Heading West 8x10
Hello, and welcome to Tonalist paintings by M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is 'Heading West' 8x10.
Our video features the progression of this painting from its initial state to the final finishing brushstrokes. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check the video out.
Today I'd like to talk about shapes. I know, I've talked very recently about big shapes in the painting process, but today I like to talk about shapes as they relate to trees specifically. One thing I always notice in my paintings is the shapes of my trees. This can be frustrating sometimes as I feel that my tree shapes can be (at times) be a bit too geometric.
One of the things that I incorporated into this series of paintings that I've redone recently, was bits of reference that were culled from paintings by old Masters. You can always tell when a painting is very old by the shapes of the trees. It's an interesting phenomenon that you may or may not have noticed. Sometimes the shapes of trees in the old Masters paintings can be unnatural looking to our modern eyes. This is no doubt because they did not have photography and therefore had a very organic and subjective way of interpreting nature.
In painting, there is no escaping subjectivity as every mark made on the surface is made by the individual artist. Even when copying the work of another, you are going to make decisions both consciously and subconsciously that will create deviations from your source material.
It's funny that even though I have sensitivity to, and awareness of the shapes my trees are making against the sky, there are many times that I do not notice strong irregularities and visual dysfunction until many months after completing a painting. At that point in time, I have to make a decision whether I want to correct the irregular shapes or just live with them. Living with things in your art that may not please you 100% must be a way of life for every artist. This unease can be exacerbated greatly by comparing your work to the work of other competent artists or previous Masters.
Ultimately if you are going to function as a painter, you need to make peace with your own idiosyncratic, subjective work. While it's good to be faithful to nature, what is most valuable as an artist is to create expressive work that is authentic while being emotionally communicative.
Another thing I have noticed is that even though something in the painting can bother me, that does not preclude from selling the painting or from the painting reaching others on an emotional level. I try not to be too hard on myself even as I am constantly working on perfecting the shapes of my trees, especially where they overlap and interact with the sky.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Heading West' 8x10; this is the second in a recent series of paintings I've redone that I'm sharing on this blog. I am really happy with this painting now, especially as in its original incarnation I was less than satisfied. The original had sort of an odd composition with a pyramidal clump of trees in the middle ground.
Like every other painting I do, I gave the original all I had at the time I painted it. Unfortunately, the problems it had laid (as they so often do) with the compositional structure of the painting. I've talked extensively on this blog in the past about how compositional issues are generally the reason for the death of most less than successful paintings. You can get the color wrong, your values can be slightly off and still be ok, but if the composition is not right there's no saving your piece without reworking the composition.
If you'd like to see what this painting looked like in its original state, please reference the video that is included with this blog post and look at the earliest section. In the past when I've done blog posts on redone paintings I have posted photographs of the original. I don't care to do that now because I prefer to show my paintings here in the best possible light. However, if you're interested the whole sordid story is there in the video.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
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| Heading West by M Francis McCarthy, 8x10 Oil Painting on Wood Panel |
Our video features the progression of this painting from its initial state to the final finishing brushstrokes. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check the video out.
Today I'd like to talk about shapes. I know, I've talked very recently about big shapes in the painting process, but today I like to talk about shapes as they relate to trees specifically. One thing I always notice in my paintings is the shapes of my trees. This can be frustrating sometimes as I feel that my tree shapes can be (at times) be a bit too geometric.
One of the things that I incorporated into this series of paintings that I've redone recently, was bits of reference that were culled from paintings by old Masters. You can always tell when a painting is very old by the shapes of the trees. It's an interesting phenomenon that you may or may not have noticed. Sometimes the shapes of trees in the old Masters paintings can be unnatural looking to our modern eyes. This is no doubt because they did not have photography and therefore had a very organic and subjective way of interpreting nature.
In painting, there is no escaping subjectivity as every mark made on the surface is made by the individual artist. Even when copying the work of another, you are going to make decisions both consciously and subconsciously that will create deviations from your source material.
It's funny that even though I have sensitivity to, and awareness of the shapes my trees are making against the sky, there are many times that I do not notice strong irregularities and visual dysfunction until many months after completing a painting. At that point in time, I have to make a decision whether I want to correct the irregular shapes or just live with them. Living with things in your art that may not please you 100% must be a way of life for every artist. This unease can be exacerbated greatly by comparing your work to the work of other competent artists or previous Masters.
Ultimately if you are going to function as a painter, you need to make peace with your own idiosyncratic, subjective work. While it's good to be faithful to nature, what is most valuable as an artist is to create expressive work that is authentic while being emotionally communicative.
Another thing I have noticed is that even though something in the painting can bother me, that does not preclude from selling the painting or from the painting reaching others on an emotional level. I try not to be too hard on myself even as I am constantly working on perfecting the shapes of my trees, especially where they overlap and interact with the sky.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Heading West' 8x10; this is the second in a recent series of paintings I've redone that I'm sharing on this blog. I am really happy with this painting now, especially as in its original incarnation I was less than satisfied. The original had sort of an odd composition with a pyramidal clump of trees in the middle ground.
Like every other painting I do, I gave the original all I had at the time I painted it. Unfortunately, the problems it had laid (as they so often do) with the compositional structure of the painting. I've talked extensively on this blog in the past about how compositional issues are generally the reason for the death of most less than successful paintings. You can get the color wrong, your values can be slightly off and still be ok, but if the composition is not right there's no saving your piece without reworking the composition.
If you'd like to see what this painting looked like in its original state, please reference the video that is included with this blog post and look at the earliest section. In the past when I've done blog posts on redone paintings I have posted photographs of the original. I don't care to do that now because I prefer to show my paintings here in the best possible light. However, if you're interested the whole sordid story is there in the video.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Heading West 8x10 (Detail) |
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| Heading West 8x10 (Detail 2) |