Results of the Live Demo, Plus Enrollment is Open!
Good morning everyone,
Yesterday we finished up the 3-day introduction to my upcoming class, and had a good time doing the live zoom demo. I wanted to share the process here with everyone, as I added color to the subject I had been sharing with you over the previous two posts. Did you miss the first two posts in this series? You can follow the links here to get yourself up to speed!
What Is Composition? And Why Should Study It
So, first we had the photo I started with, the alterations I made to it, and the black and white notan I made from it—
The original photo.
the cropped and edited version I chose to use.
the simplified notan.
When we make a notan, the goal is to represent what the local contrast is with black and white. So, in this situation, for example, even though the far away trees are paler than the up close ones, they get drawn in black. Otherwise they just disappear!! Note too how the little bits of highlights in the trees, on the ground and in the bushes become white in the notan. You can see it here-
Heres the photo. I’ve marked out some of the “local” highlights.
and here I’ve marked them in the notan, where they appear as red (white normally).
The notan helps us understand how the contrasts play out in the composition. It also helps us see what will go into the first wash (which will be our highlights later on, even if they’re not pure white), and also where we will need to preserve things and paint negatively when we do the second wash (represented with red in the photo).
Watch the video below and you’ll see how I’m applying the thinking I went through when making the notan.
Here’s the final piece. Everything always comes out different when viewed through the camera lens, no doubt.
The cart for From Photo to Final Painting is open!
If this sort of content is exciting to you, and you’re looking to really push yourself and improve, please follow this link to find out more about my upcoming class!
Class runs for 5 Saturdays, Oct 15- Nov 12, rom 9-4, with recordings available in case you miss things or want to rewatch a class. We’ll be learning about the 4 Pillars of Composition (Shapes, Value, Edges, and Color), the Watercolor Clock, Wet into Wet Edges, Color Contrast, and all the bones of what you really need if you want to move forward with your painting practice. The goal is to get you deeper into the practice and process of transforming your own photos into finished paintings.
Of course, we’ll be working on technique too! But part of what makes this class special is that it builds in daily prompts for painting in between the Saturday classes, and that’s where your work on your technique really takes off— it’s all about miles on the brush, repetition, and experimentation. I will guide you and make it as easy as possible for you to succeed, but you’ll need to do that painting yourself! ;) Then you get to come back to the Saturday class and get more input again!
It’s a stellar learning combo that I’ve based off of years of my own learning experience, and I’m very excited to get to share it with all of you guys. This longer form, more ambitious curriculum is something that I’ve been molding and desiring to teach for a very long time. It’s more work (both for you and for me!), but the pay off is far FAR greater. Read about it all here! Enrollment closes on this Friday, October 7th, at 11:59.
Come with me on this journey! :D