Towards Dusk 5x7
Hello, and welcome to Tonalist painting by M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is 'Towards Dusk' 5x7.
Our video features the progression of this study from its initial underpainting/drawing stages on up through the final finishing brushstrokes. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check the video out.
In the narration for today's video, I was discussing detail versus big shapes in painting and the difference between apparent detail and actual detail. Many are not aware that people do not actually perceive the world in front of us in one big field of detail. What we are actually perceiving is small areas of detail scanned rapidly that create a scene that appears to us to be in detail and in focus across our field of vision. The viewer of a scene (in reality) scans these individual areas of detail and creates a picture in their mind. It is the job of a landscape painter to do this for the viewer.
If your painting is overly detailed you will force the viewer to work much harder than they should be working. For many years when I was a drawer/illustrator, I absolutely adored detail and spent many hours hand stippling or rendering every detail of the subjects that I was portraying. You can get away with this in drawing/illustration far more than you can with painting (especially landscape painting).
Often times people come into my studio and remark on how exquisitely detailed my work is. The truth is that my work is not detailed at all as I subsume and obviate all detail in favor of focusing on the larger shapes and patterns of light and dark. I will often modulate color within the larger shapes of my painting, and for the last year I have been incorporating special effects like dry brushing over the paintings surface to give the painting more texture. This texture is often perceived as detail, but it is not.
You can get carried away with the dry brushing/texturising if you're not careful. It's always good to leave some of the looser brushstrokes from the paintings early color stages as well as areas where the underpainting also peaks through. Between glazing and dry brushing, I am able to create a lot of rich tonal effects without actually painstakingly rendering each and every detail of the scene that I am painting.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Towards Dusk 5x7; I completed the study very recently and I am happy with it as well as the larger version of this motif that we will be discussing next week.
One of my favorite parts of this little study is the way that the foreground foliage elements are painted. They have a loose fracture feeling that feels good and yet still does a nice job of getting the idea of plants and other foreground elements across.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
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| Towards Dusk by M Francis McCarthy, 5x7 Oil Painting on Wood Panel |
Our video features the progression of this study from its initial underpainting/drawing stages on up through the final finishing brushstrokes. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check the video out.
In the narration for today's video, I was discussing detail versus big shapes in painting and the difference between apparent detail and actual detail. Many are not aware that people do not actually perceive the world in front of us in one big field of detail. What we are actually perceiving is small areas of detail scanned rapidly that create a scene that appears to us to be in detail and in focus across our field of vision. The viewer of a scene (in reality) scans these individual areas of detail and creates a picture in their mind. It is the job of a landscape painter to do this for the viewer.
If your painting is overly detailed you will force the viewer to work much harder than they should be working. For many years when I was a drawer/illustrator, I absolutely adored detail and spent many hours hand stippling or rendering every detail of the subjects that I was portraying. You can get away with this in drawing/illustration far more than you can with painting (especially landscape painting).
Often times people come into my studio and remark on how exquisitely detailed my work is. The truth is that my work is not detailed at all as I subsume and obviate all detail in favor of focusing on the larger shapes and patterns of light and dark. I will often modulate color within the larger shapes of my painting, and for the last year I have been incorporating special effects like dry brushing over the paintings surface to give the painting more texture. This texture is often perceived as detail, but it is not.
You can get carried away with the dry brushing/texturising if you're not careful. It's always good to leave some of the looser brushstrokes from the paintings early color stages as well as areas where the underpainting also peaks through. Between glazing and dry brushing, I am able to create a lot of rich tonal effects without actually painstakingly rendering each and every detail of the scene that I am painting.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Towards Dusk 5x7; I completed the study very recently and I am happy with it as well as the larger version of this motif that we will be discussing next week.
One of my favorite parts of this little study is the way that the foreground foliage elements are painted. They have a loose fracture feeling that feels good and yet still does a nice job of getting the idea of plants and other foreground elements across.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Towards Dusk 5x7 (Detail) |
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| Towards Dusk 5x7 (Detail 2) |