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My early art development was primarily in The Provincetown Impressionism School. Values and understanding of dark and light were encouraged through the "art of seeing ". Values and drawing per say were not discussed because the summer school was only concerned about learning to see color.

As a Landscape painter I find the understanding of Notan invaluble for composition and design.

Notan : (Japanese for "dark-light") is an art principle focusing on the balance and interplay of light and dark shapes in a composition, treating them as equally important positive/negative spaces, much like yin-yang. Artists use simplified black and white studies (notan studies) to design strong compositions, focusing on shape relationships and value structure, which can be applied to any medium, from traditional cut-paper designs to  painting. 

Notan is my first consideration for a landscape or still life .  The Notan helps with the design it shows the negative and positive space.

"The Big Darks and the Big Lights" . It's crucial for understanding shapes and simplifying values. You can start with basically one shape and brake it down to four values from there. The Color tells the story after this design is concidered.

The Notan helps support the unity of the painting or drawings structure. If the unity of the painting is equal in its masses than the balance will be off. Creating a very "boring" design.

The above example is about 2/3 dark creating a back lite design . 

This example is 2/3 light mostly front light. This design is what many Impressionist painters use to express sunlight .

I have encouraged students to use the Notanizer app on their phone to determine what element of the picture they are struggling with. The Value Finder helps to separate parts of the dark and light within the picture.  However I discourage them to depend upon using such tools as the answer to making a successful composition. The AI cannot take the place of your personal expression and creativity. Just as you wouldn't depend on a photo  to copy from. Using technology as a reference tool. 

The Notan is most useful to ensure you are able to determine what your focal point will be.

This Notan : might be referred to as three value Notan. I believe it's a bit developed but simple in its organization of  the three values and gives the drama that is needed for a good focal point.