Late Afternoon Road 5x7
Hello and welcome to Tonalist paintings by M Francis McCarthy.
Today's study is 'Late Afternoon Road' 5x7.
In today's video, I talk a little bit about my experience with my quality of painting output, learning to listen to your intuition and follow it consistently get better paintings, so please check that out.
I'm not sure if I mentioned it on this blog yet, but I am working on a book for artists about Tonalist painting and ways for the modern painter to learn about and create work in this vital mode of landscape painting. No promises on when this book will be coming out, but I spent a lot of time in the past year sharing my knowledge on this blog about what I've learned about this particular field of endeavor. It has occurred to both me and my wife, Marie (my editor) that a lot of that effort could be turned into a book that people can use and enjoy.
It's not usually my style to talk about projects that I'm working on before I've actually completed them, however I intend to use this blog as a place to work out various areas of the book, so those of you that have been with me for a while and are still reading, will get a preview in advance of many of the research, concepts, techniques and text that will be included in this book.
In the process of doing some research for this proposed book, I was re-reading a book written by Birge Harrison that I have mentioned on this blog many times called 'Landscape Painting. This book was written back in 1920 or so and is still in print, so that will give you some idea of how vital and incisive the information this book contains is. Landscape Painting by Birge Harrison was one of the books I read that put me onto the most vital and important innovations of the painters in the late 19th century.
This is a period in art that is often overlooked and that is one of the reasons that I was unaware of Tonalism until I actually started painting, visiting museums and researching the history of landscape painting. Unlike Impressionism, Tonalism has yet to make this sort of comeback that it deserves.
I am convinced that this comeback is already with us in many ways and that is one of the reasons why I have been writing this blog and putting my videos out. I feel that it is the least I can do to help promote and bring attention to the greatest, highest and most excellent form of landscape painting that I have discovered.
For your edification and enjoyment here area few of my notes from Landscape Painting by Birge Harrison:
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| Late Afternoon Road by M Francis McCarthy, 5x7 Oil Painting on Wood Panel |
In today's video, I talk a little bit about my experience with my quality of painting output, learning to listen to your intuition and follow it consistently get better paintings, so please check that out.
I'm not sure if I mentioned it on this blog yet, but I am working on a book for artists about Tonalist painting and ways for the modern painter to learn about and create work in this vital mode of landscape painting. No promises on when this book will be coming out, but I spent a lot of time in the past year sharing my knowledge on this blog about what I've learned about this particular field of endeavor. It has occurred to both me and my wife, Marie (my editor) that a lot of that effort could be turned into a book that people can use and enjoy.
It's not usually my style to talk about projects that I'm working on before I've actually completed them, however I intend to use this blog as a place to work out various areas of the book, so those of you that have been with me for a while and are still reading, will get a preview in advance of many of the research, concepts, techniques and text that will be included in this book.
In the process of doing some research for this proposed book, I was re-reading a book written by Birge Harrison that I have mentioned on this blog many times called 'Landscape Painting. This book was written back in 1920 or so and is still in print, so that will give you some idea of how vital and incisive the information this book contains is. Landscape Painting by Birge Harrison was one of the books I read that put me onto the most vital and important innovations of the painters in the late 19th century.
This is a period in art that is often overlooked and that is one of the reasons that I was unaware of Tonalism until I actually started painting, visiting museums and researching the history of landscape painting. Unlike Impressionism, Tonalism has yet to make this sort of comeback that it deserves.
I am convinced that this comeback is already with us in many ways and that is one of the reasons why I have been writing this blog and putting my videos out. I feel that it is the least I can do to help promote and bring attention to the greatest, highest and most excellent form of landscape painting that I have discovered.
For your edification and enjoyment here area few of my notes from Landscape Painting by Birge Harrison:
- Pure landscape art is a recent phenomenon from 1800 to present.
- Old Masters knew little about the landscape. Landscape to them was a backdrop to human activity.
- The landscapes they did paint were false in colour and devoid of luminosity and atmosphere.
- Constable was the first to go out and paint nature, followed the Barbizon Artists; Corot, Rousseau and Millet.
- Then by the Impressionists, Monet, Pissaro and Sisley.
- Nature is monochrome until human eyes see it.
- The Human eye resembles a camera. Rods in the retina perceive value while cones perceive colour.
- Some people see more colour than others.
- It is in their colour that an artists temperament is most clearly seen.
- Colour, like music ignites emotion and stimulates sensation.
- The highest forms of art stimulates the imagination and suggest more than they express.
- Each colour has its own qualities, red is exciting, green is soothing and blue is clarifying.
- Eliminating the brightest/harshest colours from your scene creates a more harmonious effect.
- The cool colours, blue, green, mauve, violet and all the delicate interleaving greys are restful. These are the best tones for landscape art.
- Powerful notes of red, yellow and orange should come in only as a spot here and there.
- Outdoor light is warm and shadows are cool.
- Indoors with Northern light in the studio, light is cool and shadows are warm.
- Without personality, no good art is possible.
- Art cannot manufactured.
- Without vibration in a picture, there can be no effect of light.
- Griselle, Black, White and Sepia or Umber, then glazing for colour.
- Mixing even tones and applying to the canvas like a house painter in flat masses.
- Spot and dash method (used by the Impressionists)
- Cool Tones painted over warm undertones (Tonalism) also referred to as broken colour.
As you can see there is valuable information and concepts here and I thought it would be interesting to share them with you in a raw format. Some of these ideas will be making into the text of my book.
A bit about 'Late Afternoon Road' 5 x 7: as I stated in the video narration today, I'm very happy with this painting and I knew it would be good from the moment I took the photographic reference. An interesting phenomenon which I am relying on more and more to save me time and repainting.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
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| Late Afternoon Road 5x7 (Detail) |