Twilight Road 8x10
Hello, and welcome to Tonalist paintings by M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is 'Twilight Road' 8x10.
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages, on up through to the finishing touches. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
On today's video, I was talking about workflow, inspiration and dealing with various obstacles to your progress in painting lots of pictures. I usually have some sort of rough goals that I'm working towards, but sometimes things will come up to disrupt those goals and I have learned to go with the flow.
While it's important to have goals it's also important to deal with the impediments to those goals in a gracious and patient manner. Many times other things will come up that need to be attended to, other than painting in the studio. Some artists use these distractions and interruptions as a reason to not achieve any of their goals at all, and consequently they produce very little work. There is a middle ground that needs to be struck between industriously painting all the time and the opposite, avoiding work altogether.
In the latest series of 10 paintings that I've been working on, I was hoping to be done by today which is May 1. That didn't happen for a lot of reasons most of which I got into in the video. I'm relaxed about it though and I intend to finish my latest series of 10 this next week.
Art is achieved by a combination of inspiration and self-directed hard work. Both elements are crucial and a balance must always be sought. I do a lot of things in my practice as an artist that are designed to support the flow of work going through my studio and in my individual painting sessions.
I have discussed many of these processes in previous blog posts, if you dig around here you can find that information. One of the things I do to support myself artistically is to set goals that I work to attain. While pursuing these goals sometimes I am interrupted with alternate inspirations or other activities that need to be pursued. In some cases I will say no to the potential interruptions in other cases I will say yes. When I am distracted from my production goals I don't worry about it, but as soon as I can I try to get back on track.
I feel it's important to produce a good quantity of paintings every month. The reason for this is that in any given series of paintings that I do, only a few will be absolutely excellent. A few will be just okay and the rest will be somewhere between the two extremes. If you do not create a lot of work, it means you are going to be creating a lot less good work.
It is very difficult if not impossible to create a masterpiece every time you sit down in the studio. (Obviously, I am speaking from my own experience and work habits), but in general, I think that you can apply this rule to almost any artist's individual practice.
The only way to achieve a good amount of quality work is to work consistently. One of the biggest ways that I support myself in this manner is to go into the studio with the intention of painting six days out of seven every week. While I may be in the studio each day for six or seven hours, it usually happens that I am not actually painting for that entire time.
Many other things must be done other than just putting the brush on the canvas. Paintings need to be coated and prepared for their next stage, boards must be prepped and other odd tasks around the studio need to be done too. Not to mention visiting with neighbors, coffee drinking and conversation that goes on.
It might be easy to discount visiting with neighbors and having conversations as a total waste of time but these things feed your life and therefore your work as an artist. No person is an island and we all require some stimulation outside of work itself. Unfortunately, many artists go way overboard with the socializing, especially where I work at the Quarry Art Center. I've seen artists waste an entire day, day after day chatting with their neighbors. Don't let this be you too.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Twilight Road' 8x10; I'm happy with this painting it has a nice quality of light and that is pretty much the subject of the painting. I may paint this scene larger at some point in the future.
 |
| Twilight Road by M Francis McCarthy, 8x10 Oil Painting on Wood Panel |
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages, on up through to the finishing touches. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
On today's video, I was talking about workflow, inspiration and dealing with various obstacles to your progress in painting lots of pictures. I usually have some sort of rough goals that I'm working towards, but sometimes things will come up to disrupt those goals and I have learned to go with the flow.
While it's important to have goals it's also important to deal with the impediments to those goals in a gracious and patient manner. Many times other things will come up that need to be attended to, other than painting in the studio. Some artists use these distractions and interruptions as a reason to not achieve any of their goals at all, and consequently they produce very little work. There is a middle ground that needs to be struck between industriously painting all the time and the opposite, avoiding work altogether.
In the latest series of 10 paintings that I've been working on, I was hoping to be done by today which is May 1. That didn't happen for a lot of reasons most of which I got into in the video. I'm relaxed about it though and I intend to finish my latest series of 10 this next week.
Art is achieved by a combination of inspiration and self-directed hard work. Both elements are crucial and a balance must always be sought. I do a lot of things in my practice as an artist that are designed to support the flow of work going through my studio and in my individual painting sessions.
I have discussed many of these processes in previous blog posts, if you dig around here you can find that information. One of the things I do to support myself artistically is to set goals that I work to attain. While pursuing these goals sometimes I am interrupted with alternate inspirations or other activities that need to be pursued. In some cases I will say no to the potential interruptions in other cases I will say yes. When I am distracted from my production goals I don't worry about it, but as soon as I can I try to get back on track.
I feel it's important to produce a good quantity of paintings every month. The reason for this is that in any given series of paintings that I do, only a few will be absolutely excellent. A few will be just okay and the rest will be somewhere between the two extremes. If you do not create a lot of work, it means you are going to be creating a lot less good work.
It is very difficult if not impossible to create a masterpiece every time you sit down in the studio. (Obviously, I am speaking from my own experience and work habits), but in general, I think that you can apply this rule to almost any artist's individual practice.
The only way to achieve a good amount of quality work is to work consistently. One of the biggest ways that I support myself in this manner is to go into the studio with the intention of painting six days out of seven every week. While I may be in the studio each day for six or seven hours, it usually happens that I am not actually painting for that entire time.
Many other things must be done other than just putting the brush on the canvas. Paintings need to be coated and prepared for their next stage, boards must be prepped and other odd tasks around the studio need to be done too. Not to mention visiting with neighbors, coffee drinking and conversation that goes on.
It might be easy to discount visiting with neighbors and having conversations as a total waste of time but these things feed your life and therefore your work as an artist. No person is an island and we all require some stimulation outside of work itself. Unfortunately, many artists go way overboard with the socializing, especially where I work at the Quarry Art Center. I've seen artists waste an entire day, day after day chatting with their neighbors. Don't let this be you too.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Twilight Road' 8x10; I'm happy with this painting it has a nice quality of light and that is pretty much the subject of the painting. I may paint this scene larger at some point in the future.
 |
| Twilight Road by M Francis McCarthy (Detail) |