7/22/2013 1:58:01 PM
In my last blog post I talked about the concept of how a simple value pattern or silhouette underlies great paintings. It is one thing to talk about simplifying a painting it is another thing to put it into practice. Finding the silhouette and maintaining it throughout the painting process is the most difficult concept for artists to grasp. It is something I struggle with and part of that struggle is overcoming misconceptions about what makes a painting work. Here are some common beliefs that steer artists away from creating a simple value pattern.
I love detail- you can be as detailed as you want as long as the values stay within the range of the silhouette. Artists run into trouble when they paint “things” without regard to the surrounding values and colors.
If I add more it will be better- Paintings are visual converstions between the artist and the viewer, keep the story simple and uncluttered for major impact. If you want to know if your painting has too much information, put it on an easel then step about 10 feet away. Use your hand to cover up parts of the painting. If the painting looks better when you block a part of it off then there is too much going on in that section. Here is a tool that can help you simplify without destroying all your hard work. To soften a pastel painting take a paper towel and fold it. Use the folded edge and very lightly drag it across the surface. This will soften the pastel without disturbing the drawing. With an oil painting a palette knife scraped across the canvas will do wonders.
I’ll keep working on the (nose, tree, eye, cup handle) until I get it right. – leave it alone and paint around it. Every inch of your paper or canvas is important and each stroke will work only in comparison with what it is placed against. An eye will look like an eye if you paint the cheekbone, side plane of the nose and brow bone as their correct form and value.
I love bright color- color without regards to value is useless. The correct color is always the correct value; the correct value is not always the correct color. Too much bright color is jarring you need some neutral tones to play the strong colors against. Also pay attention to the light source. Mud is created when artists paint light that is inconsistent with the light source.
In my next blog posts I give you some tools to overcome these problems.
This is a work in progress from a lesson I taught in my studio recently. Using Adobe Photoshop we cropped in the photograph to find a composition we liked then put the photograph into grayscale then reduced it to 2 values in posterize. The goal of the lesson was to keep the silhoutte simple while suggesting detail.
7/1/2013 2:13:18 PM
No Silhouette, No Painting
Funny how you can almost understand a concept, teach a concept, but it isn’t until someone says something as simple as “no silhouette, no painting” that the concept becomes an epiphany.
I gorged myself on art in the month of June. I went to New Mexico where I saw two incredible exhibitions at the International Association of Pastel Societies. While I was there I visited Santa Fe and the smorgasbord of galleries within the city. A week later I was in Petoskey, Michigan to attend the Oil Painters of America Salon Exhibition. Almost 400 outstanding oil paintings flank the walls of the Crooked Tree Arts Center. Hung salon style the paintings are stacked from floor to ceiling. The quantity and quality of the paintings is overwhelming and it is impossible to see the show in one visit.
I always look for a common thread for the paintings that have the “Wow” factor. Over the years I have come to understand that simplicity is the key to great work. This is a concept that is easy to say but difficult to put into practice. During the OPA opening there was a demonstration by Marc Hanson who is a fantastic landscape painter. As he began his demo he laid in the dark masses of the composition. He was not painting things such as trees or fence posts but a series of dark shapes that moved the eye around the canvas. As he laid them in he made the statement “no silhouette no painting.” For me that was an “aha” moment. He continued to build the painting into this silhouette, enhancing it with interesting edges and colors but he never broke away from his original light and dark structure.
What is a silhouette? The silhouette of a painting is the value structure reduced to its simplest arrangement of black and white. This is referred to as Notan in Japan and has been used by artists for centuries to create the bones of their compositions. The concept behind Notan is this: If the silhouette looks good the painting looks good. Paintings lose their visual punch when artists forgo the simplicity of light and dark and begin to paint “things” without thought of how they relate to the surrounding values. If the details are kept within their respective value range, or light and dark, they will not break up the silhouette. Silhouettes are never spotty with bits of light and dark jumbled across the canvas. They are most powerful when one value dominates and the less dominate value creates a thread of light or dark for the eye to follow.
Cotopaxi by Fredric Church is a great example of the power of simplicity. The fiery sunset behind the erupting volcano reflects into the surrounding landscape. At the Detroit Institute of Art this painting demands attention from far away. That is because as intricate as this painting is, Church never lost sight of the silhouette. Church was never one to shirk on detail and every corner of this painting is lavishly filled with small elements that delight the eye up close. While the details of Cotopaxi may enchant the real presence of the painting can be seen from across the room.
I found the silhouette of these images by using Adobe Photoshop. First I turned them into grayscale and then used posterize to reduce them into two values.
This next painting of a boy by John Singer Sargent is a great example of the power of silhouette in a portrait. When this painting is reduced to two values the face of the boy is still present and foremost. The black and white pattern is used to create light falling on a human form. Nostrils, eyelashes and other features that can easily be expressed as symbols are subdued within the value structure. Sargent kept this silhouette even though he added in the embellishments that made the portrait look like a unique person. The key to simplicity is creating a silhouette which becomes a structure to hang your values and colors on.
Simplicity is the key to great painting. “No silhouette, no painting,” four words that can take your painting to a new level.
In my next post I will show how artists can use a simple tool to put the idea of silhouette into their work.
Until then,
Happy Painting!
Vianna
