Saturday, September 17, 2016

Avocado and Tomatoes in Black and White - and More about Notan

fine art black and white oil painting of avocado
 "Avocado and Tomatoes"
approx. 8 x 11 inches, oil on Arches oil paper
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After reading this post by James Gurney, I decided to try some notan sketches on brown cardboard as a warmup for this painting - and it was fun! It's so satisfying to put thick white paint over a midtone surface. Why? Who knows - but I'll be back for more. 

notan black and white oil painting of avocado and tomato

The idea with notan is that midtones have to get lumped into either dark or light - you only have two values to work with. These forced choices remind us that we are interpreting, not copying the subject; composition is something we impose on nature. Two artists will not come up with the same value scheme in a notan sketch. There is no right or wrong way to do it. 

Also, it looks cool!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello! I love your blog, I'm always looking forward to your posts. I like how you simplify with your brushstrokes, especially with this value one. And you have a fantastic sense of color. Keep up the awesome work :)

Sarah Sedwick Studio said...

Thanks, Heather! I appreciate it!