Something different today. It’s the first time in 10 days at home that I’ve got to something, however small, that I wanted to work on: A bunch of Notan studies of works by my absolute favorite painter, Edward Hopper.
This is not only a great way to think about composition, it’s also such an insight into motifs a painter uses over and over again. So many frames within frames in Hopper’s work, almost no horizontal lines, always diagonals. And, he rarely uses comfortable compositional techniques like placing things on lines of thirds. I am loving noticing how much all the darks connect, sometimes into one single shape.
Do you have a painter whose compositions you love? it would be interesting to look at their work in Notan. I’ll be doing more of these soon: they’re easy to do, but they make you think.
Sketch Away: Travels with my sketchbook 
Very interesting. Thanks for this!
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THANKS for introducing me to NOLAN!
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you’re welcome Rhoda. Notan.
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Wow this is an awesome way for me to practice seeing shapes, as well as values. Thanks so much for sharing!
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You are welcome! Its an easy exercise and a lovely way to study the masters
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Thank you for this! Your studies are beautiful in themselves. Did you use markers or paint?
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These are chinese black ink. But you could use anything I just like the feel of brush on paper
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Amazing, I like your energie and you keeping on, greetings tineke from the sketch in Zandvoort….
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Thanks Tineke!
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I just love these studies they reveal so much about the composition, structure
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Yes, Notan is incredible: especially in this simplest black or white form , it’s really fun to do too.
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Just love this page today. Brilliant Suhita.
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Thanks Susan, First day my mind was actually upto thinking and learning something for a short while. Hope you are well?
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This is a great idea, and I love the studies you did. Hopper’s work really lends itself to only two values. Some painters’ work may require three. In art school many years ago we did use three and I recall doing a very baroque painting by Rubens and in the process learned a lot about a style of art I really had not liked before..
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Yes, not only do I love Hopper, his work lends itself well to 2 values. Although I when I switch to three in a while, I’ll try these out again in 3. I’m trying some degas in 2 values now, he’s a little more complex but still works well in 2, atleast his urban scenes.
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