Notan is a Japanese term that means light and dark harmony.
It is a way of simplifying the image to only black and white to render the image as black and white shapes. There are no middle values and no color and textures.
I used the threshold feature in photoshop to reduce this photograph of a vine to just the black and white shapes.
This is another photo that was reduce to its light and dark values. This type of image is great for creating emulsion based screens for screen printing. I love to use the EZscreens for small projects.
High contrast photos work well with the threshold feature to create only black and white images, with no gray values. Then we can use the sun to harden the pre-coated screens and it short time have small screens for lots of mixed media projects.
Today I did a paper cutting notan study. I used a quick sketch that I had of a metal leaf sculpture. I drew the interconnected design on a small piece of black paper and then cut all the pieces out. The glued them like a reflection on to a larger piece of white paper.
I like the simple shapes. An I find that the limited black and white makes a strong impact. And it was easier than I thought to cut out and assemble. Try it!
Simple shapes make great stencils for gelatin printmaking too. If you need the long lasting recipe to make the gelatin and glycerin plate, the click here and get the video instructions.