More on Notan Paintings

This post is about one of my mistakes. (There are so many!).  I had gone with my husband to LaBonte Canyon where he likes to fish and I try to find a scene I want to paint, which is always a challenge since I don't find it especially inspiring. But that's a different subject altogether.

 Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of the actual scene so you can't see what I was working with. I will tell you that it was pretty flat with the sun bathing everything. Very few shadows and very few value changes in the grasses and foliage.  But, the photos I do have will work for the point I want to make.

And that point is this. A notan painting doesn't do you much good if you don't follow what you've discovered with it.

 I knew I would have to add some interest in value if I was going to make a harmonious arrangement of dark and light masses (the definition of notan). Below is a page from my sketch book showing some notan paintings I did for this particular scene. You can see a similarity between them, yet they're all different. The one I chose is on the lower left.

 The notan clearly has 4 values with a distinct identity. As I transferred my notan design to my canvas I paid close attention to the darkest values and the middle values at the horizon, as you can see in the block in below. Good so far.

Then I abandoned my notan painting because I got distracted by the actual scene in front of me.  Not so good.

When I got this far I didn't like what I had. I messed around with it, trying warmer and cooler colors in the foreground. Back and forth I went with no satisfaction. Finally in frustration and philosophic attitude I wiped the whole thing off and packed up, telling myself it was a valuable experience because I had at least done some notan paintings.

It wasn't until I got home, and pulled out the camera and looked at this photo and the one of the notan paintings, that I realized my mistake. (Too bad I wiped it off). Too bad I forgot to follow my notan painting! I think this could have been a good painting if I had realized I hadn't put those middle values in the foreground in the same pattern as in the notan painting. (And if I hadn't wiped it off I could have corrected this later).

So, I guess it may have been my most valuable lesson yet concerning notan paintings, after all - remember to follow the harmonious arrangement I've chosen.

Happy painting till next time.