Towards Dusk 12x16
Hello, and welcome to Tonalist painting by M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is 'Towards Dusk' 12x16.
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages, on up through the final glazes and finishing brushstrokes. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check the video out.
Today marks the one-year anniversary of the real start of this blog. One year ago, we did our first post of the 100 days of Tonalism series. I had originally intended (after doing the hundred days) to take a break from keeping up the blog and perhaps concentrate on making music instead.
However, the response to the blog was really good and I've had quite a few visitors that have come in checked it out, so I felt it would be best to keep it going and since I'd completed the 100 days of tonalism project, I have done another 45 blog posts featuring my own paintings (both studies and larger versions) which have also been well-received, so thank you for tuning in and I will do my best to keep the information and insight coming every week.
On with the blog post, I thought it would be good today to talk about revisiting motifs in landscape painting. I am of course always (and only) speaking for myself when talking about any topic featured on this blog so keep that in mind. I mention this because many artists do not like to revisit the same scene or motif again after having painted it once and do not see much value in doing so.
I am always painting each scene I do at least twice even if I never again revisit the motif. I do a version that is a small 5x7 study and follow that up fairly quickly with a larger version of the scene. So any painting of mine you see, generally will have a little brother or sister.
The reason I like doing studies is that it helps me to free myself from my photographic reference earlier in the painting process of my larger paintings than I might do otherwise. I've talked extensively in the past about using photographic reference and the potential pitfalls, so search this or my other blogs if you are looking for more information on that topic.
In addition to doing a study for the larger version of each scene that I do, there are many times that I will repaint a subject that I painted before with either the same reference or a modified reference of the photograph that I'm using. One of the things I like to change most often would (if I'm changing anything) be the sky. I might also shift the painting into different color ranges, either cool or warm.
One of the most fascinating things about repainting a motif is how significantly different the new painting can be from my previous attempt at the same scene. This is for a lot of reasons, some of them technical and most of them consciousness based. I have almost always grown, matured and changed as a person since doing the initial painting. My motif revisit may not always be radically different though, especially recently as I have been doing much larger versions of some of my more successful smaller paintings. In some of these cases the larger version looks quite similar to the successful smaller version. Even there though there will be some substantial differences and frankly, I enjoy those differences.
Revisiting motifs can be an awesome way to gauge your progress as a painter (hopefully it is progress and not the opposite). At the end of the day, it is a subjective decision that every artist must make whether they wish to revisit scenes that they painted in the past with either a new approach or going for the same feeling.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about Towards Dusk 12x16; I'm pretty happy with this painting, I like the overall color tone of it very much and I feel that it is successfully Tonal in nature. The road off to the right-hand side of the painting leads you into the dark thicket in the middle distance and I feel this is pretty effective and also leads to up into the sky which would be the primary area of interest in the painting.
I tried to pay special attention to the way the trees and the sky interact and while I am happy with the end result, is something that I am always endeavoring to do better.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
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| Towards Dusk by M Francis McCarthy, 12x16 Oil Painting on Wood Panel |
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages, on up through the final glazes and finishing brushstrokes. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check the video out.
Today marks the one-year anniversary of the real start of this blog. One year ago, we did our first post of the 100 days of Tonalism series. I had originally intended (after doing the hundred days) to take a break from keeping up the blog and perhaps concentrate on making music instead.
However, the response to the blog was really good and I've had quite a few visitors that have come in checked it out, so I felt it would be best to keep it going and since I'd completed the 100 days of tonalism project, I have done another 45 blog posts featuring my own paintings (both studies and larger versions) which have also been well-received, so thank you for tuning in and I will do my best to keep the information and insight coming every week.
On with the blog post, I thought it would be good today to talk about revisiting motifs in landscape painting. I am of course always (and only) speaking for myself when talking about any topic featured on this blog so keep that in mind. I mention this because many artists do not like to revisit the same scene or motif again after having painted it once and do not see much value in doing so.
I am always painting each scene I do at least twice even if I never again revisit the motif. I do a version that is a small 5x7 study and follow that up fairly quickly with a larger version of the scene. So any painting of mine you see, generally will have a little brother or sister.
The reason I like doing studies is that it helps me to free myself from my photographic reference earlier in the painting process of my larger paintings than I might do otherwise. I've talked extensively in the past about using photographic reference and the potential pitfalls, so search this or my other blogs if you are looking for more information on that topic.
In addition to doing a study for the larger version of each scene that I do, there are many times that I will repaint a subject that I painted before with either the same reference or a modified reference of the photograph that I'm using. One of the things I like to change most often would (if I'm changing anything) be the sky. I might also shift the painting into different color ranges, either cool or warm.
One of the most fascinating things about repainting a motif is how significantly different the new painting can be from my previous attempt at the same scene. This is for a lot of reasons, some of them technical and most of them consciousness based. I have almost always grown, matured and changed as a person since doing the initial painting. My motif revisit may not always be radically different though, especially recently as I have been doing much larger versions of some of my more successful smaller paintings. In some of these cases the larger version looks quite similar to the successful smaller version. Even there though there will be some substantial differences and frankly, I enjoy those differences.
Revisiting motifs can be an awesome way to gauge your progress as a painter (hopefully it is progress and not the opposite). At the end of the day, it is a subjective decision that every artist must make whether they wish to revisit scenes that they painted in the past with either a new approach or going for the same feeling.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about Towards Dusk 12x16; I'm pretty happy with this painting, I like the overall color tone of it very much and I feel that it is successfully Tonal in nature. The road off to the right-hand side of the painting leads you into the dark thicket in the middle distance and I feel this is pretty effective and also leads to up into the sky which would be the primary area of interest in the painting.
I tried to pay special attention to the way the trees and the sky interact and while I am happy with the end result, is something that I am always endeavoring to do better.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
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| Towards Dusk 12x16 (Detail) |
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| Towards Dusk 12x16 (Detail 2) |