Day Fourteen: Near the coast by Robert Swain Gifford
Hello and welcome to Day 14 of 100 days of Tonalism.
Painted after - Near the coast by Robert Swain Gifford., Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel
Today's study is of: 'Near the coast' by Robert Swain Gifford.
Robert Swain Gifford was a first-generation Tonalist. I've admired his work for quite some time and this particular painting was one that I was looking forward to doing a study of. I spoke quite a bit about Robert on the video today which is a longer video than usual at six minutes long.
The reason that the video is longer is that I spent quite a lot of time on the second painting stage adding glazing and refining the textural feel of the painting. I'm not sure if people are reading the text of these blogs more, or paying more attention to the videos, so I try to give each aspect a bit of attention.
I was speaking yesterday a little bit about why I chose to pursue more traditional methods in my landscape painting, I was also discussing how there seems to be a prevalent idea of evolution in the arts these days. There is some technical progression and also new ways of creating art, like being able to use computers to assist in the art process or,even to paint complete artworks.
I first got started with doing art using a computer back in 1994. I was very enamored with the potential of the computer as an art tool and I've created quite a lot of art using computers both professionally and for fun. After 15 years of using the computer to realize and finish visual art almost exclusively, I began to yearn for an actual surface to paint on. At first I was just painting on canvas board and very thin wood panels that are used for making doors. After being exposed to some of the works of masters at museums in San Francisco, I began to focus more on better grades of wood panel and also experimented with various types of surface texturing.
These days I couldn't see doing art strictly with the computer anymore. You can work very, very hard and create quite beautiful artwork, however that the end of the day it all comes out very flat. It all comes out of a printer. There is nothing that can replace the beauty and special feeling of an original oil painting no matter how large or small it may be.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
A bit about Robert Celine Gifford 'Near the coast.' Really happy with the way the painting turned out. As I discussed in the video, I've seen many different versions of this painting online so I have no real idea what it looks like in real life. It would be awesome to be able to visit the Metropolitan Museum of fine arts and check this painting out. Maybe even do a study there at the museum, that would be fantastic.
I spent quite a lot of time on the second color pass of this study. I applied glazes of both yellow brown and black. The application of glazes is one of the real secrets behind getting a Tonal feeling in your work. Quite a lot of pieces by George Inness and other Tonalists were painted quite light in value and then gone over with a glaze coat of thinned oil paint and then painted over again.
To see more of my work, visit my site
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Original painting, Near the coast by Robert Swain Gifford.