DESIGN and VALUE

• Can design have variety and repetition?

• What if we like pattern and repetition? Will my design be boring if I use the same shape again and again?

• There are lots of paintings that are middle value, such as Monet's. Why are you discouraging us from using middle values?

• I “fill up” my painting with shapes or realistic elements and then it becomes overcrowded. What do I do when this happens?

• How are value differences created in art?

• I have trouble “seeing” the values as soon as we add color. Can discerning values be learned? I hate to think I have to hold my phone all the time with the camera set to black and white.

• Can I use middle values?

• How do I clarify unclear values in my art?

• Can I use a middle value as a background?

• What is the Loud Conversation?

• What is the Quiet Conversation?

• What is the value scale?

• What is the quiet conversation in the lights?

• What is the quiet conversation in the darks?

• Is composition the same as design?

• Can you talk about the difference between fine art and craft?

• Can I have too many differences in my design?

• How do I understand the Principles if I don’t paint with specific shapes or line?

• What does HELL YES! and NO! mean?

• What is Call and Response?

• What is the Golden Mean?

• Should I have the Loud Conversation resolved before beginning the Quiet Conversation?

• How do the Principles apply to the work of Matisse, Rothko, or Diebenkorn?

• Do these Principles only apply to abstract art, or do they also apply to representational work?

• I understand the need for underlying layers to give depth, but how do you have “play” or “experimental” layers if you want to paint something more realistic or have an outcome in mind?

• How do I learn to go back and forth between planning/ intention/ thinking and intuition/ feeling?

• Do I need to treat the middle of a painting differently from the rest of it?

• What is wrong with a centered shape or object?

• How can I make the elements or areas of my design or composition feel more integrated?

• How does the concept of balance and visual weight play into the Design principle?

• Should one value be dominant over other values?

• Will we be working on the same panels for the duration of the program? (31)

• Will I lose my style if I reinvent the way I work?

• How long should I keep painting thick layers on my panel?

• How do I paint without a plan if I have an outcome in mind?

• Is it wrong to plan my painting?

• Can I paint over old work to start over?

• Can we paint our Limited Palette Panels on top of our Black and White Panels?

• Will any two colors work for the limited palette exercise?

• Why do you choose yellow ochre and cadmium red dark for the limited palette panels?

• Can I mix the yellow ochre and the red together when doing the limited palette exercise?

• If you are always pushing differences, how do you achieve unity?

• How would you apply the Art2life Principle of Design to more realistic / representational work?

• How do I find the quiet conversation in the lights and the darks?

• Why do we need differences?

• My shapes are all different, so why is the design is still boring?

• Why is the difference of spacing important?

• What is a design barrier?

• What is a top heavy design?

• What is a side heavy design?

• What is a bottom heavy design?

• Is it a problem to use diagonal lines or shapes?

• What does a “corridor” in my design mean?

• Is it helpful to outline a shape?

• Does it matter if all the edges of my shapes and forms have the same feeling?

• Can all my shapes or forms bleed off the edge of my panel?

• How can values make my art make more clear and interesting?

• Is it ok if my design divides my art in half?

• How long should I work on a panel before I stop to switch to a different panel?

• Can I start with a middle value color as the background?

• Why do value differences move my eye around the panel?

• When I'm covering up the whole painting over and over again, leaving none of the first passes visible, aren't I just starting over again and again?

• How can we use outlines in our art?

• Is it true that I should have a focal point - that something should be unique so the viewer focuses his attention there?

• What is Notan? How Does it relate to the principles of Design and Value?

• How does symmetry relate to  design?

• How does the Design Principle work with the RULE OF THIRDS?  

• How would you apply  the design principles to color field paintings?  

• What if my work doesn’t really have “defined elements” or shapes with hard edges.

• But what about the story I’m trying to tell in my art?

• How does space between the objects factor into the design?  

• If a painting is all black with a few marks of light, will the lights be the loud conversation?

• What is Dominance?

• What is "grouping values?"