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Friday students started paintings with the objective of creating the illusion of depth or three-dimensional space. Each painting must include a value scale within the composition. In the painting above the value scale is within the tunnel-like arcing bands. The technique within the cubes is more akin to atmospheric perspective.

Cody Wilson Last Friday the class began addressing Value and Space. The painting above is an example of two-dimensional space. In 2-d space the pictorial depth is limited. Attention is place on the surface of the picture plane rather than creating the illusion of depth. Although unfinished, Cody's painting has addressed the four values of the project and established a rhythm between them. Notice how your eyes are lead from one shape of a particular value to the next. Remember that we look for similarity within shapes, values, colors, textures, etc.

James Christenson Last Friday we began our investigation of the art element VALUE . The objective was to create a continuous field composition applying values to the shapes according to the demands of the design. Each student started with 2 to 3 stencils that were traced to overlap and fill the page creating large and small shapes. Lines were then erased, added and moved to strengthen the composition. Although Jame's drawing is unfinished, you can see that he has already begun to balance the composition by applying similar tonalities across the paper. This will ensure a more balanced composition rather than if he had just started working across the paper left to right. *The class will next Friday's morning session to complete these drawings.

Circe Ament Last Friday the class made a series of (6) compositional studies using the same (3) elements with a limitation of no more than (6) positive shapes per composition. The objective was to create the most varied and dynamic arrangements while trying to invent new shapes. The strength in Circe's collages above lies in her division of the negative areas. The most successful pieces are those with the large brown shapes. These compositions exhibit the most attention to balancing the positive and negative areas.

Chani Spitzer-Christenson Circe Ament Friday morning began with a collage controlling the tension in the positive and negative areas. Notan was the final objective. In order for the collage to be successful, the positive and negative areas must be able to reverse rolls. On the one hand the white areas are seen as positive and on the other hand the black areas must be seen as positive with white negatives. In Chani's collage we are initially drawn to the convex white shapes before moving to the black strips. In Circe's collage we notice the animated arms of the white areas and there potential to reach and grab. The strength of the black strips lies within their interior cuts and strong sense of weight. The afternoon project was twofold 1. make a grid of rectangles using three contrasting values 2. place distorted shapes of an original form (the fork) striving to achieve Notan.

Scott Russell Yesterday the class explored the relationships between positive and negative areas of a composition. The project ( Expansion of the Square ) forces the artist to address both positive and negative areas by cutting shapes from a square and reversing them creating mirror images in white and black. There is no waste or left over pieces. Scott's design above is a very dynamic and rhythmic composition. The shapes appear to twist and form a circle within the square. Rukhsana Kamal Rukhsana's design illustrates the concept of NOTAN (the perfect balance between dark and light, neither shape trying to dominate the other). There are three criteria for Notan 1. The negative area must be enclosed creating an interesting shape. 2. The image must be reversible; the black and white areas my swap values without changing the balance. 3. The positive and negative areas must be able to trade roles; positive seen as negative and negative seen as positive. In the design above, the fl...

Yesterday's class began with a review of the Distal Cues and an introduction to the Principles of Design (more info under the tabs above). After making a series of compositional studies exploring the application of the Distal Cues and Design Principles, the most successful compositions were redrawn on Bristol board and rendered with vertical or horizontal parallel lines. The drawing above illustrates a well balanced composition with at least 4 to 5 layers of depth complemented with rich, contrasting values. In addition, the use of accented line makes this drawing particularly strong and visually interesting.