#24 Sunset Glow by George Inness - 25 Days of Tonalism Vol 2
Hello, and welcome to Tonalist painting with M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is a study painted after 'Moonlit Landscape' by Charles Warren Eaton. Note: This post is day twenty-three of 25 Days of Tonalism Vol 2.
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also, watch the video for extended insight and commentary. BTW I now have a store on my site. Check it out and buy an original painting today!
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
Facebook Page
Instagram
A bit about my study painted study painted after 'Sunset Glow' by George Inness; one of the all-time great Tonalists. I love doing studies after George and I always get a lot illumination from the exercise.
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| Painted after - 'Sunset Glow ' by George Inness Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also, watch the video for extended insight and commentary. BTW I now have a store on my site. Check it out and buy an original painting today!
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
Facebook Page
A bit about my study painted study painted after 'Sunset Glow' by George Inness; one of the all-time great Tonalists. I love doing studies after George and I always get a lot illumination from the exercise.
 |
| Original painting 'Sunset Glow ' by George Inness |
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| Painted after - 'Sunset Glow ' by George Inness (Detail) |
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| Painted after - 'Sunset Glow ' by George Inness (Detail 2) |
#22 Sunset at Montclair by George Inness - 25 Days of Tonalism Vol 2
Hello, and welcome to Tonalist painting with M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is a study painted after 'Sunset at Montclair' by George Inness. Note: This post is day twenty-two of 25 Days of Tonalism Vol 2.
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also, watch the video for extended insight and commentary. BTW I now have a store on my site. Check it out and buy an original painting!
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
Facebook Page
A bit about my study painted study painted after 'Sunset at Montclair' by George Inness; one of the all-time great Tonalists. I love doing studies after George and I always get a lot illumination from the exercise.
 |
| Painted after - 'Sunset at Montclair' by George Inness Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also, watch the video for extended insight and commentary. BTW I now have a store on my site. Check it out and buy an original painting!
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
Facebook Page
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| Original painting 'Sunset at Montclair' by George Inness |
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| Painted after - 'Sunset at Montclair' by George Inness (Detail) |
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| Painted after - 'Sunset at Montclair' by George Inness (Detail 2) |
#19 Medfield Massachusetts by George Inness - 25 Days of Tonalism Vol 2
Hello, and welcome to Tonalist painting with M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is a study painted after 'Medfield Massachusetts' by George Inness. Note: This post is day nineteen of 25 Days of Tonalism Vol 2.
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also, watch the video for extended insight and commentary.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about my study painted study painted after 'Medfield Massachusetts' by George Inness; one of the all-time great Tonalists. I love doing studies after George and I always get a lot illumination from the exercise.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Painted after - 'Medfield Massachusetts' by George Inness Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also, watch the video for extended insight and commentary.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about my study painted study painted after 'Medfield Massachusetts' by George Inness; one of the all-time great Tonalists. I love doing studies after George and I always get a lot illumination from the exercise.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Original painting 'Medfield Massachusetts' by George Inness |
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| Painted after - 'Medfield Massachusetts' by George Inness (Detail) |
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| Painted after - 'Medfield Massachusetts' by George Inness (Detail 2) |
#17 Moonlight, Tarpon Springs by George Inness - 25 Days of Tonalism Vol 2
Hello, and welcome to Tonalist painting with M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is a study painted after 'Moonlight, Tarpon Springs by George Inness. Note: This post is day seventeen of 25 Days of Tonalism Vol 2.
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also, watch the video for extended insight and commentary.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about my study painted study painted after 'Moonlight, Tarpon Springs' by George Inness is one of the all-time great Tonalists. I love doing studies after George and I always get a lot illumination from the exercise.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Painted after - 'Moonlight, Tarpon Springs' by George Inness Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also, watch the video for extended insight and commentary.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about my study painted study painted after 'Moonlight, Tarpon Springs' by George Inness is one of the all-time great Tonalists. I love doing studies after George and I always get a lot illumination from the exercise.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Original painting 'Moonlight, Tarpon Springs by George Inness |
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| Painted after - 'Moonlight, Tarpon Springs by George Inness (Detail) |
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| Painted after - 'Moonlight, Tarpon Springs by George Inness(Detail 2) |
#13 - Landscape by George Inness - 25 Days of Tonalism Vol 2
Hello, and welcome to Tonalist painting with M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is a study painted after 'Landscape' by George Inness. Note: This post is day thirteen of 25 Days of Tonalism Vol 2.
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also, watch the video for extended insight and commentary.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about my study painted study painted after 'Landscape' by George Inness; A super colorful Inness today. I learned a lot from doing this study.
To see more of my work, visit my site here.
 |
| Painted after - 'Landscape' by George Inness Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
Today's painting is a study painted after 'Landscape' by George Inness. Note: This post is day thirteen of 25 Days of Tonalism Vol 2.
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also, watch the video for extended insight and commentary.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about my study painted study painted after 'Landscape' by George Inness; A super colorful Inness today. I learned a lot from doing this study.
To see more of my work, visit my site here.
 |
| Original painting 'Landscape' by George Inness |
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| Painted after - 'Landscape' by George Inness (Detail) |
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| Painted after - 'Landscape' by George Inness (Detail 2) |
#5 Durham, Connecticut by George Inness - 25 Days of Tonalism Vol 2
Hello, and welcome to Tonalist painting with M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is a study painted after Durham Connecticut by George Inness. Note: This post is day three of 25 Days of Tonalism Vol 2.
Our video features the progre
ssion of this painting from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also, watch the video for extended insight and commentary.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about my study painted study painted after Durham, Connecticut by George Inness; George Inness, really the greatest landscape painter. I enjoyed doing this study and learned a lot.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Painted after - 'Durham, Connecticut - George Inness Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
Our video features the progre
ssion of this painting from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also, watch the video for extended insight and commentary.M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about my study painted study painted after Durham, Connecticut by George Inness; George Inness, really the greatest landscape painter. I enjoyed doing this study and learned a lot.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Original painting Durham, Connecticut by George Inness |
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| Painted after - Durham, Connecticut by George Inness (Detail) |
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| Painted after - Durham, Connecticut by George Inness (Detail 2) |
#21 George Inness 'Morning' - 25 Days of Tonalism
Hello and welcome to Tonalist painting with M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is a study after George Inness - 'Morning.'
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
Last week I gave you a list of the colors I use (with suppliers) on my palette and an accompanying photo. I will put that photo up again this week. I intend to break down why I use each color and information about why I place each one on my palette, whether I absolutely need to have it, whether it's just convenient or, it's a color that is difficult to mix.
Please note the positioning of pigments on my palette is basically from dark to light and from blue to yellow, but there are some variations. When it comes to placement of color on a palette, I feel that it is very subjective. The most important thing is that you have the color put in a spot where you can always find it.
I currently have 17 colors on my palette. Today, I will start to break down the colors on my palette from white on the on the right-hand side moving counterclockwise towards the darker tones.
Lead White/Titanium White 50-50 mix (Lead Wt -Windsor Newton, Titanium Wt -Gamblin)
I use a combination of Lead and Titanium white because I feel this mixture gives me the most positive attributes of both while obviating their negative qualities. Titanium White is very opaque and for that reason when used alone makes colors quite chalky while Lead White is far more transparent and flexible. By adding Titanium to my Lead White, I get that extra bump of opacity from the Titanium White while still getting the flexibility of the Lead White.
Hansa Yellow medium (Gamblin)
I use Hansa yellow because it very closely approximates the color of Cadmium Yellow. Cadmium Yellow is not compatible with Lead White and Cadmium Yellow will oxidize over time in mixtures with the Lead. I used to use a Hue tone from Daler Rowney that worked well but was lacking the level of color permanence that I want for my paintings. Hansa Yellow is very flexible and has worked very well for me since I made the switch last year.
Yellow Ocher (Daler-Rowney Georgian)
I can mix a color like Yellow Ocher quite easily using yellow, black and white with some red. Yellow Ocher was one of the first colors I added to the limited palette I started painting with because it is very handy to have and, being an earth tone it is invaluable for landscape painting.
Transparent Earth Yellow (Gamblin)
Transparent Earth Yellow is very similar to the Yellow Ocher but transparent, whereas Yellow Ocher is opaque. When it is thinned down, it can be used for glazing. This is probably my primary use for it but it is flexible in a lot of ways. I can use it to make a number of nice greens or, modify other color mixtures. This color is not absolutely essential, but like I said, is very handy to have and I would miss it if it were not there on my palette.
Raw Umber (Daler-Rowney Georgian)
I added Raw Umber to my pallet about three or four years ago after finding that I needed it to do some conservation work on another artist's paintings. I now use Raw Umber a lot to kill the strength of brighter colors in a warm way. It has a slight green cast to it and is very handy for making a variety of tans that I can use to paint grasses and other features of the landscape. I painted for many years without Raw Umber but these days I consider it to be absolutely essential.
Mike's Green (mixture of Hansa Yellow and Ivory Black)
I guess if I was a totally famous artist I would get some brand of paint to market this Green as Mike's green. There is a color from Gamblin called Green Gold which is similar but lacks in opacity and therefore covering power. Aside from that Gamblin color, I know of no other tubed pigment that is like Mike' Green. This green is a perfect example of how yellow is actually a green tone for the most part. Interesting that you get this beautiful green by just adding black to bright yellow. Mike's Green is a very flexible tone that I add other colors to when painting the landscape, its main advantage is that it is very earthy in quality while most tubed greens are too chromatically saturated to use without significant modification for landscape painting.
Permanent Orange (Gamblin)
Last year I embarked upon a mission to find a 100% lightfast orange pigment. Prior to this, I was using a Hue pigment that approximated Cadmium Orange. I actually find Permanent Orange a touch too light but I have a nice red tone right next to it on my palette so I can deepen it easily. I have many uses for an orange on my palette. The two primary ones being to create complementary grays in my skies and the other is to modify various ocher mixtures to counteract greenish properties. I also like to add this to my lighter greens to give a more earthy feeling.
I will pick up this list again tomorrow with our next blog post, so stay tuned for that.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A little bit about my study after George Inness - 'Morning'; I really like the atmospheric quality that George achieved in his original painting and also the way that he has used a lot of different colors in his sky but, it does not seem garnish. As usual, I get a lot from doing studies after George Inness, he is the Master.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Painted after - 'Morning' by George Inness, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
Today's painting is a study after George Inness - 'Morning.'
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
Last week I gave you a list of the colors I use (with suppliers) on my palette and an accompanying photo. I will put that photo up again this week. I intend to break down why I use each color and information about why I place each one on my palette, whether I absolutely need to have it, whether it's just convenient or, it's a color that is difficult to mix.
Please note the positioning of pigments on my palette is basically from dark to light and from blue to yellow, but there are some variations. When it comes to placement of color on a palette, I feel that it is very subjective. The most important thing is that you have the color put in a spot where you can always find it.
I currently have 17 colors on my palette. Today, I will start to break down the colors on my palette from white on the on the right-hand side moving counterclockwise towards the darker tones.
Lead White/Titanium White 50-50 mix (Lead Wt -Windsor Newton, Titanium Wt -Gamblin)
I use a combination of Lead and Titanium white because I feel this mixture gives me the most positive attributes of both while obviating their negative qualities. Titanium White is very opaque and for that reason when used alone makes colors quite chalky while Lead White is far more transparent and flexible. By adding Titanium to my Lead White, I get that extra bump of opacity from the Titanium White while still getting the flexibility of the Lead White.
Hansa Yellow medium (Gamblin)
I use Hansa yellow because it very closely approximates the color of Cadmium Yellow. Cadmium Yellow is not compatible with Lead White and Cadmium Yellow will oxidize over time in mixtures with the Lead. I used to use a Hue tone from Daler Rowney that worked well but was lacking the level of color permanence that I want for my paintings. Hansa Yellow is very flexible and has worked very well for me since I made the switch last year.
Yellow Ocher (Daler-Rowney Georgian)
I can mix a color like Yellow Ocher quite easily using yellow, black and white with some red. Yellow Ocher was one of the first colors I added to the limited palette I started painting with because it is very handy to have and, being an earth tone it is invaluable for landscape painting.
Transparent Earth Yellow (Gamblin)
Transparent Earth Yellow is very similar to the Yellow Ocher but transparent, whereas Yellow Ocher is opaque. When it is thinned down, it can be used for glazing. This is probably my primary use for it but it is flexible in a lot of ways. I can use it to make a number of nice greens or, modify other color mixtures. This color is not absolutely essential, but like I said, is very handy to have and I would miss it if it were not there on my palette.
Raw Umber (Daler-Rowney Georgian)
I added Raw Umber to my pallet about three or four years ago after finding that I needed it to do some conservation work on another artist's paintings. I now use Raw Umber a lot to kill the strength of brighter colors in a warm way. It has a slight green cast to it and is very handy for making a variety of tans that I can use to paint grasses and other features of the landscape. I painted for many years without Raw Umber but these days I consider it to be absolutely essential.
Mike's Green (mixture of Hansa Yellow and Ivory Black)
I guess if I was a totally famous artist I would get some brand of paint to market this Green as Mike's green. There is a color from Gamblin called Green Gold which is similar but lacks in opacity and therefore covering power. Aside from that Gamblin color, I know of no other tubed pigment that is like Mike' Green. This green is a perfect example of how yellow is actually a green tone for the most part. Interesting that you get this beautiful green by just adding black to bright yellow. Mike's Green is a very flexible tone that I add other colors to when painting the landscape, its main advantage is that it is very earthy in quality while most tubed greens are too chromatically saturated to use without significant modification for landscape painting.
Permanent Orange (Gamblin)
Last year I embarked upon a mission to find a 100% lightfast orange pigment. Prior to this, I was using a Hue pigment that approximated Cadmium Orange. I actually find Permanent Orange a touch too light but I have a nice red tone right next to it on my palette so I can deepen it easily. I have many uses for an orange on my palette. The two primary ones being to create complementary grays in my skies and the other is to modify various ocher mixtures to counteract greenish properties. I also like to add this to my lighter greens to give a more earthy feeling.
I will pick up this list again tomorrow with our next blog post, so stay tuned for that.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A little bit about my study after George Inness - 'Morning'; I really like the atmospheric quality that George achieved in his original painting and also the way that he has used a lot of different colors in his sky but, it does not seem garnish. As usual, I get a lot from doing studies after George Inness, he is the Master.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Original painting 'Morning' by George Inness |
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| Painted after - 'Morning' by George Inness, Study by M Francis McCarthy (Detail) |
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| Painted after - 'Morning' by George Inness, Study by M Francis McCarthy (Detail 2) |
#13 George Inness 'The Storm' - 25 Days of Tonalism
Hello and welcome to Tonalist painting with M Francis McCarthy.
 |
| Painted after - 'The Storm' by George Inness, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
Today's painting is a study after George Inness, 'The Storm.'
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
Today, I would like to talk about the nature of visual imagery in our modern world. It wasn't that long ago that if you wanted any type of image you had to create it using charcoal, pencil or paint. In the early 1800s photography became available, although it was expensive and required some special chemicals, not to mention expertise.
Fast-forward 150 years and we find ourselves immersed and inundated with visual imagery everywhere we turn. In addition to all of the print media of the past, we have television, computers, video games and movies. As a consequence of this, people have become very accustomed to being saturated with visual imagery on a daily basis.
As I've spoken before on this blog, I worked for many years as a commercial illustrator using primarily digital media to create and execute my illustrations. I was lucky that I was on the forefront of the technology wave and was able to use my artistic talent and knowledge of programs like Photoshop to secure myself a good paying job.
For many years I was quite content to crank out images at an amazing rate utilizing pen, paper and of course my computer to finish the illustrations. I created some visually stunning work but there was inevitably something unsatisfying about creating images with a computer and printing them out on paper.
No matter how much time or effort I expended in creating an image, it always came out of a printer onto a piece of paper. Some printers are better than others and some paper is definitely better than other paper but the reproduced images is always just that, a reproduction on a piece of paper.
This insight was one of the major catalysts that drove me toward creating original oil paintings on wood panels. When I make a mark on my panel it is non-repeatable and always completely unique. The combination of myself as the artist, the oil-paint and the panel all unite to create a special and original object. While this object is two-dimensional on its face, it is really more than that, my painting is something that has been created by the human hand.
I pride myself on taking excellent photographs of my paintings and I go to great lengths to adjust and correct them. The fidelity to my original is as close as possible. There are huge swaths of the population that will never see one of my original paintings, they are interacting with a digital replica in most cases.
Even this digital replica could not have been created inside the computer. It would be utterly and completely impossible to accomplish this, not just with the present technology but it would be nearly impossible to accomplish even with future technologies yet un-invented.
As an aside, I might mention that I was chatting with a local artist recently who was putting on a show of their work that consisted entirely of reproductions. They seemed convinced that the reproductions were just as good as their originals, but if you asked me, this is self-deception and patently incorrect.
I did not argue with this artist because it is not my place to dispel their personal illusions. But I assure you that an original handmade work of art will always be uniquely and utterly compelling as an original object, especially compared to any facsimile regardless of how clever and accurate the reproduction might be.
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about my study after George Inness' 'The storm'. Of the 25 days of Tonalism studies that I have done, I would say this is one of the strongest and most attractive George Inness paintings. He is without a doubt, my favorite painter and I thoroughly enjoyed making this study after his remarkable painting.
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| Original painting 'The Storm'' by George Inness |
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| 'The Storm' by George Inness, Study by M Francis McCarthy (Detail) |
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| 'The Storm' by George Inness, Study by M Francis McCarthy (Detail 2) |
#10 George Inness 'Moonrise' - 25 Days of Tonalism
Hello and welcome to Tonalist painting with M Francis McCarthy.
Today's study is painted after 'Moonrise' by George Inness.
Our video features the progression of this study from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
Today I like to talk about how the concepts of constraints apply to painting in general, and landscape painting specifically. People often think of constraints as a bad thing but when it comes to art, having constraints are absolutely vital to the creation of any work of art that is successful.
One of the first ways a painter constrains themselves is by the support that they choose to paint on. Each of the different supports whether it be canvas, paper or board has its good points as well as its drawbacks. Some artists choose to paint on canvas attached to a board but even then they are constrained by the texture of the canvas. A painting done on canvas will have a different feeling than a painting done on board or paper. I have written about different supports in the past and will do so again in the future.
Another obvious constraint involved with painting is the media that the artist chooses to execute their work. There are a plethora of different media available to the artist today from watercolor to pastel to acrylic or oil paint, not to mention other alternative medias like encaustic resin. The media you choose to create your painting with will be one of the major constraints you are placing upon yourself as an artist. I have chosen oil paint to do all of my work and to be honest, I don't think there's another type of media more flexible or permanent.
I've known artists that like to jump from one media to the next and from one type of support to the another. I guess it depends on your personality, but to me this seems like a good way to avoid mastery of any one media. For this reason, I choose to constrain my painting to oil paint only. Oil paint can work very thin or thick and retains its original coloration even after drying. I have not run up against too many things that I could not accomplish with oil paint that I would be able to do with some other media better.
Another way that I constrain myself as an artist, is by focusing on landscape painting. There have been many artists in history that did not specialize in only one type of painting. Most of the great Masters of landscape painting did not often paint other subject matter very often. Constraining myself in this way enables me to focus on improving the way I approach the landscape and I'm constantly building on a series of previous successes and failures. Were I to fracture my attention by doing a landscape one day and a figurative painting or still life the next, I might accomplish some good paintings, but for the way I work, I would not really be succeeding majorly at any of them.
In a world full of options, setting constraints enables an artist to focus on directing their inspiration into realization instead of wasting a lot of time of fiddling about with the tools used in the process. Tools, should be just that, tools that enable the artist to create something that is greater than the parts that went into it the painting, this includes the reference used, the inspiration as well as the tools used to execute the painting.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about my study after 'Moonrise' by George Inness; though very small, this study got an appreciable amount of attention when it was residing in the drying area of my studio. It is a striking motif and while not one of the greatest paintings that George Inness created, it is still pretty awesome.
I got quite a lot out of doing this study and I'm hoping to integrate some of those lessons into my own paintings.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Painted after - 'Moonrise' by George Inness, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x5, Oil on wood panel |
Our video features the progression of this study from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
Today I like to talk about how the concepts of constraints apply to painting in general, and landscape painting specifically. People often think of constraints as a bad thing but when it comes to art, having constraints are absolutely vital to the creation of any work of art that is successful.
One of the first ways a painter constrains themselves is by the support that they choose to paint on. Each of the different supports whether it be canvas, paper or board has its good points as well as its drawbacks. Some artists choose to paint on canvas attached to a board but even then they are constrained by the texture of the canvas. A painting done on canvas will have a different feeling than a painting done on board or paper. I have written about different supports in the past and will do so again in the future.
Another obvious constraint involved with painting is the media that the artist chooses to execute their work. There are a plethora of different media available to the artist today from watercolor to pastel to acrylic or oil paint, not to mention other alternative medias like encaustic resin. The media you choose to create your painting with will be one of the major constraints you are placing upon yourself as an artist. I have chosen oil paint to do all of my work and to be honest, I don't think there's another type of media more flexible or permanent.
I've known artists that like to jump from one media to the next and from one type of support to the another. I guess it depends on your personality, but to me this seems like a good way to avoid mastery of any one media. For this reason, I choose to constrain my painting to oil paint only. Oil paint can work very thin or thick and retains its original coloration even after drying. I have not run up against too many things that I could not accomplish with oil paint that I would be able to do with some other media better.
Another way that I constrain myself as an artist, is by focusing on landscape painting. There have been many artists in history that did not specialize in only one type of painting. Most of the great Masters of landscape painting did not often paint other subject matter very often. Constraining myself in this way enables me to focus on improving the way I approach the landscape and I'm constantly building on a series of previous successes and failures. Were I to fracture my attention by doing a landscape one day and a figurative painting or still life the next, I might accomplish some good paintings, but for the way I work, I would not really be succeeding majorly at any of them.
In a world full of options, setting constraints enables an artist to focus on directing their inspiration into realization instead of wasting a lot of time of fiddling about with the tools used in the process. Tools, should be just that, tools that enable the artist to create something that is greater than the parts that went into it the painting, this includes the reference used, the inspiration as well as the tools used to execute the painting.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about my study after 'Moonrise' by George Inness; though very small, this study got an appreciable amount of attention when it was residing in the drying area of my studio. It is a striking motif and while not one of the greatest paintings that George Inness created, it is still pretty awesome.
I got quite a lot out of doing this study and I'm hoping to integrate some of those lessons into my own paintings.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Original painting 'Moonrise' by George Inness |
 |
| Painted after - 'Moonrise' by George Inness (Detail 1) |
 |
| Painted after - 'Moonrise' by George Inness (Detail 2) |
Morning Trail 10x14
Hello and welcome to Tonalist paintings by M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is 'Morning Trail' 10x14.
Our video features the progression of this painting from its earliest understudy/drawing stages on up through the final brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
On today's video I was discussing what's happening for me in the studio these days. I've been finishing up a pass of 10 new paintings, but I've also been engaged with revisiting and repainting about 25 older paintings.
If you check out my old blog here you'll find that I wrote quite a lot about revising paintings there. Back in late 2012 early 2013, after returning from a long vacation, I saw quite a few things wrong with some of the paintings that were waiting for me when I got home. So, then I set about redoing quite a few paintings and I wrote about it extensively.
There have been occasions since then where I have revisited and redone one or two paintings here and there, but for the most part, I've been mostly plowing ahead with new work. There is a very interesting quality that you can achieve when working on top of an old painting that is impossible to get with a new painting.
One of my big heroes, George Inness was famous for repainting many of his works and not only that, he would often do entirely new paintings over the paintings of his friends and family. It's very interesting to have a structure underneath a new or partially new motif. You get a very different quality in the brushwork than when working on a fresh ground/surface.
Many times when I am reworking a painting I will just do things directly from my imagination, but in this current bunch of old paintings that I'm working on, I have chosen to do some creative free compositing using high-quality photographs of the old paintings. In Photoshop, I am adding trees or paths, perhaps a new sky or some other element. In some cases, I have composited trees from old Master paintings on top of my own painting to utilize as reference for my reworking. This is not something I've ever tried before but it is helping me achieve a very interesting result.
Many artists use reference for their work. It is one of the most important aspects of my painting practice. I find paintings done strictly from the imagination become too samey. For this reason I generally utilize manipulated photographs as reference. Or, in this case, I am using re-composited reference images added to the photograph of my painting.
It's very important to approach your reference with a creative and correct attitude. The idea is not to lavishly copy your reference image detail for detail, or note for note in every individual aspect. The best approach is to use it as just that, a reference, to stimulate your own personal, subjective creativity not to be a human copy machine.
In the case of my current batch of re-paintings, I'm getting a very interesting quality that is desirable. It's hard to describe the effect but I could easily point out paintings that I've done that were repainted over older scenes in a lineup because of this quality.
In some cases I am leaving much of the old painting there, perhaps just exchanging a new clump of trees for an old one. In other cases, I am leaving almost nothing of the original motif. Even in those instances you would be surprised how much of the original painting is peeking through here and there.
There is one particular scene that features a clump of trees on a beach that had some grasses in front of it and a hillside in the background. I worked so hard on this painting. Unfortunately it never really came together. It had nice color and texture but real issues in the composition especially in the clump of trees. For this particular painting, I've removed almost every aspect of the original except for portions of the sky.
There's a lot of value in repainting over unsuccessful older work and I highly advise you to try it if you never have. You might be pleasantly surprised that the good result you get, and the best part is you are getting rid of an unsuccessful old work and replacing it with something new that is hopefully more outstanding.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Morning Trail 10x14. As I stated in our previous blog posts that featured the study, I am happy with this painting and I feel it is a successful piece. The real star of the scene would be the striated colors in the sky but there is also a good sense of movement and I also appreciate the overall simplicity of this motif.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Morning Trail by M Francis McCarthy, 10x14 Oil Painting on Wood Panel |
Our video features the progression of this painting from its earliest understudy/drawing stages on up through the final brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
On today's video I was discussing what's happening for me in the studio these days. I've been finishing up a pass of 10 new paintings, but I've also been engaged with revisiting and repainting about 25 older paintings.
If you check out my old blog here you'll find that I wrote quite a lot about revising paintings there. Back in late 2012 early 2013, after returning from a long vacation, I saw quite a few things wrong with some of the paintings that were waiting for me when I got home. So, then I set about redoing quite a few paintings and I wrote about it extensively.
There have been occasions since then where I have revisited and redone one or two paintings here and there, but for the most part, I've been mostly plowing ahead with new work. There is a very interesting quality that you can achieve when working on top of an old painting that is impossible to get with a new painting.
One of my big heroes, George Inness was famous for repainting many of his works and not only that, he would often do entirely new paintings over the paintings of his friends and family. It's very interesting to have a structure underneath a new or partially new motif. You get a very different quality in the brushwork than when working on a fresh ground/surface.
Many times when I am reworking a painting I will just do things directly from my imagination, but in this current bunch of old paintings that I'm working on, I have chosen to do some creative free compositing using high-quality photographs of the old paintings. In Photoshop, I am adding trees or paths, perhaps a new sky or some other element. In some cases, I have composited trees from old Master paintings on top of my own painting to utilize as reference for my reworking. This is not something I've ever tried before but it is helping me achieve a very interesting result.
Many artists use reference for their work. It is one of the most important aspects of my painting practice. I find paintings done strictly from the imagination become too samey. For this reason I generally utilize manipulated photographs as reference. Or, in this case, I am using re-composited reference images added to the photograph of my painting.
It's very important to approach your reference with a creative and correct attitude. The idea is not to lavishly copy your reference image detail for detail, or note for note in every individual aspect. The best approach is to use it as just that, a reference, to stimulate your own personal, subjective creativity not to be a human copy machine.
In the case of my current batch of re-paintings, I'm getting a very interesting quality that is desirable. It's hard to describe the effect but I could easily point out paintings that I've done that were repainted over older scenes in a lineup because of this quality.
In some cases I am leaving much of the old painting there, perhaps just exchanging a new clump of trees for an old one. In other cases, I am leaving almost nothing of the original motif. Even in those instances you would be surprised how much of the original painting is peeking through here and there.
There is one particular scene that features a clump of trees on a beach that had some grasses in front of it and a hillside in the background. I worked so hard on this painting. Unfortunately it never really came together. It had nice color and texture but real issues in the composition especially in the clump of trees. For this particular painting, I've removed almost every aspect of the original except for portions of the sky.
There's a lot of value in repainting over unsuccessful older work and I highly advise you to try it if you never have. You might be pleasantly surprised that the good result you get, and the best part is you are getting rid of an unsuccessful old work and replacing it with something new that is hopefully more outstanding.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Morning Trail 10x14. As I stated in our previous blog posts that featured the study, I am happy with this painting and I feel it is a successful piece. The real star of the scene would be the striated colors in the sky but there is also a good sense of movement and I also appreciate the overall simplicity of this motif.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Morning Trail by M Francis McCarthy, 10x14 (Detail) |
Night Scene 8x10
Hello and welcome to Tonalist paintings by M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is 'Night Scene' 8x10.
Our video shows the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stage all the way through to the final glazes and finishing touches. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check that out.
In the studio today, I've been finishing some studies for the current pass of images that I am working on. I didn't use to do two color passes on my 5x7's but after completing the hundred days of tonalism project, I decided that it was worth it to give them a little extra polish. Another reason that I like to finish them off more now is because I will be abandoning my photographic reference while doing the final stages of my larger painting, referring to my study only.
For both my studies and my larger paintings I use photographic reference for the drawing/underpainting stages and also the first color pass. For my color studies, I will refer to my reference once again when I am doing my second and final color pass.
On my larger paintings, I use my photographic reference for my underpainting stage and the first color pass only. Then I refer to my 5x7 study for the second color pass and (lastly) for the third painting stage (if I am doing a third stage). I will use no reference at all and just apply myself to dealing with things in the larger painting that need to be addressed.
These are important strategies for me. I have succumbed to all of the evils inherent in using photographic reference in my career as a landscape painter. These techniques I utilize now help me to avoid falling into some of the fundamental traps that can come about when utilizing photos as reference for landscape painting.
I discussed this topic a lot on my previous blog so I won't go into it much further here. I thought that it would be good to update (those of you interested), on my current strategies for using photos as reference. If you want to know more about my struggles in this regard you can go to the old blog and to some searching for the word photos, you will find a lot of information there about the processes I've gone through.
It might be legitimate to ask "if there are so many traps inherent in using photos why would you even bother?" Well, a lot of the traps intrinsic to using photos will also be there laying in wait for you when working out in nature directly. So either way, you need to be careful.
The main thing is to not overwork or over detail your painting. Photos and reality in general, contain a plethora of detail that is just not suitable to be rendered into a painting. The other big issue we can face is just mindlessly copying the existing composition of the photo or the scene that you are referencing. This is a big issue and I have addressed composition on this blog many times as well.
My struggles with composition are ongoing of course, but I'm getting better all the time and it feels good to not make the same stupid mistakes over and over.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Night Scene' 8x10; I'm happy with the way this painting turned out as well as the study that we discussed previously. As you can see from the video I worked with a blue ground for this painting instead of my usual burnt sienna undertone. I will be experimenting with other ground colors is in the future for night scenes as I'm still very much working on my approach to nocturnes.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Night Scene by M Francis McCarthy, 8x10 Oil Painting on Wood Panel |
Our video shows the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stage all the way through to the final glazes and finishing touches. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check that out.
In the studio today, I've been finishing some studies for the current pass of images that I am working on. I didn't use to do two color passes on my 5x7's but after completing the hundred days of tonalism project, I decided that it was worth it to give them a little extra polish. Another reason that I like to finish them off more now is because I will be abandoning my photographic reference while doing the final stages of my larger painting, referring to my study only.
For both my studies and my larger paintings I use photographic reference for the drawing/underpainting stages and also the first color pass. For my color studies, I will refer to my reference once again when I am doing my second and final color pass.
On my larger paintings, I use my photographic reference for my underpainting stage and the first color pass only. Then I refer to my 5x7 study for the second color pass and (lastly) for the third painting stage (if I am doing a third stage). I will use no reference at all and just apply myself to dealing with things in the larger painting that need to be addressed.
These are important strategies for me. I have succumbed to all of the evils inherent in using photographic reference in my career as a landscape painter. These techniques I utilize now help me to avoid falling into some of the fundamental traps that can come about when utilizing photos as reference for landscape painting.
I discussed this topic a lot on my previous blog so I won't go into it much further here. I thought that it would be good to update (those of you interested), on my current strategies for using photos as reference. If you want to know more about my struggles in this regard you can go to the old blog and to some searching for the word photos, you will find a lot of information there about the processes I've gone through.
It might be legitimate to ask "if there are so many traps inherent in using photos why would you even bother?" Well, a lot of the traps intrinsic to using photos will also be there laying in wait for you when working out in nature directly. So either way, you need to be careful.
The main thing is to not overwork or over detail your painting. Photos and reality in general, contain a plethora of detail that is just not suitable to be rendered into a painting. The other big issue we can face is just mindlessly copying the existing composition of the photo or the scene that you are referencing. This is a big issue and I have addressed composition on this blog many times as well.
My struggles with composition are ongoing of course, but I'm getting better all the time and it feels good to not make the same stupid mistakes over and over.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Night Scene' 8x10; I'm happy with the way this painting turned out as well as the study that we discussed previously. As you can see from the video I worked with a blue ground for this painting instead of my usual burnt sienna undertone. I will be experimenting with other ground colors is in the future for night scenes as I'm still very much working on my approach to nocturnes.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Night Scene 8x10 (Detail) |
Night Scene 5x7
Hello, and welcome to Tonalist painting by M Francis McCarthy.
Today's study is 'Night Scene' 5x7.
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early drawing stages on up through my final glazes and scumbling. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please enjoy it.
I recently received a book on George Inness called George Inness. This book was created to go along with a large retrospective exhibition back in 1985. Here is a link to this book on Amazon. I highly recommend it. While not a perfect art book, this book is absolutely worthwhile to check out. It has some great writing about George Inness and I feel that many of the reproductions are nice as well, so ignore any negative comments you read about this book on Amazon and purchase it used. You won't regret it.
In the back portion of this book there is an article reprinted from Harper's New Monthly Magazine February 1878 titled a 'Painter on painting.' This was a very famous interview with George Inness at the beginning of his general recognition of being a genius. Unfortunately for painters like myself that are hungry for technical information about George's painting style there is little information of that type. What there is, is quite a lot of philosophical discussion about art and painting that is illuminating. I'm going to share a few of George's statements here today in this blog:
When asked about art education George Inness replied.
"Pupils can't be taught much by an artist. I have found that explanations usually hinder them, or else make their work stereotyped. If I had a pupil in my studio, I should say to him sit down and paint."
When asked "what is it that the painter tries to do?"
"Simply to reproduce in other minds the impression which a scene is made upon him. A work of art does not appeal to the intellect. It does not appeal to the moral sense. Its aim is not to instruct, not to edify, but to awaken an emotion. This emotion may be one of love, of pity, of irritation, of hate, a pleasure, or of pain; but it must be a single emotion, if the work has unity as every such work should have, then the true beauty of the work consists in the beauty of the sentiment of emotion which it inspires.
Details in the picture must be elaborated only enough fully to reproduce the impression that the artist wishes to reproduce. When more than this is done, the impression is weakened or lost, and we see simply an array of external things which may be very cleverly painted, and may look very real, but does not make an artistic painting."
When asked "what is the tendency of modern art buyers?"
"Our country is flooded with the mercantile imbecility's of hundreds of artists whose very names are a detestation to any lover of truth. The true artist loves only that work in which the evident intention has been to attain the truth, and such work is not easily brought to a fine polish. What he hates is that which has evidently been painted for a market. That sleekness of which we see so much in pictures is a result of spiritual inertia, and is a detestation. It is simply a mercantile finish.
No great artist ever finished a picture or a statue. It is mercantile work that is finished, and finish is what the picture dealers cry for. The art buyer instead of covering the walls of his mansion with works of character, or, what is better, with those works of inspiration which alerted his mind to the regions of the unknown, is apt to cover them with the sleek polish of lackadaisical sentiment, or the pure realities of impossible conditions.
Consequently, the picture dealer although he may have, or may have had, something of the artistic instinct, is overwhelmed by commercial necessity. Let every endeavor be honest, and although the results of our labors may often seem abortive, there will here and there flash out of them a spark of truth which shall gayness the sympathy of a noble spirit."
When asked "what is the true use of art?"
"The true use of art is, first to cultivate the artists own spiritual nature, and secondly, to enter as a factor in general civilization. And the increase of these effects depends on the purity of the artist motive in the pursuit of art. Every artist who, without reference to external circumstances, aims truly to represent the ideas and emotions which come to him when he is in the presence of nature, is in the process of his own spiritual development, and is a benefactor of his race.
Of course no man's motive can be absolutely pure and single. His environment affects him. But the true artistic impulse is divine. The reality of every artistic vision lies in the thought animating the artist's mind. This is proven by the fact that every artist who attempts only to imitate what he sees fails to represent that something which comes home to him as satisfaction - fails to make a representation corresponding to the satisfaction which it produced to the satisfaction felt in his first perception.
Everything in nature has something to say to us. No artist need fear that his work will not find sympathy if he only works earnestly and lovingly."
These are just a few quotations from this excellent interview of what is most likely the greatest landscape painter who ever lived. The sentiments of his that I presented to you today are just as relevant to us in the modern age as they were over hundred years ago and I could not agree more with George Inness.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Night Scene' 5x7; this is one of my recent attempts at a nocturne. I'm quite happy with this study and also the larger painting that we will be discussing in a few days. Check out the video narration for a bit more insight into my thoughts and feelings about nocturnes and my approach to this painting in particular.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Night Scene by M Francis McCarthy, 5x7 Oil Painting on Wood Panel |
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early drawing stages on up through my final glazes and scumbling. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please enjoy it.
I recently received a book on George Inness called George Inness. This book was created to go along with a large retrospective exhibition back in 1985. Here is a link to this book on Amazon. I highly recommend it. While not a perfect art book, this book is absolutely worthwhile to check out. It has some great writing about George Inness and I feel that many of the reproductions are nice as well, so ignore any negative comments you read about this book on Amazon and purchase it used. You won't regret it.
In the back portion of this book there is an article reprinted from Harper's New Monthly Magazine February 1878 titled a 'Painter on painting.' This was a very famous interview with George Inness at the beginning of his general recognition of being a genius. Unfortunately for painters like myself that are hungry for technical information about George's painting style there is little information of that type. What there is, is quite a lot of philosophical discussion about art and painting that is illuminating. I'm going to share a few of George's statements here today in this blog:
When asked about art education George Inness replied.
"Pupils can't be taught much by an artist. I have found that explanations usually hinder them, or else make their work stereotyped. If I had a pupil in my studio, I should say to him sit down and paint."
When asked "what is it that the painter tries to do?"
"Simply to reproduce in other minds the impression which a scene is made upon him. A work of art does not appeal to the intellect. It does not appeal to the moral sense. Its aim is not to instruct, not to edify, but to awaken an emotion. This emotion may be one of love, of pity, of irritation, of hate, a pleasure, or of pain; but it must be a single emotion, if the work has unity as every such work should have, then the true beauty of the work consists in the beauty of the sentiment of emotion which it inspires.
Details in the picture must be elaborated only enough fully to reproduce the impression that the artist wishes to reproduce. When more than this is done, the impression is weakened or lost, and we see simply an array of external things which may be very cleverly painted, and may look very real, but does not make an artistic painting."
When asked "what is the tendency of modern art buyers?"
"Our country is flooded with the mercantile imbecility's of hundreds of artists whose very names are a detestation to any lover of truth. The true artist loves only that work in which the evident intention has been to attain the truth, and such work is not easily brought to a fine polish. What he hates is that which has evidently been painted for a market. That sleekness of which we see so much in pictures is a result of spiritual inertia, and is a detestation. It is simply a mercantile finish.
No great artist ever finished a picture or a statue. It is mercantile work that is finished, and finish is what the picture dealers cry for. The art buyer instead of covering the walls of his mansion with works of character, or, what is better, with those works of inspiration which alerted his mind to the regions of the unknown, is apt to cover them with the sleek polish of lackadaisical sentiment, or the pure realities of impossible conditions.
Consequently, the picture dealer although he may have, or may have had, something of the artistic instinct, is overwhelmed by commercial necessity. Let every endeavor be honest, and although the results of our labors may often seem abortive, there will here and there flash out of them a spark of truth which shall gayness the sympathy of a noble spirit."
When asked "what is the true use of art?"
"The true use of art is, first to cultivate the artists own spiritual nature, and secondly, to enter as a factor in general civilization. And the increase of these effects depends on the purity of the artist motive in the pursuit of art. Every artist who, without reference to external circumstances, aims truly to represent the ideas and emotions which come to him when he is in the presence of nature, is in the process of his own spiritual development, and is a benefactor of his race.
Of course no man's motive can be absolutely pure and single. His environment affects him. But the true artistic impulse is divine. The reality of every artistic vision lies in the thought animating the artist's mind. This is proven by the fact that every artist who attempts only to imitate what he sees fails to represent that something which comes home to him as satisfaction - fails to make a representation corresponding to the satisfaction which it produced to the satisfaction felt in his first perception.
Everything in nature has something to say to us. No artist need fear that his work will not find sympathy if he only works earnestly and lovingly."
These are just a few quotations from this excellent interview of what is most likely the greatest landscape painter who ever lived. The sentiments of his that I presented to you today are just as relevant to us in the modern age as they were over hundred years ago and I could not agree more with George Inness.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Night Scene' 5x7; this is one of my recent attempts at a nocturne. I'm quite happy with this study and also the larger painting that we will be discussing in a few days. Check out the video narration for a bit more insight into my thoughts and feelings about nocturnes and my approach to this painting in particular.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Night Scene 5x7 (Detail) |
Day Ninety Nine: October by George Inness
Hello and welcome to Day 99 of 100 days of Tonalism.
Today's study is 'October' by George Inness.
One more day to go and this is our last Inness. I knew I would enjoy making studies after Inness' paintings and I'm so glad that I've had the experience, though it was a lot of hard work. I will be reading from the book George Inness by Nicolai Cikovsky in today's video narration, so please check that out.
Well, we spent the last couple days talking about Modern art which might seem a little disingenuous as the name of the blog is Tonalist Paintings by M Francis McCarthy, and the series we are in is called 100 days of Tonalism.
The reasons I brought up Modern art here are because it has nearly the full attention and financial backing of the current art establishment. Representational art has been making some major inroads though and after 100 years of disparaging representational art, many artists are tired of the freak show and are looking for meaning beyond clever artspeak.
Today, since we have just one more post to go, I think I'll just talk about what attracted me to Tonalism and why I love it. I've always enjoyed art and when I was a young man I was captivated by the art of men like Frank Frazetta and all of the comic greats from my era. I had awareness of fine art as well and a deep respect for people like Michelangelo and Albrecht Durer. As I stated in a previous blog post it wasn't until sometime in the 80s that I began to visualize wanting to be a landscape painter. I've outlined most of that process of discovery fairly well elsewhere in this series of blog posts, so have a look for that if you are interested.
The major thing that has attracted me to Tonalist painting is the richness and strong emotive qualities of it. There are many ways to paint a landscape but after my initial exposure to Tonalism I felt I'd discovered the pinnacle of what had been accomplished by the great artists of the late 1800s and early 20th century. Sadly, as some of you know, much of this work was forgotten as were the artists that created it. This is changing and I'd like to think that my series here, 100 days of Tonalism is helping in that regard.
I was talking to a friend of mine the other day about a book called the Agony and the Ecstasy about Michelangelo. I read this book when I was a young man and it had a great impact on me. The main thing that struck me about Michelangelo was how passionate he was. At that time in Europe, art was primarily two-dimensional/flat in feel, and though there were plenty of representations of people, often times you could not clearly make out any real anatomy for all of the rendering of folds that was going on. The Europeans did have access to ancient statuary created by the Romans and the Greeks that depicted the human figure correctly and powerfully, but there was little understanding about anatomy in the pre renaissance or, how to accurately render it.
Because Michelangelo was aware of this huge disparity between, what had been in the past and how it surpassed art in his time, he was curious about how to create anatomical art himself that would match or, even surpass the achievements of the Greeks and Romans. He set about teaching himself anatomy studiously even to the point where he would dissect corpses (an act that was illegal in his day).
The reason I bring up Michelangelo in regards to Tonalism is that I see the same sort of thing happening now with landscape painting, in that there are all these masterful Tonalist paintings that exist however, because they've been mostly bypassed and forgotten by art history, many artists are unaware of the achievement and just sort of do whatever it is they're doing, whether that is working in some sort of Impressionist vein, or just doing their best to copy photographs using oil paint. Like Michelangelo I can see that much of the landscape painting that is done by contemporary artists falls far short of the high mark set by the Tonalists at the peak of landscape painting.
After becoming aware of Tonalism I set about doing my best to create paintings that captured the same sort of mood and spiritual depth as the Masters. Whether I've succeeded or not is perhaps best judged by others but I am certainly proud of the attempt and I will continue to create landscape paintings that I find personally moving until I am no longer able to.
As I stated above there are many ways that you can accomplish landscape painting and many moods and ideas can be conveyed by various approaches. For me, no other school of painting has come even close to the level of Tonalism and that is why I spent the better part of this year working on this series in an endeavor to learn more, and also to bring greater awareness to this awesome school of art.
If you are a person that has any questions about Tonalism or Tonalist painting that you feel I can answer, I can be reached easily through my website Landscaperpainter.co.nz I am happy to help you in any way I can, so do not hesitate to contact me.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'October' by George Inness; this is a really great painting by George and one of the studies I am most proud of doing.
I'm very happy with the textural approach that I achieved on the study and as I've stated in previous blog posts, this has very much informed my own Tonalist painting.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Painted after - October by George Inness, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
One more day to go and this is our last Inness. I knew I would enjoy making studies after Inness' paintings and I'm so glad that I've had the experience, though it was a lot of hard work. I will be reading from the book George Inness by Nicolai Cikovsky in today's video narration, so please check that out.
Well, we spent the last couple days talking about Modern art which might seem a little disingenuous as the name of the blog is Tonalist Paintings by M Francis McCarthy, and the series we are in is called 100 days of Tonalism.
The reasons I brought up Modern art here are because it has nearly the full attention and financial backing of the current art establishment. Representational art has been making some major inroads though and after 100 years of disparaging representational art, many artists are tired of the freak show and are looking for meaning beyond clever artspeak.
Today, since we have just one more post to go, I think I'll just talk about what attracted me to Tonalism and why I love it. I've always enjoyed art and when I was a young man I was captivated by the art of men like Frank Frazetta and all of the comic greats from my era. I had awareness of fine art as well and a deep respect for people like Michelangelo and Albrecht Durer. As I stated in a previous blog post it wasn't until sometime in the 80s that I began to visualize wanting to be a landscape painter. I've outlined most of that process of discovery fairly well elsewhere in this series of blog posts, so have a look for that if you are interested.
The major thing that has attracted me to Tonalist painting is the richness and strong emotive qualities of it. There are many ways to paint a landscape but after my initial exposure to Tonalism I felt I'd discovered the pinnacle of what had been accomplished by the great artists of the late 1800s and early 20th century. Sadly, as some of you know, much of this work was forgotten as were the artists that created it. This is changing and I'd like to think that my series here, 100 days of Tonalism is helping in that regard.
I was talking to a friend of mine the other day about a book called the Agony and the Ecstasy about Michelangelo. I read this book when I was a young man and it had a great impact on me. The main thing that struck me about Michelangelo was how passionate he was. At that time in Europe, art was primarily two-dimensional/flat in feel, and though there were plenty of representations of people, often times you could not clearly make out any real anatomy for all of the rendering of folds that was going on. The Europeans did have access to ancient statuary created by the Romans and the Greeks that depicted the human figure correctly and powerfully, but there was little understanding about anatomy in the pre renaissance or, how to accurately render it.
Because Michelangelo was aware of this huge disparity between, what had been in the past and how it surpassed art in his time, he was curious about how to create anatomical art himself that would match or, even surpass the achievements of the Greeks and Romans. He set about teaching himself anatomy studiously even to the point where he would dissect corpses (an act that was illegal in his day).
The reason I bring up Michelangelo in regards to Tonalism is that I see the same sort of thing happening now with landscape painting, in that there are all these masterful Tonalist paintings that exist however, because they've been mostly bypassed and forgotten by art history, many artists are unaware of the achievement and just sort of do whatever it is they're doing, whether that is working in some sort of Impressionist vein, or just doing their best to copy photographs using oil paint. Like Michelangelo I can see that much of the landscape painting that is done by contemporary artists falls far short of the high mark set by the Tonalists at the peak of landscape painting.
After becoming aware of Tonalism I set about doing my best to create paintings that captured the same sort of mood and spiritual depth as the Masters. Whether I've succeeded or not is perhaps best judged by others but I am certainly proud of the attempt and I will continue to create landscape paintings that I find personally moving until I am no longer able to.
As I stated above there are many ways that you can accomplish landscape painting and many moods and ideas can be conveyed by various approaches. For me, no other school of painting has come even close to the level of Tonalism and that is why I spent the better part of this year working on this series in an endeavor to learn more, and also to bring greater awareness to this awesome school of art.
If you are a person that has any questions about Tonalism or Tonalist painting that you feel I can answer, I can be reached easily through my website Landscaperpainter.co.nz I am happy to help you in any way I can, so do not hesitate to contact me.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'October' by George Inness; this is a really great painting by George and one of the studies I am most proud of doing.
I'm very happy with the textural approach that I achieved on the study and as I've stated in previous blog posts, this has very much informed my own Tonalist painting.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Original painting, October by George Inness |
Day Ninety Five: By the Lake by George Inness
Hello and welcome day 95 to 100 days of Tonalism.
Today's study is 'By the Lake' by George Inness.
Just one more George Inness study after this one. This piece I believe is mid period Inness, most likely painted somewhere in the 1870s. On today's video narration, I read some biographical information about George Inness from the book George Inness by Nicolai Cikovsky Jr so please check that out.
I was reading from a book I just acquired about Charles Warren Eaton today. I mentioned this book in our last post about Charles Warren Eaton. The book was very interesting because it was discussing the beginnings of the Tonalist movement in art.
In many ways this period in art history from 1880 to 1920 is disregarded by some art historians or it is lumped in with the Barbizon school. In actuality, Tonalism is a very American form of painting and is quite different from Barbizon work. Although many of the greatest proponents of Tonalism were trained in the Barbizon school, what they created in the United States was very much a reflection of American and not European art.
Previous to the Tonalist movement, the style of painting that was popular in the United States was a movement called the Hudson River School. I've mentioned them many times on this blog. The Hudson River School was dedicated to capturing the splendor of the American landscape in large canvases, exquisitely detailed and rendered with polished finishes. In many ways this movement in art was running along with Tonalism which superseded and improved upon it.
Whereas the Hudson River School was about objective depictions of the vastness of nature with scenes often depicting glorious vistas of the unexplored American wilderness, Tonalism endeavored to portray a more subjective and emotional approach. Many Tonalist paintings being of every day farm life, of vacant fields or views by a river or creek. This Tonalist move from the objective to subjective is one of the precursors to modern art.
Though Tonalism is considered to be representational art; because it features the subjective, it is more poetical than scientific and, for that reason, timeless. When I first came upon this type of work I could not believe that it was not more widely known about. Our blog post yesterday spoke about some of the ways and reasons that artwork from the representational era is considered by some to be passé and not relevant to modern sensibilities.
If this sort of thinking was actually true, then there would be no reason to read any book that was published further back than 10 or 20 years. Anybody with any sense knows that this would be a stupid idea. So much classic literature going back to the Iliad by Homer is worthy of study and conveys emotion and poetry as powerfully now as it did when it was written.
This is true of fine painting as well. I dedicated a large portion of my working life this year to the study and promotion of these Tonalist Masters. I also devoted quite a lot of time to videotaping, editing videos and writing this blog. It's my way of learning on the job but also giving something back to the artists that came before me.
As someone who did not officially go to art school or study for any great length of time in the studio of a Master painter I felt it was incumbent upon me to take some time from my own painting life to learn more about how these great painters of the past accomplished the magnificent work that they did, and to share that knowledge and hopefully convert some of it to wisdom.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'By the Lake' by George Inness; this was a fun and relatively easy study to do. As I stated in the video I enjoyed painting the sky and I really feel that it is the focal point of this painting.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Painted after - By the Lake by George Inness, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
Just one more George Inness study after this one. This piece I believe is mid period Inness, most likely painted somewhere in the 1870s. On today's video narration, I read some biographical information about George Inness from the book George Inness by Nicolai Cikovsky Jr so please check that out.
I was reading from a book I just acquired about Charles Warren Eaton today. I mentioned this book in our last post about Charles Warren Eaton. The book was very interesting because it was discussing the beginnings of the Tonalist movement in art.
In many ways this period in art history from 1880 to 1920 is disregarded by some art historians or it is lumped in with the Barbizon school. In actuality, Tonalism is a very American form of painting and is quite different from Barbizon work. Although many of the greatest proponents of Tonalism were trained in the Barbizon school, what they created in the United States was very much a reflection of American and not European art.
Previous to the Tonalist movement, the style of painting that was popular in the United States was a movement called the Hudson River School. I've mentioned them many times on this blog. The Hudson River School was dedicated to capturing the splendor of the American landscape in large canvases, exquisitely detailed and rendered with polished finishes. In many ways this movement in art was running along with Tonalism which superseded and improved upon it.
Whereas the Hudson River School was about objective depictions of the vastness of nature with scenes often depicting glorious vistas of the unexplored American wilderness, Tonalism endeavored to portray a more subjective and emotional approach. Many Tonalist paintings being of every day farm life, of vacant fields or views by a river or creek. This Tonalist move from the objective to subjective is one of the precursors to modern art.
Though Tonalism is considered to be representational art; because it features the subjective, it is more poetical than scientific and, for that reason, timeless. When I first came upon this type of work I could not believe that it was not more widely known about. Our blog post yesterday spoke about some of the ways and reasons that artwork from the representational era is considered by some to be passé and not relevant to modern sensibilities.
If this sort of thinking was actually true, then there would be no reason to read any book that was published further back than 10 or 20 years. Anybody with any sense knows that this would be a stupid idea. So much classic literature going back to the Iliad by Homer is worthy of study and conveys emotion and poetry as powerfully now as it did when it was written.
This is true of fine painting as well. I dedicated a large portion of my working life this year to the study and promotion of these Tonalist Masters. I also devoted quite a lot of time to videotaping, editing videos and writing this blog. It's my way of learning on the job but also giving something back to the artists that came before me.
As someone who did not officially go to art school or study for any great length of time in the studio of a Master painter I felt it was incumbent upon me to take some time from my own painting life to learn more about how these great painters of the past accomplished the magnificent work that they did, and to share that knowledge and hopefully convert some of it to wisdom.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'By the Lake' by George Inness; this was a fun and relatively easy study to do. As I stated in the video I enjoyed painting the sky and I really feel that it is the focal point of this painting.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Original painting, By the Lake by George Inness |
Day Ninety Two: Moonlight Tarpon Springs by George Inness
Hello and welcome to day 92 of 100 days of Tonalism.
Today study is 'Moonlight Tarpon Springs' by George Inness.
Those of you following this blog will be well aware of the work of George Inness by now. This is our second to last Inness study. One of the major reasons that I undertook this project was in an effort to absorb and integrate more of George Inness' style into my own working methods. I will be reading from the book George Inness by Nikolai Cikovsky on today's video narration, so please check that out.
Today I'd like to talk about working methods and the concept of momentum. I get a lot of people coming in my studio that are either part-time artists or wish to become artists. I'm always stressing with these people that the best way to accomplish that goal is to have a regular working practice and a strong work ethic. You can read all of the books out there, you can take infinite classes and have lots of discussions about it, but there is no substitute for experience when it comes to art.
When I first arrived in New Zealand I was coming off of 26 years of working full time. My first year here in New Zealand I did about 20 paintings. Last year I did around 250. This would include my small studies as well as the larger paintings I've done. I work every day on painting and the only exceptions are days I might go out of town with my wife. I am industrious by nature but I can fall prey to laziness just like everyone else and this is where I think the idea of momentum becomes very important.
By keeping a momentum going in your work life you can avoid many of the deepest lows and yet still accomplish most of the highs. I'm not saying that if you work all the time that you will not occasionally produce a painting that is a dud, that's just how reality works. People are quite surprised when I tell them that landscape painting doesn't necessarily get easier with experience. Your work may improve and you will get better, but painting is so challenging to the spirit and intellect as an occupation, that I can easily see spending another 50 years doing it and still not getting to the bottom of it.
Momentum is one of the greatest allies that you can enlist in this artistic journey. Momentum will keep you moving forward and making progress better than anything else I know. If you stop and start constantly in your artistic life it's a bit like a rocket taking off from the earth. Most of the force and energy required to do it is needed at the beginning. If you're constantly taking large breaks from your work life it means that every time you want to start again you must make a supreme effort. With momentum you are basically coasting on your initial effort and continuing on your journey in a progressive manner.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Moonlight Tarpon Springs' by George Inness; this painting by Inness has a mysterious quality that I think I painted well.
My drawing is a bit different than George's but I did capture the spirit of his painting in my study and for that reason I am pleased with it.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Painted after - Moonlight Tarpon Springs by George Inness, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
Those of you following this blog will be well aware of the work of George Inness by now. This is our second to last Inness study. One of the major reasons that I undertook this project was in an effort to absorb and integrate more of George Inness' style into my own working methods. I will be reading from the book George Inness by Nikolai Cikovsky on today's video narration, so please check that out.
Today I'd like to talk about working methods and the concept of momentum. I get a lot of people coming in my studio that are either part-time artists or wish to become artists. I'm always stressing with these people that the best way to accomplish that goal is to have a regular working practice and a strong work ethic. You can read all of the books out there, you can take infinite classes and have lots of discussions about it, but there is no substitute for experience when it comes to art.
When I first arrived in New Zealand I was coming off of 26 years of working full time. My first year here in New Zealand I did about 20 paintings. Last year I did around 250. This would include my small studies as well as the larger paintings I've done. I work every day on painting and the only exceptions are days I might go out of town with my wife. I am industrious by nature but I can fall prey to laziness just like everyone else and this is where I think the idea of momentum becomes very important.
By keeping a momentum going in your work life you can avoid many of the deepest lows and yet still accomplish most of the highs. I'm not saying that if you work all the time that you will not occasionally produce a painting that is a dud, that's just how reality works. People are quite surprised when I tell them that landscape painting doesn't necessarily get easier with experience. Your work may improve and you will get better, but painting is so challenging to the spirit and intellect as an occupation, that I can easily see spending another 50 years doing it and still not getting to the bottom of it.
Momentum is one of the greatest allies that you can enlist in this artistic journey. Momentum will keep you moving forward and making progress better than anything else I know. If you stop and start constantly in your artistic life it's a bit like a rocket taking off from the earth. Most of the force and energy required to do it is needed at the beginning. If you're constantly taking large breaks from your work life it means that every time you want to start again you must make a supreme effort. With momentum you are basically coasting on your initial effort and continuing on your journey in a progressive manner.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Moonlight Tarpon Springs' by George Inness; this painting by Inness has a mysterious quality that I think I painted well.
My drawing is a bit different than George's but I did capture the spirit of his painting in my study and for that reason I am pleased with it.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Original painting, Moonlight Tarpon Springs by George Inness |
Day Eighty Six: Autumn Gold by George Inness
Hello and welcome to day 86 of 100 days of Tonalism.
Today study is 'Autumn Gold' by George Inness.
We've done quite a lot of studies after Inness paintings on this blog and we have several more to go. I will be reading from the book George Inness by Nicolai Cikovsky on today's video narration, so please check that out.
Over the last week or so, we've been talking about my history as a landscape painter and some of the challenges I've run into in my pursuit of a more Tonalist approach. Today I'd like to talk a bit more about texture and surface quality. This is a subject I've broached a few times in this blog, but I thought it would be good to expand a little bit more on it since this is one of the things that I wrangled with as I was trying to get my painting into a more Tonalist framework.
I began initially doing paintings on canvas and then I progressed to working on different types of wood. I really like having a bit of wood grain coming through and interacting with the texture of the brushstrokes. But I was also intrigued by the idea of working on a more heavily textured surface.
My initial experiments were with regular white acrylic gesso. I tried applying this in many different ways. I tried a sort of spackle approach, I also tried putting a bunch of gesso on the board and then just pushing it against a flat surface like a table and then pulling up. I did several paintings with these heavily textured boards.
There was a problem with the white gesso in that if I had to pick at the painting in any way I would be rewarded with a white spot. At one point I attempted mixing in an under color with the white gesso but the effect was too pastel for me.
I sort of liked the paintings with the texture but in some cases I found it to be too distracting. I really hadn't arrived at the proper textural approach, and so sometime around when I moved to New Zealand I decided to abandon texturising my boards. This was about the same time that I decided to work in a larger size of 8x12. At that time, I was not doing studies for the larger versions of my paintings I was just doing the 8x12 paintings.
The way I was approaching the surface of the boards was to apply several coats of transparent acrylic sanding sealer with a tint of burnt sienna added to it. This worked okay but I was challenged with some of my earliest attempts in that the brush that I used to apply the sealer would leave long stroke marks on my board that could be seen in the final painting.
I eventually found a way to apply the tinted sanding sealer so that the wood panel was completely smooth leaving only the subtle texture of the wood grain coming up through the painting. I worked like this for a good while. Until one day, I decided that it would be good to do a small study or small version of each motif that I was planning on painting. This is when I decided to get back into texturising. I wanted the boards at the small sizes that I was working with to have some texture to help pull the paint off of the brush.
The technique that I eventually arrived at for applying texture was to use a transparent acrylic gesso with some burnt sienna acrylic paint added to it. I would apply this with the side of a big flat brush using a sort of smacking gesture. This technique works very well, especially if you go over the texture a few times with the side of a clean brush so that the texture is subtle and not too intense. This is the technique that I use now on all my boards both the studies and my larger paintings.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Autumn Gold'; this is a late middle period George Inness painting. I like the composition quite a lot and his use of the pond in the center is very effective. I enjoyed painting the warm golden tones and I am happy with the way my study turned out.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Painted after - Autumn Gold by George Inness, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
We've done quite a lot of studies after Inness paintings on this blog and we have several more to go. I will be reading from the book George Inness by Nicolai Cikovsky on today's video narration, so please check that out.
Over the last week or so, we've been talking about my history as a landscape painter and some of the challenges I've run into in my pursuit of a more Tonalist approach. Today I'd like to talk a bit more about texture and surface quality. This is a subject I've broached a few times in this blog, but I thought it would be good to expand a little bit more on it since this is one of the things that I wrangled with as I was trying to get my painting into a more Tonalist framework.
I began initially doing paintings on canvas and then I progressed to working on different types of wood. I really like having a bit of wood grain coming through and interacting with the texture of the brushstrokes. But I was also intrigued by the idea of working on a more heavily textured surface.
My initial experiments were with regular white acrylic gesso. I tried applying this in many different ways. I tried a sort of spackle approach, I also tried putting a bunch of gesso on the board and then just pushing it against a flat surface like a table and then pulling up. I did several paintings with these heavily textured boards.
There was a problem with the white gesso in that if I had to pick at the painting in any way I would be rewarded with a white spot. At one point I attempted mixing in an under color with the white gesso but the effect was too pastel for me.
I sort of liked the paintings with the texture but in some cases I found it to be too distracting. I really hadn't arrived at the proper textural approach, and so sometime around when I moved to New Zealand I decided to abandon texturising my boards. This was about the same time that I decided to work in a larger size of 8x12. At that time, I was not doing studies for the larger versions of my paintings I was just doing the 8x12 paintings.
The way I was approaching the surface of the boards was to apply several coats of transparent acrylic sanding sealer with a tint of burnt sienna added to it. This worked okay but I was challenged with some of my earliest attempts in that the brush that I used to apply the sealer would leave long stroke marks on my board that could be seen in the final painting.
I eventually found a way to apply the tinted sanding sealer so that the wood panel was completely smooth leaving only the subtle texture of the wood grain coming up through the painting. I worked like this for a good while. Until one day, I decided that it would be good to do a small study or small version of each motif that I was planning on painting. This is when I decided to get back into texturising. I wanted the boards at the small sizes that I was working with to have some texture to help pull the paint off of the brush.
The technique that I eventually arrived at for applying texture was to use a transparent acrylic gesso with some burnt sienna acrylic paint added to it. I would apply this with the side of a big flat brush using a sort of smacking gesture. This technique works very well, especially if you go over the texture a few times with the side of a clean brush so that the texture is subtle and not too intense. This is the technique that I use now on all my boards both the studies and my larger paintings.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Autumn Gold'; this is a late middle period George Inness painting. I like the composition quite a lot and his use of the pond in the center is very effective. I enjoyed painting the warm golden tones and I am happy with the way my study turned out.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Original painting, Autumn Gold by George Inness |
Day Eighty Three: Landscape near Perugia by George Inness
Hello and welcome to Day 83 of 100 days of Tonalism.
Today's study is of 'Landscape near Perugia' by George Inness.
Today's study is a mid period George Inness. For the last several George Inness studies that we've done, we have been reading from the book 'George Inness' by Nikolai Cikovsky on our video narration for that day. Today we're going to keep that going so please check the video out.
Continuing on with our discussion of my history as a landscape painter. As I stated in the previous blog post I started out working in a more Impressionist mode. I think that many landscape painters these days are working in an Impressionist manner whether they are aware of it or not. I can't say I was all that aware of it myself until through my research and study of the history of oil painting, I gradually became familiar of many modes of landscape painting that were popular in the United States that had been pretty much forgotten.
Sometime in 2008 my (now) wife came out to visit me in California from New Zealand. Though I lived in San Jose which is only about 60 miles away from San Francisco, I very infrequently would go up to the city. But, because I wanted to show her the sites we made a trip not just to San Francisco but also to Oakland.
At that time I was very deep into oil painting, doing a lot of paintings and reading a lot about the history of landscape painting online. I'm not exactly sure where and when I first became aware of George Inness. I was going to say it was the blog of Stapleton Kearns but I now recall that I probably discovered his blog in the process of researching George Inness.
Either way I was aware that there were a few paintings of his at the de Young Museum in San Francisco. They have a fantastic wing of American landscape paintings. Many are from the Hudson River school era but there are quite a few Luminist and Tonalist works there as well.
I was completely blown away by the mastery that I saw that day at the Museum. These guys had done paintings that positively glowed, not to mention the exquisite surface quality of their work. I believe I've talked a bit about surface quality in this blog. All I will say today is that, I think many modern artists are almost completely unaware of this aspect of their work, to the detriment of their paintings.
I left the Museum that day totally infused with a desire to improve the quality of my own paintings and with a really good idea of the direction that I wanted to move in artistically. I wasn't exactly sure why this era of landscape painting had been subsumed by Impressionism but I knew then that I wanted to become a Tonalist painter.
Tomorrow we'll talk a bit more about Tonalism.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Landscape near Perugia' by George Inness; this painting has a very unique sky in it and I almost didn't want to do a study because of that. It is however a very strong mid period George Inness painting so I included it in this series.
I really like the way that Inness has modulated from greens in the foreground to mauves and grays in the background and I'm quite happy with my study from his painting.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Painted after - Landscape near Perugia by George Inness, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
Today's study is a mid period George Inness. For the last several George Inness studies that we've done, we have been reading from the book 'George Inness' by Nikolai Cikovsky on our video narration for that day. Today we're going to keep that going so please check the video out.
Continuing on with our discussion of my history as a landscape painter. As I stated in the previous blog post I started out working in a more Impressionist mode. I think that many landscape painters these days are working in an Impressionist manner whether they are aware of it or not. I can't say I was all that aware of it myself until through my research and study of the history of oil painting, I gradually became familiar of many modes of landscape painting that were popular in the United States that had been pretty much forgotten.
Sometime in 2008 my (now) wife came out to visit me in California from New Zealand. Though I lived in San Jose which is only about 60 miles away from San Francisco, I very infrequently would go up to the city. But, because I wanted to show her the sites we made a trip not just to San Francisco but also to Oakland.
At that time I was very deep into oil painting, doing a lot of paintings and reading a lot about the history of landscape painting online. I'm not exactly sure where and when I first became aware of George Inness. I was going to say it was the blog of Stapleton Kearns but I now recall that I probably discovered his blog in the process of researching George Inness.
Either way I was aware that there were a few paintings of his at the de Young Museum in San Francisco. They have a fantastic wing of American landscape paintings. Many are from the Hudson River school era but there are quite a few Luminist and Tonalist works there as well.
I was completely blown away by the mastery that I saw that day at the Museum. These guys had done paintings that positively glowed, not to mention the exquisite surface quality of their work. I believe I've talked a bit about surface quality in this blog. All I will say today is that, I think many modern artists are almost completely unaware of this aspect of their work, to the detriment of their paintings.
I left the Museum that day totally infused with a desire to improve the quality of my own paintings and with a really good idea of the direction that I wanted to move in artistically. I wasn't exactly sure why this era of landscape painting had been subsumed by Impressionism but I knew then that I wanted to become a Tonalist painter.
Tomorrow we'll talk a bit more about Tonalism.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Landscape near Perugia' by George Inness; this painting has a very unique sky in it and I almost didn't want to do a study because of that. It is however a very strong mid period George Inness painting so I included it in this series.
I really like the way that Inness has modulated from greens in the foreground to mauves and grays in the background and I'm quite happy with my study from his painting.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Original painting, Landscape near Perugia by George Inness |
Day Eighty: Approaching Storm by George Inness
Hello and welcome to Day 80 of 100 days of Tonalism.
Today's study is of 'Approaching Storm' by George Inness.
We've got 20 more days to go and plenty more George Inness studies ahead of us. This one turned out to be pretty special for me you can read about that below at the end of this post. I have read a bit from the book 'George Inness' by Nicolai Cikovsky in today's video narration, so please check that out.
We've been discussing my progression as an artist to ultimately becoming a landscape painter in the last several blog posts. Today I'd like to talk about my earliest forays into oil painting. After my attempts at trying to create landscape paintings with a computer using Photoshop, I began to think seriously about using actual oil paints on canvas.
Prior to my career as a commercial illustrator I had mostly done color work with the computer, A lot of that art was of an abstract nature. For the most part, I had worked in pencil and in black and white before that. At various points I had worked with colored inks and watercolor but the only other oil painting I had done was when I was about 18 and an artist took interest in me and allowed me to join in with several of his painting classes. I wrote about this in my previous blog.
I ended up selling or giving away most of the oil paintings I did at that time. I believe I did about seven or eight landscape paintings in oils. I'd also did some more abstract landscapes in acrylic for my job at the hospitality art manufacturing company. Other than those occasion, I mostly worked in a small-scale with pencil and ink.
Once I decided to start doing actual oil paintings I reasoned that I would learn how to paint more quickly using small canvas panels. All of my first paintings were done this way. I went outdoors to do my first paintings. I quite enjoyed painting outdoors, however I was unhappy with the sorts of colors I was coming up with in response to painting directly from nature and I decided to work from my own photographs instead.
My first paintings were on canvas using 6x8 panels. The type of panels you can find it any art or hobby store. I enjoyed working with oil paint it's very flexible as a medium, especially after so many years of having to install almost every effect that I needed into my art using painstaking brushwork or stippling. One of the wonderful things about oil paint is the way that unexpected things can happen in small and large ways while you are painting.
Tomorrow we'll talk more about my personal journey as a landscape painter and its beginnings, so stay tuned for that.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Approaching Storm' by George Inness; of all the studies in this series there are many ways in which the study has affected and influenced the way I am painting my own paintings currently.
If you watch the video you will observe a lot of my glazing and dry brush techniques which I'm using more these days to finish my paintings. I have been fortunate to see a few Inness paintings in real life and with this study I feel that I was actually getting very close to the sorts of textures and edges that I see in his work.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Painted after - Approaching Storm by George Inness, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
Today's study is of 'Approaching Storm' by George Inness.
We've got 20 more days to go and plenty more George Inness studies ahead of us. This one turned out to be pretty special for me you can read about that below at the end of this post. I have read a bit from the book 'George Inness' by Nicolai Cikovsky in today's video narration, so please check that out.
We've been discussing my progression as an artist to ultimately becoming a landscape painter in the last several blog posts. Today I'd like to talk about my earliest forays into oil painting. After my attempts at trying to create landscape paintings with a computer using Photoshop, I began to think seriously about using actual oil paints on canvas.
Prior to my career as a commercial illustrator I had mostly done color work with the computer, A lot of that art was of an abstract nature. For the most part, I had worked in pencil and in black and white before that. At various points I had worked with colored inks and watercolor but the only other oil painting I had done was when I was about 18 and an artist took interest in me and allowed me to join in with several of his painting classes. I wrote about this in my previous blog.
I ended up selling or giving away most of the oil paintings I did at that time. I believe I did about seven or eight landscape paintings in oils. I'd also did some more abstract landscapes in acrylic for my job at the hospitality art manufacturing company. Other than those occasion, I mostly worked in a small-scale with pencil and ink.
Once I decided to start doing actual oil paintings I reasoned that I would learn how to paint more quickly using small canvas panels. All of my first paintings were done this way. I went outdoors to do my first paintings. I quite enjoyed painting outdoors, however I was unhappy with the sorts of colors I was coming up with in response to painting directly from nature and I decided to work from my own photographs instead.
My first paintings were on canvas using 6x8 panels. The type of panels you can find it any art or hobby store. I enjoyed working with oil paint it's very flexible as a medium, especially after so many years of having to install almost every effect that I needed into my art using painstaking brushwork or stippling. One of the wonderful things about oil paint is the way that unexpected things can happen in small and large ways while you are painting.
Tomorrow we'll talk more about my personal journey as a landscape painter and its beginnings, so stay tuned for that.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Approaching Storm' by George Inness; of all the studies in this series there are many ways in which the study has affected and influenced the way I am painting my own paintings currently.
If you watch the video you will observe a lot of my glazing and dry brush techniques which I'm using more these days to finish my paintings. I have been fortunate to see a few Inness paintings in real life and with this study I feel that I was actually getting very close to the sorts of textures and edges that I see in his work.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Original painting, Approaching Storm by George Inness |
Day Seventy Four: Indian Summer by George Inness
Hello and welcome to day 74 of 100 days of Tonalism.
Today's study is 'Indian Summer' by George Inness.
Those of you that follow this blog regularly will be well aware of George Inness. I have read a bit from the book 'George Inness' by Nicolai Cikovsky in today's video narration, so please check that out.
Continuing on with our recent assay regarding my Tonalist painting process; we're getting close to the end of our discussion about my process. There may be some additional things that I think of in the next 26 days and if I do, I will not hesitate to bring them up.
Today I'd like to discuss something that I do to every painting. After my first color pass and after scraping down the peaks of my painting I like to apply a generous coat of Liquin to the surface. I will be applying another coat on top of my second color pass as well. I've written about Liquin in my previous blog here.
There are several schools of thought about this. Many people believe that Liquin should only be used for glazing and as a medium. I tend to use it as a coating to remove the dullness that you will get with certain pigments. Applying Liquin gives me a uniform finish that is not too glossy. Frankly, I don't see much of a difference between doing this and doing a coat of glazing. I find that Liquin provides a very tough and durable surface.
I also like to apply a coating of Gamvar varnish by Gamblin when a person purchasing a painting requests a varnish. Varnish can be a double-edged sword. On one hand it can protect the actual surface of the painting from staining or discoloring that may be occurring in the environment in which the painting is hung. On the other hand it has a tendency to yellow and often times art restorers can damage paintings in the process of removing it.
It is really the call of the art collector whether varnish be applied or not. Gamvar is one of the better options available to artists these days and I do recommend it if you want to varnish.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Indian Summer' by George Inness; I really like the composition of this painting. It's quite similar to compositional motifs that I go after quite often.
It was fun to paint the orange tree and I really enjoyed doing this study.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Painted after - Indian Summer by George Inness, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
Today's study is 'Indian Summer' by George Inness.
Those of you that follow this blog regularly will be well aware of George Inness. I have read a bit from the book 'George Inness' by Nicolai Cikovsky in today's video narration, so please check that out.
Continuing on with our recent assay regarding my Tonalist painting process; we're getting close to the end of our discussion about my process. There may be some additional things that I think of in the next 26 days and if I do, I will not hesitate to bring them up.
Today I'd like to discuss something that I do to every painting. After my first color pass and after scraping down the peaks of my painting I like to apply a generous coat of Liquin to the surface. I will be applying another coat on top of my second color pass as well. I've written about Liquin in my previous blog here.
There are several schools of thought about this. Many people believe that Liquin should only be used for glazing and as a medium. I tend to use it as a coating to remove the dullness that you will get with certain pigments. Applying Liquin gives me a uniform finish that is not too glossy. Frankly, I don't see much of a difference between doing this and doing a coat of glazing. I find that Liquin provides a very tough and durable surface.
I also like to apply a coating of Gamvar varnish by Gamblin when a person purchasing a painting requests a varnish. Varnish can be a double-edged sword. On one hand it can protect the actual surface of the painting from staining or discoloring that may be occurring in the environment in which the painting is hung. On the other hand it has a tendency to yellow and often times art restorers can damage paintings in the process of removing it.
It is really the call of the art collector whether varnish be applied or not. Gamvar is one of the better options available to artists these days and I do recommend it if you want to varnish.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Indian Summer' by George Inness; I really like the composition of this painting. It's quite similar to compositional motifs that I go after quite often.
It was fun to paint the orange tree and I really enjoyed doing this study.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Original painting, Indian Summer by George Inness |
Day Seventy One: Summer Montclair by George Inness
Hello and welcome to day 71 of 100 days of Tonalism.
Today's study is of 'Summer Montclair' by George Inness.
A vertical Inness today. I have been reading from the book by Nikolai Cikovsky "George Inness" on the videos for our recent bunch of Inness studies. I will continue on with that today in the video narration, so please check that out.
I know, I said that we were going to jump into the second color pass today in our recent series of blog posts about my Tonalist painting process. However, it occurred to me that it would be good to take a little break from that and discuss the idea of looking at, living with and editing your own work.
I have touched on this concept of self editing before in this blog, but it is deserving of more attention. It's very easy to focus only on the positive 'actions' that one takes to create art. A bit like how it's easier to focus on the positive content of the picture (like a figure or a tree) as opposed to the negative space. For art to be good it must be in balance, and so good art is always the result of both action and inaction, thinking and feeling.
After I finished my first color pass I set it on a wall in my studio to my right. Against that wall I have two fairly large display easels. On those easels I like to place all of my recent paintings after I have completed a particular stage. This is an area where paintings dry but also a place where I can look at what I've done, think about it and continue the process of critical analysis that started with coming upon the scene in nature and, continues on through each of the stages of my process.
I find it important to put a frame on the painting in its intermediate stages. This creates a border that really helps me analyze the painting. I have known some painters that actually create their paintings in a frame (I might try it myself one day).
For the type of painting that I do, it's essential that the work also be presented in some sort of frame. I will discuss framing, it's importance and effect in a later blog post.
As I've mentioned previously on this blog, I tend to work on about 14 scenes at a time. I take each painting through all of my stages before completing any. This is a good number for me because it's not too many scenes but it is enough for there to be a reasonable span of time between the two color passes. This gives me a chance to look at the work in its first color state and really think about things that might be bothering me or ideas I may have as to ways that I could improve the picture.
I've tried in the past bringing one or two paintings to completion at a time but I feel I get more work done this way of a higher quality.
A phenomenon that I had noticed in my painting life is that I would complete a painting and put it on the wall. After a while when the newness of the painting wore off, I would slowly become aware of issues with the painting that needed to be resolved. This is not every painting I did, but definitely more than a few of them needed a bit of editing or reevaluation. Doing 14 scenes at a time gives me the opportunity to do that reevaluation while I'm still in the process of working on a given scene.
Not every painting that I do is going to be a masterwork, but there's no sense in having work out there in circulation that could be better or could have been improved. Fortunately I'm not a perfectionist and I'm quite happy to let things go after a certain point. Unlike my favorite painter George Inness. He was famous for reworking paintings and working over existing paintings that had been sold, even working over the paintings of his friends.
Tomorrow we will actually begin talking about the second color pass and I hope to give you some good information about my process in that regard so stay tuned.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Summer Montclair' by George Inness; this is a painting I have been aware of for quite a while and is one that comes up readily in an image search for Inness on Google. It wasn't actually until painting my study of this scene that I realized that the pond is shaped like a coffin.
This painting exhibits Inness' mastery of values and also edges. One thing he does in this painting that I generally try to avoid the is that he has a very odd tree shape in the middle ground trees. Also he has left a visual way out of the scene on the right-hand side as well as the left, which is working in this painting but is not something that I tend to do.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Painted after - Summer Montclair by George Inness, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
A vertical Inness today. I have been reading from the book by Nikolai Cikovsky "George Inness" on the videos for our recent bunch of Inness studies. I will continue on with that today in the video narration, so please check that out.
I know, I said that we were going to jump into the second color pass today in our recent series of blog posts about my Tonalist painting process. However, it occurred to me that it would be good to take a little break from that and discuss the idea of looking at, living with and editing your own work.
I have touched on this concept of self editing before in this blog, but it is deserving of more attention. It's very easy to focus only on the positive 'actions' that one takes to create art. A bit like how it's easier to focus on the positive content of the picture (like a figure or a tree) as opposed to the negative space. For art to be good it must be in balance, and so good art is always the result of both action and inaction, thinking and feeling.
After I finished my first color pass I set it on a wall in my studio to my right. Against that wall I have two fairly large display easels. On those easels I like to place all of my recent paintings after I have completed a particular stage. This is an area where paintings dry but also a place where I can look at what I've done, think about it and continue the process of critical analysis that started with coming upon the scene in nature and, continues on through each of the stages of my process.
I find it important to put a frame on the painting in its intermediate stages. This creates a border that really helps me analyze the painting. I have known some painters that actually create their paintings in a frame (I might try it myself one day).
For the type of painting that I do, it's essential that the work also be presented in some sort of frame. I will discuss framing, it's importance and effect in a later blog post.
As I've mentioned previously on this blog, I tend to work on about 14 scenes at a time. I take each painting through all of my stages before completing any. This is a good number for me because it's not too many scenes but it is enough for there to be a reasonable span of time between the two color passes. This gives me a chance to look at the work in its first color state and really think about things that might be bothering me or ideas I may have as to ways that I could improve the picture.
I've tried in the past bringing one or two paintings to completion at a time but I feel I get more work done this way of a higher quality.
A phenomenon that I had noticed in my painting life is that I would complete a painting and put it on the wall. After a while when the newness of the painting wore off, I would slowly become aware of issues with the painting that needed to be resolved. This is not every painting I did, but definitely more than a few of them needed a bit of editing or reevaluation. Doing 14 scenes at a time gives me the opportunity to do that reevaluation while I'm still in the process of working on a given scene.
Not every painting that I do is going to be a masterwork, but there's no sense in having work out there in circulation that could be better or could have been improved. Fortunately I'm not a perfectionist and I'm quite happy to let things go after a certain point. Unlike my favorite painter George Inness. He was famous for reworking paintings and working over existing paintings that had been sold, even working over the paintings of his friends.
Tomorrow we will actually begin talking about the second color pass and I hope to give you some good information about my process in that regard so stay tuned.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Summer Montclair' by George Inness; this is a painting I have been aware of for quite a while and is one that comes up readily in an image search for Inness on Google. It wasn't actually until painting my study of this scene that I realized that the pond is shaped like a coffin.
This painting exhibits Inness' mastery of values and also edges. One thing he does in this painting that I generally try to avoid the is that he has a very odd tree shape in the middle ground trees. Also he has left a visual way out of the scene on the right-hand side as well as the left, which is working in this painting but is not something that I tend to do.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Original painting,Summer Montclair by George Inness |