River at Dawn 5x7
Hello and welcome to Tonalist paintings by M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is 'River at Dawn' 5x7.
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
Today I like to talk about making a landscape painting pop. I got to thinking about this yesterday when talking about getting a nice glowing quality with color.
The idea of making something pop is very common in the world of illustration where I worked for many years. I was involved mostly in doing illustration for T-shirts that were sold at various tourist attractions and in department stores. The thing that's critical when making this kind of art that is on the shelf with other art, is that it pops and that people respond to it immediately. This can be the difference between something that sells and something that does not.
While my fine art, landscape painting is not illustration by any means, I still think that it's important to have some pop in the work. Strong, emotional color can create a bit of pop. More frequently I think that it is best created with attention paid to strong contrasts between the light and shadow.
When I went to the Louvre in Paris four years ago I noticed in the paintings of the Masters there that almost every artist utilized strong contrasts in their work. Some of the paintings would be extremely dark but there was almost always areas of extreme brightness as well, this is what I call pop.
Pop is sometimes the result of style, especially when it comes to illustration. In my landscape painting, style is mostly a by-product of getting the paint down onto the board. There are some techniques that I use that contribute to an overall pleasing effect, but for the most part, my landscape painting style is a result of the way I work and my personality, more than an illustrative/stylistic approach.
As I referenced yesterday when talking about getting glowing colors in a painting, I like to create areas of my sky (usually right next to the tree shapes) that have brighter values than the rest of the painting. In my experience, this almost always creates a strong pop effect.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'River at Dawn' 5x7; this is the study for a larger painting I did that in an 11x14. We will be discussing that painting next week. I'm happy with this study and it certainly helped inform the success of the larger painting.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
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| River at Dawn by M Francis McCarthy, 5x7 Oil Painting on Wood Panel |
Today's painting is 'River at Dawn' 5x7.
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
Today I like to talk about making a landscape painting pop. I got to thinking about this yesterday when talking about getting a nice glowing quality with color.
The idea of making something pop is very common in the world of illustration where I worked for many years. I was involved mostly in doing illustration for T-shirts that were sold at various tourist attractions and in department stores. The thing that's critical when making this kind of art that is on the shelf with other art, is that it pops and that people respond to it immediately. This can be the difference between something that sells and something that does not.
While my fine art, landscape painting is not illustration by any means, I still think that it's important to have some pop in the work. Strong, emotional color can create a bit of pop. More frequently I think that it is best created with attention paid to strong contrasts between the light and shadow.
When I went to the Louvre in Paris four years ago I noticed in the paintings of the Masters there that almost every artist utilized strong contrasts in their work. Some of the paintings would be extremely dark but there was almost always areas of extreme brightness as well, this is what I call pop.
Pop is sometimes the result of style, especially when it comes to illustration. In my landscape painting, style is mostly a by-product of getting the paint down onto the board. There are some techniques that I use that contribute to an overall pleasing effect, but for the most part, my landscape painting style is a result of the way I work and my personality, more than an illustrative/stylistic approach.
As I referenced yesterday when talking about getting glowing colors in a painting, I like to create areas of my sky (usually right next to the tree shapes) that have brighter values than the rest of the painting. In my experience, this almost always creates a strong pop effect.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'River at Dawn' 5x7; this is the study for a larger painting I did that in an 11x14. We will be discussing that painting next week. I'm happy with this study and it certainly helped inform the success of the larger painting.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| River at Dawn 5x7 (Detail 1) |
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| River at Dawn 5x7 (Detail 2) |