#23 Paul Troulillebert - 'Landscape' - 25 Days of Tonalism
Hello, and welcome to Tonalist painting with M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is a study painted after Paul Troulillebert - 'Landscape'.
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's blog post is a repost from my old blog. I wrote this originally back in 2013, but I think it makes some good points so I am sharing it with you again today.
"Unify, Simplify, Amplify"
I borrowed this term from Ken Carbone over at Co-Design. He uses it for marketing advice but I think it applies very well to landscape painting as well.
When we create a landscape painting it has no reason to exist other than it pleases the eye of the beholder. If it does not accomplish this there is nothing else that it can be used for, other than to possibly re-use the surface for another painting.
How does this motto this help us create beautiful pictures that deserve to be beheld? Let's break it down with some handy bullets:
Together, these three ideas add up to better paintings. It's taken me awhile to apply these concepts to my landscape painting. It's an ongoing process.
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| Painted after - "Landscape" by Paul Desire Trouillebert, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
Today's painting is a study painted after Paul Troulillebert - 'Landscape'.
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's blog post is a repost from my old blog. I wrote this originally back in 2013, but I think it makes some good points so I am sharing it with you again today.
"Unify, Simplify, Amplify"
I borrowed this term from Ken Carbone over at Co-Design. He uses it for marketing advice but I think it applies very well to landscape painting as well.
When we create a landscape painting it has no reason to exist other than it pleases the eye of the beholder. If it does not accomplish this there is nothing else that it can be used for, other than to possibly re-use the surface for another painting.
How does this motto this help us create beautiful pictures that deserve to be beheld? Let's break it down with some handy bullets:
- Unify - This mean that every part of the painting should work with every other part. Some aspects dominant while others are supportive, but all parts must reflect and coordinate with each other to create a unified whole.
- Simplify - This directs us to look for and represent in our painting a simplified pattern of pleasing large shapes subdivided by smaller shapes. Simplifying the scene is vital to creating unity and amplification. It is difficult to create unity from immense amounts of detail all vying for the eye's attention.
- Amplify - Adding contrast and amping up the color creates more interest and attraction for the viewer. However, to successfully amplify a picture it must be clearly stated before it is amplified. Otherwise, you just get a loud mess.
Together, these three ideas add up to better paintings. It's taken me awhile to apply these concepts to my landscape painting. It's an ongoing process.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about my study painted after Paul Troulillebert - 'Landscape': I like Paul a lot. He's one of my favorite Barbizon painters by far because his work has great colors and composition.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
To see more of my work, visit my site here
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| Original painting by Paul Troulillebert - 'Landscape' |
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| Painted after - "Landscape" by Paul Desire Trouillebert, Study by M Francis McCarthy (Detail) |
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| Painted after - "Landscape" by Paul Desire Trouillebert, Study by M Francis McCarthy (Detail2) |
#5 Paul Desire Trouillebert, Landscape- 25 Days of Tonalism
Hello and welcome to Tonalist painting with M Francis McCarthy.
Today's study is painted after Paul Desire Trouillebert,"Landscape."
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's topic is about the influence of other artists. While none of us is a totally original artist, it's important to have an appropriate approach to those painters that you have allowed to influence your style and the manner in which you have been influenced.
In the past, a young person with artistic talent would be sent to work with a Master artist on their own. Their time would be spent grinding paint and stretching canvases, as well as all the other sorts of chores that went with working in a Masters studio. At certain times during the day, the Master would make some time to teach the apprentice about drawing and painting. Eventually, the student became more and more proficient and would often do whole sections of a Master's painting with other apprentices, leaving only the most significant areas for the Master to complete.
There were some definite advantages to this learning approach, in that young artists got a solid art education at a very early age. On the flipside, unless the student was of genius level, he would often become just an echo or clone of the Master.
In the modern era, art education takes many forms and we are lucky that we have resources like books, the Internet, and museums all readily available. (Being clever, you might have noticed that I left out art school and college, a topic for another day). Many painters teach workshops giving instruction in their manner of painting. I myself have not actually given any workshops but I'm having an influence on other artists through my work on this blog and on YouTube.
I like to keep my videos short and sped up because, while it gives you a good idea how I went about accomplishing the painting, it's not done in a way that is overly influential on another artist's mind. I'm not saying do this, then do that, then do this etc. While it's possible to slow down the videos and follow along in a painstaking matter I don't think many of you are doing that. If you are, that's absolutely fine and you might pick up some good information by doing so. Notice I said 'might.'
After many years of taking instruction from books, forum's and DVDs I eventually just settled on painting a lot. In the end, there is no substitute for just painting a lot of paintings. If you paint a lot of paintings and you never had a Master you cannot help but arrive at your own unique style. I think tomorrow we will talk more about style and my thoughts on the subject.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about my study after 'Landscape' byPaul Desire Trouillebert; I really enjoyed doing this study and I have a lot of respect for Paul Desire Trouillebert.
Paul was a well-known French painter that lived in the later part of the 19th century. He worked in a lot of different styles and motifs, however, he seems to be mostly remembered for doing landscape painting in the mode of Camille Corot.
While analyzing his work, I saw strong similarities to Corot but there are some significant differences as well. A couple of links to info about Paul Desire Trouillebert here and here.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Painted after - "Landscape" by Paul Desire Trouillebert, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
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's topic is about the influence of other artists. While none of us is a totally original artist, it's important to have an appropriate approach to those painters that you have allowed to influence your style and the manner in which you have been influenced.
In the past, a young person with artistic talent would be sent to work with a Master artist on their own. Their time would be spent grinding paint and stretching canvases, as well as all the other sorts of chores that went with working in a Masters studio. At certain times during the day, the Master would make some time to teach the apprentice about drawing and painting. Eventually, the student became more and more proficient and would often do whole sections of a Master's painting with other apprentices, leaving only the most significant areas for the Master to complete.
There were some definite advantages to this learning approach, in that young artists got a solid art education at a very early age. On the flipside, unless the student was of genius level, he would often become just an echo or clone of the Master.
In the modern era, art education takes many forms and we are lucky that we have resources like books, the Internet, and museums all readily available. (Being clever, you might have noticed that I left out art school and college, a topic for another day). Many painters teach workshops giving instruction in their manner of painting. I myself have not actually given any workshops but I'm having an influence on other artists through my work on this blog and on YouTube.
I like to keep my videos short and sped up because, while it gives you a good idea how I went about accomplishing the painting, it's not done in a way that is overly influential on another artist's mind. I'm not saying do this, then do that, then do this etc. While it's possible to slow down the videos and follow along in a painstaking matter I don't think many of you are doing that. If you are, that's absolutely fine and you might pick up some good information by doing so. Notice I said 'might.'
After many years of taking instruction from books, forum's and DVDs I eventually just settled on painting a lot. In the end, there is no substitute for just painting a lot of paintings. If you paint a lot of paintings and you never had a Master you cannot help but arrive at your own unique style. I think tomorrow we will talk more about style and my thoughts on the subject.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about my study after 'Landscape' byPaul Desire Trouillebert; I really enjoyed doing this study and I have a lot of respect for Paul Desire Trouillebert.
Paul was a well-known French painter that lived in the later part of the 19th century. He worked in a lot of different styles and motifs, however, he seems to be mostly remembered for doing landscape painting in the mode of Camille Corot.
While analyzing his work, I saw strong similarities to Corot but there are some significant differences as well. A couple of links to info about Paul Desire Trouillebert here and here.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Original painting, "Landscape" by Paul Desire |
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| "Landscape" by Paul Desire Trouillebert (Detail) |
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| "Landscape" by Paul Desire Trouillebert (Detail 2) |