Day Forty Seven: Moonlight by Charles Warren Eaton
Hello and welcome to day 47 of 100 days of Tonalism.
Today's study is 'Moonlight' by Charles Warren Eaton.
We have covered Charles Warren Eaton a fair amount in this series and there are quite a few more coming. Charles Warren Eaton was a very important Tonalist painter, I would rate him second only after George Inness. Please watch today's video for some biographical information about Charles in the narration.
I'm going to start detailing my painting process for you in this blog. I've written about my process on my previous blog here but that is been a while ago now, and since we have another 53 days together some of you might be interested in me delving more deeply and extensively into my process. I will try to do the blog posts in the same order as the steps I use to accomplish my landscape paintings, however, there may be some deviations from this if I think of points that I may have missed at any stage.
Today I'd like to talk about photography. I like to work with photos to help me formulate and create my landscape paintings. If you've ever read any of my blog posts about photography you'll know that I've spoken extensively in the past about the myriad dangers that using photography in your work can entail. This blog of course will be no exception to that because there are a lot of potential problems with using photos as reference for landscape paintings. I will be making that the overarching theme my process, but I will be touching on some other points as we go.
I like to go out reference hunting with my wife (note she's driving), and as I see scenes that resonate with me or that I feel will make interesting compositions, I'll get out and shoot a series of photographs of the subject in front of me. Over the years one of the major ways that I feel I have evolved as a painter, is in my ability to not only perceive interesting paintings in nature around me, but more importantly knowing what sorts of scenes and compositions will not work for me.
The sorts of things that I'm talking about that do not work for me may be a scene where you are on a hill looking down into a valley. Another good rule of thumb to avoid is tree shapes not breaking the horizon line, they definitely need to break through any mountains or hills behind them. There have been many interesting trees that I have passed on because there was nothing but a wall of hills behind them and thus no real contrast between the sky and the tree.
I've learned the hard way that it is better to start with something that is very close to what will be in the painting as opposed to the idea that I can change or manipulate the scene extensively in Photoshop and still have it work.
I will usually make a point of turning around and looking behind me while photographing on the off chance that there might be an interesting composition in that direction. The best time of day for doing photography is early in the morning or later in the day towards evening. The reason for this is that trees are lit from the side as are other formations in the landscape and this creates far more interest. Occasionally I will do some photography on rainy days and often that lighting will be quite indistinct due to the overcast sky.
On these photography scouting missions we try to take as many photos as we can, because I know that later on when I am looking for reference for a new series of paintings, I will be wanting as many different types of scenes to paint as possible. It's been a while since my wife and I have gone traveling extensively outside of New Zealand and for that reason, I would say the majority of paintings done for the last few years have been of New Zealand. Though in true Tonalist fashion I'm always most interested in generalized types of scenes.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Moonlight' by Charles Warren Eaton, this is one of the studies in the series that I painted twice, having sold the first version.
I quite enjoyed doing a study of a completely teal landscape and for the second study that I did, I painted my wood panel a nice teal green that corresponded to the middle tone of the scene. Charles' composition is very simple and yet quite effective so I kept my study simple as well.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Painted after - Moonlight by Charles Warren Eaton, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x5, Oil on wood panel |
Today's study is 'Moonlight' by Charles Warren Eaton.
We have covered Charles Warren Eaton a fair amount in this series and there are quite a few more coming. Charles Warren Eaton was a very important Tonalist painter, I would rate him second only after George Inness. Please watch today's video for some biographical information about Charles in the narration.
I'm going to start detailing my painting process for you in this blog. I've written about my process on my previous blog here but that is been a while ago now, and since we have another 53 days together some of you might be interested in me delving more deeply and extensively into my process. I will try to do the blog posts in the same order as the steps I use to accomplish my landscape paintings, however, there may be some deviations from this if I think of points that I may have missed at any stage.
Today I'd like to talk about photography. I like to work with photos to help me formulate and create my landscape paintings. If you've ever read any of my blog posts about photography you'll know that I've spoken extensively in the past about the myriad dangers that using photography in your work can entail. This blog of course will be no exception to that because there are a lot of potential problems with using photos as reference for landscape paintings. I will be making that the overarching theme my process, but I will be touching on some other points as we go.
I like to go out reference hunting with my wife (note she's driving), and as I see scenes that resonate with me or that I feel will make interesting compositions, I'll get out and shoot a series of photographs of the subject in front of me. Over the years one of the major ways that I feel I have evolved as a painter, is in my ability to not only perceive interesting paintings in nature around me, but more importantly knowing what sorts of scenes and compositions will not work for me.
The sorts of things that I'm talking about that do not work for me may be a scene where you are on a hill looking down into a valley. Another good rule of thumb to avoid is tree shapes not breaking the horizon line, they definitely need to break through any mountains or hills behind them. There have been many interesting trees that I have passed on because there was nothing but a wall of hills behind them and thus no real contrast between the sky and the tree.
I've learned the hard way that it is better to start with something that is very close to what will be in the painting as opposed to the idea that I can change or manipulate the scene extensively in Photoshop and still have it work.
I will usually make a point of turning around and looking behind me while photographing on the off chance that there might be an interesting composition in that direction. The best time of day for doing photography is early in the morning or later in the day towards evening. The reason for this is that trees are lit from the side as are other formations in the landscape and this creates far more interest. Occasionally I will do some photography on rainy days and often that lighting will be quite indistinct due to the overcast sky.
On these photography scouting missions we try to take as many photos as we can, because I know that later on when I am looking for reference for a new series of paintings, I will be wanting as many different types of scenes to paint as possible. It's been a while since my wife and I have gone traveling extensively outside of New Zealand and for that reason, I would say the majority of paintings done for the last few years have been of New Zealand. Though in true Tonalist fashion I'm always most interested in generalized types of scenes.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Moonlight' by Charles Warren Eaton, this is one of the studies in the series that I painted twice, having sold the first version.
I quite enjoyed doing a study of a completely teal landscape and for the second study that I did, I painted my wood panel a nice teal green that corresponded to the middle tone of the scene. Charles' composition is very simple and yet quite effective so I kept my study simple as well.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Original painting, Moonlight by Charles Warren Eaton |
Day Forty Six: Evening Sky by Henry Ward Ranger
Hello and welcome to day 46 of 100 days of Tonalism.
Today's study is of 'Evening Sky' by Henry Ward Ranger.
Henry Ward Ranger was born in 1858 and died in 1916, he was a well-known Tonalist painter. I will be reading some biographical information about him in today's video narration.
Over the last several weeks we've been discussing defining aspects of Tonalism which I wrapped up yesterday. This is not to say that some additional aspects may come up again but I believe we've covered every major aspect.
Here is a list of the topics that we covered over the last several weeks:
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Evening Sky by Henry Ward Ranger, Henry's painting has a very nice glowing quality that I enjoyed doing a study of.
I definitely relate to the compositional motif and the way he has divided the space. As per usual for this project I have eliminated the figure in the little boat.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Painted after - Evening Sky by Henry Ward Ranger, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
Today's study is of 'Evening Sky' by Henry Ward Ranger.
Henry Ward Ranger was born in 1858 and died in 1916, he was a well-known Tonalist painter. I will be reading some biographical information about him in today's video narration.
Over the last several weeks we've been discussing defining aspects of Tonalism which I wrapped up yesterday. This is not to say that some additional aspects may come up again but I believe we've covered every major aspect.
Here is a list of the topics that we covered over the last several weeks:
- Tonalist paintings contain either no figures or very small figures.
- Usually the painted scene can be contained within a single glance.
- Tonalist paintings exhibit a unity of color (Tonalism).
- Tonalist painters are inclined to working indoors.
- Tonalist paintings exhibit fractured brushwork.
- The time of day depicted is generally early in the morning or late in the day.
- There is less detail in Tonalist landscape paintings than in the movement that preceded it.
- Edges are diffuse and blended with an atmospheric quality predominating.
- Landscape subjects are generally nonspecific avoiding grandiose vistas.
- Tonalism exhibits a minor as opposed to a major key.
- Tonalist paintings often attempt to convey spiritual qualities.
- Brushwork is expressive and gestural.
- Tonalist painters use warm red or orange undertones in their work.
- Glazing with thinned oil paint is often utilized.
- Paintings are executed indirectly as opposed to Alla prima.
- Tonalist painters often flatten forms in their work.
- Emphasis is placed on large forms and not detail or line.
- Tonalist paintings feature generalized locations lacking specific associations.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Evening Sky by Henry Ward Ranger, Henry's painting has a very nice glowing quality that I enjoyed doing a study of.
I definitely relate to the compositional motif and the way he has divided the space. As per usual for this project I have eliminated the figure in the little boat.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Original painting, Evening Sky by Henry Ward Ranger |
Day Forty Five: Midsummer by George Inness
Hello and welcome to day 45 of 100 days of Tonalism.
Today's study is of 'Midsummer' by George Inness.
A nice vertical Inness painting for you today. For the last Inness study that we discussed, I read some biographical information about his early life during the video narration. I will pick up where I left off there on today's video so be sure to check that out.
Over the last several weeks we've been discussing defining aspects of Tonalist painting as it pertains to the landscape. Today I'd like to discuss the use of generalized subjects as opposed to specific places. This is an aspect of Tonalism that I was very interested in right from the start. After I'd decided to begin doing landscape paintings, I took my camera out and started photographing my local area. I soon discovered after making a few paintings that the smallest clump of leaves could be made the subject of a painting and that a lot of interest can be created by the use of intense highlights or shadows.
Prior to the rise of Tonalism, American landscape painting was mainly preoccupied with grandiose depictions of broad American vistas. The main school that propagated this art was referred to as the Hudson River School. Many of the canvas' from this school are quite enormous containing scenes featuring gigantic mountain ranges, broad rivers and peaceful valleys. While reaction to this sort of landscape painting was favorable, sometime after the Civil War and the onset of the industrial revolution, there rose in American artists a desire to depict the pleasant rural landscapes of their youth.
This is where Tonalism came in vogue. As can be seen from the series so far, most Tonalist paintings contain a few trees in a field, maybe a pond or stream and often feature large expansive skies. The use of expansive interestingly colored skies is a quality that Tonalism shares with the Hudson River school that was also known as the Luminists.
While there is nothing at all wrong with rendering expansive vistas, I personally have never been attracted to it. As a matter of fact I'm not very interested in painting mountains at all, preferring instead to paint fields with low laying hills, or just about anything other than mountains.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Midsummer' by Georgia Inness, I've been familiar with this painting for quite some time. I've always been fascinated by the intense dark shadows in it and Inness' use of the vertical format. A friend of mine noted that he feels this painting evidences a strong Constable influence and I'm inclined to agree.
I enjoyed painting this study quite a lot and I'd say the most interesting part was playing off of the strong shadow masses with an array of varied greens.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Painted after - Midsummer by George Inness., Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
Today's study is of 'Midsummer' by George Inness.
A nice vertical Inness painting for you today. For the last Inness study that we discussed, I read some biographical information about his early life during the video narration. I will pick up where I left off there on today's video so be sure to check that out.
Over the last several weeks we've been discussing defining aspects of Tonalist painting as it pertains to the landscape. Today I'd like to discuss the use of generalized subjects as opposed to specific places. This is an aspect of Tonalism that I was very interested in right from the start. After I'd decided to begin doing landscape paintings, I took my camera out and started photographing my local area. I soon discovered after making a few paintings that the smallest clump of leaves could be made the subject of a painting and that a lot of interest can be created by the use of intense highlights or shadows.
Prior to the rise of Tonalism, American landscape painting was mainly preoccupied with grandiose depictions of broad American vistas. The main school that propagated this art was referred to as the Hudson River School. Many of the canvas' from this school are quite enormous containing scenes featuring gigantic mountain ranges, broad rivers and peaceful valleys. While reaction to this sort of landscape painting was favorable, sometime after the Civil War and the onset of the industrial revolution, there rose in American artists a desire to depict the pleasant rural landscapes of their youth.
This is where Tonalism came in vogue. As can be seen from the series so far, most Tonalist paintings contain a few trees in a field, maybe a pond or stream and often feature large expansive skies. The use of expansive interestingly colored skies is a quality that Tonalism shares with the Hudson River school that was also known as the Luminists.
While there is nothing at all wrong with rendering expansive vistas, I personally have never been attracted to it. As a matter of fact I'm not very interested in painting mountains at all, preferring instead to paint fields with low laying hills, or just about anything other than mountains.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Midsummer' by Georgia Inness, I've been familiar with this painting for quite some time. I've always been fascinated by the intense dark shadows in it and Inness' use of the vertical format. A friend of mine noted that he feels this painting evidences a strong Constable influence and I'm inclined to agree.
I enjoyed painting this study quite a lot and I'd say the most interesting part was playing off of the strong shadow masses with an array of varied greens.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Original painting, Midsummer by George Inness |
Day Forty Four: Moonlit Pond by Granville Redmond.
Hello and welcome to day 44 of 100 days of Tonalism.
Today's study is 'Moonlit Pond' by Granville Redmond.
Granville Redmond lived from 1871 to 1935. He was considered to be both a Tonalist and an Impressionist. A point of interest about Granville is that he was deaf, also he was a friend of Charlie Chaplin and acted in several of his movies. I will read some biographical information about Granville in today's video so be sure to check that out.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Moonlit Pond' by Granville Redmond. In my studio work there have been three or four paintings I have done in the last several years that have been what I would term to be blue paintings. I can't say as I've managed to do one that I feel is as successful as Granville's painting we are discussing today.
I have no idea what his inspiration was or how he actually accomplished his painting. Regarding my study, I basically painted my board a medium shade of blue and then proceeded to work down in value and up in value, keeping my chroma in the blue range.
Overall I'd say I'm very happy with the way the study turned out and in fact this is actually the second instance of this painting that I've done as I sold the first study.
 |
| Painted after - Moonlit Pond by Granville Redmond., Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
Today's study is 'Moonlit Pond' by Granville Redmond.
Granville Redmond lived from 1871 to 1935. He was considered to be both a Tonalist and an Impressionist. A point of interest about Granville is that he was deaf, also he was a friend of Charlie Chaplin and acted in several of his movies. I will read some biographical information about Granville in today's video so be sure to check that out.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Moonlit Pond' by Granville Redmond. In my studio work there have been three or four paintings I have done in the last several years that have been what I would term to be blue paintings. I can't say as I've managed to do one that I feel is as successful as Granville's painting we are discussing today.
I have no idea what his inspiration was or how he actually accomplished his painting. Regarding my study, I basically painted my board a medium shade of blue and then proceeded to work down in value and up in value, keeping my chroma in the blue range.
Overall I'd say I'm very happy with the way the study turned out and in fact this is actually the second instance of this painting that I've done as I sold the first study.
 |
| Original painting, Moonlit Pond by Granville Redmond. |
Day Forty Three: Edge of the village by Edward Loyal Field
Hello and welcome to day 43 of 100 days of Tonalism.
Today's study is 'Edge of the Village' by Edward Loyal Field.
Edward Loyal Field was pretty well known in the time that he was alive, which was 1856 to 1914. I have found some biographical information about Edward Loyal Field and I will be reading that on today's video.
I believe were getting close to the end of our discussion on the defining aspects of Tonalism as they apply to landscape painting. I have done a survey of preceding blog posts and so far we've addressed about 16 different points with only a small amount of overlap. Yesterday we were discussing flattening of forms, today I would like to talk about Tonalism's emphasis on mass and form instead of line or detail.
Generally Tonalist paintings focus on the large masses and shapes of the landscape like trees, mountains and the occasional building. Detail is usually subsumed or indicated by loose fractured brushwork. This is in contrast to the American Hudson River School movement in painting that preceded it wherein almost every leaf on every tree would be rendered lovingly.
The overall effect created by eradicating excessive detail is one of unity in composition and color. This is one of the predominant ways that Tonalism broke with the movements that came before it. In many ways it is a trait that tonalism shares with Impressionism.
When I begin a painting I prefer to do my drawing with a brush and use a drawing approach that is referred to as mass drawing. This is a method that while utilizing some lines, indicates form with shapes and gestural strokes. Occasionally I will go over these brush drawings with a bit of charcoal although not to render detail, more to clarify shapes that I wish to address when I move into the color stage.
I spoke in previous posts about eliminating detail so you can refer to some of those posts if you would like more insight about that. I have a couple more defining traits of tonalism that we'll go into over the next few days and who knows maybe I can think of more if I really hunker down. I believe, at the end I will create some sort of list that can be referred to indicating what topics were discussed on which posts.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Edge of the Village' by Edward Loyal Field, this painting reminds me very much of a George Inness, Edward must have certainly been aware of his work and no doubt was influenced by it.
I enjoyed rendering the loose fractured and diffuse quality of Edwards painting in my study as well as conveying the focal point of interest in the distance that has been made a bit brighter than the surrounding landscape.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Painted after - Edge of the Village by Edward Loyal Field, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
Today's study is 'Edge of the Village' by Edward Loyal Field.
Edward Loyal Field was pretty well known in the time that he was alive, which was 1856 to 1914. I have found some biographical information about Edward Loyal Field and I will be reading that on today's video.
I believe were getting close to the end of our discussion on the defining aspects of Tonalism as they apply to landscape painting. I have done a survey of preceding blog posts and so far we've addressed about 16 different points with only a small amount of overlap. Yesterday we were discussing flattening of forms, today I would like to talk about Tonalism's emphasis on mass and form instead of line or detail.
Generally Tonalist paintings focus on the large masses and shapes of the landscape like trees, mountains and the occasional building. Detail is usually subsumed or indicated by loose fractured brushwork. This is in contrast to the American Hudson River School movement in painting that preceded it wherein almost every leaf on every tree would be rendered lovingly.
The overall effect created by eradicating excessive detail is one of unity in composition and color. This is one of the predominant ways that Tonalism broke with the movements that came before it. In many ways it is a trait that tonalism shares with Impressionism.
When I begin a painting I prefer to do my drawing with a brush and use a drawing approach that is referred to as mass drawing. This is a method that while utilizing some lines, indicates form with shapes and gestural strokes. Occasionally I will go over these brush drawings with a bit of charcoal although not to render detail, more to clarify shapes that I wish to address when I move into the color stage.
I spoke in previous posts about eliminating detail so you can refer to some of those posts if you would like more insight about that. I have a couple more defining traits of tonalism that we'll go into over the next few days and who knows maybe I can think of more if I really hunker down. I believe, at the end I will create some sort of list that can be referred to indicating what topics were discussed on which posts.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Edge of the Village' by Edward Loyal Field, this painting reminds me very much of a George Inness, Edward must have certainly been aware of his work and no doubt was influenced by it.
I enjoyed rendering the loose fractured and diffuse quality of Edwards painting in my study as well as conveying the focal point of interest in the distance that has been made a bit brighter than the surrounding landscape.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Original painting, Edge of the village by Edward Loyal Field |
Day Forty Two: Sunrise by George Inness
Hello and welcome to day 42 of 100 days of Tonalism.
Today's study is 'Sunrise' by George Inness.
I'm not sure which George Inness this is in our series but I imagine we are getting around the halfway mark of 15 or 16 of George Inness studies so far. On today's video I read a bit from the book "George Inness" by Nicolai Cikovsky. I'm afraid there were quite a few mispronunciations of foreign names in my reading, however if you refer to Mr.Cikovsky's book I'm sure all will come to light readily.
Over the past several weeks we been discussing different aspects of Tonalism and definitions thereof. Today I like to discuss the flattening of form in landscape painting and how it applies to Tonalism.
If you are aware of art history you'll know that previous to the Renaissance that much Western art evidenced a very flat quality and decoration was generally valued over the correct representation of volume. For this reason much early European art looks quite juvenile to our modern eyes. As artists ability to accurately represent natural forms progressed, the ability to draw correct perspective and to accurately render forms so that they appeared to be placed in space correctly became commonplace.
With the introduction in the west of Asian art, many Western painters began to use various aspects of the Asian style in their work. James McNeill Whistler was famous for his incorporation of Asian design motifs and also for incorporating flattening of form into his painting. Another artist who is well known for inspiration taken from Japanese woodblock prints is Vincent van Gogh. In van Gogh's case there was certainly some flattening of form in his painting but the aspect that he borrowed the most was more of a linear design quality.
Many Tonalists used flattening of form and simplification of design in their work as well, and the influence of Asian art is not always the obvious reason.
The effect that flattening forms has on a landscape picture is to help the viewer more readily enter the picture plane. Also, flattening enables a simplification of color into subtle warm gradations where the rendering of forms is concerned lending an atmospheric quality. This tends to create a rather pleasing effect and also emulates the way that light acts upon forms after the sun has set in the twilight or early morning hours.
You'll notice that many times just after the sun has gone down, that the landscape around you is actually quite well lit but there is no harsh direct light source unless you are looking directly west.
Although my recent posts on the defining aspects of Tonalism do not generally follow the scenes in a post by post manner that I have done for a particular day, you'll notice in today's study 'Sunrise,' that Inness utilized quite a lot of flattening in the silhouetted trees against the sky and that the painting has a highly decorative approach.
I would not consider flattening of forms to be an exclusively Tonalist trope but it was utilized by many Tonalist artists effectively and often, and for that reason, I've included it in our survey of defining aspects.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Sunrise' by George Inness, as I stated in the video this is a scene that I added after having started the series when I discovered that I had some duplication at number 42. I don't recall the piece that I duplicated now but I went searching about and I found this scene. I'm quite fond of the sky in this painting and I really enjoyed rendering all the myriad variations of colors and glints off the aerial formations. You'll note that I did some extensive squishing of the original's panoramic format to get it to work as a 5x7.
This is a study that I completed in one drawing pass and then the first color pass. I did not do a second color pass nor did I do any glazing, but I did spend quite a while meticulously painting the colors in the sky which I feel is the main subject of the painting, namely the light itself of the sunrise.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Painted after - Sunrise by George Inness, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
Today's study is 'Sunrise' by George Inness.
I'm not sure which George Inness this is in our series but I imagine we are getting around the halfway mark of 15 or 16 of George Inness studies so far. On today's video I read a bit from the book "George Inness" by Nicolai Cikovsky. I'm afraid there were quite a few mispronunciations of foreign names in my reading, however if you refer to Mr.Cikovsky's book I'm sure all will come to light readily.
Over the past several weeks we been discussing different aspects of Tonalism and definitions thereof. Today I like to discuss the flattening of form in landscape painting and how it applies to Tonalism.
If you are aware of art history you'll know that previous to the Renaissance that much Western art evidenced a very flat quality and decoration was generally valued over the correct representation of volume. For this reason much early European art looks quite juvenile to our modern eyes. As artists ability to accurately represent natural forms progressed, the ability to draw correct perspective and to accurately render forms so that they appeared to be placed in space correctly became commonplace.
With the introduction in the west of Asian art, many Western painters began to use various aspects of the Asian style in their work. James McNeill Whistler was famous for his incorporation of Asian design motifs and also for incorporating flattening of form into his painting. Another artist who is well known for inspiration taken from Japanese woodblock prints is Vincent van Gogh. In van Gogh's case there was certainly some flattening of form in his painting but the aspect that he borrowed the most was more of a linear design quality.
Many Tonalists used flattening of form and simplification of design in their work as well, and the influence of Asian art is not always the obvious reason.
The effect that flattening forms has on a landscape picture is to help the viewer more readily enter the picture plane. Also, flattening enables a simplification of color into subtle warm gradations where the rendering of forms is concerned lending an atmospheric quality. This tends to create a rather pleasing effect and also emulates the way that light acts upon forms after the sun has set in the twilight or early morning hours.
You'll notice that many times just after the sun has gone down, that the landscape around you is actually quite well lit but there is no harsh direct light source unless you are looking directly west.
Although my recent posts on the defining aspects of Tonalism do not generally follow the scenes in a post by post manner that I have done for a particular day, you'll notice in today's study 'Sunrise,' that Inness utilized quite a lot of flattening in the silhouetted trees against the sky and that the painting has a highly decorative approach.
I would not consider flattening of forms to be an exclusively Tonalist trope but it was utilized by many Tonalist artists effectively and often, and for that reason, I've included it in our survey of defining aspects.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Sunrise' by George Inness, as I stated in the video this is a scene that I added after having started the series when I discovered that I had some duplication at number 42. I don't recall the piece that I duplicated now but I went searching about and I found this scene. I'm quite fond of the sky in this painting and I really enjoyed rendering all the myriad variations of colors and glints off the aerial formations. You'll note that I did some extensive squishing of the original's panoramic format to get it to work as a 5x7.
This is a study that I completed in one drawing pass and then the first color pass. I did not do a second color pass nor did I do any glazing, but I did spend quite a while meticulously painting the colors in the sky which I feel is the main subject of the painting, namely the light itself of the sunrise.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Original painting, Sunrise by George Inness |
Day Forty One: Autumn Sunset by John Enneking
Hello and welcome to day 41 of 100 days of Tonalism.
Today's study is of Autumn Sunset by John Enneking.
John Enneking Born 1841 Died 1916 was an amazing artist, generally considered to be an Impressionist but much of his work falls into the Tonalist ethos. He is fairly well known today I'm linking here to Artsy if you want to see more of his work. Another musical video today. My wifes contracted the same lurgy that got me and I'm not going to wake her with my narration. Instead please enjoy another track from my album "All is One".
In keeping with our ongoing discussion of some of the defining aspects of Tonalist painting, I'd like to discuss dry brushing today. While dry brushing is not strictly Tonalist in nature it was used quite alot in Tonalist paintings. This really leads to a brief aside on two modes of painting: Direct or Alla Prima and Indirect painting.
Alla Prima refers to the idea that the entire painting is done wet into wet generally all in one painting session. There is usually no preliminary drawing done and the painter will often build up their painting from thin turp washes at the beginning through to thicker paint at the end. Many if not all Impressionists favored this approach as well as painters like Whistler and John Singer Sargent. Also Alla Prima lends itself well to working outdoors (en Plein Air).
In contrast, the indirect approach (most used by Tonalists) is usually done in the studio. This is my favored approach but there are many different ways of painting indirectly. For the sake of brevity I'll just outline my approach:
This gets us back to my original topic of dry brushing. Dry brushing as a technique goes way back into the dim beginnings of painting. Basically it is the application of small amounts of pigment lightly worked over the existing painting. Often the side of a relatively clean brush is used to apply the paint.
I like dry brushing because it adds texture and interest to my paintings. It can however be overdone so I try to use the technique strategically and sparingly. To me it goes hand in hand with glazing (which we talked about yesterday). It's a great way to add richness to a scene and I find my self employing it more and more in my own work.
Btw I'd say I only used dry brushing and or glazing on about half the studies in this series. After my drawing and first collr passes I evaluated each study carefully to se if it needed that extra push.I felt that about half of the studies did. That ended up adding an addition month to the time it took to execute the series but in the end I feel it was worth it.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about Autumn Sunset by John Enneking, This is a really interesting painting by Enneking and I really wanted to use it for this series. Enneking is one of my big inspirations for doing small studies in the first place. Several years ago I came across one of his studies and was really impressed with the vibrant color and fractured brush work.
What interested me most about this image was the maroon trees and the idiosyncratic composition. Unfortunately as you can see below the reference image had a lot of glare on it which I did my best to paint around.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Painted after - Autumn Sunset by John Enneking, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
Today's study is of Autumn Sunset by John Enneking.
John Enneking Born 1841 Died 1916 was an amazing artist, generally considered to be an Impressionist but much of his work falls into the Tonalist ethos. He is fairly well known today I'm linking here to Artsy if you want to see more of his work. Another musical video today. My wifes contracted the same lurgy that got me and I'm not going to wake her with my narration. Instead please enjoy another track from my album "All is One".
In keeping with our ongoing discussion of some of the defining aspects of Tonalist painting, I'd like to discuss dry brushing today. While dry brushing is not strictly Tonalist in nature it was used quite alot in Tonalist paintings. This really leads to a brief aside on two modes of painting: Direct or Alla Prima and Indirect painting.
Alla Prima refers to the idea that the entire painting is done wet into wet generally all in one painting session. There is usually no preliminary drawing done and the painter will often build up their painting from thin turp washes at the beginning through to thicker paint at the end. Many if not all Impressionists favored this approach as well as painters like Whistler and John Singer Sargent. Also Alla Prima lends itself well to working outdoors (en Plein Air).
In contrast, the indirect approach (most used by Tonalists) is usually done in the studio. This is my favored approach but there are many different ways of painting indirectly. For the sake of brevity I'll just outline my approach:
- Tone and texture a wood panel.
- Do a mass drawing of the subject that outlines the major forms and values.
- First color pass, block in the major forms and colors (in my case I try to do most of the painting here)
- Glaze some areas of the apinting with appropriate pigments.
- Second color pass, add some detail and modify or correct as necessary.
- As part o0f the second color pass, drybrush to enhance textures and soften forms..
This gets us back to my original topic of dry brushing. Dry brushing as a technique goes way back into the dim beginnings of painting. Basically it is the application of small amounts of pigment lightly worked over the existing painting. Often the side of a relatively clean brush is used to apply the paint.
I like dry brushing because it adds texture and interest to my paintings. It can however be overdone so I try to use the technique strategically and sparingly. To me it goes hand in hand with glazing (which we talked about yesterday). It's a great way to add richness to a scene and I find my self employing it more and more in my own work.
Btw I'd say I only used dry brushing and or glazing on about half the studies in this series. After my drawing and first collr passes I evaluated each study carefully to se if it needed that extra push.I felt that about half of the studies did. That ended up adding an addition month to the time it took to execute the series but in the end I feel it was worth it.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about Autumn Sunset by John Enneking, This is a really interesting painting by Enneking and I really wanted to use it for this series. Enneking is one of my big inspirations for doing small studies in the first place. Several years ago I came across one of his studies and was really impressed with the vibrant color and fractured brush work.
What interested me most about this image was the maroon trees and the idiosyncratic composition. Unfortunately as you can see below the reference image had a lot of glare on it which I did my best to paint around.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Original painting, Autumn Sunset by John Enneking |
Day Forty: River landscape by Frederick William Kost
Hello and welcome today 40 of 100 days of Tonalism.
Today's study is of River landscape by Frederick William Kost.
I'm not finding a lots of biographical information about Frederick online. I have found some very basic information on Artsy. Frederick William Kost was born in 1861 and died in 1923 and so was active through the period of time that tonalism was en vogue. I will read what biographical information I have about him on today's video so be sure to check that out.
We been discussing different aspects of Tonalism over the last several weeks.Today I'd like to discuss glazing. Glazing is a technique whereby you add a small amount of oil color to refined linseed oil or varnish and then rub that over the surface of your dry painting.
If you're a painter and you've not tried this technique I highly recommend it, especially if you're after a Tonalist feel in your work. One thing to keep in mind when doing glazing is that you need to have your initial lay in lighter than you wish the finished painting to be, because glazing can darken the painting quite a lot.
I like to glaze with colors like transparent earth yellow from Gamblin, black or sometimes burnt sienna. I will generally do some glazing especially with black before I go in for a second color pass on a painting. I'm particularly fond of using black up at the top of the sky and in trees. I really like the way that it makes the brushstrokes stand out in relief. This is a technique that is guaranteed to give your painting an old world quality.
When I glaze with transparent earth yellow it is generally over lighter areas in the painting like clouds. It is possible with this method to get delicate subtle warm whites that are impossible to paint in an opaque fashion.
George Innes was famous for his use of glazing and he used it to very good effect in many of his works. I guess a caveat is in order in regards to glazing. It is easy to overdo it, with the end result being a painting that is muddy and overly dark. As far as glazing goes, a little bit goes a long way. For this reason I like to do my glazing before I go in with additional colors on top. This creates a rich spectrum of differentiated colors and textures that is quite pleasing. I often combine glazing with a bit of dry brushwork in my second color pass. Perhaps will discuss dry brush tomorrow.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about river landscape by Frederick William Kost, this painting by Frederick has a phenomenal composition that is about as good as it gets. Because of this my study fell together very easily and was quite relaxing to do.
Another thing that is nice about this painting is the warm brown tones that Frederick used. I really enjoyed doing the study and I'm quite happy with the way that it turned out. A point of difference between my study and Kost's original is that I left quite a bit of my warm red underpinning peeking through. I'm pretty sure that he utilized some sort of brown for his underpainting, although without access to his original I can't be sure.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Painted after - River landscape by Frederick William Kost, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
Today's study is of River landscape by Frederick William Kost.
I'm not finding a lots of biographical information about Frederick online. I have found some very basic information on Artsy. Frederick William Kost was born in 1861 and died in 1923 and so was active through the period of time that tonalism was en vogue. I will read what biographical information I have about him on today's video so be sure to check that out.
We been discussing different aspects of Tonalism over the last several weeks.Today I'd like to discuss glazing. Glazing is a technique whereby you add a small amount of oil color to refined linseed oil or varnish and then rub that over the surface of your dry painting.
If you're a painter and you've not tried this technique I highly recommend it, especially if you're after a Tonalist feel in your work. One thing to keep in mind when doing glazing is that you need to have your initial lay in lighter than you wish the finished painting to be, because glazing can darken the painting quite a lot.
I like to glaze with colors like transparent earth yellow from Gamblin, black or sometimes burnt sienna. I will generally do some glazing especially with black before I go in for a second color pass on a painting. I'm particularly fond of using black up at the top of the sky and in trees. I really like the way that it makes the brushstrokes stand out in relief. This is a technique that is guaranteed to give your painting an old world quality.
When I glaze with transparent earth yellow it is generally over lighter areas in the painting like clouds. It is possible with this method to get delicate subtle warm whites that are impossible to paint in an opaque fashion.
George Innes was famous for his use of glazing and he used it to very good effect in many of his works. I guess a caveat is in order in regards to glazing. It is easy to overdo it, with the end result being a painting that is muddy and overly dark. As far as glazing goes, a little bit goes a long way. For this reason I like to do my glazing before I go in with additional colors on top. This creates a rich spectrum of differentiated colors and textures that is quite pleasing. I often combine glazing with a bit of dry brushwork in my second color pass. Perhaps will discuss dry brush tomorrow.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about river landscape by Frederick William Kost, this painting by Frederick has a phenomenal composition that is about as good as it gets. Because of this my study fell together very easily and was quite relaxing to do.
Another thing that is nice about this painting is the warm brown tones that Frederick used. I really enjoyed doing the study and I'm quite happy with the way that it turned out. A point of difference between my study and Kost's original is that I left quite a bit of my warm red underpinning peeking through. I'm pretty sure that he utilized some sort of brown for his underpainting, although without access to his original I can't be sure.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Original painting, River landscape by Frederick William Kost |
Day Thirty Nine: Landscape by Unknown
Hello and welcome to day 39 of 100 days of Tonalism.
Today's study is of 'Landscape' by Unknown.
Sorry I've no clue who the artist is for today's study. However I really liked the painting so I included it. You'll note a lack of narration on today's video. Again I apologize but there is a nice song on there from my second album "All is One".
I've recently had some feedback that I may seem to be anti Modern Art. The truth is I'm not, I'm just anti bullshirt art. Modern art is actually not really even related to the chain of classic art descending down from the great Masters.
Here is a great quote from the book Alla Prima Everything I know about painting by Richard Schmid: which eloquently expresses a sentiment that I agree with.
"The 'isms' that followed - Post-impressionism, Expressionism, Cubism, Abstraction, Dadaism, Surrealism, Pop art, Op art, etc, - were completely unrelated to the developments in art up to and including early Impressionism. During the later decades of the 19th century, various artists took a ninety degree turn away from the then ongoing direction of painting.
The result of their efforts is what we call Modern Art, a new type of human activity entirely different in both character and purpose from anything preceding it. It is linked only by the the fact that in the beginning, and at various times afterward, 'Modern' artists employed the same materials as 'Classical' painters.
The history and thought which underlies Modern art is complicated and deeply involved in the political, philosophical and psychological upheaval of the past 100 years or so. Contrary to contemporary art doctrine, however, modern non-representational art is not an evolutionary extension of classical painting any more than random computer music is an outgrowth of traditional violin techniques."
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Landscape' by unknown. As I stated above I do not know who the artist for this painting is, however, I was attracted by the composition and colours and decided to include it in this series.]
I am happy with the way painting turned out and I feel that I learned a lot in the execution of this study.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Painted after - Landscape by Unknown, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
Today's study is of 'Landscape' by Unknown.
Sorry I've no clue who the artist is for today's study. However I really liked the painting so I included it. You'll note a lack of narration on today's video. Again I apologize but there is a nice song on there from my second album "All is One".
I've recently had some feedback that I may seem to be anti Modern Art. The truth is I'm not, I'm just anti bullshirt art. Modern art is actually not really even related to the chain of classic art descending down from the great Masters.
Here is a great quote from the book Alla Prima Everything I know about painting by Richard Schmid: which eloquently expresses a sentiment that I agree with.
"The 'isms' that followed - Post-impressionism, Expressionism, Cubism, Abstraction, Dadaism, Surrealism, Pop art, Op art, etc, - were completely unrelated to the developments in art up to and including early Impressionism. During the later decades of the 19th century, various artists took a ninety degree turn away from the then ongoing direction of painting.
The result of their efforts is what we call Modern Art, a new type of human activity entirely different in both character and purpose from anything preceding it. It is linked only by the the fact that in the beginning, and at various times afterward, 'Modern' artists employed the same materials as 'Classical' painters.
The history and thought which underlies Modern art is complicated and deeply involved in the political, philosophical and psychological upheaval of the past 100 years or so. Contrary to contemporary art doctrine, however, modern non-representational art is not an evolutionary extension of classical painting any more than random computer music is an outgrowth of traditional violin techniques."
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Landscape' by unknown. As I stated above I do not know who the artist for this painting is, however, I was attracted by the composition and colours and decided to include it in this series.]
I am happy with the way painting turned out and I feel that I learned a lot in the execution of this study.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Original painting, Landscape by Unknown |
Day Thirty Eight: Summer Night by George Inness
Hello and welcome to day 38 of 100 days of Tonalism.
Today's study is 'Summer Night' by George Inness
I have done many studies after George Inness in this series and there are many more to come. I will be getting into some quotes or additional biographical information about him in today's video, so please watch that if you would like to learn more about him.
Over the last several weeks we've been discussing different aspects of Tonalism that defined it as a style in landscape painting. Today I would like to discuss the use of warm undertones in the background color of the canvas and/or the underpainting itself.
When you put a cool color over a warm undertone it creates a vibrant effect. This is a technique that I initially picked up from a book by Birge Harrison called "Landscape Painting" (we will be doing a few paintings by Birge Harrison later in the series). I have referred to this book before and I highly recommend that any of you that are interested in learning more about painting landscapes check it out.
There are several contemporary artists that have utilized this technique. One that I know of is Thomas Kincaid. I can't say that I particularly like his work, but speaking as a painter I have to respect his technical ability and accomplishments. He realized that the use of a warm undertone followed by cool colors on top, creates an extra spark and sizzle in the painting and exploited this to great effect and tremendous success.
Prior to the Tonalist innovation of using warm red's or orange tones for the background color of their canvas', it was quite popular for artists to tone their canvas with colors like raw umber or van Dyck brown. Camille Corot was one of the artists known for doing this, but there are many many others including most of the great Dutch landscape painters.
While you can get a nice result working this way, what you do not get is a certain glow that you see in most Tonalist works. When I saw Camille's canvases at the Louvre in Paris they are remarkable for their soft paint handling and brushwork but because of the browned underpainting you can also see a tendency towards a sort of drab quality.
If you would like to see this principle in action you can watch any of the attached videos for the series and you will see that I'm starting each one with a burnt sienna underpainting that is done on top of a burnt sienna textured wood panel. There are times that I deviate from this especially in the series where I had some paintings that were almost exclusively blue or teal. In those cases having the orange/red color peeking through was not at all helpful.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Summer Night' by George Inness. I can't think of a previous time where I put a moon into a picture. While George uses this to great effect in many of his remarkable paintings, These days it can come off as a bit contrived or even clichéd. This may be a personal prejudice on my part.
I really enjoy doing this painting and I'm happy with the way the study turned out. It's quite pleasant in the way the mercurial greens are offset by the oranges and blues. The overall effect is striking and I learned a lot from the undertaking of this study.
To see more of my work, visit my site here.
 |
| Painted after - Summer Night by George Inness Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
Today's study is 'Summer Night' by George Inness
I have done many studies after George Inness in this series and there are many more to come. I will be getting into some quotes or additional biographical information about him in today's video, so please watch that if you would like to learn more about him.
Over the last several weeks we've been discussing different aspects of Tonalism that defined it as a style in landscape painting. Today I would like to discuss the use of warm undertones in the background color of the canvas and/or the underpainting itself.
When you put a cool color over a warm undertone it creates a vibrant effect. This is a technique that I initially picked up from a book by Birge Harrison called "Landscape Painting" (we will be doing a few paintings by Birge Harrison later in the series). I have referred to this book before and I highly recommend that any of you that are interested in learning more about painting landscapes check it out.
There are several contemporary artists that have utilized this technique. One that I know of is Thomas Kincaid. I can't say that I particularly like his work, but speaking as a painter I have to respect his technical ability and accomplishments. He realized that the use of a warm undertone followed by cool colors on top, creates an extra spark and sizzle in the painting and exploited this to great effect and tremendous success.
Prior to the Tonalist innovation of using warm red's or orange tones for the background color of their canvas', it was quite popular for artists to tone their canvas with colors like raw umber or van Dyck brown. Camille Corot was one of the artists known for doing this, but there are many many others including most of the great Dutch landscape painters.
While you can get a nice result working this way, what you do not get is a certain glow that you see in most Tonalist works. When I saw Camille's canvases at the Louvre in Paris they are remarkable for their soft paint handling and brushwork but because of the browned underpainting you can also see a tendency towards a sort of drab quality.
If you would like to see this principle in action you can watch any of the attached videos for the series and you will see that I'm starting each one with a burnt sienna underpainting that is done on top of a burnt sienna textured wood panel. There are times that I deviate from this especially in the series where I had some paintings that were almost exclusively blue or teal. In those cases having the orange/red color peeking through was not at all helpful.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Summer Night' by George Inness. I can't think of a previous time where I put a moon into a picture. While George uses this to great effect in many of his remarkable paintings, These days it can come off as a bit contrived or even clichéd. This may be a personal prejudice on my part.
I really enjoy doing this painting and I'm happy with the way the study turned out. It's quite pleasant in the way the mercurial greens are offset by the oranges and blues. The overall effect is striking and I learned a lot from the undertaking of this study.
To see more of my work, visit my site here.
 |
| Original painting, Summer Night by George Inness |
Day Thirty Seven: Landscape by Edward Mitchell Bannister
Hello and welcome to day 37 of 100 days of Tonalism.
Today's study is 'Landscape' by Edward Mitchell Bannister.
This is the second painting by Edward Mitchell Bannister that we have done in this series. Edward is a painter that I just recently discovered when I was doing research for my Tonalist project. He is an amazing painter and should I do another series of Tonalist studies at some point in the future, I will be sure to include more of his work.
Because Edward was an African American painter during the Civil War there has been a resurgence of interest in his work that started with the 60's civil rights movement. I will be reading some biographical information about him on today's video, so if you're interested in learning about him, please check that out.
Over the last several weeks we've been discussing aspects of Tonalism that differed from the movements in landscape painting that preceded it. Today I would like to discuss brushwork. There have been many artists since the great Masters that excelled at expressive and gestural brushwork. The school of landscape painting that was popular in the United States prior to Tonalism was the Hudson River School. While there was some brush expression in the rendering of small details, most Hudson River School paintings exhibited a smooth unified surface. This was in accordance with trends going back for hundreds of years.
Starting with the Barbizon School in France and artists like Turner and Constable, more expressive brushwork began to flourish and become accepted by the mid 19th Century. Prior to this time, many artists would execute studies outdoors in preparation for their more finished studio work. By its nature, plein air painting requires you to work in a rapid manner just to accurately capture the changing moods of nature.
With the advent of the Barbizon School, painters began to bring more expressive brush handling to their finished studio works and not just their plein air studies. Tonalist painters in America as a reaction to the Barbizon movement also embraced expressive, fractured brushwork.
The chief value of more gestural brushwork, is the way it allows the viewer of the painting to supply the absent detail with their own perceptual imagination. This idea may seem counterintuitive at first. This is one of the main reasons that you will see amateur artists overwork and over detail their paintings, in a mistaken belief, that they need to provide as much information as possible for their painting to function as a work of art.
Looser, more expressive brushwork also contributes to an increased compositional flow in the painting. Many of the top Tonalist artists evidenced a progression in their work from early years of being very tight and controlled to almost complete abstraction (in some cases) towards the end of their careers.
In my journey as a landscape painter I have made a similar progression and at times a regression. Brushwork is one of the main places where you can see the interplay between the conscious and unconscious actions that are utilized by every painter and my work is no exception to this.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Landscape' by Edward Mitchell Bannister, Edwards original is not square. I basically stretched the heck out of the sky to make it fit into a square format. You don't see that many square landscape paintings. I myself fell into it in a sort of accidental way because one of the first group shows that I participated in prefered it as a format for work to be exhibited.
The thing I like about paintings with the square proportion, is that it leaves more room for an expressive sky. In many cases when I know that I want to paint a landscape in a square format, I will basically lay it out the same as I would a rectangle but I will leave a lot more room at the top.
This is a painting that I empathize with quite a lot. I feel a kindred spirit with Edward in his approach to landscape painting. He strikes a good balance between simplification and detail as well as a certain stylization of his tree shapes that resonates with me. He's a true Barbizon painter.
To see more of my work, visit my site here.
 |
| Painted after - Landscape by Edward Mitchell Bannister, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x5, Oil on wood panel |
Today's study is 'Landscape' by Edward Mitchell Bannister.
This is the second painting by Edward Mitchell Bannister that we have done in this series. Edward is a painter that I just recently discovered when I was doing research for my Tonalist project. He is an amazing painter and should I do another series of Tonalist studies at some point in the future, I will be sure to include more of his work.
Because Edward was an African American painter during the Civil War there has been a resurgence of interest in his work that started with the 60's civil rights movement. I will be reading some biographical information about him on today's video, so if you're interested in learning about him, please check that out.
Over the last several weeks we've been discussing aspects of Tonalism that differed from the movements in landscape painting that preceded it. Today I would like to discuss brushwork. There have been many artists since the great Masters that excelled at expressive and gestural brushwork. The school of landscape painting that was popular in the United States prior to Tonalism was the Hudson River School. While there was some brush expression in the rendering of small details, most Hudson River School paintings exhibited a smooth unified surface. This was in accordance with trends going back for hundreds of years.
Starting with the Barbizon School in France and artists like Turner and Constable, more expressive brushwork began to flourish and become accepted by the mid 19th Century. Prior to this time, many artists would execute studies outdoors in preparation for their more finished studio work. By its nature, plein air painting requires you to work in a rapid manner just to accurately capture the changing moods of nature.
With the advent of the Barbizon School, painters began to bring more expressive brush handling to their finished studio works and not just their plein air studies. Tonalist painters in America as a reaction to the Barbizon movement also embraced expressive, fractured brushwork.
The chief value of more gestural brushwork, is the way it allows the viewer of the painting to supply the absent detail with their own perceptual imagination. This idea may seem counterintuitive at first. This is one of the main reasons that you will see amateur artists overwork and over detail their paintings, in a mistaken belief, that they need to provide as much information as possible for their painting to function as a work of art.
Looser, more expressive brushwork also contributes to an increased compositional flow in the painting. Many of the top Tonalist artists evidenced a progression in their work from early years of being very tight and controlled to almost complete abstraction (in some cases) towards the end of their careers.
In my journey as a landscape painter I have made a similar progression and at times a regression. Brushwork is one of the main places where you can see the interplay between the conscious and unconscious actions that are utilized by every painter and my work is no exception to this.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Landscape' by Edward Mitchell Bannister, Edwards original is not square. I basically stretched the heck out of the sky to make it fit into a square format. You don't see that many square landscape paintings. I myself fell into it in a sort of accidental way because one of the first group shows that I participated in prefered it as a format for work to be exhibited.
The thing I like about paintings with the square proportion, is that it leaves more room for an expressive sky. In many cases when I know that I want to paint a landscape in a square format, I will basically lay it out the same as I would a rectangle but I will leave a lot more room at the top.
This is a painting that I empathize with quite a lot. I feel a kindred spirit with Edward in his approach to landscape painting. He strikes a good balance between simplification and detail as well as a certain stylization of his tree shapes that resonates with me. He's a true Barbizon painter.
To see more of my work, visit my site here.
 |
| Original painting, Landscape by Edward Mitchell Bannister |
Day Thirty Six: Pastoral Pond by John Appleton Brown
Hello and welcome to day 36 of 100 days of Tonalism.
Today's study is of 'Pastoral Pond' by John Appleton Brown.
I had a feeling when I selected this painting to do a study of, that I could possibly run into some issues with finding biographical information about John Brown. It turns out I was incorrect as his full name John Appleton Brown did yield a small amount of information. I've read the short Wikipedia bio on today's video.
I've been speaking in recent posts about the defining aspects of Tonalism versus other styles of painting. Yesterday I made a deviation from that, to talk about the value of art, both intrinsic and financial. This got me thinking about an aspect of Tonalism that is often not mentioned but is certainly part of what makes it an interesting and a valuable movement in art.
Prior to the rise of Tonalism there was a movement in art referred to as the Luminists, also referred to as the Hudson River School. One of the foremost aspects of this movement was the luminous glowing spiritual light that infused their portrayals of the dramatic American landscape. Painters such as Albert Bierstadt, Frederic Edwin Church and others were very concerned with spiritual matters and endeavored to use their painting to inspire high spiritual emotions.
While Tonalism dropped many of the aspects of the movements that came before it (like the portrayal of expansive vistas and an overwrought approach to detail), one thing that it carried forward was the idea that spiritual values and insight could be invested into and conveyed by landscape painting.
At the time that Tonalism was popular it was common for these paintings to be framed with ornate gold leaf moldings. They were also placed in positions of prominence in people's homes. The idea behind this being to stimulate spiritual contemplation through the inspiration of the inherent beauty of nature.
Ideas like this have fallen out of vogue these days. If I were conspiratorially minded I would say there was an active agenda to keep beautiful art from achieving the highest degrees of success in the world of Fine Art. Instead of beauty we are often presented with vapid, supposedly shocking or ambiguously clever art.
Predictably the response to this "Modern" art by the general public is a numb stupor. Sorry, but this gives all art a bad name. A lot of modern art is spiritually empty if not outright psychopathic. Much of it reminds me of the story of the Emperor's new clothes in that people applaud what they think they should, rather than using personal intuition and insight to guide their perceptions.
Instead of art that ennobles the human spirit and lifts us up into realms of higher consciousness and greater sensitivity to life and our fellow man. We are presented with seemingly clever dreck promulgated as art. I for one am tired of it.
I think that artists who care about the true spirit of art and about their fellow man should be speaking out against this sclock. The "shock of the new" is not even very new, it's been going on for 100 years now. There is nothing new about it.
Now is the time to embrace art that empowers and supports us as people and that is one of the reasons why I have put this blog together to promote Tonalism. Tonalist paintings are beautiful and inspire beautiful thoughts. That's what the world needs, not clever crap disguised as art.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about "Pastoral Pond" by John Appleton Brown, I do not recall exactly where I found this particular image but I do like John's painting a lot. Although the composition is somewhat unconventional, it works pretty well.
I am happy with the way the study turned out and it is very close in spirit to the original painting. I would say the main thing that I enjoyed was capturing all of the varied greens and browns of the original, though to be honest, I played up the browns quite a lot more than John's painting.
To see more of my work, visit my site here.
 |
| Painted after - Pastoral pond by John Appleton Brown, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
Today's study is of 'Pastoral Pond' by John Appleton Brown.
I had a feeling when I selected this painting to do a study of, that I could possibly run into some issues with finding biographical information about John Brown. It turns out I was incorrect as his full name John Appleton Brown did yield a small amount of information. I've read the short Wikipedia bio on today's video.
I've been speaking in recent posts about the defining aspects of Tonalism versus other styles of painting. Yesterday I made a deviation from that, to talk about the value of art, both intrinsic and financial. This got me thinking about an aspect of Tonalism that is often not mentioned but is certainly part of what makes it an interesting and a valuable movement in art.
Prior to the rise of Tonalism there was a movement in art referred to as the Luminists, also referred to as the Hudson River School. One of the foremost aspects of this movement was the luminous glowing spiritual light that infused their portrayals of the dramatic American landscape. Painters such as Albert Bierstadt, Frederic Edwin Church and others were very concerned with spiritual matters and endeavored to use their painting to inspire high spiritual emotions.
While Tonalism dropped many of the aspects of the movements that came before it (like the portrayal of expansive vistas and an overwrought approach to detail), one thing that it carried forward was the idea that spiritual values and insight could be invested into and conveyed by landscape painting.
At the time that Tonalism was popular it was common for these paintings to be framed with ornate gold leaf moldings. They were also placed in positions of prominence in people's homes. The idea behind this being to stimulate spiritual contemplation through the inspiration of the inherent beauty of nature.
Ideas like this have fallen out of vogue these days. If I were conspiratorially minded I would say there was an active agenda to keep beautiful art from achieving the highest degrees of success in the world of Fine Art. Instead of beauty we are often presented with vapid, supposedly shocking or ambiguously clever art.
Predictably the response to this "Modern" art by the general public is a numb stupor. Sorry, but this gives all art a bad name. A lot of modern art is spiritually empty if not outright psychopathic. Much of it reminds me of the story of the Emperor's new clothes in that people applaud what they think they should, rather than using personal intuition and insight to guide their perceptions.
Instead of art that ennobles the human spirit and lifts us up into realms of higher consciousness and greater sensitivity to life and our fellow man. We are presented with seemingly clever dreck promulgated as art. I for one am tired of it.
I think that artists who care about the true spirit of art and about their fellow man should be speaking out against this sclock. The "shock of the new" is not even very new, it's been going on for 100 years now. There is nothing new about it.
Now is the time to embrace art that empowers and supports us as people and that is one of the reasons why I have put this blog together to promote Tonalism. Tonalist paintings are beautiful and inspire beautiful thoughts. That's what the world needs, not clever crap disguised as art.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about "Pastoral Pond" by John Appleton Brown, I do not recall exactly where I found this particular image but I do like John's painting a lot. Although the composition is somewhat unconventional, it works pretty well.
I am happy with the way the study turned out and it is very close in spirit to the original painting. I would say the main thing that I enjoyed was capturing all of the varied greens and browns of the original, though to be honest, I played up the browns quite a lot more than John's painting.
To see more of my work, visit my site here.
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| Original painting, Pastoral pond by John Appleton Brown |
Day Thirty Five: Clouds after a Storm by Charles Harold Davis
Hello and welcome to day 35 of 100 days of Tonalism.
Today's study is 'Clouds after a Storm' by Charles Harold Davis.
This is the second piece that we've done by Charles Harold Davis. It has been one of the more popular images in regards to people interested in buying the studies that I have produced in this series. The study that you are viewing today is the third iteration that I've done from his painting.
I will discuss some biographical information about Charles Harold Davis in today's video so if you want to learn more about him as an artist be sure to check that out.
Meanwhile I'm going to get my soapbox out so please stand back.
Today I'd like to discuss what the value of art actually is. Some might consider this to be a big can of worms to open. There are many people both involved with the arts, and not, that have strong opinions.
Any work of art is worth only what people are willing to pay for it. At least it's worth in currency is what people are going to pay for it. This figure will change dramatically depending on a lot of factors that actually have very little to do with the quality of the artwork involved. Factors such as whether the artist is alive or dead, how popular they were in their own lifetimes, what schools of art he/she was able to associate themselves with or, against and whether they went with the trends that were popular during their lifetime or whether they went counter to those same trends.
Artwork actually has two values, the first value is its intrinsic value as a work of art. This value would be determined by factors such as:
There are many other factors that would also add to the intrinsic value of a work of art. These are just the ones that come to mind readily.
The financial/market value that can be assigned to a work of art involves different factors such as:
Both of these values are subjective. Just because they are subjective does not mean that an artwork does not have artistic value, In fact, art history can ultimately correctly judge the intrinsic value of a work of art. Especially after enough time has passed that fashion becomes unimportant. Also people can develop their own ability to accurately judge the artwork of their own time and of previous eras.
The idea that art has no intrinsic value of its own other than the ability it has to satisfy the needs of the marketplace was popular when I was young. The idea that there is no such thing as bad art was also popular. I strongly disagree with both of these notions. I think that some of the art that is lauded and sold for enormous sums of money these days is less than worthy. While at the same time works of exquisite genius go for pennies on the dollar.
I believe that if a work of art requires a salesperson to stand beside it and explain to you why it is worthwhile, desirable, should be purchased for a lot of money, then you're better off without that work of art in your collection. It would be far better to buy something beautiful that moves you regardless of "market" considerations.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Clouds after a Storm' by Charles Harold Davis, as I stated above this is the third study that I've completed of this painting. Clearly Charles was onto something with this image as people really respond to it.
Skies and clouds are my favorite things to paint and at times the landscape portion of my paintings function mostly as a support for the sky.
What is awesome about Charles painting is all the myriad striations of colors he used to compose it, it was fun to paint each time I executed a study and, I'm going to try and incorporate some of his sensibility into my work in the future.
To see more of my work, visit my site here.
 |
| Painted after - Clouds after a Storm by Charles Harold Davis, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x5, Oil on wood panel |
Today's study is 'Clouds after a Storm' by Charles Harold Davis.
This is the second piece that we've done by Charles Harold Davis. It has been one of the more popular images in regards to people interested in buying the studies that I have produced in this series. The study that you are viewing today is the third iteration that I've done from his painting.
I will discuss some biographical information about Charles Harold Davis in today's video so if you want to learn more about him as an artist be sure to check that out.
Meanwhile I'm going to get my soapbox out so please stand back.
Today I'd like to discuss what the value of art actually is. Some might consider this to be a big can of worms to open. There are many people both involved with the arts, and not, that have strong opinions.
Any work of art is worth only what people are willing to pay for it. At least it's worth in currency is what people are going to pay for it. This figure will change dramatically depending on a lot of factors that actually have very little to do with the quality of the artwork involved. Factors such as whether the artist is alive or dead, how popular they were in their own lifetimes, what schools of art he/she was able to associate themselves with or, against and whether they went with the trends that were popular during their lifetime or whether they went counter to those same trends.
Artwork actually has two values, the first value is its intrinsic value as a work of art. This value would be determined by factors such as:
- How much the work moves the viewer.
- How beautiful or striking is the artwork.
- What sort of technical virtuosity was used in the creation of the artwork.
- How easy is it for another artist to do something similar.
There are many other factors that would also add to the intrinsic value of a work of art. These are just the ones that come to mind readily.
The financial/market value that can be assigned to a work of art involves different factors such as:
- How lucky was this artist at finding good representation and venues for the sales of their work,
- How much does a work correspond to the tastes and fashions of the era in which the artist is painting.
- What sort of stories can be generated around the artwork to involve the imagination of potential buyers.
- How much artwork did the artist generate? Are there only very few excellent works or, did the artist produce thousands of paintings of differing quality.
Both of these values are subjective. Just because they are subjective does not mean that an artwork does not have artistic value, In fact, art history can ultimately correctly judge the intrinsic value of a work of art. Especially after enough time has passed that fashion becomes unimportant. Also people can develop their own ability to accurately judge the artwork of their own time and of previous eras.
The idea that art has no intrinsic value of its own other than the ability it has to satisfy the needs of the marketplace was popular when I was young. The idea that there is no such thing as bad art was also popular. I strongly disagree with both of these notions. I think that some of the art that is lauded and sold for enormous sums of money these days is less than worthy. While at the same time works of exquisite genius go for pennies on the dollar.
I believe that if a work of art requires a salesperson to stand beside it and explain to you why it is worthwhile, desirable, should be purchased for a lot of money, then you're better off without that work of art in your collection. It would be far better to buy something beautiful that moves you regardless of "market" considerations.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Clouds after a Storm' by Charles Harold Davis, as I stated above this is the third study that I've completed of this painting. Clearly Charles was onto something with this image as people really respond to it.
Skies and clouds are my favorite things to paint and at times the landscape portion of my paintings function mostly as a support for the sky.
What is awesome about Charles painting is all the myriad striations of colors he used to compose it, it was fun to paint each time I executed a study and, I'm going to try and incorporate some of his sensibility into my work in the future.
To see more of my work, visit my site here.
 |
| Original painting, Clouds after a Storm by Charles Harold Davis |
Day Thirty Four: Wayside pool by Alexander Helwig Wyant
Hello and welcome to day 34 of 100 days of tonalism.
Today's study is of 'Wayside Pool' by Alexander Helwig Wyant
Alexander Helwig Wyant was a Tonalist painter born in 1836 and died in 1892. He was a contemporary of George Inness and like George Inness, his style modulated over the years from a very detailed Hudson River School approach to a more diffuse and obfuscated Tonalist approach.
I will be covering some biographical information about Alexander Helwig Wyant in today's video so check that out if you'd like to learn more about him. Also, there is a great site dedicated to his work here.
Over the last several weeks we've been discussing different defining aspects of Tonalism and today, I'd like to discuss painting in a Minor key versus painting in a Major key. As in music, Major keys tend to be more bright, celebratory, and open. Whereas music in Minor keys is more moody, poetic and dark. For the purposes of art you could consider Impressionism Major and Tonalism Minor equivalents.
One of the first things that I did after deciding to work in a more Tonalist style was to darken the pallet of my paintings significantly. Prior to that I was working with a more impressionistic style which tends to be brighter and higher key.
I am sometimes asked by people who come to visit my studio why I tend to favor a more dark approach to landscape subjects. I always answer that it's much like music in that, most songs you hear on the radio are not happy songs, they tend to have a bit of melancholy. Also it is quite difficult to achieve a poetic result in a bright painting just as it is difficult to get a melancholic approach across in a song by a marching band.
Sometime around late 2012 after having visited the Louvre in Paris and studying the work of Master painters there, it also dawned on me that even if a painting is quite dark that you should have spots of intense light to create an interesting contrast. Prior to that I was usually keeping the overall key of my work very low and avoiding strong contrasts.
At that time I also kept the chroma of my colors fairly muted. This is something you'll see in evidence in quite a few Tonalist paintings. However this is not true of all tonal paintings. A good example of a Tonalist painter that used strong chroma would be George Inness himself who is a preeminent Tonalist painter.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Wayside Pool' by Alexander Helwig Wyant, I really like the original painting by Alexander and I quite enjoyed doing a study from it. One of the things I concentrated on was getting that fresh morning quality into the study. This painting is also very similar in composition to the sort of thing I like to do on a regular basis.
To see more of my work, visit my site here.
 |
| Painted after - Wayside pool by Alexander Helwig Wyant, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
Today's study is of 'Wayside Pool' by Alexander Helwig Wyant
Alexander Helwig Wyant was a Tonalist painter born in 1836 and died in 1892. He was a contemporary of George Inness and like George Inness, his style modulated over the years from a very detailed Hudson River School approach to a more diffuse and obfuscated Tonalist approach.
I will be covering some biographical information about Alexander Helwig Wyant in today's video so check that out if you'd like to learn more about him. Also, there is a great site dedicated to his work here.
Over the last several weeks we've been discussing different defining aspects of Tonalism and today, I'd like to discuss painting in a Minor key versus painting in a Major key. As in music, Major keys tend to be more bright, celebratory, and open. Whereas music in Minor keys is more moody, poetic and dark. For the purposes of art you could consider Impressionism Major and Tonalism Minor equivalents.
One of the first things that I did after deciding to work in a more Tonalist style was to darken the pallet of my paintings significantly. Prior to that I was working with a more impressionistic style which tends to be brighter and higher key.
I am sometimes asked by people who come to visit my studio why I tend to favor a more dark approach to landscape subjects. I always answer that it's much like music in that, most songs you hear on the radio are not happy songs, they tend to have a bit of melancholy. Also it is quite difficult to achieve a poetic result in a bright painting just as it is difficult to get a melancholic approach across in a song by a marching band.
Sometime around late 2012 after having visited the Louvre in Paris and studying the work of Master painters there, it also dawned on me that even if a painting is quite dark that you should have spots of intense light to create an interesting contrast. Prior to that I was usually keeping the overall key of my work very low and avoiding strong contrasts.
At that time I also kept the chroma of my colors fairly muted. This is something you'll see in evidence in quite a few Tonalist paintings. However this is not true of all tonal paintings. A good example of a Tonalist painter that used strong chroma would be George Inness himself who is a preeminent Tonalist painter.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Wayside Pool' by Alexander Helwig Wyant, I really like the original painting by Alexander and I quite enjoyed doing a study from it. One of the things I concentrated on was getting that fresh morning quality into the study. This painting is also very similar in composition to the sort of thing I like to do on a regular basis.
To see more of my work, visit my site here.
 |
| Original painting, Wayside pool by Alexander Helwig Wyant |
Day Thirty Three: Woodland Scene by George Inness
Hello and welcome to day 33 of 100 days of Tonalism.
Today's study is of 'Woodland Scene' by George Inness.
On today's video I read a passage from the book George Inness and the Science of Landscape. We discussed George Inness quite a lot on this blog and we will be discussing him a lot more in the future.
Today I would like to talk about reproductions of paintings. For example, the trend towards doing inkjet prints on canvas and in some cases, texturing those prints to resemble original oil paintings. Reproductions have a long, interesting history and relationship to art. They have certainly had their place for long time and I myself have owned many posters and reproductions of paintings that I enjoyed.
With the advent of computer technology and it's ready access on the desktop. It is easy for just about anybody now to print out any image that they find on the Internet and have it look pretty decent. Many artists take good photographs of their work and do the very same thing or, a have the prints done on canvas somewhere else.
While there's nothing intrinsically wrong with this, I believe the time has come for humanity at large to embrace affordable original artworks. I for one, do not especially believe in the validity of an art print market wherein the prints being sold are just inkjet reproductions of original paintings with a limited-edition assigned. There was a time when creating reproductions was a very laborious and time intensive process but that is not true any longer.
Mechanical reproduction of artwork these days is effortless and easy. Meanwhile, technology is replacing human industry almost anywhere you turn. It seems to me that the way forward for humanity is to embrace ideas like being an artist and creating one-of-a-kind works of art. Speaking for myself, I can say that after years of creating artwork on the computer and printing out the result, having the ability to paint with oil paint on an actual wood panels is a lot more valid and satisfying for me as an artist.
It makes me feel good to sell my artwork to somebody that appreciates it. I also have the satisfaction of knowing that what they're buying is a one-of-a-kind item that was created by me and is not a reproduction.
I have invested a lot of time in the studies of this series which are in a sense, copies of the originals. though in this case, I would argue that my intentions actually resulted in works of art. Unlike factories in China that are full of painters that will create exact copies of any painting you desire, my intention as an artist, was to impart my impression of each painting that I selected for this series. In the process, many wonderful small paintings were created. I have had some people that were interested in having larger versions of some of these images painted. but I have declined to accept these offered commissions because of the aforementioned reasons.
When it comes to creating art, intention is everything. Intention is the difference between somebody who is a professional and somebody who is an amateur. Intention is the difference between an artist who is commercial and one who is a fine artist. Intention means a lot.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Woodland Scene' by George Inness, as I stated in the video in many ways this painting is a mirror image of 'Summer Montclair' which was the first study I did in the series. The colors in 'Woodland Scene' are more subdued but the compositional motif is in strong evidence.
These compositional structures, were for the most part invented by George Inness. This is something he was able to do after a lifetime of landscape painting. So intensely had he internalized nature that he was able to create scenes like this out of his imagination.
I enjoyed painting this study and it went quite quickly. I'm very happy with the result and I learned quite a lot which I am putting to use in my own work.
To see more of my work, visit my site here.
 |
| Painted after - Woodland Scene by George Inness, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
Today's study is of 'Woodland Scene' by George Inness.
On today's video I read a passage from the book George Inness and the Science of Landscape. We discussed George Inness quite a lot on this blog and we will be discussing him a lot more in the future.
Today I would like to talk about reproductions of paintings. For example, the trend towards doing inkjet prints on canvas and in some cases, texturing those prints to resemble original oil paintings. Reproductions have a long, interesting history and relationship to art. They have certainly had their place for long time and I myself have owned many posters and reproductions of paintings that I enjoyed.
With the advent of computer technology and it's ready access on the desktop. It is easy for just about anybody now to print out any image that they find on the Internet and have it look pretty decent. Many artists take good photographs of their work and do the very same thing or, a have the prints done on canvas somewhere else.
While there's nothing intrinsically wrong with this, I believe the time has come for humanity at large to embrace affordable original artworks. I for one, do not especially believe in the validity of an art print market wherein the prints being sold are just inkjet reproductions of original paintings with a limited-edition assigned. There was a time when creating reproductions was a very laborious and time intensive process but that is not true any longer.
Mechanical reproduction of artwork these days is effortless and easy. Meanwhile, technology is replacing human industry almost anywhere you turn. It seems to me that the way forward for humanity is to embrace ideas like being an artist and creating one-of-a-kind works of art. Speaking for myself, I can say that after years of creating artwork on the computer and printing out the result, having the ability to paint with oil paint on an actual wood panels is a lot more valid and satisfying for me as an artist.
It makes me feel good to sell my artwork to somebody that appreciates it. I also have the satisfaction of knowing that what they're buying is a one-of-a-kind item that was created by me and is not a reproduction.
I have invested a lot of time in the studies of this series which are in a sense, copies of the originals. though in this case, I would argue that my intentions actually resulted in works of art. Unlike factories in China that are full of painters that will create exact copies of any painting you desire, my intention as an artist, was to impart my impression of each painting that I selected for this series. In the process, many wonderful small paintings were created. I have had some people that were interested in having larger versions of some of these images painted. but I have declined to accept these offered commissions because of the aforementioned reasons.
When it comes to creating art, intention is everything. Intention is the difference between somebody who is a professional and somebody who is an amateur. Intention is the difference between an artist who is commercial and one who is a fine artist. Intention means a lot.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Woodland Scene' by George Inness, as I stated in the video in many ways this painting is a mirror image of 'Summer Montclair' which was the first study I did in the series. The colors in 'Woodland Scene' are more subdued but the compositional motif is in strong evidence.
These compositional structures, were for the most part invented by George Inness. This is something he was able to do after a lifetime of landscape painting. So intensely had he internalized nature that he was able to create scenes like this out of his imagination.
I enjoyed painting this study and it went quite quickly. I'm very happy with the result and I learned quite a lot which I am putting to use in my own work.
To see more of my work, visit my site here.
 |
| Original painting, Woodland Scene by George Inness |
Day ThirtyTwo: Passing Shower by Thomas Moran
Hello and welcome to day 32 of 100 days of tonalism.
Today's study is of Passing Shower' by Thomas Moran.
Thomas Moran was a Luminist, a Hudson River School artist and was also a member of the Rocky Mountain School. Thomas Moran transcended all of these labels and is one of the greatest painters who has ever lived. I've had the good fortune of seeing his work in person, it glows and pulsates with energy.
Of all the different types of painter that Thomas Moran was considered to be, Tonalist would not be chief among them. He lived and worked through the entire period that encapsulated Tonalism in the 19th and 20th centuries. I selected 'Passing Shower' for a study because I felt it evidenced many strong tonal tendencies.
I've been speaking for the last few blog posts about the various aspects of tonalism that differentiated it from the schools of painting that came before and after.
The selection of subject matter is key in defining if a painting is Tonalist or not. Thomas Moran was quite famous for painting huge expansive vistas that inspired a sense of awe in the viewer. He is one of the best at doing this type of painting.
Tonalism however, is more about portraying an intimate and subdued approach to the landscape. Good subjects for a Tonalist painting might be a vacant lot with some trees in it or an abandoned field, subjects that people see all of the time in their daily lives. These types of scenes can be easily grasped and that people can see themselves occupying them.
I've always been attracted to this particular aspect of tonalism, probably because of its great accessibility. Not all of us can travel to the Rocky Mountains or the Grand Canyon. While it is certainly valuable to paint subjects like those in an expansive way, there is also much to be said for finding beauty and poetry in the landscape that surrounds us locally.
Sometimes I wonder if I was a Tonalist painter in a past life, because I resonate so deeply with all of the myriad aspects of this style of painting. I was not very aware of tonalism until later in my life but as soon as I came across it, I knew that this was the way that I wanted to paint, that this was the manner of depicting the landscape that resonated with me at the deepest soul level.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Passing Shower' by Thomas Moran, I'm very happy with the way this study turned out. I was keen to do it after finding the initial reference for this painting in my search for subject matter. It is quite unlike most Thomas Moran paintings I've seen. It is really just a painting of a field with a little pond in it and a big sky full of clouds.
My study is quite dynamic and represents the painting by Thomas Moran well. I'm pleased with the way the greens offset the grays and blues of the sky. There's not that many Thomas Moran paintings that would work in the series like this but this one feels very appropriate. I am glad to have executed the study and I learned a lot.
To see more of my work, visit my site here.
 |
| Painted after - Passing Shower by Thomas Moran, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
Today's study is of Passing Shower' by Thomas Moran.
Thomas Moran was a Luminist, a Hudson River School artist and was also a member of the Rocky Mountain School. Thomas Moran transcended all of these labels and is one of the greatest painters who has ever lived. I've had the good fortune of seeing his work in person, it glows and pulsates with energy.
Of all the different types of painter that Thomas Moran was considered to be, Tonalist would not be chief among them. He lived and worked through the entire period that encapsulated Tonalism in the 19th and 20th centuries. I selected 'Passing Shower' for a study because I felt it evidenced many strong tonal tendencies.
I've been speaking for the last few blog posts about the various aspects of tonalism that differentiated it from the schools of painting that came before and after.
The selection of subject matter is key in defining if a painting is Tonalist or not. Thomas Moran was quite famous for painting huge expansive vistas that inspired a sense of awe in the viewer. He is one of the best at doing this type of painting.
Tonalism however, is more about portraying an intimate and subdued approach to the landscape. Good subjects for a Tonalist painting might be a vacant lot with some trees in it or an abandoned field, subjects that people see all of the time in their daily lives. These types of scenes can be easily grasped and that people can see themselves occupying them.
I've always been attracted to this particular aspect of tonalism, probably because of its great accessibility. Not all of us can travel to the Rocky Mountains or the Grand Canyon. While it is certainly valuable to paint subjects like those in an expansive way, there is also much to be said for finding beauty and poetry in the landscape that surrounds us locally.
Sometimes I wonder if I was a Tonalist painter in a past life, because I resonate so deeply with all of the myriad aspects of this style of painting. I was not very aware of tonalism until later in my life but as soon as I came across it, I knew that this was the way that I wanted to paint, that this was the manner of depicting the landscape that resonated with me at the deepest soul level.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Passing Shower' by Thomas Moran, I'm very happy with the way this study turned out. I was keen to do it after finding the initial reference for this painting in my search for subject matter. It is quite unlike most Thomas Moran paintings I've seen. It is really just a painting of a field with a little pond in it and a big sky full of clouds.
My study is quite dynamic and represents the painting by Thomas Moran well. I'm pleased with the way the greens offset the grays and blues of the sky. There's not that many Thomas Moran paintings that would work in the series like this but this one feels very appropriate. I am glad to have executed the study and I learned a lot.
To see more of my work, visit my site here.
 |
| Original painting, Passing Shower by Thomas Moran |
Day Thirty One: Sunset after a Storm by Charles Harry Eaton
Hello and welcome to day 31 of 100 days of Tonalism.
Today's study is of Sunset after a Storm' by Charles Harry Eaton.
We've covered Charles Harry Eaton before on day 13. I read some biographical information about him on today's video so go check that out. Also, here is a link to his page on artsy with some zoomable images of his work.
Today I'd like to discuss the quality of edges in Tonalist painting. Typically the edges where forms meet each other (like where the shape of a tree might interact with the sky) will be refracted and somewhat diffused in Tonalist works. This is one of the primary characteristics of tonalism that gives it a dreamlike/poetic quality.
The foremost progenitor of this sort of technique was Camille Corot. He was an absolute Master of injecting atmosphere into his tree forms. Most accomplished Tonalist painters have mastered this aspect of getting atmospheric edges into their work. In my own journey as a painter, this is something that I had to learn the hard way through experience over time.
Good edges is not a quality that is often evidenced in photos unless it is installed in the darkroom. Typically you will just see the edges of trees strongly silhouetted against the much brighter sky, this is how cameras see but it is not how humans see.
There is a tendency for the some landscape artists to paint their trees and skies in the same way. For that reason many modern landscape paintings suffer and compare poorly to works of the past Masters. Without having this edges issue called into your awareness, you can, as an artist, happily and faithfully reproduce photographs without really seeing the absence of artistic edges in your own work.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Sunset After a Storm' by Charles Harry Eaton, this was a really fun painting to do and I'm quite pleased with the way that the study turned out. Charles has done something here that I generally strive to avoid in that he has run the dark masses of the clouds directly into the predominant tree shape in the landscape.
I prefer to keep strong horizontal cloud forms from running directly into my trees. Generally I will soften them or obfuscate the edges so that this is not an issue. However, it works very well in this painting and for that reason I was happy to execute the study. Also Charles Harry Eaton has done a great job with the colors in the sky and I was attracted to this painting because of the combination of blue and orange that he used.
To see more of my work, visit my site here.
 |
| Painted after - After a Storm by Charles Harry Eaton, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
Today's study is of Sunset after a Storm' by Charles Harry Eaton.
We've covered Charles Harry Eaton before on day 13. I read some biographical information about him on today's video so go check that out. Also, here is a link to his page on artsy with some zoomable images of his work.
Today I'd like to discuss the quality of edges in Tonalist painting. Typically the edges where forms meet each other (like where the shape of a tree might interact with the sky) will be refracted and somewhat diffused in Tonalist works. This is one of the primary characteristics of tonalism that gives it a dreamlike/poetic quality.
The foremost progenitor of this sort of technique was Camille Corot. He was an absolute Master of injecting atmosphere into his tree forms. Most accomplished Tonalist painters have mastered this aspect of getting atmospheric edges into their work. In my own journey as a painter, this is something that I had to learn the hard way through experience over time.
Good edges is not a quality that is often evidenced in photos unless it is installed in the darkroom. Typically you will just see the edges of trees strongly silhouetted against the much brighter sky, this is how cameras see but it is not how humans see.
There is a tendency for the some landscape artists to paint their trees and skies in the same way. For that reason many modern landscape paintings suffer and compare poorly to works of the past Masters. Without having this edges issue called into your awareness, you can, as an artist, happily and faithfully reproduce photographs without really seeing the absence of artistic edges in your own work.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Sunset After a Storm' by Charles Harry Eaton, this was a really fun painting to do and I'm quite pleased with the way that the study turned out. Charles has done something here that I generally strive to avoid in that he has run the dark masses of the clouds directly into the predominant tree shape in the landscape.
I prefer to keep strong horizontal cloud forms from running directly into my trees. Generally I will soften them or obfuscate the edges so that this is not an issue. However, it works very well in this painting and for that reason I was happy to execute the study. Also Charles Harry Eaton has done a great job with the colors in the sky and I was attracted to this painting because of the combination of blue and orange that he used.
To see more of my work, visit my site here.
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| Original painting, Sunset after a Storm by Charles Harry Eaton |
Day Thirty: The Pond by George Inness
Hello and welcome to day 30 of 100 days of tonalism.
Today's study is 'The Pond' by George Inness.
A vertical study today. What makes this study interesting is the way that the space has been divided. George Inness was a Master of composition and that is in strong evidence in this particular painting. What is also interesting is the near equal balance between light and dark areas nicely offset by the middle ground tone.
I found a good site here with some information about George Inness. I will include some of the text from the site in the narration for today's video. I located the site in my research for this blog post. The search term that I used was George Inness painting techniques. How George Inness actually painted is a bit of a mystery. His son, in the biography he wrote, did mention a few items of interest, however his biography is by no means conclusive in spelling out the way that George actually painted.
It would be awesome to be able to go back in time and visit Inness in his studio to see how he put a painting together. One thing that his son did mention was that his father liked to paint over his own paintings and also the paintings of others. He also liked using the sketches of other artists to start his paintings.
The sort of painting that you get when painting on top of an existing work is far different than one that is been started on a clean canvas. It will have different characteristics and different tonal qualities.
Some art historians have written about the reasons why Georgia Inness painted this way, but ultimately you would have to ask George himself to really find out the answer. Another thing that was mentioned in his son's biography was that he was keen on doing glazes on his paintings to get luminescent effects.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'The Pond' by George Inness. This was a very fun painting to do and I learned quite a lot in the process of doing this study.
One thing that you can detect in Inness' original is the use of a black glaze that is been worked over the surface into the brushwork and weave of the canvas. This is a technique I really enjoy using in my own work. You need to be careful when using a black glaze to make sure that your painting is not already too dark, because glazing with black will lower the overall tone a lot.
To see more of my work, visit my site here.
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| Painted after - The Pond by George Inness, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
Today's study is 'The Pond' by George Inness.
A vertical study today. What makes this study interesting is the way that the space has been divided. George Inness was a Master of composition and that is in strong evidence in this particular painting. What is also interesting is the near equal balance between light and dark areas nicely offset by the middle ground tone.
I found a good site here with some information about George Inness. I will include some of the text from the site in the narration for today's video. I located the site in my research for this blog post. The search term that I used was George Inness painting techniques. How George Inness actually painted is a bit of a mystery. His son, in the biography he wrote, did mention a few items of interest, however his biography is by no means conclusive in spelling out the way that George actually painted.
It would be awesome to be able to go back in time and visit Inness in his studio to see how he put a painting together. One thing that his son did mention was that his father liked to paint over his own paintings and also the paintings of others. He also liked using the sketches of other artists to start his paintings.
The sort of painting that you get when painting on top of an existing work is far different than one that is been started on a clean canvas. It will have different characteristics and different tonal qualities.
Some art historians have written about the reasons why Georgia Inness painted this way, but ultimately you would have to ask George himself to really find out the answer. Another thing that was mentioned in his son's biography was that he was keen on doing glazes on his paintings to get luminescent effects.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'The Pond' by George Inness. This was a very fun painting to do and I learned quite a lot in the process of doing this study.
One thing that you can detect in Inness' original is the use of a black glaze that is been worked over the surface into the brushwork and weave of the canvas. This is a technique I really enjoy using in my own work. You need to be careful when using a black glaze to make sure that your painting is not already too dark, because glazing with black will lower the overall tone a lot.
To see more of my work, visit my site here.
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| Originakl painting, The Pond by George Inness |
Day Twenty Nine: The End of Summer by Alexander Helwig Wyant
Hello and welcome to day 29 of 100 days of Tonalism.
Today's study is of 'The End of Summer' by Alexander Helwig Wyant.
A nice moody piece by Wyant today dear subscribers. Alexander Helwig Wyant was a first-generation Tonalist and was also a Hudson River school painter. He changed his style in the 1870s to reflect the influence of the Barbizon school and also of Georgian Inness.
There is a fair amount of information about Alexander online and I found a great page at artsy which I am linking to here. The great thing about artsy is that the images on their site are quite often zoomable so you can get right in there and look at the painting in greater detail than you might be able to see it even at the museum.
Today we're going to get back to discussing some of the aspects of Tonalism that differentiate it from other styles of landscape painting. Forgive me if I may inadvertently repeat a particular point of difference. No worries, it won't really be a problem as we have another 71 posts to go.
Generally speaking, tonal paintings are far less detailed than the work of the artists that preceded the movement, like the Hudson River school and the Luminists. Detail is subsumed by greater attention to larger mass shapes and expressive brushwork. The overall effect that is achieved is one of a hazy, transcendent, spiritual quality. Also, by removing the majority of detail, the viewer is more free to use their own imagination. This usually results in a more relaxed and colorful effect that is easier to look at.
Many amateur artists make the mistake of including too much detail in their work in the belief that more details equals a better painting. With my background as an illustrator I would be remiss if I did not admit that in my youth I was quite susceptible to this issue as well.
Even when I first started oil painting I would use very small brushes. I would delineate quite a lot of detail, especially in the foreground. One of the main ways that my painting changed when I pursued a more tonal approach, was that I removed nearly all detail from the foreground and kept that space of the painting fairly open.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'The End of Summer' by Alexander Helwig Wyant. This was a fun painting to do and I looked forward to doing it. This is one of the paintings that I have had in a folder marked Tonalism for quite a few years and was earmarked early on for this project. I am very attracted to the composition in this painting as it is quite similar to an approach that I like to use. I refer to this sort of composition as the "L" on its side composition.
One of the things that Alexander has done here that is very effective, is that he has painted nearly the entire foreground in shadow as well as the trees in the middle ground. This creates a sort of glow effect for the distant valley and sky.
To see more of my work, visit my site here.
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| Painted after -The End of Summer by Alexander Helwig Wyant, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
A nice moody piece by Wyant today dear subscribers. Alexander Helwig Wyant was a first-generation Tonalist and was also a Hudson River school painter. He changed his style in the 1870s to reflect the influence of the Barbizon school and also of Georgian Inness.
There is a fair amount of information about Alexander online and I found a great page at artsy which I am linking to here. The great thing about artsy is that the images on their site are quite often zoomable so you can get right in there and look at the painting in greater detail than you might be able to see it even at the museum.
Today we're going to get back to discussing some of the aspects of Tonalism that differentiate it from other styles of landscape painting. Forgive me if I may inadvertently repeat a particular point of difference. No worries, it won't really be a problem as we have another 71 posts to go.
Generally speaking, tonal paintings are far less detailed than the work of the artists that preceded the movement, like the Hudson River school and the Luminists. Detail is subsumed by greater attention to larger mass shapes and expressive brushwork. The overall effect that is achieved is one of a hazy, transcendent, spiritual quality. Also, by removing the majority of detail, the viewer is more free to use their own imagination. This usually results in a more relaxed and colorful effect that is easier to look at.
Many amateur artists make the mistake of including too much detail in their work in the belief that more details equals a better painting. With my background as an illustrator I would be remiss if I did not admit that in my youth I was quite susceptible to this issue as well.
Even when I first started oil painting I would use very small brushes. I would delineate quite a lot of detail, especially in the foreground. One of the main ways that my painting changed when I pursued a more tonal approach, was that I removed nearly all detail from the foreground and kept that space of the painting fairly open.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'The End of Summer' by Alexander Helwig Wyant. This was a fun painting to do and I looked forward to doing it. This is one of the paintings that I have had in a folder marked Tonalism for quite a few years and was earmarked early on for this project. I am very attracted to the composition in this painting as it is quite similar to an approach that I like to use. I refer to this sort of composition as the "L" on its side composition.
One of the things that Alexander has done here that is very effective, is that he has painted nearly the entire foreground in shadow as well as the trees in the middle ground. This creates a sort of glow effect for the distant valley and sky.
To see more of my work, visit my site here.
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| Original painting, The End of Summer by Alexander Helwig Wyant |
Day Twenty Eight: Landscape by Percy Gray
Hello and welcome to day 28 of 100 days of Tonalism.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about, 'Landscape' by Percy Gray. As you'll see from the video this one took me a while and really challenged me.
Ultimately I feel I succeeded at making a good study of Percy's painting. The greatest challenge was working in a style and manner that was quite different than my usual. All in all a good experience. Watch the video to see how I did it!
To see more of my work, visit my site here.
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| Painted after - Landscape by Percy Gray, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
Today's study is 'Landscape' by Percy Gray. Percy Gray was a Northern California Tonalist born 1869 and died in 1952. He was famous for painting the Northern California landscape.
An extra long video today my dear subscribers, so if you'd like to know more about Percy Gray give it a watch and a listen. Here's a link to a good site I found that has some great paintings on it and more extensive biographical information.
Busy day in the studio today. I've been working on some older paintings that needed changes. I had one crash and burn today. Unfortunately I had to destroy it. There is a couple of paintings every year that I have to destroy. I'd rather not discover later that someone had fished a bad painting of mine out of the trash.
My prefered method is to stomp on the offending painting while it's at an angle against concrete. Other artists prefer to burn, scratch up or tear their failed efforts. I feel lucky that that I have so few that are truly bad. I try my best with every attempt at making a piece of art. I also believe it's good to paint over lackluster efforts after they've sat around a while, and their flaws are seen in the harsh light of time passed.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about, 'Landscape' by Percy Gray. As you'll see from the video this one took me a while and really challenged me.
Ultimately I feel I succeeded at making a good study of Percy's painting. The greatest challenge was working in a style and manner that was quite different than my usual. All in all a good experience. Watch the video to see how I did it!
To see more of my work, visit my site here.
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| Original painting, Landscape by Percy Gray |