Night Scene 8x10
Hello and welcome to Tonalist paintings by M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is 'Night Scene' 8x10.
Our video shows the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stage all the way through to the final glazes and finishing touches. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check that out.
In the studio today, I've been finishing some studies for the current pass of images that I am working on. I didn't use to do two color passes on my 5x7's but after completing the hundred days of tonalism project, I decided that it was worth it to give them a little extra polish. Another reason that I like to finish them off more now is because I will be abandoning my photographic reference while doing the final stages of my larger painting, referring to my study only.
For both my studies and my larger paintings I use photographic reference for the drawing/underpainting stages and also the first color pass. For my color studies, I will refer to my reference once again when I am doing my second and final color pass.
On my larger paintings, I use my photographic reference for my underpainting stage and the first color pass only. Then I refer to my 5x7 study for the second color pass and (lastly) for the third painting stage (if I am doing a third stage). I will use no reference at all and just apply myself to dealing with things in the larger painting that need to be addressed.
These are important strategies for me. I have succumbed to all of the evils inherent in using photographic reference in my career as a landscape painter. These techniques I utilize now help me to avoid falling into some of the fundamental traps that can come about when utilizing photos as reference for landscape painting.
I discussed this topic a lot on my previous blog so I won't go into it much further here. I thought that it would be good to update (those of you interested), on my current strategies for using photos as reference. If you want to know more about my struggles in this regard you can go to the old blog and to some searching for the word photos, you will find a lot of information there about the processes I've gone through.
It might be legitimate to ask "if there are so many traps inherent in using photos why would you even bother?" Well, a lot of the traps intrinsic to using photos will also be there laying in wait for you when working out in nature directly. So either way, you need to be careful.
The main thing is to not overwork or over detail your painting. Photos and reality in general, contain a plethora of detail that is just not suitable to be rendered into a painting. The other big issue we can face is just mindlessly copying the existing composition of the photo or the scene that you are referencing. This is a big issue and I have addressed composition on this blog many times as well.
My struggles with composition are ongoing of course, but I'm getting better all the time and it feels good to not make the same stupid mistakes over and over.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Night Scene' 8x10; I'm happy with the way this painting turned out as well as the study that we discussed previously. As you can see from the video I worked with a blue ground for this painting instead of my usual burnt sienna undertone. I will be experimenting with other ground colors is in the future for night scenes as I'm still very much working on my approach to nocturnes.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
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| Night Scene by M Francis McCarthy, 8x10 Oil Painting on Wood Panel |
Our video shows the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stage all the way through to the final glazes and finishing touches. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check that out.
In the studio today, I've been finishing some studies for the current pass of images that I am working on. I didn't use to do two color passes on my 5x7's but after completing the hundred days of tonalism project, I decided that it was worth it to give them a little extra polish. Another reason that I like to finish them off more now is because I will be abandoning my photographic reference while doing the final stages of my larger painting, referring to my study only.
For both my studies and my larger paintings I use photographic reference for the drawing/underpainting stages and also the first color pass. For my color studies, I will refer to my reference once again when I am doing my second and final color pass.
On my larger paintings, I use my photographic reference for my underpainting stage and the first color pass only. Then I refer to my 5x7 study for the second color pass and (lastly) for the third painting stage (if I am doing a third stage). I will use no reference at all and just apply myself to dealing with things in the larger painting that need to be addressed.
These are important strategies for me. I have succumbed to all of the evils inherent in using photographic reference in my career as a landscape painter. These techniques I utilize now help me to avoid falling into some of the fundamental traps that can come about when utilizing photos as reference for landscape painting.
I discussed this topic a lot on my previous blog so I won't go into it much further here. I thought that it would be good to update (those of you interested), on my current strategies for using photos as reference. If you want to know more about my struggles in this regard you can go to the old blog and to some searching for the word photos, you will find a lot of information there about the processes I've gone through.
It might be legitimate to ask "if there are so many traps inherent in using photos why would you even bother?" Well, a lot of the traps intrinsic to using photos will also be there laying in wait for you when working out in nature directly. So either way, you need to be careful.
The main thing is to not overwork or over detail your painting. Photos and reality in general, contain a plethora of detail that is just not suitable to be rendered into a painting. The other big issue we can face is just mindlessly copying the existing composition of the photo or the scene that you are referencing. This is a big issue and I have addressed composition on this blog many times as well.
My struggles with composition are ongoing of course, but I'm getting better all the time and it feels good to not make the same stupid mistakes over and over.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Night Scene' 8x10; I'm happy with the way this painting turned out as well as the study that we discussed previously. As you can see from the video I worked with a blue ground for this painting instead of my usual burnt sienna undertone. I will be experimenting with other ground colors is in the future for night scenes as I'm still very much working on my approach to nocturnes.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Night Scene 8x10 (Detail) |