Tonalism Revived
Hello,
I am a landscape painter, my name is M Francis McCarthy. I've been painting for about six years. Before that I worked professionaly as a graphic artist and illustrator. I have written about my experiences in those years on another blog
.
Drawing for "Summer Montclair" by M Francis McCarthy painted after George Inness, size 5 x 7"
Sometime last year a friend of mine got involved in a project whereby they composed 100 songs in 100 days. I found this idea quite interesting and I was trying to think of ways that I too could do something in this vein. I do create
, but for me a project involving 100 days would require too much of my time,
Upon thinking about what I wanted to do, the idea struck me that it might be very interesting to paint studies of 100 of my favorite tonalist paintings. This would accomplish quite a few goals and ideas I've had for my painting career. It could also help to expand the modern public's appreciation and understanding of what tonalism is and used to be when it was the preeminent style of landscape painting in America.
Some of the things that I'm hoping that this project will accomplish are:
Increase awareness of this vital and fascinating movement in painting.
Help to expand the audience for my work.
Expand the general public's awareness and appreciation of tonalism.
Generate income from the sale of these fine arts studies.
I am currently working on this series of paintings. I'm not exactly taking a painting a day approach in the creation of these studies. In many cases I will be doing layers that require a dry on dry approach. In addition, I may be doing some glazing as well.
I'm committed to seeing this project through to its conclusion, and that entails not just creating a study but for each study that has been created, writing a blog post. I'm going to feel my way through these posts as I go so prepare for exciting changes as we go along!
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Today, I am including a photo of my preliminary drawing for Summer Montclair by George Inness. For this project, I have chosen to create my drawings on a ground of light burnt sienna. I'm using burnt sienna paint and pthalo green to delineate the major shapes and composition of each painting. This is one of my favorite modes of working and this is the first time I have shown or shared this aspect of my process online.
Summer Montclair by George Inness is, I would say my favorite painting of all time and for that reason is the first in the series. I will be doing a full blog post on this particular painting, but I thought it would be fun and illuminating to share this study now.