Did you know that your brain processes two billion pieces of visual data per second? Did you know we only “see” about 50 bits of this information?
The human brain is designed to quickly identify and interpret everything that enters the visual sphere. When people tell me they can only draw stick figures and symbols what they mean is their brain can only label an icon for the object and is not engaged with the unique peculiarities of the object itself. Their minds do not perceive the subtle changes in the color of a lemon in a dark blue shadow or the variations in a white piece of paper half in and half out of bright morning sunlight. Their mind receives the signal for “yellow lemon” or “white paper” but strips out the detailed relationships of color, line, shadow, shape, contour, and value of the object in its environment. By doing this the brain is doing us a huge favor. If it didn’t block out most of what was happening around us, we couldn’t focus.
According to a study by University of Oslo psychology professor Stine Vogt, Ph.D. in Perception (Vol. 36, No. 1). nine psychology students and nine art students were asked to view a series of 16 pictures while a camera and computer monitored where their gazes fell. She found that artists’ eyes tended to scan the whole picture, including apparently empty expanses of ocean or sky, while the nonartists focused on objects, especially people. Non Artists spent about 40 percent of the time looking at objects, while artists focused on them 20 percent of the time.
What does the artist see that most people do not? The first thing an artist observes is light. The appearance of what we see at any given moment is totally dependent on the relationships between light, objects, and our position as viewers of the situation. Without light, we can see nothing. Too much light and we can’t determine anything. Our ability to see the world around us is dependent on the amount of, and conditions of light within the range between total darkness and total brightness.
When we are swimming in an overwhelming sea of a million colors representing hundreds of perceptibly different lightness values. color is often different, or even opposite to what we expect it to be, know it to be, or assume it to be. Strangely, the best way for me to understand the color in my photographs is to remove it altogether. That’s why I begin by breaking down my composition into simplified representations using only black and white.
The simplest way I know to truly understand the light in my picture is by creating a Notan. Notan is a Japanese word for an alternating black and white pattern.
I use Notan to separate light from shadow into a two-value abstract pattern which reveals how light falls in my artwork. The light family (white) consists of all areas that are touched directly by the light source. The shadow family (black) consists of everything that is hidden from the light source. This includes all shadows and reflected light areas. A clear separation of what is in light and what is in shadow will make everything that is not working in my image immediately apparent.
I start this process by tracing my source image over a lightbox and creating multiple photocopies of my tracing. I use Tombow double-ended markers, or a Sharpie, to separate the light from the shadow on my first photocopy. Alternatively, you can use your phone or computer to convert your source image into grayscale and then increase the contrast until you have a black and white representation of your image. If the image still reads as you want it to at this stage, then you are ready to move on to a more detailed tonal value study.
Value does not describe the price or amount paid for an artwork. Value is an art term used to measure the relative lightness or darkness of a color or color shape. Value dominates our visual experience. It is the strongest element of visual contrast and largely determines our perception of form as we explore a picture.
A value scale ranges in discrete steps called tones that start at one end and step towards the other from white to black or vice versa. I use this handy tool for matching any color to a tone on the scale. You can either buy one or make your own value scale by painting strips numbered from one to 10 or one to 100 that range from pure white to pitch black on a piece of white cardboard.
To keep my tonal value study simple I use only 4 values - white, light-mid value, dark-mid value, and black. I buy Tombow markers in three values to use on another photocopy of my tracing to ensure I stick to just these four values. The key in this step is grouping values. Squinting at your subject helps to link the values and shapes of individual objects into larger masses of connected shapes. Consider the negative space and join the values of these surrounding spaces into a single value in an interesting shape that supports and defines your object(s).
It sounds really easy, right?
The difficulty with our perception of tone is that it 100% depends on the light; when the light changes, the tone changes with it. That’s why to our brain, tonality is unreliable. Tonal value is such an impermanent property of an object, that it can not be determined without looking, it is only true at this moment. For instance, our lemon is perceived as yellow even if it may look white bathed in bright light, or may appear black against backlight. We need to compare our object to something else; see it in relation to other colors to see its tone. We can only notice our object’s tone through intentional looking and only by holding it in the same gaze with something else - like our value scale. That’s why the artists in the study above were seen to scan the whole picture and not focus on the individual objects. They were looking for tonal relationships. All artists eventually learn to perceive tonal relationships, but do you know that even very experienced artists need to be reminded to look at the tonal value of color?
Because tonality is an optical phenomenon; and, as an optical illusion, our brain does not acknowledge it, it is easier for the amateur artist to begin working from photographs. Assessing the tonal value of the different parts of an image is much clearer in a black and white version of the same photo. Doing this makes a difficult subject easier to paint.
I don't always get the tonal value correct when I work in color. Therefore, to spot the mistakes, I sometimes scan or photograph my own paintings and then convert them to black and white and view them on my computer and phone as a way to spot what is and is not working.
In general, what was white in my Notan sketch will be white and light-mid value in my tonal value sketch and what was black in the Notan will be separated into dark-mid value and black in the tonal value sketch.
The goal for my tonal value sketch is to use 4 tones to create:
a contrast of light and dark.
the illusion of form.
a dramatic or tranquil atmosphere.
a sense of depth and distance.
a rhythm or pattern within a composition.
I always start with my focal point. This is the first place I want the viewer's eye to land. An important rule of composition is that the eye is attracted to the greatest point of value contrast before any other contrast. The human eye is drawn to something light set against something darker or vice versa. By carefully using tone you can create, or strengthen, the focal point in your paintings.
Next, I examine my three-dimensional forms: A careful transition of light and dark tones on a subject gives the illusion of three-dimensional form. It is not the color that makes an apple look like an apple. It is the contour and the form shadow that describe its shape and texture. You could color it blue or yellow, and it will still look like an apple if the tones are right.
If you are interested in understanding more about tonal values and still only have a blurry idea about how artists see, reach out to me and let’s talk. I welcome the conversation and I am available for private classes or workshops. I hope you will use these thoughts to strengthen your perceptions and your paintings. Regardless of your art form, understanding how to play with tonal values can significantly improve your creations. With Light and Delight,
Nothing is original!
Nobody is born with a style or a voice. As children, we learn by copying our parents, our teachers, our friends, our heroes, and our role models. As a teenager, you probably remember trying on a variety of personas, trends, and lifestyles to see what fit. I have tried being a barn rat, a blue-suited businesswoman in heels, a Brazilian "gatinha", and a “Lily Pulitzer” preppy before my current Bohemian Artsy self. In fact, we try on personas all our lives. We copy our family members, our friends, our film and TV heroes, we search online for the latest trends to copy in food, clothing, and home design and we even choose where to vacation by following the recommendations of others.
We mirror the people we surround ourselves with. If you want to know more about yourself, look at whom you admire, follow and copy. You’re only as good as the people you surround yourself with. Pay attention to what the people around you are talking about, what they’re doing, who they are with as those are the things you are drawing to yourself. When you surround yourself with people you can learn from, those who are way more talented, smarter, more successful than you it elevates your game in every area.
If you want to be a better artist, surround yourself with artists who inspire you. Hire the best teachers you can afford. Attend workshops, join art clubs. Create a circle around you of artists who live life the way you want to live, create the work you want to own, have the kind of friends you want to call your own, the kind of success you wish were yours, too. The people in your artist circle do not need to live in your town, they do not need to know you personally, they do not even need to be alive to inspire you and elevate your work.
The newest member of my own artist circle is Bernie Fuchs. He was a famous illustrator who died in 2009. Among other things, Fuchs was commissioned for the illustration of four U.S. postage stamps released in 1998. The stamps featured folk musicians Huddie ‘Leadbelly” Ledbetter, Woody Guthrie, Sonny Terry, and Josh White. Fuchs also illustrated several children's picture books, including Ragtime Tumpie and Ride Like the Wind!. He also painted portraits of several U.S. Presidents, including John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan, as well as of athletes and celebrities such as Muhammad Ali, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, and Katharine Hepburn. In 1975, Bernie Fuchs was inducted into the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame, an honor reserved for great illustrators such as Winslow Homer, Frederic Remington, Charlie Russell, Norman Rockwell, and Maxfield Parrish. I admire the energy and movement he adds to his paintings and the way he creates the glare of sunlight. I don’t understand his process yet, but I know that his body of work is still here to guide and teach me.
If you can’t think of how to begin your artist circle, notice when an artwork grabs your attention and awakens your curiosity. It might be in a museum, a gallery, a store, on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, or at a street fair. Create a photo album on your phone called “Inspiration” and snap photos of art that speak to your heart. Collect art you love in an Instagram folder and a board on Pinterest. Scroll through these files when you are looking for direction and inspiration.
Once you notice a particular artist appearing frequently in your collections, begin hanging out with them. Follow their posts, watch their videos, read their books, find out everything you can about them and their work. Discover three people the artist loved and learn everything you can about them too. The great thing about dead or remote masters is that they cannot refuse you as an apprentice. They left their lesson plans in their work. Research their life story, dig into their portfolio, their transitions, growth, drama, writings, interviews, musings. Become a fan.
Even if your artist is dead, or will never write back, write a fan letter. Make something to show your appreciation. Answer a question they’ve asked, improve on their work in some way. Do this without expecting any response. Do it for yourself to clarify what it is you admire about them and what you would like to add to your own toolbox from theirs.
Allow your favored artist to mentor you as you copy one of their artworks. Copying the works of a master is a method used to teach painting since oil paint was first invented back in the 1400s. Plagiarism is trying to pass off someone else’s work as your own. Copying is reverse-engineering; taking the work apart to see how the artist did it. There is no better way to learn.
Add the study of the life of the artist while you copy their work to get a glimpse into their mind. What did they wonder about, what questions, what obsessions held their attention throughout their career?
If you can internalize your artist’s way of looking at the world rather than merely mimicking the surface of their work you will be able to be more than a “knockoff” or imitation of them. You don’t want to just look like your hero, you want to see the world the way they do and become a part of their creative legacy.
Notice where your copies fall short of the artist’s mastery. As human beings, we are incapable of making perfect copies. What makes your copy different from theirs? That is what you should amplify and transform into your own work.
Once you have a good understanding of the artist’s thinking and working process it is time to move beyond imitation and into emulation. Emulation means being equal to or moving beyond the master. Could you create the artwork that is missing from their catalog - the one you would love to see? What did they miss? What didn’t they make? If they were still alive what would they be making today? Could you make a deliberately imperfect copy - what about a mutation? What if two of your favorite artists got together and collaborated what would they make with your input?
Austin Kleon the author of “Steal Like an Artist '' says every new idea is just a mashup or a remix of one or more previous ideas. Strangely, the more influences you add to your mix the more “unique and original” you and your art will appear. Follow your curiosity and mash-up your interests with your research. Notice your passions, your hobbies, your obsessions, and let them talk to your work. Your hobbies are things you do just for yourself. You don’t do them to make money or get famous, you do them because they make you happy. It is something that gives without taking; regenerative, and it will feed your work.
Copying many is research. When you feel like your romance with one artist is complete, move on to another artist and add them to your circle, too. All creative work builds on what came before.
Originality is simply creating something that did not exist before. You can develop your own unique and original voice by creating the artwork you would like to see and own. Create a world on your paper or canvas that you desire to enter even if you start with the work of another.
Transforming their work into something of your own is how you flatter your mentors. Add something to their work that only you can do! T.S. Eliot says it this way, “Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different. The good poet welds his theft into a whole feeling of which is unique, utterly different from that which it was torn”
Doing good work is incredibly hard and creating great art is a lifetime endeavor. There will always be someone more talented and more accomplished than you and those are the people you want to invite into your circle where they can mentor you in person or from a distance. Be nourished by the challenge of stretching yourself towards what you love and what feeds your creative muse. That is the process of artistic discovery.
If you ever find that you are the most talented person in the room, it’s time to mentor others and also to move into a bigger room.
This month I am celebrating one year of monthly newsletters! It has been a challenging stretch for me to crystalize my thoughts on different topics so they are meaningful to me and to you. I hope that my musings have been uplifting to you and your artistic endeavors. Let me know which essays and events resonated with you as the feedback helps to guide my future explorations. Please reach out if you are considering inviting me into your artist circle to mentor your growth. I welcome the conversation. I am excited to share everything I’ve learned with you. As your teacher, I can walk beside you and support you in the exploration of your authentic/true artistic voice. With Light and Delight,
This month I was able to attend the monthly art walk in Christianstead, St. Croix. On the third Thursday of each month local artists open their galleries and studios from 5 to 8 pm to share their talent and creative designs.
My favorites were Jan Mitchell, an artist who works in fused glass. Barbara Gelardi who paints brightly colored sea creatures and is known for her murals of St. Croix. And Isabelle Picard whose gallery The Mermaid's Purse was filled with quirky and lighthearted original inventions that made me smile.
The Jumbies were out too. A moko jumbie is a stilts walker or dancer. "Moko" means healer in Central Africa and "jumbi", a West Indian term for a ghost or spirit.
