to play with emotional expression. A simple choice to add glasses to the face made a noticeable difference in the fierceness of the eyes' expression. Curiously, the face without the wireframes appears calmer. 

Overall, the symmetric notan suggests as a study in light and shadow. The eye perceives scale differently depending on whether black details a figure or establishes the ground.