Mike McCarthy 2/8/25 Mike McCarthy 2/8/25

Path to the Meadow 5x7

The painting I'm bringing you today is called "Path to the Meadow." It's a 5x7 that I painted yesterday on MDF, doing an underpainting using burnt umber.

This kind of scene is a lot of fun. I had this reference photo for quite a while, and I'm quite fond of these sorts of trees. What's interesting is that I kept passing on it because something was bothering me at a subconscious level. In the original scene, we had this mass of trees on our right and instead of a lone tree on our left, it was just this big chunk of foliage. Then it occurred to me - oh, I need to just make that a tree or something over there. Having that trunk there was really critical.

These sorts of intuitions, these sorts of knowing’s, come from doing a lot of paintings and listening to that inner voice and reinforcing it. Whether you're an intuitive type or not, if you do a lot of painting, you're going to build up a repertoire in your mind of things that you know work and, more importantly, things that you know don't work. That's why I'm always stressing you need to paint more.

The real challenge with this kind of scene is that the foliage is all over the place. You can see hundreds of little leaves and little sky holes in the reference image. What I tend to do is come up with a certain pattern, fairly loose in the drawing. At the underpainting stage. It's only somewhat defined, but the actual details of the edges or any real detail firm up as I put in the sky.

One decision I made here was not to try and get fancy with this sky, so no clouds , just a color gradation. We're in the shaded area, and there is a lighted area ahead, that meadow that I did in the middle distance. Now, it wasn't all like that in my reference image. It was just a little subtly lighter bit. You could tell there was something there in between the grass, so I expanded on that. It wasn't long after I got into the painting process, I said, "Oh yeah, I'm going to make that nice and bright,"!

It's really one of the things that makes the painting, along with the sky being nice and bright. Even though you can see everything in this sort of shaded area, there's no real strong highlights. We're in a dark place going to a light place, and I think that's very effective. I love doing this kind of painting. This one has come out pretty well. I'm quite happy with it.

The path I inserted into the reference using the Adobe AI feature. Honestly, a lot of times, I ca get a better result by just finding a path in some other reference photo and just composing it in old-school. At the end of the day, though, I still have to take my reference image and interpret it as a painting, which is what I like to do. I want to make a painting that looks like a painting.

The interpretation that you make as a painter is your gift as an artist to the world. Don't overwork is always my motto I try to have an attitude as I’m moving through the painting of addressing each part of the painting, but then moving quickly on, putting something down and moving on.

Well, that's it for this one. I hope you're having a great week. Until I come back with another video and post for your edification and enjoyment, do me a favor, do me a solid - take care of yourself, your family, all your loved ones and stay out of trouble!

Cheers,

Mike

Mike McCarthy 2/4/25 Mike McCarthy 2/4/25

Riffing on William Keith 4x6

This painting completed just yesterday, is a departure from my earlier, more faithful studies of the Masters. Instead, it’s more like a cover song, if you will—of William Keith’s work. A California Tonalist whose dark, moody compositions have always intrigued me.

William Keith’s art is some of the darkest Tonalist work you’ll find online, and I can’t help but see the influence of George Inness in his pieces. For this painting, I took liberties with his original composition. I approximated his color palette, added a path, and reworked the sky to better suit my vision. This approach is part of an ongoing evolution in my work. Early on, I focused on faithful studies during my 100 Days of Tonalism series, followed by the Past Master Series. But now, I’m more interested in taking inspiration fom the Masters and making it my own.

One of the standout elements in this piece is the blue-orange sky, a challenging color combination due to its complementary nature. I used Prussian blue, muting it with darker tones and blending in pinks and oranges to harmonize with the landscape below.

I’ve learned that every painting takes the time it needs. My goal is always to create something beautiful, and that requires patience and dedication. If you’re a painter, I know you share this intention. Creating beauty demands effort and introspection. You need to understand what beauty means to you and how to translate that into your work. It’s not the most difficult task ever, but it does require focus and lots of practice.

I’ve been painting landscapes for about 15 years, and my process has become highly intuitive. While working, I receive intuitive prompts like; try this color, use that brush, these intuitions come from years of painting experience. Intuition in art is honed through repetition and reflection. You can’t develop good instincts without putting in the time.

This brings me to the topic of AI-generated art. While AI can produce impressive images, I believe human artists will succeed based on expressing their own unique perspectives. Mastery comes from dedication and hard work, not from tools and tricks that make creation effortless. I’ve dedicated years to painting, and the greatest rewards come from the struggle to create something meaningful.

Landscape painting, while able to be done relatively quickly, is fraught with many potential pitfalls. Completing a paintings swiftly can be helpful because it allows you to produce more work and learn from your mistakes. Many times its only by looking back at older pieces can you see what doesn’t work and refine your technique.

My process is intuitive, but it’s built on a foundation of knowledge. Every brushstroke relates to the next, and knowing when to stop is crucial. This painting could have taken longer—I could have added tiny highlights after letting it dry—but I prefer the immediacy of fresh, direct interaction with the canvas.

In the past, I enjoyed working dry over wet, but I’ve moved away from that technique because it often sapped the energy from my work. As an artist, I’m constantly figuring out how to make each piece beautiful, how to convey feeling, and how to capture the essence of a scene. If I were to paint this again today, the result would be different.

For those interested, members of my channel can view William Keith’s original reference, my modified version, and the live painting session that captures the creative struggle live in the studio. Not a struggle of hardship, but of striving to create something beautiful and meaningful.

Thank you for joining me on this journey. I hope you’re having a productive week and finding time to create. Until next time, take care of yourself, your family, and your loved ones. Stay out of trouble.

Cheers,

—M Francis McCarthy

Mike McCarthy 1/25/25 Mike McCarthy 1/25/25

"Woolly's Bay" 5x10

It's interesting to reflect on how my approach to painting has evolved over the years, particularly in terms of finishing techniques and the pursuit of freshness in my work.

One of the most significant challenges in landscape painting is maintaining the vitality of a smaller study when scaling up to larger pieces. Through my research into traditional landscape painting methods, It's easy to lose the original proportions and freshness when increasing size. For example, this peninsula that commands attention here in my small study might shrink a bit as I scale the scene up. I may do some gridding when scaling it up, ensuring the crucial proportions remain intact.

My painting process has evolved significantly over time. I used to work extensively on hardboard with transparent gesso, lately I've moved away from that approach. These days, I prefer surfaces with a more uniform tone. I work in what I'd call a direct method, typically completing most of the painting in one session after establishing an initial drawing.

Breaking free from over-finishing has been a significant development for me as an artist. Recording my painting process on video helped me recognize when to stop. I'd often see that magical moment in the footage where the painting looked just right, before I then worked it to death. Dry brushing used to be a go-to technique for me - lightly pulling a minimally loaded brush over dry paint to create interesting textures and soften edges. I've largely moved away from this approach, though occasionally I'll use other techniques to adjust hard edges when necessary.

What truly interests me now is capturing the struggle between observation and expression. When I'm working from reference material, I'm not trying to create a perfect reproduction. Instead, I'm interpreting what I see through the filter of my aesthetics, experience, and intuition. This approach means accepting certain compromises, but that's part of working in a fresh, direct manner.

For those looking to develop their own painting practice, my advice remains consistent: paint more. This might sound simplistic, but it is fundamental. Start small, perhaps with quick studies using a single color like burnt sienna. Don't wait for the perfect moment or the perfect subject. Just get some paint on a surface and start exploring.

The fear of not creating something "good enough" often prevents artists from painting at all. Instead of aiming for masterpieces, try creating quick, small works - 5x7 or 8x10 pieces that don't feel overwhelming. The goal isn't perfection but rather the act of showing up and engaging with the process.

Here in "Woolly's Bay, I'm particularly pleased with how I captured the waves picking up sand - a challenging effect to achieve without making the waves appear stiff or artificial.

The most fulfilling aspect of being an artist isn't in trying to create perfect paintings - it's engaging with that fundamental human desire to create and express. When we stop obsessing over perfection and embrace the natural struggle of the creative process, we will produce our most authentic and compelling work.

Take good care and stay out of trouble!

M Francis McCarthy

Mike McCarthy 1/20/25 Mike McCarthy 1/20/25

Woodland Path 6x8

Hello and welcome to another Tonal landscape oil painting demonstration! Today, I'm sharing "Woodland Path," a 6x8 painting that I finished yesterday. This painting is quite similar to a scene I painted about three or four years ago, which you can find in my book in the handling green section. One of the things I did differently this time was shift the reference image to have more of a rusty, taupey sort of feel. I'm really very fond of this kind of scene, and I have quite a few references in my folder that are similar

I've been working on MDF (medium-density fiberboard) lately, which is basically compressed wood dust. I prefer panels over canvas. I've been reviewing a lot of different landscape painting books studying the techniques used by other artists lately. Sometimes working on canvas can be lovely, but it can also be distracting, especially when the texture is too pronounced.

In this painting, I decided to revisit this scene I had painted before, but on a smaller scale. I've been looking at some of my old videos recently, I've learned a lot about simplifying complex forest scenes over the years. One insight I'd like to pass along is to focus on the big shapes and group dark masses together to create a more simplified breakdown of the scene. This is very helpful when dealing with the overwhelming complexity of a forest.

Another tip is to be careful with painting bright fall colors. It's easy to go overboard and end up with a colorful mess. Instead, bring in the saturated colors sparingly and support them with greens, browns, and other natural tones. In this painting, I aimed to capture the essence of fall without letting the extreme colors take over the painting.

Until next time, take care of yourself, your family, and all your loved ones and stay out of trouble!

Cheers,

M Francis McCarthy

Mike McCarthy 1/17/25 Mike McCarthy 1/17/25

River to the Sea 4x6

I did this scene a long time ago, and I painted it as a square. It's very interesting, I've had successes with the square format, but it can be difficult sometimes. I think rectangles are actually a lot easier, whether they're vertical or horizontal. That said, I have done successful square paintings, and one thing I'd heard years ago was that a lot of the Old Masters, when they did a square painting, would make sure that it wasn't exactly square.

On todays video I chat about AI. A lot of people are freaking out because the AI does really good art. It writes pretty well too. personally I find it's quite handy for certain reference images that have problem areas and helping me with text based tasks. The AI doesn't have an agenda; its whole agenda is to serve us. What this means for us as contemporary artists, is that we really need to focus on what it is we want to do. If it's painting, then you need to do paintings. Now, the AI can't do paintings, and that's why real world art is a great place to inhabit.

The AI can do a lot of things better than most of us, but that's nothing new. There are a lot of painters that are better than me, and I don't worry too much about it, what I try to worry about is expressing myself. What I am, and what you are, is a unique individual. There's never going to be anyone else like me or you, ever again. When you decide to make a painting or any creative work, that's what you should be putting your focus on. Your perspective is unique. Embrace your own funky self. Don't worry about the people that do things at a much technically higher level than you can, or that are able to paint or draw things that you can only dream of painting or drawing. Worry about what it is that you want to and can do, and then do the heck out of it. If you do enough painting, it will come together eventually; and you're going to be expressing yourself as an individual.

The AI can be a heck of a time-saver b for solving reference issues. Reference is very critical to the painting process. It's very critical that it is good. If the reference is bad and there are too many things wrong with it that you're not addressing, you may make make a bad painting as a result. When I'm painting with the reference in front of me, I paint lots of stuff in my painting that is not in the reference. I don't slavishly copy. I don't use a projector to project the image onto a board, trace it, and then fill everything in like it was a coloring book. That doesn't work anyway. What works better is to have some good reference that's inspiring, and if you can spot things that you think are weird or that you don't like, you can try to fix them in Photoshop. If you can't fix them in Photoshop, hopefully, you can fix them while you're doing the painting.

That's it for this post. I hope you're having a great week, and until I come back with another post and video for your edification and enjoyment, take good care of yourself, your family, all your loved ones. And stay out of trouble!

Mike McCarthy 1/15/25 Mike McCarthy 1/15/25

Riffing on Julius Jacobus van de Sande Bakhuyzen 6x8

Welcome to another tonal landscape oil painting demonstration. The painting I'm bringing you today is called "Riffing on Julius Jacobus van de Sande Bakhuyzen 6 x 8, ". I'm calling it a riff, but it was changed so dramatically from Julius's painting that it's hardly recognizable as being influenced by his original. It could have easily gotten away with just saying I came up with it.

If you're interested to see what's up with those changes , the live video is there in my YouTube Members Area. At the beginning of all the recent live members area videos, I put my reference images up. In this case, I put my adjusted reference image up and Julius's original. So check that out if you are interested!

One of the big changes I made from his painting is to the river and the tree, in his original, he had a tree coming out of the closer bank and then the tree back behind. Also, the foreground tree was tilted. I don't like tilted trees at all. I don't think they work compositionally. You can really get too tight when painting reflections. Watch out for that because reflections in the water should never be stiff, they should be loose with everything just roughly reflected in the approximate places they should be. This painting is pretty much Alla Prima. I did the drawing-underpainting in the morning, then came back and painted the rest of it in the afternoon, and that worked well. It's good to break up the painting process into various stages.

Let's talk about overworking paintings. It's almost inevitable that you will at some point. That's why often times there are many things I would like to add to my paintings, but I don't. I just leave it at the Alla Prima stage so the painting stays fresh. Many times in my YouTube members area while a painting is coming together live, you'll hear me say, "That's it. I'm going to leave it alone. I'm going to let it breathe. I'm going to let it live."

There's something to be said for how you initially interpret the reference, whether it's a plein air scene outdoors or if you have a photographic reference. It doesn't really matter, you're looking at something and then you're making a painting from it. There's a lot to be said for that initial impetus and carring that through quickly. Sometimes later on, when your future self comes in and wants to paint in the piece, that's not the same person, so you really want to weigh putting the painting back up on the easel very seriously. There's a lot that you'll be losing by going over your initial fresh painting if you do. I'm telling you what's wise and true for me. You may find that you need to overwork a lot of paintings of your own before you've learned the lesson for yourself.

Until I come back with another video and blog post for your edification and enjoyment, take good care of yourself, stay out of trouble, God bless you and your family!

Cheers,

M Francis McCarthy

Mike McCarthy 1/10/25 Mike McCarthy 1/10/25

Riffing on Frederick William Cost: A Tonal Landscape Painting Demonstration

Welcome to another Tonal landscape oil painting demonstration by your painter-in-residence, M Francis McCarthy.

Today, I'll be sharing a 5x7 painting I completed recently titled "Riffing on Frederick William Kost." I'm thrilled with the way it turned out, and I hop that you'll gain valuable insights from watching me create this artwork.

This painting is definitely a Tonal work, but it's not a direct study of Frederick's painting, it’s a riff, my take on Fred’s piece. Much like a cover song, it is sort of similar but also very different. I've altered the sky completely, as Frederick's original featured a yellow sky and in lot’s of other large and small ways. Check it out!

If you're a member of my YouTube channel, you can access the live version of this video in the Members' area, where you'll see not only the entire painting process LIVE but also Frederick's original image and my modified reference at the start of the video.

Many Tonalists would sometimes paint the sky yellow to create a peaceful, still atmosphere. I wanted more of a payoff in the sky, as it occupies a significant portion of the painting. I think the extra color adds up to a real pay off! I'll likely create more of these "riffs" as I update the older sections of my channel. What a blessing it is having access to all this information now. The future is awesome in so many ways!

Speaking of updates, I've been shipping out copies of my book, which I'm excited to send anywhere in the world for $60 US. This price covers international shipping, ensuring that everyone has access to my work.

I was pleased with how this painting came together. One aspect I'm particularly happy with is laying down the sky and leaving it alone. This approach allows for greater expression in the painting which is always my primary goal. I believe that we all want to see an emotive quality from an artist's unique perspective when viewing a painting.

Throughout the video, I discuss various topics, such as the influence of varnish on Tonalist paintings and my decision not to varnish my work. Instead, I prefer to use Liquin as a protective layer. We no longer live in an era of gas lamps and candles so the need for varnish is greatly minimized.

As we near the end of the video, I want to remind you that there's much more content available in the Members' area. Additionally, I recently released a YouTube Playlist featuring all the live videos from 2019. While my skills have improved since then, those videos still offer valuable insights.

By the way I’ve painted this scene by Kost before. way back in 2015. That is more of a straight up study and part of my first set of YouTube video in a series called 100 days of Tonalism.

I hope you enjoy and learn from this demonstration. Until next time, take good care of yourself, your family, and all of your loved ones and after watching this video, go create a painting!

Cheers,

Mike