#22 John Francis Murphy, 'Indian Summer' - 25 Days of Tonalism
Hello welcome to Tonalist painting with M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is a study after John Francis Murphy- 'Indian summer.'
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpinning stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
Today, I would like to talk about the concept of building on success. I'm not always successful at landscape painting. If I were, I don't think landscape painting would be able to hold my interest and attention as well as it does. It can be difficult to do a successful landscape painting.
So when I am successful I try to keep that momentum going as best as possible. One of the reasons that I made the switch to a darker Burnt Umber ground recently, was because of the tremendous success that I had with my first attempt painting on that color. When something works I do more of it, in fact, I will do it until it no longer works for me.
There are always going to be peaks and troughs in every aspect of our lives and our work lives in the studio are no exception. Those troughs are tough. Sometimes the only thing that gets you through is knowing that the hard times cannot last forever. There are times when I look through my archive of paintings I've done in previous years and I can see that there are months where I did very few good painting, and a lot of bad ones.
Conversely, there are times when I can seemingly do no wrong. When I have had one of those periods I like to keep the momentum going and do a lot of work. None of this is to say that I am superstitious or, do not always set out with every intention of creating a masterpiece when I do a painting. More what I'm trying to communicate, is that I realize there are going to be peaks and valleys, that's all.
Sometimes the best way to get out of a rut is to change something. I've changed quite a few things recently and I'm realizing a lot of success because of it. Hopefully, I can carry that success forward for a long time maybe even forever. Sometimes you just hit a new plateau, not a peak or trough, but an entirely new Vista that sprawls out ahead of you, one that you've arrived at through diligence and hard work.
I'm hopeful that the current run of success that I've been experiencing does go on and I intend to maximize my efforts to keep the ball rolling.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about my study after John Francis Murphy-'Indian summer'; this is a nice little painting and does a good job of capturing the atmospheric quality of John Francis Murphy's original.
Recently I've been looking through some of the studies that we've done here on this blog and in the process of backing things up, have had the opportunity to compare my studies more closely with their original reference images. It's amazing how much I deviate in some cases, but it's also good to keep in mind that I am working very small and there's only so much that I can do with that size. The important thing is to get the essence of the original across and in that regard, I feel I been successful more often than not.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
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| Painted after - 'Indian Summer' by J Francis Murphy, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpinning stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
Today, I would like to talk about the concept of building on success. I'm not always successful at landscape painting. If I were, I don't think landscape painting would be able to hold my interest and attention as well as it does. It can be difficult to do a successful landscape painting.
So when I am successful I try to keep that momentum going as best as possible. One of the reasons that I made the switch to a darker Burnt Umber ground recently, was because of the tremendous success that I had with my first attempt painting on that color. When something works I do more of it, in fact, I will do it until it no longer works for me.
There are always going to be peaks and troughs in every aspect of our lives and our work lives in the studio are no exception. Those troughs are tough. Sometimes the only thing that gets you through is knowing that the hard times cannot last forever. There are times when I look through my archive of paintings I've done in previous years and I can see that there are months where I did very few good painting, and a lot of bad ones.
Conversely, there are times when I can seemingly do no wrong. When I have had one of those periods I like to keep the momentum going and do a lot of work. None of this is to say that I am superstitious or, do not always set out with every intention of creating a masterpiece when I do a painting. More what I'm trying to communicate, is that I realize there are going to be peaks and valleys, that's all.
Sometimes the best way to get out of a rut is to change something. I've changed quite a few things recently and I'm realizing a lot of success because of it. Hopefully, I can carry that success forward for a long time maybe even forever. Sometimes you just hit a new plateau, not a peak or trough, but an entirely new Vista that sprawls out ahead of you, one that you've arrived at through diligence and hard work.
I'm hopeful that the current run of success that I've been experiencing does go on and I intend to maximize my efforts to keep the ball rolling.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about my study after John Francis Murphy-'Indian summer'; this is a nice little painting and does a good job of capturing the atmospheric quality of John Francis Murphy's original.
Recently I've been looking through some of the studies that we've done here on this blog and in the process of backing things up, have had the opportunity to compare my studies more closely with their original reference images. It's amazing how much I deviate in some cases, but it's also good to keep in mind that I am working very small and there's only so much that I can do with that size. The important thing is to get the essence of the original across and in that regard, I feel I been successful more often than not.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
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| Original painting 'Indian Summer' by J Francis Murphy |
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| 'Indian Summer' by J Francis Murphy, Study by M Francis McCarthy (Detail 1) |
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| 'Indian Summer' by J Francis Murphy, Study by M Francis McCarthy (Detail 2) |