Day Forty Five: Midsummer by George Inness
Hello and welcome to day 45 of 100 days of Tonalism.
Today's study is of 'Midsummer' by George Inness.
A nice vertical Inness painting for you today. For the last Inness study that we discussed, I read some biographical information about his early life during the video narration. I will pick up where I left off there on today's video so be sure to check that out.
Over the last several weeks we've been discussing defining aspects of Tonalist painting as it pertains to the landscape. Today I'd like to discuss the use of generalized subjects as opposed to specific places. This is an aspect of Tonalism that I was very interested in right from the start. After I'd decided to begin doing landscape paintings, I took my camera out and started photographing my local area. I soon discovered after making a few paintings that the smallest clump of leaves could be made the subject of a painting and that a lot of interest can be created by the use of intense highlights or shadows.
Prior to the rise of Tonalism, American landscape painting was mainly preoccupied with grandiose depictions of broad American vistas. The main school that propagated this art was referred to as the Hudson River School. Many of the canvas' from this school are quite enormous containing scenes featuring gigantic mountain ranges, broad rivers and peaceful valleys. While reaction to this sort of landscape painting was favorable, sometime after the Civil War and the onset of the industrial revolution, there rose in American artists a desire to depict the pleasant rural landscapes of their youth.
This is where Tonalism came in vogue. As can be seen from the series so far, most Tonalist paintings contain a few trees in a field, maybe a pond or stream and often feature large expansive skies. The use of expansive interestingly colored skies is a quality that Tonalism shares with the Hudson River school that was also known as the Luminists.
While there is nothing at all wrong with rendering expansive vistas, I personally have never been attracted to it. As a matter of fact I'm not very interested in painting mountains at all, preferring instead to paint fields with low laying hills, or just about anything other than mountains.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Midsummer' by Georgia Inness, I've been familiar with this painting for quite some time. I've always been fascinated by the intense dark shadows in it and Inness' use of the vertical format. A friend of mine noted that he feels this painting evidences a strong Constable influence and I'm inclined to agree.
I enjoyed painting this study quite a lot and I'd say the most interesting part was playing off of the strong shadow masses with an array of varied greens.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Painted after - Midsummer by George Inness., Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
Today's study is of 'Midsummer' by George Inness.
A nice vertical Inness painting for you today. For the last Inness study that we discussed, I read some biographical information about his early life during the video narration. I will pick up where I left off there on today's video so be sure to check that out.
Over the last several weeks we've been discussing defining aspects of Tonalist painting as it pertains to the landscape. Today I'd like to discuss the use of generalized subjects as opposed to specific places. This is an aspect of Tonalism that I was very interested in right from the start. After I'd decided to begin doing landscape paintings, I took my camera out and started photographing my local area. I soon discovered after making a few paintings that the smallest clump of leaves could be made the subject of a painting and that a lot of interest can be created by the use of intense highlights or shadows.
Prior to the rise of Tonalism, American landscape painting was mainly preoccupied with grandiose depictions of broad American vistas. The main school that propagated this art was referred to as the Hudson River School. Many of the canvas' from this school are quite enormous containing scenes featuring gigantic mountain ranges, broad rivers and peaceful valleys. While reaction to this sort of landscape painting was favorable, sometime after the Civil War and the onset of the industrial revolution, there rose in American artists a desire to depict the pleasant rural landscapes of their youth.
This is where Tonalism came in vogue. As can be seen from the series so far, most Tonalist paintings contain a few trees in a field, maybe a pond or stream and often feature large expansive skies. The use of expansive interestingly colored skies is a quality that Tonalism shares with the Hudson River school that was also known as the Luminists.
While there is nothing at all wrong with rendering expansive vistas, I personally have never been attracted to it. As a matter of fact I'm not very interested in painting mountains at all, preferring instead to paint fields with low laying hills, or just about anything other than mountains.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Midsummer' by Georgia Inness, I've been familiar with this painting for quite some time. I've always been fascinated by the intense dark shadows in it and Inness' use of the vertical format. A friend of mine noted that he feels this painting evidences a strong Constable influence and I'm inclined to agree.
I enjoyed painting this study quite a lot and I'd say the most interesting part was playing off of the strong shadow masses with an array of varied greens.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Original painting, Midsummer by George Inness |