New Start!

Today I have been getting ready for a new start. Tomorrow I start my Art Psychotherapy Masters Degree! I was hoping to do some painting today, but last minute form filling and organisation took over leaving me just enough time for a little digital blending but not much else!

A little digital blending and some photo manipulation created these wonderful psychedelic magic mushrooms!

Yesterday I played with another Notan design. This one has lots of faces in it. How many can you see?

More Notan!

I’m finding this Notan quite addictive… so here’s another one.

I cut this one a bit differently. Instead of folding the paper into four before cutting, I only folded it in half; and rearranged a couple of the pieces to break the symmetry. I wasn’t sure which way up it should go, but I think I prefer it with the straight edge to the left. What do you think?

I’m still busy scanning some of the smaller cardboard pieces I created a while ago, so here’s a couple more.

I created this piece on recycled cardboard using acrylic paint, acrylic ink, stencils and homemade stamps.

This is another piece on recycled cardboard created using acrylic paint and acrylic ink. But this one was calling to be blended…

…this is the result – quite dramatic, don’t you think?

What is Notan?

One of the problems I’ve had during the move is that I haven’t had time to keep up with my daily blog reading list. I know I could have just marked my backlist as read and started again, but I’m glad I didn’t or I might have missed this post from Karen Isaacson about Notan. What is Notan? It’s a Japanese concept exploring the contrast between dark and light in relation to design. Maybe you’ve heard of it, but I certainly hadn’t and Karen’s post intrigued me. I went on a Google search to see what else I could find out. I found this lesson plan from Lotte Petricone very informative and was particularly intrigued by the idea of using the shapes asymmetrically.This article by Sharon Himes interested me with the parallels it drew to all art and design concepts.

But enough about the theory! As you must have guessed by now – I had to try it out!

This was my first attempt. I cut shapes out of a square of white paper then stuck them symmetrically round the square in exact reverse of their original cut out position.

This was my second attempt. This time I arranged the cut out shapes to reverse their original cut out position. I think I’m going to have a go at an asymmetrical arrangement next. Keep watching this space!