Day Seventy Six: Golden Sunrise by Charles Warren Eaton
Hello and welcome to Day 76 of 100 days of Tonalism.
Today's study is 'Golden Sunrise' by Charles Warren Eaton.
Charles Warren Eaton was one of the better-known Tonalist painters, and we have been covering his work fairly extensively on this blog. On today's video narration I will be reading from the book a History of American Tonalism by David Cleveland so please check that out.
On today's blog post I would like to discuss the value of painting to me and my journey to doing it. By painting I mean painting with actual paints on an actual surface and not the digital equivalent.
Some of you may be aware that I worked as a commercial artist and illustrator for 13 years. In that time I worked almost exclusively in digital media. I would do drawings in pencil or India ink and then scan, colorize and paint them in the computer using my Wacom tablet and Photoshop.
I first got into doing art with the computer back in 1994. Prior to that time I had a straight up aversion to computers and prefered to work with pencil and pen and ink. I would occasionally use watercolor as well. but prior to my learning how to use a computer I worked predominantly in black and white.
The computer unleashed a world of creativity and color that I could scarcely believe. I'd been inspired to get a computer and make art with it by the cool 3-D art I saw in movies and the computer based coloring I was seeing in comic books. I thought it would be a great way to color my pen and ink work.
It took me a while but I eventually gained mastery over the medium of digital art creation. I used programs like Painter, Photo Paint and Photoshop, teaching myself as I went along. In 1997 that hard work paid off and that I was able to get a graphics job on the basis of my portfolio and also because I had a good friend who worked at the company. This company was in the business of printing T-shirts and I was engaged in creating illustrations that were plugged into designs generated by my employer.
I worked there for a long time and I created a lot of illustrations and a few designs of my own. The sort of things that I would illustrate were animals, dinosaurs, monster trucks, national parks scenes and lots of spot illustrations of all sorts of different items.
It was a fun job especially at first. And with each year there I gained greater and greater mastery over my craft. I enjoyed using my skills and being able to produce artwork that was commercially viable and generated sales. Being a commercial artist has a way of pushing you into completing work and it must be salable if you are to keep getting paid.
Somewhere in my 20s I got the idea that at some point I would like to be a landscape painter. I'm not sure really where this idea came from. I think in many ways it was a lot like the initial reason I went into art in the first place, in that I felt it would be an occupation that was compatible with my personality and life goals. I can't say I was that much into landscape painting at that time but I had this idea in my mind and it stayed there.
I will continue talking about my history and eventual decision to become a landscape painter in tomorrow's blog post, so stay tuned.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Golden Sunrise' by Charles Warren Eaton; this is typical of Eaton's type of painting in that it features the white pines that he made famous. At the time he was painting these trees they were becoming somewhat scarce. After his paintings became popular and captured the imagination of the American public, these trees have made a big resurgence and are no longer hard to find.
I enjoyed painting this nearly duo toned scene and especially appreciate Charles Warren Eaton's approach to composition in this painting, it is very simple and yet very effective
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Painted after - Golden Sunrise by Charles Warren Eaton Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
Charles Warren Eaton was one of the better-known Tonalist painters, and we have been covering his work fairly extensively on this blog. On today's video narration I will be reading from the book a History of American Tonalism by David Cleveland so please check that out.
On today's blog post I would like to discuss the value of painting to me and my journey to doing it. By painting I mean painting with actual paints on an actual surface and not the digital equivalent.
Some of you may be aware that I worked as a commercial artist and illustrator for 13 years. In that time I worked almost exclusively in digital media. I would do drawings in pencil or India ink and then scan, colorize and paint them in the computer using my Wacom tablet and Photoshop.
I first got into doing art with the computer back in 1994. Prior to that time I had a straight up aversion to computers and prefered to work with pencil and pen and ink. I would occasionally use watercolor as well. but prior to my learning how to use a computer I worked predominantly in black and white.
The computer unleashed a world of creativity and color that I could scarcely believe. I'd been inspired to get a computer and make art with it by the cool 3-D art I saw in movies and the computer based coloring I was seeing in comic books. I thought it would be a great way to color my pen and ink work.
It took me a while but I eventually gained mastery over the medium of digital art creation. I used programs like Painter, Photo Paint and Photoshop, teaching myself as I went along. In 1997 that hard work paid off and that I was able to get a graphics job on the basis of my portfolio and also because I had a good friend who worked at the company. This company was in the business of printing T-shirts and I was engaged in creating illustrations that were plugged into designs generated by my employer.
I worked there for a long time and I created a lot of illustrations and a few designs of my own. The sort of things that I would illustrate were animals, dinosaurs, monster trucks, national parks scenes and lots of spot illustrations of all sorts of different items.
It was a fun job especially at first. And with each year there I gained greater and greater mastery over my craft. I enjoyed using my skills and being able to produce artwork that was commercially viable and generated sales. Being a commercial artist has a way of pushing you into completing work and it must be salable if you are to keep getting paid.
Somewhere in my 20s I got the idea that at some point I would like to be a landscape painter. I'm not sure really where this idea came from. I think in many ways it was a lot like the initial reason I went into art in the first place, in that I felt it would be an occupation that was compatible with my personality and life goals. I can't say I was that much into landscape painting at that time but I had this idea in my mind and it stayed there.
I will continue talking about my history and eventual decision to become a landscape painter in tomorrow's blog post, so stay tuned.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Golden Sunrise' by Charles Warren Eaton; this is typical of Eaton's type of painting in that it features the white pines that he made famous. At the time he was painting these trees they were becoming somewhat scarce. After his paintings became popular and captured the imagination of the American public, these trees have made a big resurgence and are no longer hard to find.
I enjoyed painting this nearly duo toned scene and especially appreciate Charles Warren Eaton's approach to composition in this painting, it is very simple and yet very effective
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Original painting, Golden Sunrise by Charles Warren Eaton |