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A paintings strength is determined by both its underlying unified abstractionthe arrangement of shape pattern, its Notan and color.The stark stretch from black to white is one of the painters most powerful tools. Color harmonies and paths lay sandwiched between the anchoring accent of black and the advancing power notes of white.

Black is recessive, it suggests and locks shape and color into place. White is aggres-sive, it states the intent of the painting and pushes forward. Of all the hues on the painters palette white is often the most powerful and purchases the larger share of a paintings symbolic/emotional freight.

Edgar Degas, Waiting, 95 x 75 cm, Pastel on paper

Seeing Degas

Seeing Degas is an excerpted lesson from my latest workshop Composi-tion, the Notan and Patterning for Painters. .

Edgar Degas, Waiting, 95 x 75 cm, Pastel on paper

Seeing Degas

Degas dynamic compositions and employ of black/white figures continues to inform modern and contemporary painting.

In this lesson my intent is to get inside of Degas working process while adhering to the focus of the workshop. For many artists trained in the academic process of working from cartoon to abbozzo to completion this will be a radical departure. But also one that will strengthen your work several times over.

ReciprocalRabatement

Without belaboring the point it is always a good practice to reduce the painting to its NOTAN. Good Notan equals good painting.

The figures are united with the elements of Black/White, shape and geometry (specifi-cally the harmonious division of the pictorial space symphonic composition, also known as dynamic symmetry).

The Rabatement (fixing a square onto the canvas) drawn from the right-side deter-mines the ballerinas foot while the full diagonal adjoins both mother and daughter. The Reciprocal locks the figures together.

A Reciprocal is determined by drawing a secondary diagonal at a right angle (90) to the primary diagonal. Note the mothers hands at the intersecting of these diagonals and the vertical reciprocal line vis-a-vis the ballerina.

You will need a canvas, board or paper measuring 12 x 15.2 (be precise about these measures as they are important) and an opaque painting medium such as oil, acrylic, gouache or pastel. Unless you are a highly accomplished watercolorist I suggest breaking out the Chinese or Titanium white if you only have watercolors to work with.

Using a pencil, HB will suffice, draw the Rabatement, Diagonals and Reciprocal lines. This will help you place the figures within the composition while instilling an apprecia-tion for the geometry.

HOWEVER! Do not sketch in the figures. That will defeat the exercise. The goal is to train you in the usage of Black and White AND also the process of spotting shape and color. This is a significantly different approach than filling in a drawing.

As each element is introduced follow suit on your canvas. It is one thing to read about painting process, it is quite another to engage the process with pigment.

Seeing Degas: Exercise 1

Begin by laying in a light, but not watery, ground of burnt sienna allowing your pencil lines demarcating the rabatement, reciprocal and two diagonals to be faintly seen. Depending on the brand of paint you are using you might need to add a little yellow ochre to match the hue in the illustration.

Using a round or filbert brush that is larger than you would usually select accurately place and ascribe the shape of the black figure. You can use any black of your choosing such as Ivory, Mars, etc. Your training in striking shape that is taught in my Beginning to Draw Workshop should make this a relatively easy and straight forward task.

Black is recessive, it draws back into the ground, or field, of the canvas. Black is also a harmonizer, it knits the color harmonies together into a unified whole. In Waiting black possesses the same approximate size as the white which will effect a direct one-two rhythm of push and pull.

The white figure shape juxtaposed to the recessive black figure shape establishes the complete three-dimensional stretch of push and pull. It requires a masterful intent for a painting that does not have the maximum push/pull stretch to succeed. Most paintings lacking the full stretch of white to black fail. But bear in mind, too, that in this workshop I am concentrating on the more dramatic examples.

Shape plays an important role too. Movement in painting is powered by contrast: the oval shape of the white figure plays (rhymes) off of the more elongated shape of the black figure.

Symmetrical shapes tend to advance; asymmetrical shapes tend to recede. If Degas had reversed the coloring of these two figure shapes the painting would lose much of its impact. Identical shapes have a powerful impact but their movement is lim-ited to push and pull only.

Dividing the burnt sienna field into background and tinted foreground modifies the figures white/black impact.

The diagram illustrates the harmony of natural order; by adhering to a logical sequence harmony is achieved.

Before adding the foreground we had a harmony of Hue (burnt sienna) + White + Black.

Adding the tinted foreground disrupts the order. What would be the logical next step?

From the preceding chart the harmonic order of sequence suggests that tone is required. And that would work well. However, Degas chose to follow the triangular lines of the chart hue/tint/white + hue/shade/black + white/gray/black. Mind you, he didnt have a copy of this chart in his studio. Faber Birren didnt publish it until well after Degas death. But Degas was well aware of the sequencing.

In Exercise 1 we went directly to adding an element of shade. Now we are working with more sophistication.

The shadows cast on the foreground are rendered with gray.

The dark shape of the ballerinas head and top of the bench are burnt sienna + shade.

The abstracted shapes and harmonies of the figure/ground are beginning to jell. As is the goverriding rule of drawing and painting we are working from the general to the specific.

The purpose of a pochade (the thumbnail study) is to work out the composition and harmonies. It is not meant to be a miniature of the final work and there is little benefit in doing so. Although small complete sketches are often worked up into larger paintings in the studio invariably the larger work lacks the freshness and directness of the sketch.

Using a round brush choose one that is a little larger than you normally would manageably loaded with burnt sienna sketch in the shapes of the figures as I have shown here. It is important in this exercise NOT to first draw the outside of the shapes and fill them in BUT instead use your brush to strike the entire shape. Try to strike the shape of the shoulders with one fell stroke. That is what a master painter would do.

The figural shapes can then be further elaborated with burnt sienna + tint. The mothers hands are a highly tinted burnt sienna.

Spotting, or striking, the dark shapes of the tutu using the same shade as the foreground shadow snaps the figure together. It now reads as three dimensional.

A few deft spots of black harmonically correspond to the black shape of the mother figure. Again, be sure that you are holding your brush toward the back end of the handle. The same goes for pastel. Grip it at the end of crayon.

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The more clarifications that can be decided in the pochade the better. I knocked down the foreground tonally. It is now more in line with Degas decision making process and better harmonizes the picture.

A melodic color path of tinted blue is added, plus an echoing yellow ochre color path in the dancers hair. These notes, including the black wrist ribbons, were most likely present on the models. But it is the artist who decides what to capitalize upon and what to edit out.

I was tempted to add a touch of red + tint (pink) into the ballerinas shoes but after some deliberation felt that they would be distracting. A little like too much sugar in ones coffee. My recommendation is to give Degas the benefit of any doubt. But in the interest of learning explore the possibilities of pushing this painting further. Render the shoes pink and consider whether or not the harmonies are bettered.

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