Day Fifty Five: Towards a Clearing Dusk by Charles Warren Eaton
Hello and welcome to Day 55 of 100 days of Tonalism.
Today's study is 'Towards a Clearing Dusk' by Charles Warren Eaton.
This is the sort of scene that Charles makes look quite nice even though it is so simple. I draw some inspiration from the several paintings like this of Charles Warren Eaton that I have done in this series. In my latest series of my own Tonalist paintings I've taken on a few Woodland scenes. I've covered Eaton at length so today I'm using a song from my album Love and Death instead of narration.
Continuing on with our assay regarding my Tonalist painting process; today I would like to discuss weeding out the dud paintings. One of the reasons that I like to do a 5x7 study prior to painting a motif larger, is that the study will enable me quickly to see how well my photographic reference translates into an actual painting.
You would be surprised to learn that of 14 scenes/motifs that I've selected for a series that I am painting, usually at least two or three do not make it into larger paintings and I have to make substitutions for those scenes. This number seems to go higher with each year that I paint. I am learning more all the time what will work for me as a painter and what will not.
In many cases I can spot the duds after doing my initial drawing on a 5x7 panel. One of my hallmarks as an artist is my inner belief that I can conquer any subject or motif if only I apply myself diligently and repeatedly. The actual truth is that this is just not always possible. Some scenes just will not make good paintings no matter how hard you work on them or how great your belief that you can make a silk purse from a sow's ear.
This is all part of the self editing process that any mature artist must go through with their work. In many ways writers have it easier in that, their field of endeavor allows them to use editors. When you're a landscape painter you must be your own editor. There is a fine line between confidence and foolhardiness. I think as artists, it is often times more easy to deceive yourself than you might believe. It's important to always be on guard against self-deception and be working for quality in every aspect of your art at all times.
There are times that I do not end up deciding against a given scene until I have completed the 5x7 color study. Usually I have spent some time looking at the study prior to stating a larger version. This is one reason I like to work on a series of paintings, bringing them all along through each stage. It gives me time to see, think, and visualize the larger paintings.
There are occasions that some scenes work well small but will not scale up, or will not be worth the effort of doing larger. Many times I will give these paintings as gifts to friends. They can be quite nice as studies even though they didn't make it for use in a larger context.
This leads us to the topic of conscious versus unconscious working methods and the use of intuition in regards to creating landscape paintings. I believe I will talk a bit more about this aspect of my painting process tomorrow. Come back if you are interested in hearing about it.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Towards a Clearing Dusk' by Charles Warren Eaton; Eaton was quite good at this type of landscape painting and I feel that his painting here is remarkable in its simplicity. As I stated above I have taken his lead and am producing a few paintings in this sort of vein in my recent own work.
I enjoyed doing this study after Eaton. One of the things I like best about it is the almost duotone nature of this painting or perhaps, it would be more accurate to call it tritone, in that it is essentially just yellow, green, and red with a range in values from very dark to somewhat light.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Painted after - Clearing Dusk by Charles Warren Eaton, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
This is the sort of scene that Charles makes look quite nice even though it is so simple. I draw some inspiration from the several paintings like this of Charles Warren Eaton that I have done in this series. In my latest series of my own Tonalist paintings I've taken on a few Woodland scenes. I've covered Eaton at length so today I'm using a song from my album Love and Death instead of narration.
Continuing on with our assay regarding my Tonalist painting process; today I would like to discuss weeding out the dud paintings. One of the reasons that I like to do a 5x7 study prior to painting a motif larger, is that the study will enable me quickly to see how well my photographic reference translates into an actual painting.
You would be surprised to learn that of 14 scenes/motifs that I've selected for a series that I am painting, usually at least two or three do not make it into larger paintings and I have to make substitutions for those scenes. This number seems to go higher with each year that I paint. I am learning more all the time what will work for me as a painter and what will not.
In many cases I can spot the duds after doing my initial drawing on a 5x7 panel. One of my hallmarks as an artist is my inner belief that I can conquer any subject or motif if only I apply myself diligently and repeatedly. The actual truth is that this is just not always possible. Some scenes just will not make good paintings no matter how hard you work on them or how great your belief that you can make a silk purse from a sow's ear.
This is all part of the self editing process that any mature artist must go through with their work. In many ways writers have it easier in that, their field of endeavor allows them to use editors. When you're a landscape painter you must be your own editor. There is a fine line between confidence and foolhardiness. I think as artists, it is often times more easy to deceive yourself than you might believe. It's important to always be on guard against self-deception and be working for quality in every aspect of your art at all times.
There are times that I do not end up deciding against a given scene until I have completed the 5x7 color study. Usually I have spent some time looking at the study prior to stating a larger version. This is one reason I like to work on a series of paintings, bringing them all along through each stage. It gives me time to see, think, and visualize the larger paintings.
There are occasions that some scenes work well small but will not scale up, or will not be worth the effort of doing larger. Many times I will give these paintings as gifts to friends. They can be quite nice as studies even though they didn't make it for use in a larger context.
This leads us to the topic of conscious versus unconscious working methods and the use of intuition in regards to creating landscape paintings. I believe I will talk a bit more about this aspect of my painting process tomorrow. Come back if you are interested in hearing about it.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Towards a Clearing Dusk' by Charles Warren Eaton; Eaton was quite good at this type of landscape painting and I feel that his painting here is remarkable in its simplicity. As I stated above I have taken his lead and am producing a few paintings in this sort of vein in my recent own work.
I enjoyed doing this study after Eaton. One of the things I like best about it is the almost duotone nature of this painting or perhaps, it would be more accurate to call it tritone, in that it is essentially just yellow, green, and red with a range in values from very dark to somewhat light.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Original painting, Clearing Dusk by Charles Warren Eaton |