Fleeting Light 8x8
Hello, and welcome to Tonalist Painting by M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is 'Fleeting Light' 8x8.
Our video features the progression of this painting from it's initial state on up through the final glazes and brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so check it out.
Paintings are a recording of collected gestures. One of the reasons I like to video my work is to capture that process in a linear fashion. The paintings themselves are a gestalt of that process.
In many ways, this makes them much like any other object that humans or nature creates. The big difference with painting is the level of focused intention. Focused intention is a part of all art processes (ideally).
I've often thought that one day it might be possible to playback a painting the way we can a vinyl record. It would be cool if you could not only hear the recorded thoughts of the artist but also see the environment that the painting was created in as well. Even without being able to play a painting like a record, there is a ton of information being broadcast. All that is required to perceive that info is theright type of sensitivity.
Sadly, much of the population is unable to receive this information these days. The reasons for this are manyfold: Distractions like video games, facebook and movies claw for our attention. Not only that, much of what is being passed off as art these days is anything but art. It is pretend art, made by pretend artists for no good reason.
Because of this, many people who might be attracted to real art pass all art by, believing that all fine art is now bogus. Also, because they feel there's nothing in the fine art world worth looking at, they will not pursue the education necessary to really look at good art and appreciate it.
There are exceptions of course. Many of the people that have the ability to perceive and decode good art are artists themselves. They've had to buck the nihilist trend that currently abounds in art and approach art from a soul/feeling level.
I know I'm ranting about this stuff. It's not the first time and probably won't be that last either. I'm sickened by much of what has passed itself off as art for the last hundred years. There is some good modern art. In fact, I'm not opposed to abstract art in any way. I've created abstracts myself. It is exceedingly difficult to pull off a good abstract, but entirely possible.
The reason I settled on landscape painting as a mode of expression is because of it's universality. All of us can relate to a landscape on some level even if some do not perceive the multiple myriad other levels of information contained in a painting. For this reason lay people can appreciate my work on some level, even if it's just the level of "nice tree" "pretty sky".
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Fleeting Light' 8x8: This is different for me, really odd in many ways but I feel it's successful. 'Fleeting light' has been painted over an old painting that was less than great. I referenced some really old paintings by past Masters as well as some cool sky reference too.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
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| Fleeting Light by M Francis McCarthy, 8x8 Oil Painting on Wood Panel |
Our video features the progression of this painting from it's initial state on up through the final glazes and brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so check it out.
Paintings are a recording of collected gestures. One of the reasons I like to video my work is to capture that process in a linear fashion. The paintings themselves are a gestalt of that process.
In many ways, this makes them much like any other object that humans or nature creates. The big difference with painting is the level of focused intention. Focused intention is a part of all art processes (ideally).
I've often thought that one day it might be possible to playback a painting the way we can a vinyl record. It would be cool if you could not only hear the recorded thoughts of the artist but also see the environment that the painting was created in as well. Even without being able to play a painting like a record, there is a ton of information being broadcast. All that is required to perceive that info is theright type of sensitivity.
Sadly, much of the population is unable to receive this information these days. The reasons for this are manyfold: Distractions like video games, facebook and movies claw for our attention. Not only that, much of what is being passed off as art these days is anything but art. It is pretend art, made by pretend artists for no good reason.
Because of this, many people who might be attracted to real art pass all art by, believing that all fine art is now bogus. Also, because they feel there's nothing in the fine art world worth looking at, they will not pursue the education necessary to really look at good art and appreciate it.
There are exceptions of course. Many of the people that have the ability to perceive and decode good art are artists themselves. They've had to buck the nihilist trend that currently abounds in art and approach art from a soul/feeling level.
I know I'm ranting about this stuff. It's not the first time and probably won't be that last either. I'm sickened by much of what has passed itself off as art for the last hundred years. There is some good modern art. In fact, I'm not opposed to abstract art in any way. I've created abstracts myself. It is exceedingly difficult to pull off a good abstract, but entirely possible.
The reason I settled on landscape painting as a mode of expression is because of it's universality. All of us can relate to a landscape on some level even if some do not perceive the multiple myriad other levels of information contained in a painting. For this reason lay people can appreciate my work on some level, even if it's just the level of "nice tree" "pretty sky".
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Fleeting Light' 8x8: This is different for me, really odd in many ways but I feel it's successful. 'Fleeting light' has been painted over an old painting that was less than great. I referenced some really old paintings by past Masters as well as some cool sky reference too.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Fleeting Light by M Francis McCarthy, 8x8 (Detail) |
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| Fleeting Light by M Francis McCarthy, 8x8 (Detail 2) |