Unify, Simplify, Amplify

Greetings again from the land of Zed.

Yesterday I said I'd talk about the other note on my easel in my studio.

That Note says: "Unify, Simplify, Amplify" I borrow the term from Ken Carbone over at

Co Design He uses  it for marketing advice but I think it applies very well to landscape painting also.

When we create a landscape painting it has no reason to exist other than it pleases the eye of the beholder. If it does not accomplish this there is nothing else that it can be used for other than to possibly re-use the canvas for another painting.

"Spring Light" (Final)  8x10 by M Francis McCarthy

So how does this motto this help us create beautiful pictures that deserve to be beheld? 

Let's beak it down with some bullets:

• Unify - This mean that every part of the painting should work with every other part. Some aspects dominant while others supportive but all parts must reflect and coordinate with each other to create a unified whole.
• Simplify - This directs us to look for and represent in our painting a simplified pattern of pleasing large shapes subdivided by smaller pleasing shapes. Simplifying the scene is vital to create unity and amplification. It is difficult to create unity from immense amounts of detail all vying for the eyes attention.
• Amplify - Much of what I said yesterday about "More Light, More Dark, More Color", falls into this area. Adding contrast and amping up the color create more interest and attraction for the viewer. However to sucessfully amplify a picture it must be clear before it is amplified. Otherwise you just get a loud mess. 

"Spring Light" (First Revision)  8x10 by M Francis McCarthy

Together these three ideas add up to better paintings. It's taken me awhile to apply these concepts to my landscape painting. But I always tried for a similar result when I worked as an illustrator. 

It's only recently that I've become aware of the core differences between illustrating and landscape painting. I will expound on this more in a future post as it's definitely something I thought I knew all about. In reality I had it Wrong with a capital "W".

"Spring Light" (Original Painting)  8x10 by M Francis McCarthy

Okay, Lets talk about what I did to "Spring Light". 

This painting has actually been revised twice. The original was painted last year and I repainted it around February. 

I had the original up on my studio wall for quite awhile and though I liked the atmospheric quality I was bothered by elements of the picture. Heres how I addressed those bothersome areas.

First revision:

• Removed the hill from the background. This was creating an unpleasant downward arrow where the tree and hill met.
• Softened the diagonal band of clouds in the sky.
• Simplified the background and the sky.
• In the foreground I painted in a path or river coming in from the right. This only sorta was an improvement. Still, I was happy to be abandoning my photo reference and be creating with just imagination.
• Added a clump of trees to the right side where the previous hill had crested.
• Closed off the left side clump of trees. This helps direct the viewer's eye in a more pleasing manner and creates intimacy in the scene as well.

The revised "Spring Path" sat on my wall for another few months. I was happier but still not satisfied. Heres what I did to reach the final version.

Second Revision:

• Lowered the hills and indicated the horizon with a streak of distant foliage.
• Reworked the sky losing the diagonal completely.
• Increased the lightness at the base of the sky.
• Painted away my previous path from the left adding a pool or puddle of water in the center instead.
• Made the meadow behind the trees brighter.
• Softened the tops of the trees in the clump on the right.

All in all I am pleased with the result. I feel that "Spring Light" now has a feeling of intimacy, space and a peaceful quality that rewards the viewer. 

"Spring Light" is currently on display at my studio in the Quarry Arts Center' Whangarei, New Zealand. Feel free to come and check it out.

Cheers,

More Light, More Dark, More Color

Howdy folks,

Back from my extended stay in the studio, amongst other worthwhile pursuits.

I'm still busily reworking paintings I've done over the last year. Not all of them but far more than I thought I would when I began this revision process a few months ago.

Generally speaking for most of my artistic life, I've been hesitant to revise my work.

However since I made a quantum leap in my understanding of painting a few months back. What painting is. What it can be and what I want it to be for me as an artist. I've had to change my way of working in light of this greater capacity to see and address the shortcomings of my paintings.

"Clearing Up Revised"  8x8 by M Francis McCarthy

One of the major insights I gained from my of my leap in understanding painting, was realizing that I can change anything I see that rings as false or that fails to create unity in my work, at any time and to whatever degree is necessary to bring the painting into a harmonious and unified state. Regardless of time already spent on the painting or it's fealty to to source material.

A painting must be a painting not just a reproduction of a scene in nature or referenced from a photo.

"Clearing Up"  8x8 by M Francis McCarthy

Todays image " Clearing up" was revised considerably by me just recently. 

I'm showing the previous version here below and the revised version at the top. I have used this image before on my blog and also had it up in a gallery here in New Zealand. 

The previous version isn't really that bad but there were things that bothered me like the tree trunk in the foreground and the mass of trees to the left felt too solid. Also, I liked the atmosphere of the sky but the strong diagonals there bothered me.

So, given these misgivings, why did I proudly display the image here and in a gallery?

I did it because I felt at the time I'd "finished" the piece that there was nothing else I could do to it. The reasons for this attitude are too extensive for the blog format. Suffice it to say I'm a believer in finishing things and then moving on.

This leads onto todays topic More Light, More Dark, More Color.

I have this statement taped to the easel in my studio. It is one of two mottos taped there. The other will be explored in another blog post later.

More Light, More Dark, More Color means that a painting can be dark even very dark and succeed as long as there is strong light as well. In fact there must be one to have the other and I want those strong contrasts in my work as they create stronger feeling in the painting.

More color means just that. I'm not afraid to ramp those colors up to extreme levels of saturation if necessary.  No longer will I hold back that aspect in my work, for the same reason as kicking up the lights and darks. More color combined with stronger darks and brighter lights equals even more feeling and emotive content.

Here's what I did to "Clearing Up":

• Painted another foreground tree to cover that annoying trunk from the previous version. 
• Created a sloping arc for the foreground hill, softening the previous slashing diagonal there. 
• Established  the horizon more clearly with less clutter. 
• In the sky I went with a strong twilight coloration.  
• Broke up the strong diagonals there and introduced more contrast.

In the lower left portion of the painting

• I placed a brook that followed the same compositional diagonal that was in the previous version . 
• Opened up the distant field and simplified it also amping up the color to a golden grass color. 
• The clump of trees on the left I made smaller. 
• Softened the harsh edges against the sky for all the trees breaking the horizon line.

Note: I used a revised painting of the original 5x5 oil sketch as an aid in repainting the larger 8x8. I did not refer to any photo reference. I'm learning more and more that working in this way creates far more depth in my paintings as well as creatinbg a sort of magical quality that I'm very happy with.

Cheers,

Landscape Painting - Narrative

It's autumn here in New Zealand. Getting colder and darker everyday now. 

I'm still getting used to the season flip from the US and the fact that theres not going to be a halloween in two weeks.

Today I want to chat about "narrative" in art. I am not an expert on art terms or art history being self taught. So my ideas about narrative may be different from the orthodox view. To define the term narrative as it relates to landscape painting, I mean, contextualized artifacts that create stories.

I avoid narrative in my painting. That means I do not put people in my landscapes or even things like houses, fences, fence posts, cows, sheep etc.

My Studio "just painted" area

I've no issue with artists that use these elements in their work. In fact I know first hand that they're handy for solving many compositional problems. For me, those benefits are outweighed by the attention these focal points draw and more importantly the narrative that is generated when they are present.

For example, if I paint a young girl with a basket into a scene of a field. Many questions about her and her situation are created. Where is she going? Is she happy? What's in the basket? Do her parent's own the field? 

Or if I paint an old barn in that field, you could ask, who works there? Is there anybody in that barn now? When was the last time anyone used that barn and so on.

On the other hand if I just paint a field with some trees and maybe a brook and an interesting sky. I've created a space that can be filled by the viewer of the painting without creating context. There is nothing between them and the emotive space that I've created for them to occupy. They are free to expand their consciousness into it and in so doing, relax and feel good.

Thats my goal and intention as a landscape painter if the truth be told. 

I wish for the viewers of my paintings to feel good but thats just the beginning of what I'm after. As they go deeper into the painting they might begin to wonder why we are all alive anyway and why is life so beautiful? 

Or they could begin to experience that feeling of stillness one has at that moment after the sun's just passed over the horizon and you find yourself deep in the seeming timelessness of the gloaming. A space between light and darkness and between life and death.

I should mention that my idol

George Inness

often painted figures into his works. Not only was he able to do this without the sort of repercussions I've mentioned, but his best painting easily achieve all the things that I wish for my paintings to do as well. 

All I can say is that Inness was a genius and that the rest of us must just do the best we can.

Cheers,

A bit about todays picture. This was taken today with my iphone at my studio in the

Quarry Arts Center Whangarei

, New Zealand

. The area of my studio pictured is to the right of where I paint and I set things there to dry and also keep recent things there to look at. 

Looking at one's work is nearly as important as painting it. I generally feel close to the work I've just painted. The word "enamored" comes to mind. 

However, more and more thats been replaced with a more critical mindset.

 I'm determined now more than ever to push each painting to the limit of what I can accomplish at this time. That means, more color, more contrast, more light, more darkness and no muddy half hearted scenes will be tolerated.

Landscape Painting - Revisions 2

Keeping up with our recent theme of revising art today.

I've been writing a lot about this topic. One reason is that I feel it's vital information. Painting actually requires less technical knowledge than you would think. The truth is that "seeing itself" is the real thing with painting.

After a period of study it's fairly simple to apply paint to the canvas in the desired colors and areas. The real challenge is in what we putting on the canvas. If we cannot see it first in either nature, a photo or in our minds eye, it will be nearly impossible to paint a great picture.

"Autumn Twilight" Final  (8x10) by M Francis McCarthy

Onto today's painting "Autumn Twilight". I had a bad feeling about this one from the get go. Still, I believed that I could power through my inner misgivings and do something cool. 

Well I tried, and failed horribly. So much so that I had this painting turned to the wall in my studio for awhile. I'm going to cover what exactly was wrong with it as I tell you what I did to revise the painting below. 

First let me say that main thing wrong was my reference photo. Though I had adjusted it quite a lot in Photoshop. I had not really noticed the huge composition issues inherent in the scene itself.  

BTW my subconscious did see those problems and tried to signal me through intuition that something was wrong, many times.  As you can see below, I ignored my intuition and payed for it dearly.

"Autumn Twilight" Previous Version  (8x10) by M Francis McCarthy

The revised version is at the top of this post. It would have made sense to post the early version first and the correct down here but I could not bear to have it leading off a post so please just scroll up to check out what I've done.

Here's what I did:

• Closed off the left side so there was a clear focal area. As is the picture had a sort of two face composition, with each side of the painting fighting for the viewers attention. This was the biggest issue with the painting by far.
• Created a better sky that "payed" off. I've written before about payoff sky's here. Funny enough, I thought I'd set up a good sky but it suffers from "tube syndrome" and was not working at all.
• Reshaped and reformed the trees. I also lightened them where they meet the sky. The darkness against the light was too intense and this is something that is very common in photographs that made it into this painting.
• Lightened the grasses below the trees creating more interest there.
• Darkened the lower right hand corner. I'm still a vignette fan. I did it here to help steer the eye towards the main  focal point (the field behind the trees).
• Lightened the area where the background foliage/hills meet the sky. This creates more atmosphere and also lessons the harshness of that distant edge.

That's about it. This was the second surgery I did on a recent painting and it payed off hugely. I'm really happy with the painting now. It's not perfect but it does have a nice feeling to it that I think rewards the viewer, whereas before there was only an almost good painting.

I'm going to be doing more posts along this line coming up. 

I'm hopeful that seeing my struggles will help you to overcome obstacles to doing better paintings that you may be having. 

Landscape painting is not easy to do well even for an experienced illustrator like myself but its great fun and a challenge that is welcome.

Cheers,

Landscape Painting - Revisions

Hey all. I know I've been a bit lax re the blog but never fear I am still here.

My minds been full of painting lately, I've been on a revision kick sparked by some keen insights regarding my use of photo reference, composition and interest. 

I'll be writing quite a few posts about these revisions I've been doing in the near future. Today I'm going to talk about this painting "Twilight Ember".

"Twilight's Ember"  (12x16) by M Francis McCarthy

I'm quite pleased with this painting now. I completed it last week.

Below I'm showing the 5x7 sketch that is very similar to Twilight Ember's first color stage. After I painted the color layer on the 12x16 version, I was not as happy with my motif, the sky, the tightness of my tree drawing or the grassy field.

Many of these problem areas are only suggested by the 5x7 shown here. 

At the small size I wasn't aware that I had any issues really. 12x16 is much bigger though and after my first color layer it was apparent that I was going to have a blah painting on my hands unless I made some changes.

Summer Pastuire (12x16) by M Francis McCarthy

Here's what I did:

• The sky was a nice transition from grey to peachy, but it was what I call "tubey" meaning that the spaces between clouds were to regular and not varied enough. I repainted the sky with an interesting glowing sunset going all the way up into a deep dusky grey blue.
• I removed that tree in the middle so I could install a better focal point in the space created.
• I completely did a 180 on the view. previously the sun was on the trees, now it is behind.
• I painted in a little brook where before there were only grasses. I feel like the scene would benefit from a higher horizon but I kind of like the uniqueness of the viewpoint as is.
• I created dark foliage in front of the trees on the right. I did this to help direct the viewers eye and create more mystery.

All in all I'm happy. It's not perfect but I enjoy looking at it far more now and I feel that it's over all a satisfying painting.

I hope you are getting something from this breakdown and that it helps you to look at your own work with that important critical eye. 

Don't be afraid to tear a painting down and rebuild it if there are apparent issues in it. You may utterly mess it up but there's no real  limit to how many times you can rework it if you need to.

Cheers,

Painting - Composition

The importance of composition in landscape painting cannot be underestimated. It is the main thing that I feel improves in my work as I paint the landscape over and over.

As artists, we are responsible for moving the viewer through the picture. Failure to do this well will always result in mediocre pictures. 

The brain filters out huge chunks of the data coming in through our visual sense  A critical job of the artist is to do this filtering action for his viewer, presenting them with a predetermined journey through the painting.

"Riverside Reflections"  (8x12) by M Francis McCarthy

That "journey" is what is primarily created when we correctly use composition in our pictures.

Much of what we do as artists in this regard is intuitive. We just know when it feels right. Much also can be learned by studying the paintings of artists you admire. Far less is graspable when you read about the subject in books.

There are some great books on composition one I love is by Edgar Payne Composition of Landscape Painting. Another I've been trying to read is Composing Pictures by Donald Graham, I just scanned a review of this on Amazon an that review wasn't feeling it either. 

From my experience the best way to learn about good composition is to do a lot of paintings. As you do these paintings try to remember that a path must be mapped by you through each work you create. 

I'm going to mention using photography as a major area of potential concern at it pertains to composition. 

Speaking from experience,  though you can utilize composition skills when shooting your reference material, you are still just flattening raw nature.

A painting must be composed. mimicry and rote copying of nature results in paintings, but many times they will be hit or miss unless the reference photo has been re invented. To do this the limitations of the photo must be overcome by direct intervention from the imagination of the artist.

Cheers,

A bit about "Riverside Reflections". This is a recent painting thats made it through my recent repainting cull without being reworked. There is much I love about "Riverside Reflections" and somethings I'd rethink when revisiting this motif. 

Over all, the painting has the quiet feeling of twilight that I was after and exhibits a nice luminescent quality. It's currently hanging at the Yvonne Rust Gallery located at the Quarry Arts Center in Whangarei California. 

Landscape Painting - Craft

Oil painting is a craft. Like carving , clay working, writing a sonnet or any other activity one has to work at mastering. One of the reasons I write this blog is to support and further the craft of Painting.

Does this mean that painting isn't one of the highest of arts?

Definitely not. Only movies and music have an equal power to move us to great emotion. A painting can grab you and before you know it you're ensconced in it's reality, transported to another space, way of being, or seeing.

"Passing Storm"  (8x10) by M Francis McCarthy

For an artist to achieve even a fraction of the potential natively inherent in the form of painting, requires true diligence. Hours of work and study must be expended. The only fuel that can sustain an effort of this magnitude is passion.

Minimal effort will yield shallow results at best. You may be a hobbyist or perhaps just an art explorer. No worries mate, that's fine. If painting is anything it's fun. Or should be. Not every thing we do in our lives has to be considered work.

"Passing Storm"  (5x7) by M Francis McCarthy

Oil painting is my work though and I do it every day for 4 to 6 hours. By that I mean actual brush on board painting. I cannot say I've always approached my painting so consistently. When I first got to New Zealand I was coming off 27 years of full-time labor. I needed a break and I had a great time. Now I'm hitting it hard as..

Examples of the great craft and art of Landscape Painting are easy to find. As are tutorials and instruction geared towards the nuts and bolts craft of creating oil paintings on canvas or board. 

You tube alone is a vast resource. Seeing painting as a craft is a great way to improve and also keeps you from falling in to the amateur/layperson trap of thinking any old crap can equal art. 

BTW Even good abstract work exhibits craft so don't think of abstract art as an escape route (for the lazy though, many do think that way).

Look at your work. Does it stand up as something solid? Will it support the weight of repeated viewing by the interested and disinterested? Even if you are a hobbyist working on your stuff only part time, you can bring the pride of doing something well, to what you do. 

It might mean watching one less TV show or spending more on art supplies than you'd rather. Ultimately this world only pays back if some effort has been extended.

About today's painting "Passing Storm": I painted this last year and though I've sold the 5x7 I still have the larger painting in my studio. 

This ones all about the sky and I enjoyed painting the clouds in freely in both paintings. Also I wanted to contrast the cool grayish sky against the warm rusts and golds of late summer grass.

Cheers,

Landscape Painting - Mystery

We need mystery in  a good landscape painting. What could be less interesting than a painting of a sunny day with birds and a big sun in the sky?

How to go about it? 

That's a great question. Certainly less is more as a way of painting would be a good start.Less detail, less rendering and simplified color. 

Often creating a good landscape painting or any work of art can be more of a process of removal more than addition. Getting lost, then found.

"Early Morning Field" (6x9) by M Francis McCarthy

I try to use a minimal amount of strokes in my paintings. Lately I've been becoming more aware of the presence of the illustrator in my work.

Illustrating mystery into a painting is more difficult that just painting in a less controlled way.It seems that implication not illustration is the name of the game.

If mystery in painting gets your juices flowing. Tonalism is the way to go. 

Tonalism is all about that mysterious time of quiet twilight, when the air is still and all you hear are the crickets. The sky is golden light and in the shadows you can just make out the lush greens of life.

To achieve more mystery in your work: darken your pallet down a key or as I'm rediscovering you can actually tone your paintings with an oil glaze after they are dry to get some awesome effects. Also you can simplify your brushwork by using a larger brush and less brush strokes.

Landscape Painting - Beauty You Can't Fake It...

After yesterdays scary bear, I'm thinking we'll get into beauty today.

In 1990 when I did that bear, I was 25 years old and still occasionally buying comic books. As a young artist I was far more interested in clever, coolness than beauty. 

As the years have passed, more and more I've been attracted to the beautiful in art.

As today's title states. You cannot fake beauty. 

Something can be clever, cool, striking even but to be beautiful. It must be well crafted and work on sound artistic principles.

"By the Shore" (6x9) by M Francis McCarthy

It may be true that beauty is in the eye of the beholder but it is also true that this truism is often invoked to defend second rate art or cleverness disguised as art.

After years of being clever eventually, as an artist I had to decide was sort of art that I wanted to leave in this world. 

I want to make pictures that bring folks some insight, rest and comfort. That's not all that's going on but it is definitely a big apart of what I'm after.This goal is strongly supported by trying to achieve beauty in my work.

A bit about today's painting. It was done after a trip my wife made to visit me in California before we were married. 

The summer was scorching hot at that time in California except on the coast where were touring. There, it was blissfully foggy,nice and cool. That's reflected in the painting too I hope.

This painting exhibits a strong Tonalist pallet and was an early attempt at using a Tonalist vocabulary in my painting. 

The 6x9 size is due to my fixation on the golden mean as a painting proportion. I stayed with that proportion well into my New Zealand painting career. We'll get more into proportions later. They are fascinating with the golden mean being especially so.

If you're a student, I recommend looking at and dissecting some work you consider beautiful. Create some yourself. It actually feels great to try.

Cheers,

Landscape Painting - Don't Over Paint

Here is one I have to tell myself all the time.

Don't over paint.

I like to plan out my paintings. I take pictures, do drawings and paint a small color sketch.

Then I project my drawing up onto my board and trace it with charcoal. After that I finish that drawing with a brush and sienna and black. This functions as my under painting.

The process is the same for the 5x7's and their larger brothers. One difference between them is that I draw the scene with charcoal directly unto the 5x7 board while I project unto the larger. Also I do only one color layer on the 5x7's and up to three or more on the large version of the painting.

Day's End (9x12) by M Francis McCarthy

Once in a while. I like my 5x7's better than their larger brothers. I enjoy their simpler forms and open brushwork  

I sometimes have a tendency going back to my earliest drawing days, to over render forms and over delineate the details. I call this activity being "the robot". I'm a better painter than a robot so I watch for it.

Day's End (5x7) by M Francis McCarthy

We all have our crosses to bear as individual artists.

How do I address mine? 

The only way I know how, by painting a lot and looking, painting and criticizing. Always trying for better. 

I also study the work of artists I admire and try to absorb some of their practice into mine where it's relevant and possible.

Every artist has their own way to their unique vision. 

Sometimes it's good to strike a balance between what you know and what you should know. Question your assumptions a bit once in awhile. If you were right about everything you though was good in your art, all the time... 

Wouldn't it be better?

Cheers,

Landscape Painting - Tonalism

Lets chat a bit about Tonalism today.

Tonalism was a movement in American landscape painting that lasted from about 1870 to 1920 or so. 

As a movement it was heavily influenced both by the Hudson river and Luminist schools that came before it but most importantly by the French Barbizon movement.

Here's a bit I wrote about Tonalism in an old blog:

"Tonalism is about a poetic interpretation of the emotive response we have to nature. It's about using the landscape and paint to convey emotion through the picture plain and into the mind and heart of the viewer. It is much more than a "tone" or any color effect or style. 

Tonalism is often a bit diffused but it is not about that either. It's about expressing the plane just below the surface of life/nature  and the emotive currents of the scene  it's light, space and colors fractured as brushed paint"

Autumn Meadow (8x10) by M Francis McCarthy

My attraction to this lost mode of expression came as a response to the work of George Inness. I've spoken about George before and I'm certain to again as his influence on my landscape painting is massive.

While I have never copied Inness I have probably read most every book out there about him and I believe that his achievement in landscape painting has not been equaled by anyone since.

The paintings of Inness contain very high spiritual attributes. This is not an accident as George Inness was a man driven by spirituality to an extreme.

There are many other great Tonalist painters I admire like Charles Warren Eaton, Robert Swain Gifford, Lowell Birge Harrison and John La Farge. But Inness was my first big draw.

Autumn Meadow (5x7) by M Francis McCarthy

Is Tonalism making a comeback?

I cannot say that I know. All I know is that I personally resonate with this mode of painting. I've see quite a few modern artists attempt Tonalism. Not many of them have succeeded in my view. A big exception is Dennis Sheehan, no doubt there are others I'm not aware of too.

If you are interested in learning more about Tonalism I reccomend this book highly: A History of American Tonalism,1880-1920. 

It doesn't look like Amazon is selling it directly anymore. I hope it's not out of print. I'd pick it up if you even remotely interested in American Landscape Painting as it is a great book. 

In fact I own two copies. One for the studio and one here at my home office.

Cheers,

Landscape Painting - Subjects

I was out driving about Northland New Zealand yesterday. Pretty easy to do as that's where I live and work. New Zealand is full of great trees and rural scenery. Lots of scenes that are paintable out here.

Twilight Meadow by M Francis McCarthy

Driving about with my wife I saw many great scenes and I like to stop and take photos of the ones that I think would make good motifs for paintings.

One thing I appreciate more and more is realizing that my intuition will always lead me to a great scene and also tells me that a scene just won't work. 

I can easily extrapolate my intuitions guidance if I need to. Its not magic. It's built out of observation, experience and gut feeling all together. The more you paint the more you should know what it is that works for you as an artist.

First New Zealand Studio

We've talked in the past about subject matter. 

An amateur artist should draw and paint absolutely everything that interests them while learning their craft. Conversely in the fine art world it's best for an artist to paint one type of subject. 

There are many obvious exceptions to this rule but in my many years in the art business I've noticed that the artists that painted one type of subject matter in one style did better than those who floated about.

The reason for this is that galleries and the art market in general need a way to market an artist. If your doing florals  figures, cityscapes, landscapes and seascapes in 10 different styles. It's going to be hard to carve any groove into to consciousness of the art market.

I choose landscape painting as my specialty because I felt that I could convey the types of feelings and evoke the kinds of emotions with my art that I find desirable. Also, I find landscape painting infinitely challenging and I'm prepared to do it till I die or am unable to lift my brush.

If you're a student, explore, explore, explore. But think about what I've said and about what type of subject matter resonates most with you. At some point in your artistic journey you will find the right thing to explore more fully.

Cheers...

Landscape Painting - Let it Be

Just a brief post today. I've been working on my site and I've finally worked out a gallery/slideshow solution that I like.

One thing that separates the professional artist from his amateur fellows is knowing when the piece they're working on is finished. The amateur often holds a mistaken belief that more time spent on a painting equals a better painting. 

Nothing could be father from the truth. In actual fact even the professional artist can work on a piece past the point where it was well done.

Dawns Glow by M Francis McCarthy

So, what can we do about over working our art? 

My advice: "Let it Be" three simple words that can save you. While working I feel it's best to try and accomplish whatever is happening on the canvas/board in as few steps as possible. Just tell your self to let the art be. Let it breathe.

"When do I stop though" you say? 

There is a still, quiet voice that tries to tell you when to stop. I call it intuition. We are going to talk a lot more about intuition later but for now I'll say, "intuition can guide you step by step if you listen to it". 

Like any other skill it must be learned though. As you practice listening and acting in accordance with your intuition it becomes stronger and stronger. 

Be aware that it is very easy to drown out this subtle guidance. There's nothing forceful about how intuition communicates. Though it speaks in a whisper it has the power of a hurricane.

Cheers

Landscape Painting - One Brush

Hey, lets get back to some technique after yesterdays philosophical discussion.

I tend to use one or two brushes for 70 to 100% of each paintings passages. I know that many painters like to change up their bushes during a session but I tend to start with a big brush, say up in the sky and I'll do the whole sky with it. 

For the sizes I work these days I favor #8 to #2 Flats and I will spend the extra dosh for good quality brushes. I've been using Robert Simmons Signet Bristle Brushes because they're good and I can get them out here in New Zealand. I really like Silver Brush Grand Prix Super Brushes also. Try those out if you're in the states they are top notch.  

Homeward Bound (12x18) by M Francis McCarthy

The cheapies are more trouble than you save from the cost difference from just getting good brushes. Cheapies shed hairs in your painting, have uneven sides and edges, don't last and basically make painting a drag because the brush will not respond to your hand very well.

I'll stick with that first flat for an entire passage unless I've a great reason to grab another brush. I'll get deeper into my process as the blog progresses but for now: I use that brush's edges and corner to get the paint down in varied ways. 

I do wipe my brush off occasionally with a paper towel and if necessary I'll use some lavender oil to temporarily clean the brush. 

For cleaning at the end of a session I now use kerosene. Kerosene leaves a nice oil on the brushes that conditions them. In my experience it keeps the brushes fresher for longer. 

Be careful the brush is dry though before using it to paint again, kerosene that gets into your painting will keep the painting from drying! 

Turpentine can give me a headache as does "odorless" mineral spirits. I've found some great alternatives like lavender oil. More on Lavender oil later.

Homeward Bound (5x7) by M Francis McCarthy

When I move out of the sky I often will lay in my dark's with a #2, #3 or #4 flat depending on the shapes involved and the size of the passage. I like to get back into a #4 or #6 for the rest of the medium color areas for the same reasons that I use the #8 in the sky. Namely:

Bigger strokes just look better and the bigger the brush, the bigger the strokes. I find that being forced to use a corner of the brush for accents keeps the painting fresher. In my earlier days as a painter I liked getting the small sable rounds out and going to town on the details. I now feel this locks up the image and that's contrary to my artistic agenda of creating a loose relaxing space for the viewer to enjoy and contemplate.

Another good reason to mostly work with one brush for a passage is that it keeps a bit of the tone from each element mixed in each color. I like my color defined but definitely harmonic. Note: the main brush switch up that I do is when I go in with the dark's  Having lot's of muck in your brush isn't a great plan for dark's but like I said can be an asset in your middle tones and lighter passages. 

Obviously, brushes, brush technique and technology is a vast topic so we'll talk more about it down the road.

Cheers.

Landscape Painting - How Much Detail?

As a young artist I always looked up to and admired other artists that put a lot of detail in their work. A kid into comics, I and my mates loved Neil Adams style because of the realistic detail in his art.

It wasn't until I grew older that I became more aware of the beauty gained by simplifying one's work so that  it's best attributes were put forward.

Peaceful Sojourn by M Francis McCarthy

As far as super detailed landscape painting goes the Hudson River guys were probably the most detailed school though I suppose most any type of painting can be highly detailed.  Here's a piece by Frederic Edwin Church:

Frederic Edwin Church  - a Country Home

This is fairly high rez so give it a click to see how Fred handled finish and detail. Granted this actual painting is huge but the level of finish detail is super high and in Fred's case it works quite well. I've seen Fred's work in person and it's awesome.

For me as an artist and landscape painter detail can be a straight jacket that locks up images. Like I said when I was younger I dug detail and drew plenty of detailed images. Now though I believe most every thing that's good in a picture, that's important, has nothing to do with detail.

If you work with photo reference as I often do, The fact that you can see all that detail in your reference can make it difficult not to render it all right into your painting. What you'l end up with is a box of detail more often than a cohesive painting, if you're not careful.

View of my old living room with studio beyond

I'm not a scientist but I've read a bit about how we as humans "see". We actually see only a small bit of anything in our field of vision in sharp focus. The reason we think we see all detail in a given scene at once is that our brains sew together a panoramic image for us to perceive. 

If you observe your own viewing process right now, you might notice that only an area about eight inches wide at 1 foot or so is in focus. To see more than that clearly, you must move your eye's. This is called scanning.

I try with my work to avoid scanning as much as possible. My feeling is that the painter should do the scanning for the perceiver of his paintings and present an image that just flows into the brain of the viewer. People look at the world and photos much the same way. They scan them. Good landscape paintings avoid this and lead the eye in a pleasant manner. 

There are so many ways to do this that I will expand upon later but for the purposes of this post I'll point out one of the best ways. That is this; eliminate distracting detail from your work and present only pertinent detail that pays off the viewers attention. Cheers

Landscape Painting - Work Small, at First

Lagging a bit on posting, I know. But, I do have an excuse. I've been working on my website and I'm sorting out some really nice portfolio pages. Still a work in progress but you're welcome to check em out if you like.

In addition to that I've been organizing many years worth of photos of paintings and other assorted tidbits, some of which will make it here on to my blog.

It's been my goal for awhile now to have an image archived on my site of every sold and unsold work that I've painted.

The California years are up now and I'm working on three New Zealand image galleries as well. Eventually, I will have all my years worth of drawings up too.

Summer Reflections (6x9) by M Francis McCarthy

Behind the art department in Campbell where I worked there are these awesome percolation ponds and also Los Gatos Creek. 

I found many views there that inspired me and I did over thirty five or so paintings referenced from that area. "Summer reflections" is one of these. I'm still quite pleased with it and who knows, I may paint the theme again some time.

Now, my painting tip for today. If you're learning painting, work small. Two good reasons are: You'll have a lot more experience of painting different scenes in a far shorter period of time than if you do larger work and also, you'll also have far more paintings to keep, sell or give away. 

The upside of having more paintings is that more of them are bound to be good. As far as the bad ones go, destroy them. Do it for yourself and also so the rest of us don't have to look at your crappy bad paintings either.

I've known far too many aspiring artists that spent all their time slogging on some large crappy paintings that they became invested in and thus felt obligated to keep around. 

Working small means at least you can stick the bad ones in a drawer until you are able to release them to the trash can. Or, better yet burn em. So no one picks them out of the trash and hangs them up on their wall (not kidding, has happened to me).

I will say there's a downside to starting small that I personally found to be an issue. Only working small, can make painting larger a bit of a strain at first. I found it a bit of a strain at least. These days, I've no issues working up to 12x18. I'm going to be doing a 18x24 in a month or so and I expect that to go fine.

BTW, using bigger brushes for larger paintings is a good idea and makes transitioning from painting small sizes to larger much easier. Cheers...

Landscape Painting - Surface

My visit to the de Young Museum left me with two things. A big interest in pre impressionist American landscape painting, like the Hudson river school, the Luminists and most importantly Tonalism. And, I also learned to pay special attention to a paintings surface quality. I wanted my paintings to to have some of that classic feeling that I saw in the paintings of past landscape masters and I knew surface quality was a big part of the equation.

I abandoned canvas in favor of painting directly on wood panel. Liquin also factored in my new approach to surface quality as it allowed me to quickly layer colors while building a nice surface with paint, Liquin, the wood grain and my layers of clear gesso over the bare wood.

Late Summer (6x9) Pond by M Francis McCarthy

Surface quality in a painting refers to the texture and reflective quality of the paintings finish. This aspect of a painting becomes most apparent when viewing the original piece obliquely but also effects the viewers spacial reference to and appreciation of, the painting.

Many great old paintings, often done on wood or heavily gesso'ed canvas, exude an awesome character that seems to be missing from a lot of modern work. 

One reason is because many of today's painters, paint directly on top a store bought canvas's natty acrylic white pre-prepped surface. I'm not dissing them but I am saying that you get back what you put out. A cheap start will lead to a cheap finish, or it can.

I feel that every stage of the painting should be done with love and care. Starting from using a properly prepared board or canvas. Here above are the Kauri Boards that I'm using for my current series. They are 100% lovely Kauri Marine plywood:

Marine plywood is manufactured from durable face and core veneers, with few defects so it performs longer in humid and wet conditions and resists delaminating and fungal attack. Its construction is such that it can be used in environments where it is exposed to moisture for long periods. Each wood veneer will be from durable tropical hardwoods, have negligible core gap, limiting the chance of trapping water in the plywood and hence providing a solid and stable glue bond. It uses an exterior Water and Boil Proof (WBP) glue similar to most exterior plywoods.

Marine plywood is frequently used in the construction of docks and boats. It is much more expensive than standard plywood: the cost for a typical 4-foot by 8-foot 1/2-inch thick board is roughly $75 to $100 U.S. or around $2.5 per square foot, which is about three times as expensive as standard plywood.

I prep my boards with two to three coats of sanding sealer and sand them in between. As stated, marine ply costs three times more than the cheap stuff  but you can feel the quality when your painting on it vs pine or another cheaper product. 

BTW pine can be nice for smaller paintings. I prefer when painting small to use a textured surface anyway. I create the texture for my 5x5's and 5x7's using clear acrylic gesso, paper and the side of a brush to create a nice uniform yet varied surface texture that will grab paint off of my brush.

For my more finished paintings I like to utilize the wood texture inherent in my substrate and also create more texture with my brush strokes. I work quiet thin so sometimes the paintings surface is only perturbed slightly form the flat wood grain. 

A trail is left by the all work that went into the painting and the paintings surface tells that tale. Eloquently I hope, if not ant least the attempt was made and attention was paid.

Landscape Painting Thoughts

Lately I've gotten around to sorting through years of photos of paintings in progress, reference pics and photos of failed attempts as well. What a ton of work it's been!

That work is going into a major update to my website landscapepainter.co.nz. I've tried a few online web services but I've settled on Ezgenerator. It's template driven but very flexible in it's own way. Can't say I enjoy doing the web work but needs must.

It will pay off for this blog too as I've discovered many litle forgotten gems that I'll be sharing as we progress along here at blog central.

M Francis McCarthy with a painting by George Inness

Me and my hero's work at the de Young museum in San Francisco, California. They have a nice wing of great American Landscape Painting that was a big influence on me after I saw the original works on display there.

Pond Reflections 6x8 by M Francis McCarthy

I started painting in a Impressionist vein. "Pond Reflections" reflects this style. As I've said before, I believe that many landscape painters are working in an Impressionist manner whether they are aware of it or not.

I know I was in the period I painted this. This painting was done with a super limited pallet of Cad Yellow, Alizarin Crimson, Ultramarine Blue and Titanium white. I was influenced in that color pallet by Kevin Macpherson who has written a few great books on Painting: Landscape Painting Inside & Out  and Fill Your Oil Paintings with Light & Color. I recommend both of these books highly.

Hey, if your a real serious M Francisophile you can check out my first long abandoned blog The Rebel Artist. I keep it up just for fun. It documents a pretty good chunk of my early painting progression and I still like a lot of those paintings and will probably revisit a few of the motifs before I'm done landscape painting.

Cheers.

Inspiration - Past, Present, Future

Every artist must face their own best work. Whether their previous artistic highs inspire or torment them is one of the greatest factors in determining their success as artists. I have seen many friends and even other professional artists hit this particular block.

As for me, I am always aware of my previous work and I like to keep the best of it around to contemplate and appreciate. That said, I try to wear my work lightly. Ultimately I feel that good art is an expression of not just the artist alone, but of the Universe itself. 

When one recons with the effort and different elements that must go into even a bad work of art, the mind boggles at the complexity of creating a high, artistic achievement.

By the Brook  (12x18) by M Francis McCarthy

I've written in the past about artistic blocks. The best way to eliminate blocks is to keep your breaks from creating art, brief. In other words, you should be making art all the time. Inspiration does show up for those that are actively pursuing their vision as an artist.

There is many a talented artist that is unable to produce consistently high quality work. For the most part these poor folks are laboring under a certain type of belief in "inspiration". Their belief? That inspiration always strikes the artist like a bolt from the heavens, compelling them to rise off their bottoms to engage with their waiting easels and finally create that masterpiece.

Sure, we've all had an experience similar to the example above. The truth is that those sort of inspired moments happen most frequently in the early part of our artistic journey. As an artist progresses and creates a body of work, they taper off. What replaces these "lightning strikes" as the artist matures?

By the Brook  (5x7) by M Francis McCarthy

The answer for me is that I see inspiration as a collaboration between myself and the Universe. I have a desire to create beauty and I conspire with the universe to do so. I feel a "flow" well up from within. This feels natural like breathing. Creation should feel like that. Like a natural occurrence, like eating or breathing. Something you can do, something you must do. 

Ideally, just like breathing you let your work come and go, ebb and flow, unselfconsciously. Expressing easily and naturally in the moment. 

In closing, look at and learn from your best work and also the best work of other artists that may be doing things that you admire. 

However, always keep your reflections positive. Fear and art are a bad combination. Nature favors the brave. 

So, be present with the art you're doing now and make art a flow in your life, not a stop, start and struggle. I've more to say on this topic in future posts. Enough philosophical rambling for one day.

Landscape Painting - Revisting a Theme

This painting was done back in 2009. I've recently revisited the theme again in a larger format with a different feel.

Creek Reflections (6x9) by M Francis McCarthy

I'm fond of this older 6x9 painting. It was painted on a maple panel that I textured with gesso. I was freshly under the spell of Tonalism and this panting reflects that. It has been painted with thousands of tiny strokes and is very diffused. It took me awhile to develop my brushwork so that is is diffuse yet articulated.

Creek Reflections (8x12) by M Francis McCarthy

When seen reduced like this the newer "Creek Reflection" seems as diffuse as his smaller brother. Here's a detail.

Is it better? Just different really, both are nice paintings. I prefer the brushwork in the newer image though because it has character while still being somewhat diffuse. 

Re the color shift between the two versions, that's more a function of my Tonalist re-expression of the theme. 

I decided that for this painting that I wanted to eliminate blue from my pallet and used black as a blue substitute. 

While this may seem odd to modern artistic intentions, artists prior to the late 1800's had scant access to blue pigments. It wasn't until the invention and marketing to artists of synthetic ultramarine blue that artists could really use blue as we do today. 

Prior to this, natural blue pigments were very expensive and hard to grind. As a result many artists used black as a blue. It actually works well as lead white and ivory black make a cool grey. 

I enjoy painting the same subjects more than once. I will usually investigate a new avenue rather than a direct copy. Copying a smaller piece up to a lager size can be rewarding but it's not as fun or artistic. 

This touches on another topic though which I've been thinking of writing about. That is how we as artists perceive our work and ourselves in comparison to past work and accomplishments. A philosophical topic I'll get into tomorrow...