Towards Dusk 12x16
Hello, and welcome to Tonalist painting by M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is 'Towards Dusk' 12x16.
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages, on up through the final glazes and finishing brushstrokes. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check the video out.
Today marks the one-year anniversary of the real start of this blog. One year ago, we did our first post of the 100 days of Tonalism series. I had originally intended (after doing the hundred days) to take a break from keeping up the blog and perhaps concentrate on making music instead.
However, the response to the blog was really good and I've had quite a few visitors that have come in checked it out, so I felt it would be best to keep it going and since I'd completed the 100 days of tonalism project, I have done another 45 blog posts featuring my own paintings (both studies and larger versions) which have also been well-received, so thank you for tuning in and I will do my best to keep the information and insight coming every week.
On with the blog post, I thought it would be good today to talk about revisiting motifs in landscape painting. I am of course always (and only) speaking for myself when talking about any topic featured on this blog so keep that in mind. I mention this because many artists do not like to revisit the same scene or motif again after having painted it once and do not see much value in doing so.
I am always painting each scene I do at least twice even if I never again revisit the motif. I do a version that is a small 5x7 study and follow that up fairly quickly with a larger version of the scene. So any painting of mine you see, generally will have a little brother or sister.
The reason I like doing studies is that it helps me to free myself from my photographic reference earlier in the painting process of my larger paintings than I might do otherwise. I've talked extensively in the past about using photographic reference and the potential pitfalls, so search this or my other blogs if you are looking for more information on that topic.
In addition to doing a study for the larger version of each scene that I do, there are many times that I will repaint a subject that I painted before with either the same reference or a modified reference of the photograph that I'm using. One of the things I like to change most often would (if I'm changing anything) be the sky. I might also shift the painting into different color ranges, either cool or warm.
One of the most fascinating things about repainting a motif is how significantly different the new painting can be from my previous attempt at the same scene. This is for a lot of reasons, some of them technical and most of them consciousness based. I have almost always grown, matured and changed as a person since doing the initial painting. My motif revisit may not always be radically different though, especially recently as I have been doing much larger versions of some of my more successful smaller paintings. In some of these cases the larger version looks quite similar to the successful smaller version. Even there though there will be some substantial differences and frankly, I enjoy those differences.
Revisiting motifs can be an awesome way to gauge your progress as a painter (hopefully it is progress and not the opposite). At the end of the day, it is a subjective decision that every artist must make whether they wish to revisit scenes that they painted in the past with either a new approach or going for the same feeling.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about Towards Dusk 12x16; I'm pretty happy with this painting, I like the overall color tone of it very much and I feel that it is successfully Tonal in nature. The road off to the right-hand side of the painting leads you into the dark thicket in the middle distance and I feel this is pretty effective and also leads to up into the sky which would be the primary area of interest in the painting.
I tried to pay special attention to the way the trees and the sky interact and while I am happy with the end result, is something that I am always endeavoring to do better.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Towards Dusk by M Francis McCarthy, 12x16 Oil Painting on Wood Panel |
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages, on up through the final glazes and finishing brushstrokes. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check the video out.
Today marks the one-year anniversary of the real start of this blog. One year ago, we did our first post of the 100 days of Tonalism series. I had originally intended (after doing the hundred days) to take a break from keeping up the blog and perhaps concentrate on making music instead.
However, the response to the blog was really good and I've had quite a few visitors that have come in checked it out, so I felt it would be best to keep it going and since I'd completed the 100 days of tonalism project, I have done another 45 blog posts featuring my own paintings (both studies and larger versions) which have also been well-received, so thank you for tuning in and I will do my best to keep the information and insight coming every week.
On with the blog post, I thought it would be good today to talk about revisiting motifs in landscape painting. I am of course always (and only) speaking for myself when talking about any topic featured on this blog so keep that in mind. I mention this because many artists do not like to revisit the same scene or motif again after having painted it once and do not see much value in doing so.
I am always painting each scene I do at least twice even if I never again revisit the motif. I do a version that is a small 5x7 study and follow that up fairly quickly with a larger version of the scene. So any painting of mine you see, generally will have a little brother or sister.
The reason I like doing studies is that it helps me to free myself from my photographic reference earlier in the painting process of my larger paintings than I might do otherwise. I've talked extensively in the past about using photographic reference and the potential pitfalls, so search this or my other blogs if you are looking for more information on that topic.
In addition to doing a study for the larger version of each scene that I do, there are many times that I will repaint a subject that I painted before with either the same reference or a modified reference of the photograph that I'm using. One of the things I like to change most often would (if I'm changing anything) be the sky. I might also shift the painting into different color ranges, either cool or warm.
One of the most fascinating things about repainting a motif is how significantly different the new painting can be from my previous attempt at the same scene. This is for a lot of reasons, some of them technical and most of them consciousness based. I have almost always grown, matured and changed as a person since doing the initial painting. My motif revisit may not always be radically different though, especially recently as I have been doing much larger versions of some of my more successful smaller paintings. In some of these cases the larger version looks quite similar to the successful smaller version. Even there though there will be some substantial differences and frankly, I enjoy those differences.
Revisiting motifs can be an awesome way to gauge your progress as a painter (hopefully it is progress and not the opposite). At the end of the day, it is a subjective decision that every artist must make whether they wish to revisit scenes that they painted in the past with either a new approach or going for the same feeling.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about Towards Dusk 12x16; I'm pretty happy with this painting, I like the overall color tone of it very much and I feel that it is successfully Tonal in nature. The road off to the right-hand side of the painting leads you into the dark thicket in the middle distance and I feel this is pretty effective and also leads to up into the sky which would be the primary area of interest in the painting.
I tried to pay special attention to the way the trees and the sky interact and while I am happy with the end result, is something that I am always endeavoring to do better.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Towards Dusk 12x16 (Detail) |
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| Towards Dusk 12x16 (Detail 2) |
Towards Dusk 5x7
Hello, and welcome to Tonalist painting by M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is 'Towards Dusk' 5x7.
Our video features the progression of this study from its initial underpainting/drawing stages on up through the final finishing brushstrokes. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check the video out.
In the narration for today's video, I was discussing detail versus big shapes in painting and the difference between apparent detail and actual detail. Many are not aware that people do not actually perceive the world in front of us in one big field of detail. What we are actually perceiving is small areas of detail scanned rapidly that create a scene that appears to us to be in detail and in focus across our field of vision. The viewer of a scene (in reality) scans these individual areas of detail and creates a picture in their mind. It is the job of a landscape painter to do this for the viewer.
If your painting is overly detailed you will force the viewer to work much harder than they should be working. For many years when I was a drawer/illustrator, I absolutely adored detail and spent many hours hand stippling or rendering every detail of the subjects that I was portraying. You can get away with this in drawing/illustration far more than you can with painting (especially landscape painting).
Often times people come into my studio and remark on how exquisitely detailed my work is. The truth is that my work is not detailed at all as I subsume and obviate all detail in favor of focusing on the larger shapes and patterns of light and dark. I will often modulate color within the larger shapes of my painting, and for the last year I have been incorporating special effects like dry brushing over the paintings surface to give the painting more texture. This texture is often perceived as detail, but it is not.
You can get carried away with the dry brushing/texturising if you're not careful. It's always good to leave some of the looser brushstrokes from the paintings early color stages as well as areas where the underpainting also peaks through. Between glazing and dry brushing, I am able to create a lot of rich tonal effects without actually painstakingly rendering each and every detail of the scene that I am painting.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Towards Dusk 5x7; I completed the study very recently and I am happy with it as well as the larger version of this motif that we will be discussing next week.
One of my favorite parts of this little study is the way that the foreground foliage elements are painted. They have a loose fracture feeling that feels good and yet still does a nice job of getting the idea of plants and other foreground elements across.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Towards Dusk by M Francis McCarthy, 5x7 Oil Painting on Wood Panel |
Our video features the progression of this study from its initial underpainting/drawing stages on up through the final finishing brushstrokes. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check the video out.
In the narration for today's video, I was discussing detail versus big shapes in painting and the difference between apparent detail and actual detail. Many are not aware that people do not actually perceive the world in front of us in one big field of detail. What we are actually perceiving is small areas of detail scanned rapidly that create a scene that appears to us to be in detail and in focus across our field of vision. The viewer of a scene (in reality) scans these individual areas of detail and creates a picture in their mind. It is the job of a landscape painter to do this for the viewer.
If your painting is overly detailed you will force the viewer to work much harder than they should be working. For many years when I was a drawer/illustrator, I absolutely adored detail and spent many hours hand stippling or rendering every detail of the subjects that I was portraying. You can get away with this in drawing/illustration far more than you can with painting (especially landscape painting).
Often times people come into my studio and remark on how exquisitely detailed my work is. The truth is that my work is not detailed at all as I subsume and obviate all detail in favor of focusing on the larger shapes and patterns of light and dark. I will often modulate color within the larger shapes of my painting, and for the last year I have been incorporating special effects like dry brushing over the paintings surface to give the painting more texture. This texture is often perceived as detail, but it is not.
You can get carried away with the dry brushing/texturising if you're not careful. It's always good to leave some of the looser brushstrokes from the paintings early color stages as well as areas where the underpainting also peaks through. Between glazing and dry brushing, I am able to create a lot of rich tonal effects without actually painstakingly rendering each and every detail of the scene that I am painting.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Towards Dusk 5x7; I completed the study very recently and I am happy with it as well as the larger version of this motif that we will be discussing next week.
One of my favorite parts of this little study is the way that the foreground foliage elements are painted. They have a loose fracture feeling that feels good and yet still does a nice job of getting the idea of plants and other foreground elements across.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Towards Dusk 5x7 (Detail) |
 |
| Towards Dusk 5x7 (Detail 2) |
First Light 18x24
Hello, and welcome to Tonalist paintings by M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is 'First Light' 18x24.
Our video features the progression of this painting from its earliest drawing/underpainting stages on up through the final glazes and finishing brushstrokes. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
I thought it would be interesting today to speak a bit about proportion as it relates to landscape painting. Proportion is a topic that any serious painter will find interesting because it has such a dramatic impact on the way a scene comes across. It is also a topic I think that I've covered before on this blog though I'm not totally sure about that.
Recently I completed the series of redo's, wherein I had cut down paintings that were less than successful to smaller sizes and alternate proportions from their original state. One of the main changes I found myself making was taking vertical paintings I had done and turning them into a 1×1 (square) format. This alone improved quite a few of the paintings. It is very important to get the space between the tops of the trees and the edge of the framed area right. If there is too much or too little space the painting will be somewhat less than successful.
My favorite proportion to paint in is 5x7/10x14. Because of that, I had quite a few panels prepared in the size of 10x14 which is four times larger. What I like best about this proportion is that it's somewhat panoramic but not too much so. For example, I used to paint in a size of 8x12 which conforms to the Golden Ratio also known as the Golden Section. The Golden Section is a classical proportion that is prevalent in many Greek and Roman monuments and was also used extensively by the old Masters. For that reason, I was playing around a lot with that proportion. Painting sizes that conform to the Golden Section are 5x8, 6x10, 8x12, 9x14, 10x16 and 12x20.
Ultimately, I find the Golden Section proportion to be too panoramic for my tastes. By that I mean pictures seem a little unnecessarily long. The 5x7/10x14 proportion is not generally regarded as a special proportion but it is the one I find most satisfying.
I have a little device made out of cardboard that is called a composition finder. I got mine from guerrillapainter.com. They make some excellent pochade boxes and plein air easels. I seldom use this device while actually painting but I find it handy to have it around because it references many different useful proportions that are also common framing sizes.
For quite a few years starting in 2012 I decided to paint nothing but 8x8's and 8x10s. My rationale was that I would be able to find ready-made frames for the 8x10s and also because I was working at small sizes I would be able to sell my work for less money. This was both a good and a bad thing; it was good because I was able to do a lot of paintings and therefore get better as a painter. It was also good as it got me used to painting in the 8x10 format which was one of my least favorite proportions. It was bad in many ways also because the demand for landscape paintings generally leans towards larger sizes and for that reason I may have missed out on potential sales.
I am fond of the proportion of 9x12 which is also the same proportion as a 12x16 and in 18x24. These days I am working in the 12x16 and 18x24 size ranges quite often. Instead of 9x12's, I am doing 10x14's.
Another one of my favorite proportions to paint in is the square format which is known as 1×1. These days I am doing paintings in a 14x14 size range as well as 11x11. I like the square format because it's interesting and lends itself to creative interpretation of the landscape. Many photographers have taken great advantage of this proportion though it is less common in landscape painting.
I like to work in the 11x14 size as well but I tend to like 11x14 mostly for doing vertical paintings. It suits me very well. There are times I will do 11x14's in a horizontal format also.
I recommend that all new painter try out many of these different proportions. You will no doubt come across some that you favor greatly. As I stated at the top my favorite proportion is the 5x7/10x14/20x28 proportion. I do not yet work in the 20x28 size range but next time I feel like jumping up in size, I will no doubt try that one out.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'First Light' 18x24; as I stated in the video this was the largest painting I have done to date at the time I painted it. I have since then done another 18x24 that also looks good which I will be featuring here at some point in the near future. When I like most about this painting is the quality of light and the interesting striations of color in the sky. The composition for me is fairly standard but effective nonetheless.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| First Light by M Francis McCarthy, 18x24 Oil Painting on Wood Panel |
Our video features the progression of this painting from its earliest drawing/underpainting stages on up through the final glazes and finishing brushstrokes. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
I thought it would be interesting today to speak a bit about proportion as it relates to landscape painting. Proportion is a topic that any serious painter will find interesting because it has such a dramatic impact on the way a scene comes across. It is also a topic I think that I've covered before on this blog though I'm not totally sure about that.
Recently I completed the series of redo's, wherein I had cut down paintings that were less than successful to smaller sizes and alternate proportions from their original state. One of the main changes I found myself making was taking vertical paintings I had done and turning them into a 1×1 (square) format. This alone improved quite a few of the paintings. It is very important to get the space between the tops of the trees and the edge of the framed area right. If there is too much or too little space the painting will be somewhat less than successful.
My favorite proportion to paint in is 5x7/10x14. Because of that, I had quite a few panels prepared in the size of 10x14 which is four times larger. What I like best about this proportion is that it's somewhat panoramic but not too much so. For example, I used to paint in a size of 8x12 which conforms to the Golden Ratio also known as the Golden Section. The Golden Section is a classical proportion that is prevalent in many Greek and Roman monuments and was also used extensively by the old Masters. For that reason, I was playing around a lot with that proportion. Painting sizes that conform to the Golden Section are 5x8, 6x10, 8x12, 9x14, 10x16 and 12x20.
Ultimately, I find the Golden Section proportion to be too panoramic for my tastes. By that I mean pictures seem a little unnecessarily long. The 5x7/10x14 proportion is not generally regarded as a special proportion but it is the one I find most satisfying.
I have a little device made out of cardboard that is called a composition finder. I got mine from guerrillapainter.com. They make some excellent pochade boxes and plein air easels. I seldom use this device while actually painting but I find it handy to have it around because it references many different useful proportions that are also common framing sizes.
For quite a few years starting in 2012 I decided to paint nothing but 8x8's and 8x10s. My rationale was that I would be able to find ready-made frames for the 8x10s and also because I was working at small sizes I would be able to sell my work for less money. This was both a good and a bad thing; it was good because I was able to do a lot of paintings and therefore get better as a painter. It was also good as it got me used to painting in the 8x10 format which was one of my least favorite proportions. It was bad in many ways also because the demand for landscape paintings generally leans towards larger sizes and for that reason I may have missed out on potential sales.
I am fond of the proportion of 9x12 which is also the same proportion as a 12x16 and in 18x24. These days I am working in the 12x16 and 18x24 size ranges quite often. Instead of 9x12's, I am doing 10x14's.
Another one of my favorite proportions to paint in is the square format which is known as 1×1. These days I am doing paintings in a 14x14 size range as well as 11x11. I like the square format because it's interesting and lends itself to creative interpretation of the landscape. Many photographers have taken great advantage of this proportion though it is less common in landscape painting.
I like to work in the 11x14 size as well but I tend to like 11x14 mostly for doing vertical paintings. It suits me very well. There are times I will do 11x14's in a horizontal format also.
I recommend that all new painter try out many of these different proportions. You will no doubt come across some that you favor greatly. As I stated at the top my favorite proportion is the 5x7/10x14/20x28 proportion. I do not yet work in the 20x28 size range but next time I feel like jumping up in size, I will no doubt try that one out.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'First Light' 18x24; as I stated in the video this was the largest painting I have done to date at the time I painted it. I have since then done another 18x24 that also looks good which I will be featuring here at some point in the near future. When I like most about this painting is the quality of light and the interesting striations of color in the sky. The composition for me is fairly standard but effective nonetheless.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| First Light 18x24 (Detail) |
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| First Light 18x24 (Detail2) |
First Light 5x7
Hello, and welcome to Tonalist paintings by M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is 'First Light' 5x7.
Our video features the progression of this painting from its earliest drawing stages on up through the final finishing glazes and brushstrokes. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
Today I'm going to talk about working methods. Accomplishing an interesting and successful landscape painting is not easy. It is especially difficult to attain a high level of work consistently over many paintings. There is an awful lot involved besides just raw talent and ability. Besides talent, you need to have a good work ethic and also have developed strategies for accomplishing the work.
I have created many different strategies for getting work done in my studio. One of my main approaches is to do multiple paintings in a series. By the way, a series is not really tied together by anything other than the time period in which it was done. I've spoken about this approach in previous blog posts. I think it's critical for accomplishing good work consistently (at least in my case).
If you set out to do one painting and take it through all of its stages before beginning another painting, you miss out on critical time spent with the painting at each stage of the process. This time can be used effectively to evaluate and self-critique your work while in the process of completing it.
One of the downsides to doing a series is that you will not see a scene brought to completion immediately. In the past, I have done up to 18 paintings in a series. The problem I found with this was that it took me two months to get all of the paintings done. These days I work with a more reasonable 5 to 6 at a time. This is mostly because I am focusing on larger work right now and larger paintings take more time to do. My favorite amount of paintings to do in the series is about 10.
If I'm doing 10 paintings in the series that would mean that I am actually doing 20 paintings because I will do a 5x5" or 5x7" study for each scene that I'm painting.
Which brings us to another good working method; creating a study prior to going after a larger piece. This is crucial to my process because it helps me to more easily abandon my photographic reference when completing a larger painting. Also because I've done a study, I have reworked and reinterpreted the scene many times by the time I get to the second color pass of my larger painting. I find it's super helpful to have something to refer to while working. If it's a photograph all the way through the painting process, I might be inclined to insert objects present in the photograph that do not contribute to the compositional harmony or I may over-detail the painting.
Currently at my 5 to 6 paintings in the series ratio, I am completing a series in about three weeks. This is comparable to the month and a half it would take me to complete a series of 10 scenes, except that I am actually getting larger pieces done, which is great.
I believe in being thoughtful about one's working process and I think it's important to evaluate and update that process as you go, keeping the good things and improving the parts of your working process of that can be improved.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Frst Light' 5x7; this 5x7 was actually created using a larger 8x10 painting as reference instead of a photograph. I did the 8x10 painting last year and it was done in two stages. The first stage was a landscape that had a road and that version was less than successful. About six months after doing the initial painting I revised it thoroughly. The revised painting looks really good and I'm very happy with it, so I decided to make it one of the candidates that I was going to use as reference for a larger 18x24 version of the scene.
I referred to this 5x7 mostly when doing the larger painting alternating with using the 8x10 as reference as well. I was looking for my original photographic reference for the initial iteration of the painting but was unsuccessful in finding it and frankly, it doesn't really matter because I changed it so extensively.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| First Light by M Francis McCarthy, 5x7 Oil Painting on Wood Panel |
Our video features the progression of this painting from its earliest drawing stages on up through the final finishing glazes and brushstrokes. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
Today I'm going to talk about working methods. Accomplishing an interesting and successful landscape painting is not easy. It is especially difficult to attain a high level of work consistently over many paintings. There is an awful lot involved besides just raw talent and ability. Besides talent, you need to have a good work ethic and also have developed strategies for accomplishing the work.
I have created many different strategies for getting work done in my studio. One of my main approaches is to do multiple paintings in a series. By the way, a series is not really tied together by anything other than the time period in which it was done. I've spoken about this approach in previous blog posts. I think it's critical for accomplishing good work consistently (at least in my case).
If you set out to do one painting and take it through all of its stages before beginning another painting, you miss out on critical time spent with the painting at each stage of the process. This time can be used effectively to evaluate and self-critique your work while in the process of completing it.
One of the downsides to doing a series is that you will not see a scene brought to completion immediately. In the past, I have done up to 18 paintings in a series. The problem I found with this was that it took me two months to get all of the paintings done. These days I work with a more reasonable 5 to 6 at a time. This is mostly because I am focusing on larger work right now and larger paintings take more time to do. My favorite amount of paintings to do in the series is about 10.
If I'm doing 10 paintings in the series that would mean that I am actually doing 20 paintings because I will do a 5x5" or 5x7" study for each scene that I'm painting.
Which brings us to another good working method; creating a study prior to going after a larger piece. This is crucial to my process because it helps me to more easily abandon my photographic reference when completing a larger painting. Also because I've done a study, I have reworked and reinterpreted the scene many times by the time I get to the second color pass of my larger painting. I find it's super helpful to have something to refer to while working. If it's a photograph all the way through the painting process, I might be inclined to insert objects present in the photograph that do not contribute to the compositional harmony or I may over-detail the painting.
Currently at my 5 to 6 paintings in the series ratio, I am completing a series in about three weeks. This is comparable to the month and a half it would take me to complete a series of 10 scenes, except that I am actually getting larger pieces done, which is great.
I believe in being thoughtful about one's working process and I think it's important to evaluate and update that process as you go, keeping the good things and improving the parts of your working process of that can be improved.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Frst Light' 5x7; this 5x7 was actually created using a larger 8x10 painting as reference instead of a photograph. I did the 8x10 painting last year and it was done in two stages. The first stage was a landscape that had a road and that version was less than successful. About six months after doing the initial painting I revised it thoroughly. The revised painting looks really good and I'm very happy with it, so I decided to make it one of the candidates that I was going to use as reference for a larger 18x24 version of the scene.
I referred to this 5x7 mostly when doing the larger painting alternating with using the 8x10 as reference as well. I was looking for my original photographic reference for the initial iteration of the painting but was unsuccessful in finding it and frankly, it doesn't really matter because I changed it so extensively.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| First Light 5x7 (Detail) |
 |
| First Light 5x7 (Detail 2) |
Close to Twilight 14x14
Hello, and welcome to Tonalist paintings by M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is 'Close to Twilight' 14x14.
Our video features the progression of this painting from its initial underpainting stages on up through to the final finishing glazes and brushstrokes. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check out the video.
Today I like to talk about Greens in landscape painting. It might seem like an odd thing to talk about, but one of the greatest challenges to creating an attractive landscape painting is knowing how to approach and properly handle the myriad of Greens present in the landscape.
I've written extensively in the past about the shortcomings of photographs in relation to being used as a reference for landscape paintings, one of the major shortcomings of photography is that it captures a very limited range of greens. Our normal human vision perceives hundreds of different greens quite easily. So my first tip for the burgeoning landscape painter would be, don't just copy the greens in your photograph because there is a lot more color there than is actually being shown.
My other good tip is to use a reddish under-painting or ground color to create your painting on, this will give you a complementary color just below the paintings surface that peeks out in various spots. This creates a lot of vibration and helps to obviate an abundance of green present in the landscape, because red is a complementary color to green.
Another good tip is to avoid using greens directly from the tube, mix your own instead. I use Pthalo Green extensively in my painting but almost never as a green in its own right. My favorite green to use is mixed from yellow and ivory black. This gives me a very earthy rich green right out of the gate that is very easy to modify with blues, Pthalo Green or other colors.
Speaking of other colors, I am always throwing a ton of burnt sienna into my green mixes. Burnt sienna is the also my ground color and you would be amazed how much a mixed green keeps it's greenesss, even after nearly obliterating the mixed greens with a huge dollop of burnt sienna.
Next, (this doesn't directly pertain to greens in painting), I think it's important to note here that the use of a chromatic black in the dark areas will definitely help you with the greens that are going over the top. I create my chromatic black by mixing Pthalo green with Alizarin Crimson. There are times where I might use ivory black for the darks in a painting, but only for a certain type of effect.
Another thing about the greens in your painting, always be strategizing in your mind about your greens and all of the colors that go around them before you begin painting. By the way, Raw Umber is a very flexible color, and it is super easy to turn into a really nice green by just adding a bit of yellow. There are many times I work my Raw Umber into areas right next to my darkest areas, then I can just put the smallest amount of green over the top and the whole passage will read as green.
The last thing that you want to do when dealing with greens in your landscape painting is to overdo the amount of bright greens, like the colors that come straight from the tube. Also, it is good to avoid doing extensive passages of all one color green. Sometimes it's best to ignore the reference and manually insert all sorts of different colors into large areas of green. You'll be surprised how much red that you can fit in and how good it will make the painting look.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about "Close to Twilight 14x14; as I stated in the video there is no video or blog post for the 5x5 study that I did for this painting. I did do a study but I did not videotape it because I was working with a student while creating the painting.
I am very happy with 'Close to Twilight and it has a nice warm summery glow. Also, it's larger than I've been working in the past and it's good to have a successful painting under my belt in a larger size range. This is one of the reasons I wanted to share this painting with you today and I hope you enjoy.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
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| Close to Twilight by M Francis McCarthy, 14x14 Oil Painting on Wood Panel |
Today's painting is 'Close to Twilight' 14x14.
Our video features the progression of this painting from its initial underpainting stages on up through to the final finishing glazes and brushstrokes. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check out the video.
Today I like to talk about Greens in landscape painting. It might seem like an odd thing to talk about, but one of the greatest challenges to creating an attractive landscape painting is knowing how to approach and properly handle the myriad of Greens present in the landscape.
I've written extensively in the past about the shortcomings of photographs in relation to being used as a reference for landscape paintings, one of the major shortcomings of photography is that it captures a very limited range of greens. Our normal human vision perceives hundreds of different greens quite easily. So my first tip for the burgeoning landscape painter would be, don't just copy the greens in your photograph because there is a lot more color there than is actually being shown.
My other good tip is to use a reddish under-painting or ground color to create your painting on, this will give you a complementary color just below the paintings surface that peeks out in various spots. This creates a lot of vibration and helps to obviate an abundance of green present in the landscape, because red is a complementary color to green.
Another good tip is to avoid using greens directly from the tube, mix your own instead. I use Pthalo Green extensively in my painting but almost never as a green in its own right. My favorite green to use is mixed from yellow and ivory black. This gives me a very earthy rich green right out of the gate that is very easy to modify with blues, Pthalo Green or other colors.
Speaking of other colors, I am always throwing a ton of burnt sienna into my green mixes. Burnt sienna is the also my ground color and you would be amazed how much a mixed green keeps it's greenesss, even after nearly obliterating the mixed greens with a huge dollop of burnt sienna.
Next, (this doesn't directly pertain to greens in painting), I think it's important to note here that the use of a chromatic black in the dark areas will definitely help you with the greens that are going over the top. I create my chromatic black by mixing Pthalo green with Alizarin Crimson. There are times where I might use ivory black for the darks in a painting, but only for a certain type of effect.
Another thing about the greens in your painting, always be strategizing in your mind about your greens and all of the colors that go around them before you begin painting. By the way, Raw Umber is a very flexible color, and it is super easy to turn into a really nice green by just adding a bit of yellow. There are many times I work my Raw Umber into areas right next to my darkest areas, then I can just put the smallest amount of green over the top and the whole passage will read as green.
The last thing that you want to do when dealing with greens in your landscape painting is to overdo the amount of bright greens, like the colors that come straight from the tube. Also, it is good to avoid doing extensive passages of all one color green. Sometimes it's best to ignore the reference and manually insert all sorts of different colors into large areas of green. You'll be surprised how much red that you can fit in and how good it will make the painting look.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about "Close to Twilight 14x14; as I stated in the video there is no video or blog post for the 5x5 study that I did for this painting. I did do a study but I did not videotape it because I was working with a student while creating the painting.
I am very happy with 'Close to Twilight and it has a nice warm summery glow. Also, it's larger than I've been working in the past and it's good to have a successful painting under my belt in a larger size range. This is one of the reasons I wanted to share this painting with you today and I hope you enjoy.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
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| Close to Twilight (Detail) |
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| Close to Twilight (Detail2) |
Heading West 8x10
Hello, and welcome to Tonalist paintings by M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is 'Heading West' 8x10.
Our video features the progression of this painting from its initial state to the final finishing brushstrokes. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check the video out.
Today I'd like to talk about shapes. I know, I've talked very recently about big shapes in the painting process, but today I like to talk about shapes as they relate to trees specifically. One thing I always notice in my paintings is the shapes of my trees. This can be frustrating sometimes as I feel that my tree shapes can be (at times) be a bit too geometric.
One of the things that I incorporated into this series of paintings that I've redone recently, was bits of reference that were culled from paintings by old Masters. You can always tell when a painting is very old by the shapes of the trees. It's an interesting phenomenon that you may or may not have noticed. Sometimes the shapes of trees in the old Masters paintings can be unnatural looking to our modern eyes. This is no doubt because they did not have photography and therefore had a very organic and subjective way of interpreting nature.
In painting, there is no escaping subjectivity as every mark made on the surface is made by the individual artist. Even when copying the work of another, you are going to make decisions both consciously and subconsciously that will create deviations from your source material.
It's funny that even though I have sensitivity to, and awareness of the shapes my trees are making against the sky, there are many times that I do not notice strong irregularities and visual dysfunction until many months after completing a painting. At that point in time, I have to make a decision whether I want to correct the irregular shapes or just live with them. Living with things in your art that may not please you 100% must be a way of life for every artist. This unease can be exacerbated greatly by comparing your work to the work of other competent artists or previous Masters.
Ultimately if you are going to function as a painter, you need to make peace with your own idiosyncratic, subjective work. While it's good to be faithful to nature, what is most valuable as an artist is to create expressive work that is authentic while being emotionally communicative.
Another thing I have noticed is that even though something in the painting can bother me, that does not preclude from selling the painting or from the painting reaching others on an emotional level. I try not to be too hard on myself even as I am constantly working on perfecting the shapes of my trees, especially where they overlap and interact with the sky.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Heading West' 8x10; this is the second in a recent series of paintings I've redone that I'm sharing on this blog. I am really happy with this painting now, especially as in its original incarnation I was less than satisfied. The original had sort of an odd composition with a pyramidal clump of trees in the middle ground.
Like every other painting I do, I gave the original all I had at the time I painted it. Unfortunately, the problems it had laid (as they so often do) with the compositional structure of the painting. I've talked extensively on this blog in the past about how compositional issues are generally the reason for the death of most less than successful paintings. You can get the color wrong, your values can be slightly off and still be ok, but if the composition is not right there's no saving your piece without reworking the composition.
If you'd like to see what this painting looked like in its original state, please reference the video that is included with this blog post and look at the earliest section. In the past when I've done blog posts on redone paintings I have posted photographs of the original. I don't care to do that now because I prefer to show my paintings here in the best possible light. However, if you're interested the whole sordid story is there in the video.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
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| Heading West by M Francis McCarthy, 8x10 Oil Painting on Wood Panel |
Our video features the progression of this painting from its initial state to the final finishing brushstrokes. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check the video out.
Today I'd like to talk about shapes. I know, I've talked very recently about big shapes in the painting process, but today I like to talk about shapes as they relate to trees specifically. One thing I always notice in my paintings is the shapes of my trees. This can be frustrating sometimes as I feel that my tree shapes can be (at times) be a bit too geometric.
One of the things that I incorporated into this series of paintings that I've redone recently, was bits of reference that were culled from paintings by old Masters. You can always tell when a painting is very old by the shapes of the trees. It's an interesting phenomenon that you may or may not have noticed. Sometimes the shapes of trees in the old Masters paintings can be unnatural looking to our modern eyes. This is no doubt because they did not have photography and therefore had a very organic and subjective way of interpreting nature.
In painting, there is no escaping subjectivity as every mark made on the surface is made by the individual artist. Even when copying the work of another, you are going to make decisions both consciously and subconsciously that will create deviations from your source material.
It's funny that even though I have sensitivity to, and awareness of the shapes my trees are making against the sky, there are many times that I do not notice strong irregularities and visual dysfunction until many months after completing a painting. At that point in time, I have to make a decision whether I want to correct the irregular shapes or just live with them. Living with things in your art that may not please you 100% must be a way of life for every artist. This unease can be exacerbated greatly by comparing your work to the work of other competent artists or previous Masters.
Ultimately if you are going to function as a painter, you need to make peace with your own idiosyncratic, subjective work. While it's good to be faithful to nature, what is most valuable as an artist is to create expressive work that is authentic while being emotionally communicative.
Another thing I have noticed is that even though something in the painting can bother me, that does not preclude from selling the painting or from the painting reaching others on an emotional level. I try not to be too hard on myself even as I am constantly working on perfecting the shapes of my trees, especially where they overlap and interact with the sky.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Heading West' 8x10; this is the second in a recent series of paintings I've redone that I'm sharing on this blog. I am really happy with this painting now, especially as in its original incarnation I was less than satisfied. The original had sort of an odd composition with a pyramidal clump of trees in the middle ground.
Like every other painting I do, I gave the original all I had at the time I painted it. Unfortunately, the problems it had laid (as they so often do) with the compositional structure of the painting. I've talked extensively on this blog in the past about how compositional issues are generally the reason for the death of most less than successful paintings. You can get the color wrong, your values can be slightly off and still be ok, but if the composition is not right there's no saving your piece without reworking the composition.
If you'd like to see what this painting looked like in its original state, please reference the video that is included with this blog post and look at the earliest section. In the past when I've done blog posts on redone paintings I have posted photographs of the original. I don't care to do that now because I prefer to show my paintings here in the best possible light. However, if you're interested the whole sordid story is there in the video.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
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| Heading West 8x10 (Detail) |
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| Heading West 8x10 (Detail 2) |
Western Valley 8x10
Hello, and welcome to Tonalist painting by M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is 'Western Valley' 8x10.
Our video features the evolution of this painting from its previous state to the new and improved final painting. Also featured is my usual rambling narration. so please check the video out.
Today I would like to talk about redoing, refurbishing or completely repainting old paintings. This painting, 'Western Valley' originally looked quite a bit different. If you would like to see that difference please check out the earliest frames of the video. I have spoken about repainting and redoing paintings extensively in the past on my old blog. You can look here and here and scroll down to read quite a lot about my views (at least at that time) about it.
There is an art marketing author whose book I have read and enjoyed called Jason Horejs. I'm on his email list and so I get notified when he writes blog posts. One of the topics he's written about recently is old artwork in your inventory and the various strategies for dealing with it. He mentions things like having a sale, redoing old pieces, or even in some cases completely destroying old work.
I don't mind having old paintings around as long as they are good. One great thing about evolving as a painter is that it gives you the ability to see your old work more clearly and in a fresh light. Since I now have some time and distance between myself and the older work of art, I can often fix it up without dealing with issues like emotional attachment based on slavish amounts of time spent creating the original.
I've recently redone about 40 or so paintings in the last three months. In some cases I might have just applied a glaze and a few extra highlights, in other cases I might have had the board cut down to a smaller size creating greater interest and more clearly featuring the focal point. In a few instances, I have completely covered the surface of the old painting with an entirely new painting that utilizes only fragments of the original. I speak quite a lot about this process in the video so if you'd like to hear more about it please check it out.
I will probably show another two or three of these redos over the next few weeks, if this process interests you stay tuned.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Western Valley' 8x10; I was sort of happy with the original painting, mostly because I thought I got a good feeling of distance and air in the sky. There were some aspects of it I was less than happy with and those were the odd shape of the mountain, and in the sky there are these two dark clouds coming in from each side creating sort of a strange arrow effect. In other way's the painting left me feeling a bit cold. I was happy with the way I painted the middle ground strand of trees, but given the odd shape of the mountain and other issues, this painting became a nominee for significant reconstruction.
If you watch the video, you can see that the new painting follows the same sort of angle as the previous, although is much more of a close-up scene than the original painting. I left quite a lot of the sky intact but the sky also feels different. Of the 15 or so paintings I redid at the time I painted this, I would say 'Western Valley' is the one I am the most happy with and I'm really pleased with the way it turned out.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
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| Western Valley by M Francis McCarthy, 8x10 Oil Painting on Wood Panel |
Our video features the evolution of this painting from its previous state to the new and improved final painting. Also featured is my usual rambling narration. so please check the video out.
Today I would like to talk about redoing, refurbishing or completely repainting old paintings. This painting, 'Western Valley' originally looked quite a bit different. If you would like to see that difference please check out the earliest frames of the video. I have spoken about repainting and redoing paintings extensively in the past on my old blog. You can look here and here and scroll down to read quite a lot about my views (at least at that time) about it.
There is an art marketing author whose book I have read and enjoyed called Jason Horejs. I'm on his email list and so I get notified when he writes blog posts. One of the topics he's written about recently is old artwork in your inventory and the various strategies for dealing with it. He mentions things like having a sale, redoing old pieces, or even in some cases completely destroying old work.
I don't mind having old paintings around as long as they are good. One great thing about evolving as a painter is that it gives you the ability to see your old work more clearly and in a fresh light. Since I now have some time and distance between myself and the older work of art, I can often fix it up without dealing with issues like emotional attachment based on slavish amounts of time spent creating the original.
I've recently redone about 40 or so paintings in the last three months. In some cases I might have just applied a glaze and a few extra highlights, in other cases I might have had the board cut down to a smaller size creating greater interest and more clearly featuring the focal point. In a few instances, I have completely covered the surface of the old painting with an entirely new painting that utilizes only fragments of the original. I speak quite a lot about this process in the video so if you'd like to hear more about it please check it out.
I will probably show another two or three of these redos over the next few weeks, if this process interests you stay tuned.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Western Valley' 8x10; I was sort of happy with the original painting, mostly because I thought I got a good feeling of distance and air in the sky. There were some aspects of it I was less than happy with and those were the odd shape of the mountain, and in the sky there are these two dark clouds coming in from each side creating sort of a strange arrow effect. In other way's the painting left me feeling a bit cold. I was happy with the way I painted the middle ground strand of trees, but given the odd shape of the mountain and other issues, this painting became a nominee for significant reconstruction.
If you watch the video, you can see that the new painting follows the same sort of angle as the previous, although is much more of a close-up scene than the original painting. I left quite a lot of the sky intact but the sky also feels different. Of the 15 or so paintings I redid at the time I painted this, I would say 'Western Valley' is the one I am the most happy with and I'm really pleased with the way it turned out.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
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| Western Valley 8x10 (Detail) |
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| Western Valley 8x10 (Detail2) |
Dusk Path 8x10
Hello, and welcome to Tonalist paintings by M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is 'Dusk Path' 8x10.
Our video shows the progression of this painting from the early initial underpainting to the final finishing stages. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
I thought it would be good today to discuss the big shapes in a scene, and how they relate to the overall success of the painting. I take each of my paintings through many different stages, from an initial underpainting to a first color pass, second color pass and (usually) a third color pass. One thing I've noticed in my work is that, if I don't have the big shapes right in that first underpainting, that it really doesn't seem to matter how much I work on the painting after that.
Large shapes and composition are definitely intertwined and cannot be separated from each other. It is the large shapes that you perceive first and that must be in harmony. If there is any discord or disunion with the large shapes then your painting will have a problem. Conversely, it is usually not a huge problem if you've got something wrong with small passages or disharmony with the small shapes. As long as the large shapes are unified, the painting will be accepted by most viewers as a good painting.
I enjoy taking my paintings all the way through to a nice finish. There are many aspects of painting that contribute to the goodness of a painting or badness (as the case may be). But of all of the elements that go into a finished painting, getting the big shapes right would have to be the most critical.
I've noticed that if I do have good harmony and balance with those big shapes in my early painting stages, that the painting is far more fun and enjoyable to bring to completion. Whereas if those shapes are not in harmony but I am not actually cognizant of that fact while working on the painting, I am always struggling and I have a bit of a bitter feeling while working on the painting. There have been times that I've been able to make some edits (assuming I caught the pic shape problems if they are present) that have saved a painting or at least improved it.
Really though, it's best to get it right from the beginning. Even before painting you should be looking at your reference with a critical eye and addressing any compositional dis-harmony or shapes that call too much attention to themselves.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Dusk Path 8x10; as with the 5x7 study that we discussed last week I am really happy with this painting and I think it has a nice feeling to it. This is definitely a case where the big shapes are harmonious and feel good. This painting is supported by rich coloration and interesting textures, all of which add up to what I feel is a nice little painting.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Dusk Path by M Francis McCarthy, 8x10 Oil Painting on Wood Panel |
Our video shows the progression of this painting from the early initial underpainting to the final finishing stages. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
I thought it would be good today to discuss the big shapes in a scene, and how they relate to the overall success of the painting. I take each of my paintings through many different stages, from an initial underpainting to a first color pass, second color pass and (usually) a third color pass. One thing I've noticed in my work is that, if I don't have the big shapes right in that first underpainting, that it really doesn't seem to matter how much I work on the painting after that.
Large shapes and composition are definitely intertwined and cannot be separated from each other. It is the large shapes that you perceive first and that must be in harmony. If there is any discord or disunion with the large shapes then your painting will have a problem. Conversely, it is usually not a huge problem if you've got something wrong with small passages or disharmony with the small shapes. As long as the large shapes are unified, the painting will be accepted by most viewers as a good painting.
I enjoy taking my paintings all the way through to a nice finish. There are many aspects of painting that contribute to the goodness of a painting or badness (as the case may be). But of all of the elements that go into a finished painting, getting the big shapes right would have to be the most critical.
I've noticed that if I do have good harmony and balance with those big shapes in my early painting stages, that the painting is far more fun and enjoyable to bring to completion. Whereas if those shapes are not in harmony but I am not actually cognizant of that fact while working on the painting, I am always struggling and I have a bit of a bitter feeling while working on the painting. There have been times that I've been able to make some edits (assuming I caught the pic shape problems if they are present) that have saved a painting or at least improved it.
Really though, it's best to get it right from the beginning. Even before painting you should be looking at your reference with a critical eye and addressing any compositional dis-harmony or shapes that call too much attention to themselves.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Dusk Path 8x10; as with the 5x7 study that we discussed last week I am really happy with this painting and I think it has a nice feeling to it. This is definitely a case where the big shapes are harmonious and feel good. This painting is supported by rich coloration and interesting textures, all of which add up to what I feel is a nice little painting.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Dusk Path 8x10 (Detail) |
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| Dusk Path 8x10 (Detail 2) |
Dusk Path 5x7
Hello, and welcome to Tonalist paintings by M Francis McCarthy.
Today's study is 'Dusk Path' 5x7.
Our video features the progression of this study from its early drawing stages, on up to the final glazes and finishing touches. Also featured is my usual rambling narration about whatever's on my mind, so please check that out.
I'm working on a series of five paintings right now. This week I have been doing my second pass on them. For me, a second pass generally means I do some glazing, scumbling and a good quantity of dry brushing over the surface of the first color pass. In the process of doing this, I am always trying to avoid over-blending.
Over-blending is an epidemic amongst amateur oil painters. It is very easy to sort of smear oil paint together with your brush and get (what to me), is a smooth, greasy effect. One of the reasons that I enjoy dry brushing is it enables me to modulate areas of color and graduate transitions without smearing paint together.
Like any oil painter, there will be areas of my painting that do not actually have a distinctive texture to them, but I try to keep smoothed out patches to a minimum. This is one of the reasons that I use textured panels for my paintings. I used to just texturize my small 5x7 panels, but these days I texturize the surface of every panel prior to painting.
I discovered many of the benefits of dry brushing over textured panels while working on the 100 days of Tonalism project. I had decided to do a second color pass on many of the studies that were featured in that series. The ability to lightly drag the brush over the surface depositing color only on the uppermost ridges of that surface and leave some of the pre-existing color, was a revelation and one of the major ways that that project benefited my everyday working process.
Prior to texturizing my panels for the larger paintings, my second pass would generally consist of adding another layer of brushwork and, doing my best to avoid over blending and over painting with my application of paint.
Glazing is another way that I can accentuate the texture of the board and the brushstrokes that went down on my first color pass. There are times where I leave big areas of the initial color pass alone but these days I tend to do some sort of additional paint application to every area of the painting.
I generally do a third color pass as well, but this is not so much a complete painting operation, as it is just going in and strategically addressing specific areas of the painting that I have a identified as needing some sort of punch or correction.
If you are a beginning oil painter, I would encourage you to become aware of over-blending and avoid it at all costs, even if it means leaving your painting at a state where it is less than 100% finished. You're better off showing some of the fracture and interlacing brushwork that were a part of your initial painting process than going in and blending everything into a smooth overly cohesive and greasy appearing paint surface.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Dusk Path' 5x7; I'm happy with this study and it has received some favorable comments in my studio. There is a nice balance between dark and light in this painting.
I have visited this compositional motif several times. Interestingly, the reference photo for this painting actually has a lot of issues as a photograph but has been very good at stimulating some nice paintings.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Dusk Path by M Francis McCarthy, 5x7 Oil Painting on Wood Panel |
Our video features the progression of this study from its early drawing stages, on up to the final glazes and finishing touches. Also featured is my usual rambling narration about whatever's on my mind, so please check that out.
I'm working on a series of five paintings right now. This week I have been doing my second pass on them. For me, a second pass generally means I do some glazing, scumbling and a good quantity of dry brushing over the surface of the first color pass. In the process of doing this, I am always trying to avoid over-blending.
Over-blending is an epidemic amongst amateur oil painters. It is very easy to sort of smear oil paint together with your brush and get (what to me), is a smooth, greasy effect. One of the reasons that I enjoy dry brushing is it enables me to modulate areas of color and graduate transitions without smearing paint together.
Like any oil painter, there will be areas of my painting that do not actually have a distinctive texture to them, but I try to keep smoothed out patches to a minimum. This is one of the reasons that I use textured panels for my paintings. I used to just texturize my small 5x7 panels, but these days I texturize the surface of every panel prior to painting.
I discovered many of the benefits of dry brushing over textured panels while working on the 100 days of Tonalism project. I had decided to do a second color pass on many of the studies that were featured in that series. The ability to lightly drag the brush over the surface depositing color only on the uppermost ridges of that surface and leave some of the pre-existing color, was a revelation and one of the major ways that that project benefited my everyday working process.
Prior to texturizing my panels for the larger paintings, my second pass would generally consist of adding another layer of brushwork and, doing my best to avoid over blending and over painting with my application of paint.
Glazing is another way that I can accentuate the texture of the board and the brushstrokes that went down on my first color pass. There are times where I leave big areas of the initial color pass alone but these days I tend to do some sort of additional paint application to every area of the painting.
I generally do a third color pass as well, but this is not so much a complete painting operation, as it is just going in and strategically addressing specific areas of the painting that I have a identified as needing some sort of punch or correction.
If you are a beginning oil painter, I would encourage you to become aware of over-blending and avoid it at all costs, even if it means leaving your painting at a state where it is less than 100% finished. You're better off showing some of the fracture and interlacing brushwork that were a part of your initial painting process than going in and blending everything into a smooth overly cohesive and greasy appearing paint surface.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Dusk Path' 5x7; I'm happy with this study and it has received some favorable comments in my studio. There is a nice balance between dark and light in this painting.
I have visited this compositional motif several times. Interestingly, the reference photo for this painting actually has a lot of issues as a photograph but has been very good at stimulating some nice paintings.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Dusk Path 5x7 (Detail) |
 |
| Dusk Path 5x7 (Detail 2) |
Spring Countryside 8x10
Hello and welcome to Tonalist painting by M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is 'Spring Countryside' 8x10.
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages, on up through the final finishing brushstrokes. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
I thought it would be interesting today to talk about modulation. By modulation I mostly mean color modulation. This is a word that is in my head all of the time when I am at the process of painting.
It is always desirable in painting to modulate your colors from cool to warm or from one hue to the next, instead of just laying down areas of flat unmodulated color. While a flat approach can be a style in and of itself (and was popular for things like graphics in the 1980s), it is usually better to move your colors around.
If I'm painting a large bank of clouds in the sky I might start with a cool gray on one side of the cloud bank moving over to a warm gray on the other side. I would also tend to modulate the values from darker to lighter and vice versa.
One of the reasons the word modulation is in my mind all the time while painting, is because there are very few aspects of an oil painting that will not benefit from modulation of some type or another.
When I'm doing the sky behind the clouds I almost always modulate the background sky color from a very dark deep intense blue at the top to a color that is almost a light creamy ochre at the bottom. Dancing over this modulation are clouds themselves that have also been painted from warm to cool and from one hue to the next.
An especially crucial place to think of this aspect of landscape painting would be where the trees meet the sky. This is a good place to modulate the tree edges by adding a bit of sky color to your tree color so that you have a area of transition. This gives a feeling of space and air, whereas if your trees are harshly silhouetted against the sky, it often can feel like they are cutouts. This is a place where photographs can betray many painters. Most photographs will present a harsh edge between the trees and the sky unless there is some sort of atmospheric condition intruding like fog or rain.
Another good place to think of modulation is in the ground plane. The areas of dirt and grass and rock need to be modulated just the same as the sky is. In the case of the ground, I will generally use warmer darker colors at the bottom and edges while increasing my colors hue and vibrance as I come closer to where the earth meets the sky.
A short blog post today but I think a very valuable insight into the sort of mental approach you can bring to bear when creating an oil painting. Modulate, modulate, modulate as you paint.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Spring Countryside' 8x10; I'm happy with this small painting and I can call it a small painting as I am doing quite a few more larger paintings now, and really starting to notice how small 8x10 is in size.
This painting actually gives you a good example of modulation if you look at the way the rolling hills have been modulated from a cool darker color on the bottom right side to a warm, more vibrant green at the hills approach the sky. This leads the eye on up through the rows of hills to the sky.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
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| Spring Countryside by M Francis McCarthy, 8x10 Oil Painting on Wood Panel |
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages, on up through the final finishing brushstrokes. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
I thought it would be interesting today to talk about modulation. By modulation I mostly mean color modulation. This is a word that is in my head all of the time when I am at the process of painting.
It is always desirable in painting to modulate your colors from cool to warm or from one hue to the next, instead of just laying down areas of flat unmodulated color. While a flat approach can be a style in and of itself (and was popular for things like graphics in the 1980s), it is usually better to move your colors around.
If I'm painting a large bank of clouds in the sky I might start with a cool gray on one side of the cloud bank moving over to a warm gray on the other side. I would also tend to modulate the values from darker to lighter and vice versa.
One of the reasons the word modulation is in my mind all the time while painting, is because there are very few aspects of an oil painting that will not benefit from modulation of some type or another.
When I'm doing the sky behind the clouds I almost always modulate the background sky color from a very dark deep intense blue at the top to a color that is almost a light creamy ochre at the bottom. Dancing over this modulation are clouds themselves that have also been painted from warm to cool and from one hue to the next.
An especially crucial place to think of this aspect of landscape painting would be where the trees meet the sky. This is a good place to modulate the tree edges by adding a bit of sky color to your tree color so that you have a area of transition. This gives a feeling of space and air, whereas if your trees are harshly silhouetted against the sky, it often can feel like they are cutouts. This is a place where photographs can betray many painters. Most photographs will present a harsh edge between the trees and the sky unless there is some sort of atmospheric condition intruding like fog or rain.
Another good place to think of modulation is in the ground plane. The areas of dirt and grass and rock need to be modulated just the same as the sky is. In the case of the ground, I will generally use warmer darker colors at the bottom and edges while increasing my colors hue and vibrance as I come closer to where the earth meets the sky.
A short blog post today but I think a very valuable insight into the sort of mental approach you can bring to bear when creating an oil painting. Modulate, modulate, modulate as you paint.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Spring Countryside' 8x10; I'm happy with this small painting and I can call it a small painting as I am doing quite a few more larger paintings now, and really starting to notice how small 8x10 is in size.
This painting actually gives you a good example of modulation if you look at the way the rolling hills have been modulated from a cool darker color on the bottom right side to a warm, more vibrant green at the hills approach the sky. This leads the eye on up through the rows of hills to the sky.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
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| Spring Countryside by M Francis McCarthy, 8x10 (Detail) |
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| Spring Countryside by M Francis McCarthy, 8x10 (Detail 2) |
Spring Countryside 5x7
Hello, and welcome to Tonalist painting by M Francis McCarthy.
Today's study is 'Spring Countryside' 5x7.
Our video features the progression of this study from its initial early stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so check it out.
I've just completed a recent series of 10 paintings and was doing some photography last night. While working on my photos on the computer I decided that the theme of today's blog post would be "I wish I were a better painter." It's true, I wish I was.
It's not for lack of trying that I end up feeling this way a lot of the time. I think it's just part of the process. I am somewhat comforted when I see that someone like George Inness often did paintings that were less than stellar, this is small consolation.
Many times when I look at my recent paintings as photographs on my computer (especially at thumbnail sizes), I can see problems and issues that escaped my vigilant attention in the studio. One thing that is consistent is that the insight I gleaned from looking at the photographs on the computer does mirror intuitive stimuli I was receiving in the studio. This prodding from the intuitive part of my being is not a function of the intellect but something much deeper.
Regardless, I am sometimes unable to respond and react to these intuitive prodding's while the painting is fresh. However, this has been improving. There is at least one painting in my recent series that I stopped from being an abject failure. There is another that I believe can be fixed. Part of the problem that I'm running into is that when I work at larger sizes I lose a lot of the immediacy and fracture in the brushwork that makes the smaller paintings more alluring to me.
I guess I could just not deal with it and continue to paint small paintings, but it's clear to me that this is the area where I can progress the most right now. So I'm working on it. Either way, I wish I was a better painter and I'm pretty sure any of you reading this blog post that are painters, probably wish the same for yourselves. It is difficult when we see someone like Richard Schmidt (who seems to be a complete and total genius) does not produce bad work. The truth could be that we are just not seeing his bad work and it feels better to believe that. So I think I will.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Spring Countryside' 5x7; as I stated on the video today, this motif is quite different for me and is not often in the past that I pursued Hillside type motives. I generally prefer to have a central focus of a tree or some other object. Many times the focus of my paintings would be lights in the sky.
I would say the focus of this painting is the overall feeling and atmosphere of the scene itself, there is no one set of trees that stands out as being more important than any other. I strove to achieve a unity in this painting and for that reason kept the sky fairly simple and free of the usual pyrotechnics that I enjoy painting.
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| Spring Countryside by M Francis McCarthy, 5x7 Oil Painting on Wood Panel |
Our video features the progression of this study from its initial early stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so check it out.
I've just completed a recent series of 10 paintings and was doing some photography last night. While working on my photos on the computer I decided that the theme of today's blog post would be "I wish I were a better painter." It's true, I wish I was.
It's not for lack of trying that I end up feeling this way a lot of the time. I think it's just part of the process. I am somewhat comforted when I see that someone like George Inness often did paintings that were less than stellar, this is small consolation.
Many times when I look at my recent paintings as photographs on my computer (especially at thumbnail sizes), I can see problems and issues that escaped my vigilant attention in the studio. One thing that is consistent is that the insight I gleaned from looking at the photographs on the computer does mirror intuitive stimuli I was receiving in the studio. This prodding from the intuitive part of my being is not a function of the intellect but something much deeper.
Regardless, I am sometimes unable to respond and react to these intuitive prodding's while the painting is fresh. However, this has been improving. There is at least one painting in my recent series that I stopped from being an abject failure. There is another that I believe can be fixed. Part of the problem that I'm running into is that when I work at larger sizes I lose a lot of the immediacy and fracture in the brushwork that makes the smaller paintings more alluring to me.
I guess I could just not deal with it and continue to paint small paintings, but it's clear to me that this is the area where I can progress the most right now. So I'm working on it. Either way, I wish I was a better painter and I'm pretty sure any of you reading this blog post that are painters, probably wish the same for yourselves. It is difficult when we see someone like Richard Schmidt (who seems to be a complete and total genius) does not produce bad work. The truth could be that we are just not seeing his bad work and it feels better to believe that. So I think I will.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Spring Countryside' 5x7; as I stated on the video today, this motif is quite different for me and is not often in the past that I pursued Hillside type motives. I generally prefer to have a central focus of a tree or some other object. Many times the focus of my paintings would be lights in the sky.
I would say the focus of this painting is the overall feeling and atmosphere of the scene itself, there is no one set of trees that stands out as being more important than any other. I strove to achieve a unity in this painting and for that reason kept the sky fairly simple and free of the usual pyrotechnics that I enjoy painting.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
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| Spring Countryside (Detail) |
Twilight Road 8x10
Hello, and welcome to Tonalist paintings by M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is 'Twilight Road' 8x10.
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages, on up through to the finishing touches. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
On today's video, I was talking about workflow, inspiration and dealing with various obstacles to your progress in painting lots of pictures. I usually have some sort of rough goals that I'm working towards, but sometimes things will come up to disrupt those goals and I have learned to go with the flow.
While it's important to have goals it's also important to deal with the impediments to those goals in a gracious and patient manner. Many times other things will come up that need to be attended to, other than painting in the studio. Some artists use these distractions and interruptions as a reason to not achieve any of their goals at all, and consequently they produce very little work. There is a middle ground that needs to be struck between industriously painting all the time and the opposite, avoiding work altogether.
In the latest series of 10 paintings that I've been working on, I was hoping to be done by today which is May 1. That didn't happen for a lot of reasons most of which I got into in the video. I'm relaxed about it though and I intend to finish my latest series of 10 this next week.
Art is achieved by a combination of inspiration and self-directed hard work. Both elements are crucial and a balance must always be sought. I do a lot of things in my practice as an artist that are designed to support the flow of work going through my studio and in my individual painting sessions.
I have discussed many of these processes in previous blog posts, if you dig around here you can find that information. One of the things I do to support myself artistically is to set goals that I work to attain. While pursuing these goals sometimes I am interrupted with alternate inspirations or other activities that need to be pursued. In some cases I will say no to the potential interruptions in other cases I will say yes. When I am distracted from my production goals I don't worry about it, but as soon as I can I try to get back on track.
I feel it's important to produce a good quantity of paintings every month. The reason for this is that in any given series of paintings that I do, only a few will be absolutely excellent. A few will be just okay and the rest will be somewhere between the two extremes. If you do not create a lot of work, it means you are going to be creating a lot less good work.
It is very difficult if not impossible to create a masterpiece every time you sit down in the studio. (Obviously, I am speaking from my own experience and work habits), but in general, I think that you can apply this rule to almost any artist's individual practice.
The only way to achieve a good amount of quality work is to work consistently. One of the biggest ways that I support myself in this manner is to go into the studio with the intention of painting six days out of seven every week. While I may be in the studio each day for six or seven hours, it usually happens that I am not actually painting for that entire time.
Many other things must be done other than just putting the brush on the canvas. Paintings need to be coated and prepared for their next stage, boards must be prepped and other odd tasks around the studio need to be done too. Not to mention visiting with neighbors, coffee drinking and conversation that goes on.
It might be easy to discount visiting with neighbors and having conversations as a total waste of time but these things feed your life and therefore your work as an artist. No person is an island and we all require some stimulation outside of work itself. Unfortunately, many artists go way overboard with the socializing, especially where I work at the Quarry Art Center. I've seen artists waste an entire day, day after day chatting with their neighbors. Don't let this be you too.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Twilight Road' 8x10; I'm happy with this painting it has a nice quality of light and that is pretty much the subject of the painting. I may paint this scene larger at some point in the future.
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| Twilight Road by M Francis McCarthy, 8x10 Oil Painting on Wood Panel |
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages, on up through to the finishing touches. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
On today's video, I was talking about workflow, inspiration and dealing with various obstacles to your progress in painting lots of pictures. I usually have some sort of rough goals that I'm working towards, but sometimes things will come up to disrupt those goals and I have learned to go with the flow.
While it's important to have goals it's also important to deal with the impediments to those goals in a gracious and patient manner. Many times other things will come up that need to be attended to, other than painting in the studio. Some artists use these distractions and interruptions as a reason to not achieve any of their goals at all, and consequently they produce very little work. There is a middle ground that needs to be struck between industriously painting all the time and the opposite, avoiding work altogether.
In the latest series of 10 paintings that I've been working on, I was hoping to be done by today which is May 1. That didn't happen for a lot of reasons most of which I got into in the video. I'm relaxed about it though and I intend to finish my latest series of 10 this next week.
Art is achieved by a combination of inspiration and self-directed hard work. Both elements are crucial and a balance must always be sought. I do a lot of things in my practice as an artist that are designed to support the flow of work going through my studio and in my individual painting sessions.
I have discussed many of these processes in previous blog posts, if you dig around here you can find that information. One of the things I do to support myself artistically is to set goals that I work to attain. While pursuing these goals sometimes I am interrupted with alternate inspirations or other activities that need to be pursued. In some cases I will say no to the potential interruptions in other cases I will say yes. When I am distracted from my production goals I don't worry about it, but as soon as I can I try to get back on track.
I feel it's important to produce a good quantity of paintings every month. The reason for this is that in any given series of paintings that I do, only a few will be absolutely excellent. A few will be just okay and the rest will be somewhere between the two extremes. If you do not create a lot of work, it means you are going to be creating a lot less good work.
It is very difficult if not impossible to create a masterpiece every time you sit down in the studio. (Obviously, I am speaking from my own experience and work habits), but in general, I think that you can apply this rule to almost any artist's individual practice.
The only way to achieve a good amount of quality work is to work consistently. One of the biggest ways that I support myself in this manner is to go into the studio with the intention of painting six days out of seven every week. While I may be in the studio each day for six or seven hours, it usually happens that I am not actually painting for that entire time.
Many other things must be done other than just putting the brush on the canvas. Paintings need to be coated and prepared for their next stage, boards must be prepped and other odd tasks around the studio need to be done too. Not to mention visiting with neighbors, coffee drinking and conversation that goes on.
It might be easy to discount visiting with neighbors and having conversations as a total waste of time but these things feed your life and therefore your work as an artist. No person is an island and we all require some stimulation outside of work itself. Unfortunately, many artists go way overboard with the socializing, especially where I work at the Quarry Art Center. I've seen artists waste an entire day, day after day chatting with their neighbors. Don't let this be you too.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Twilight Road' 8x10; I'm happy with this painting it has a nice quality of light and that is pretty much the subject of the painting. I may paint this scene larger at some point in the future.
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| Twilight Road by M Francis McCarthy (Detail) |
Twilight Road 5x7
Hello, and welcome to Tonalist painting by M Francis McCarthy.
Today's study is 'Twilight Road' 5x7.
Our video features the progression of this painting from its initial underpainting stage on up through final glazes and finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check that out.
I believe I talked about pigments in a previous blog post. Recently, I've been working through my current pallet and making absolutely certain that the pigments that I am using are as lightfast as possible.
The colors you need to watch out for are sometimes not what you would think. For example, cadmium yellow, orange and red are all very permanent but many of the variants of the Cads that are available are not lightfast to the same degree that the Cads are.
This wouldn't normally be a huge factor, except for the fact that I cannot use Cadmium's because I am using Lead White. The two different minerals are not compatible and over time if used together, the painting will darken and, in some cases become hideously ugly as the Cadmium interacts with the Lead White. For this reason, I've been using Cad variations for awhile. I noticed that the permanence rating on some of these colors were maybe three stars where I would've preferred four. After some research, I've adjusted my main yellow to a great color from Gamblin, Hansa Yellow Medium.
For my orange, I have tried a few different variations but have settled on a color from Gamblin called Permanent Orange. This is a little bit lighter than I would like it to be, but adjacent to my orange I have a bright red and the red that I have found to be a good Cadmium substitute and also highly permanent is Perylene Red.
Most of the earth colors are permanent, regardless of whether the paint is professional or student grade. This would include the umber colors, the ochers, and blacks. Titanium white which is widely available at all sorts of different price points and mixtures is also lightfast and highly permanent as is Lead White.
My Burnt Sienna color is a synthetic mixture and is lightfast (for your general reference and information the pigment identifying code for this color is PB 101). I prefer this to the actual Burnt Sienna because it is stronger in tinting strength and more transparent, while giving me the same color hue as actual Burnt Sienna. Actual Burnt Sienna is made out of clay from the Sienna region of Italy or equivalent areas.
The next color that I've had to address was Alizarin Crimson. The mixture that I had been using is permanent but not as permanent as I feel I should be using and for that reason I have recently made a switch to Permanent Alizarin Crimson from Gamblin. This color is not as strong as what I'd been painting with but it does the job and it is more permanent.
I like to have a violet color on my pallet and I've tried several of the permanent violets that are available from Gamblin, I have settled on Manganese Violet. This color has the right shade of blue violet. I would like it if it was stronger in tinting strength but it is a good color and it is serving its purpose on my pallet.
By the way, you might notice that I am using a lot of pigments from Gamblin. Gamlin makes excellent paint and their website is a good resource for information. Gamblin only make oil paints and the founder and owner Bob Gamblin is very passionate and precise about his pigment formulations.
All of the other colors in my pallet that I have been using were permanent already. Someone asked me recently why it really matters, and my answer would be that a good painting is something that is going to be treasured by the people that own it for a lifetime and then hopefully passed on to their heirs. My paintings ideally, will live much longer than I and for that reason, I want the colors that people see hundreds of years down the road to be as close as possible to the colors that I selected while painting in the studio.
I have been reading lately about problems with Vincent van Gogh's paintings. Many colors are changing from bright yellows into greenish ochre tones. I do not want this to happen to my work down the road so I feel it is best to take precautions and pay attention to the pigments I am using sooner rather than later.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Twilight Road' 5x7; I'm very happy with this study, the main focus is the sky with the different colored clouds and atmospheric quality. We will be discussing the 8x10 version of this motif next week so stay tuned.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Twilight Road by M Francis McCarthy, 5x7 Oil Painting on Wood Panel |
Our video features the progression of this painting from its initial underpainting stage on up through final glazes and finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check that out.
I believe I talked about pigments in a previous blog post. Recently, I've been working through my current pallet and making absolutely certain that the pigments that I am using are as lightfast as possible.
The colors you need to watch out for are sometimes not what you would think. For example, cadmium yellow, orange and red are all very permanent but many of the variants of the Cads that are available are not lightfast to the same degree that the Cads are.
This wouldn't normally be a huge factor, except for the fact that I cannot use Cadmium's because I am using Lead White. The two different minerals are not compatible and over time if used together, the painting will darken and, in some cases become hideously ugly as the Cadmium interacts with the Lead White. For this reason, I've been using Cad variations for awhile. I noticed that the permanence rating on some of these colors were maybe three stars where I would've preferred four. After some research, I've adjusted my main yellow to a great color from Gamblin, Hansa Yellow Medium.
For my orange, I have tried a few different variations but have settled on a color from Gamblin called Permanent Orange. This is a little bit lighter than I would like it to be, but adjacent to my orange I have a bright red and the red that I have found to be a good Cadmium substitute and also highly permanent is Perylene Red.
Most of the earth colors are permanent, regardless of whether the paint is professional or student grade. This would include the umber colors, the ochers, and blacks. Titanium white which is widely available at all sorts of different price points and mixtures is also lightfast and highly permanent as is Lead White.
My Burnt Sienna color is a synthetic mixture and is lightfast (for your general reference and information the pigment identifying code for this color is PB 101). I prefer this to the actual Burnt Sienna because it is stronger in tinting strength and more transparent, while giving me the same color hue as actual Burnt Sienna. Actual Burnt Sienna is made out of clay from the Sienna region of Italy or equivalent areas.
The next color that I've had to address was Alizarin Crimson. The mixture that I had been using is permanent but not as permanent as I feel I should be using and for that reason I have recently made a switch to Permanent Alizarin Crimson from Gamblin. This color is not as strong as what I'd been painting with but it does the job and it is more permanent.
I like to have a violet color on my pallet and I've tried several of the permanent violets that are available from Gamblin, I have settled on Manganese Violet. This color has the right shade of blue violet. I would like it if it was stronger in tinting strength but it is a good color and it is serving its purpose on my pallet.
By the way, you might notice that I am using a lot of pigments from Gamblin. Gamlin makes excellent paint and their website is a good resource for information. Gamblin only make oil paints and the founder and owner Bob Gamblin is very passionate and precise about his pigment formulations.
All of the other colors in my pallet that I have been using were permanent already. Someone asked me recently why it really matters, and my answer would be that a good painting is something that is going to be treasured by the people that own it for a lifetime and then hopefully passed on to their heirs. My paintings ideally, will live much longer than I and for that reason, I want the colors that people see hundreds of years down the road to be as close as possible to the colors that I selected while painting in the studio.
I have been reading lately about problems with Vincent van Gogh's paintings. Many colors are changing from bright yellows into greenish ochre tones. I do not want this to happen to my work down the road so I feel it is best to take precautions and pay attention to the pigments I am using sooner rather than later.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Twilight Road' 5x7; I'm very happy with this study, the main focus is the sky with the different colored clouds and atmospheric quality. We will be discussing the 8x10 version of this motif next week so stay tuned.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Twilight Road 5x7 (Detail) |
Morning Trail 10x14
Hello and welcome to Tonalist paintings by M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is 'Morning Trail' 10x14.
Our video features the progression of this painting from its earliest understudy/drawing stages on up through the final brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
On today's video I was discussing what's happening for me in the studio these days. I've been finishing up a pass of 10 new paintings, but I've also been engaged with revisiting and repainting about 25 older paintings.
If you check out my old blog here you'll find that I wrote quite a lot about revising paintings there. Back in late 2012 early 2013, after returning from a long vacation, I saw quite a few things wrong with some of the paintings that were waiting for me when I got home. So, then I set about redoing quite a few paintings and I wrote about it extensively.
There have been occasions since then where I have revisited and redone one or two paintings here and there, but for the most part, I've been mostly plowing ahead with new work. There is a very interesting quality that you can achieve when working on top of an old painting that is impossible to get with a new painting.
One of my big heroes, George Inness was famous for repainting many of his works and not only that, he would often do entirely new paintings over the paintings of his friends and family. It's very interesting to have a structure underneath a new or partially new motif. You get a very different quality in the brushwork than when working on a fresh ground/surface.
Many times when I am reworking a painting I will just do things directly from my imagination, but in this current bunch of old paintings that I'm working on, I have chosen to do some creative free compositing using high-quality photographs of the old paintings. In Photoshop, I am adding trees or paths, perhaps a new sky or some other element. In some cases, I have composited trees from old Master paintings on top of my own painting to utilize as reference for my reworking. This is not something I've ever tried before but it is helping me achieve a very interesting result.
Many artists use reference for their work. It is one of the most important aspects of my painting practice. I find paintings done strictly from the imagination become too samey. For this reason I generally utilize manipulated photographs as reference. Or, in this case, I am using re-composited reference images added to the photograph of my painting.
It's very important to approach your reference with a creative and correct attitude. The idea is not to lavishly copy your reference image detail for detail, or note for note in every individual aspect. The best approach is to use it as just that, a reference, to stimulate your own personal, subjective creativity not to be a human copy machine.
In the case of my current batch of re-paintings, I'm getting a very interesting quality that is desirable. It's hard to describe the effect but I could easily point out paintings that I've done that were repainted over older scenes in a lineup because of this quality.
In some cases I am leaving much of the old painting there, perhaps just exchanging a new clump of trees for an old one. In other cases, I am leaving almost nothing of the original motif. Even in those instances you would be surprised how much of the original painting is peeking through here and there.
There is one particular scene that features a clump of trees on a beach that had some grasses in front of it and a hillside in the background. I worked so hard on this painting. Unfortunately it never really came together. It had nice color and texture but real issues in the composition especially in the clump of trees. For this particular painting, I've removed almost every aspect of the original except for portions of the sky.
There's a lot of value in repainting over unsuccessful older work and I highly advise you to try it if you never have. You might be pleasantly surprised that the good result you get, and the best part is you are getting rid of an unsuccessful old work and replacing it with something new that is hopefully more outstanding.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Morning Trail 10x14. As I stated in our previous blog posts that featured the study, I am happy with this painting and I feel it is a successful piece. The real star of the scene would be the striated colors in the sky but there is also a good sense of movement and I also appreciate the overall simplicity of this motif.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Morning Trail by M Francis McCarthy, 10x14 Oil Painting on Wood Panel |
Our video features the progression of this painting from its earliest understudy/drawing stages on up through the final brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
On today's video I was discussing what's happening for me in the studio these days. I've been finishing up a pass of 10 new paintings, but I've also been engaged with revisiting and repainting about 25 older paintings.
If you check out my old blog here you'll find that I wrote quite a lot about revising paintings there. Back in late 2012 early 2013, after returning from a long vacation, I saw quite a few things wrong with some of the paintings that were waiting for me when I got home. So, then I set about redoing quite a few paintings and I wrote about it extensively.
There have been occasions since then where I have revisited and redone one or two paintings here and there, but for the most part, I've been mostly plowing ahead with new work. There is a very interesting quality that you can achieve when working on top of an old painting that is impossible to get with a new painting.
One of my big heroes, George Inness was famous for repainting many of his works and not only that, he would often do entirely new paintings over the paintings of his friends and family. It's very interesting to have a structure underneath a new or partially new motif. You get a very different quality in the brushwork than when working on a fresh ground/surface.
Many times when I am reworking a painting I will just do things directly from my imagination, but in this current bunch of old paintings that I'm working on, I have chosen to do some creative free compositing using high-quality photographs of the old paintings. In Photoshop, I am adding trees or paths, perhaps a new sky or some other element. In some cases, I have composited trees from old Master paintings on top of my own painting to utilize as reference for my reworking. This is not something I've ever tried before but it is helping me achieve a very interesting result.
Many artists use reference for their work. It is one of the most important aspects of my painting practice. I find paintings done strictly from the imagination become too samey. For this reason I generally utilize manipulated photographs as reference. Or, in this case, I am using re-composited reference images added to the photograph of my painting.
It's very important to approach your reference with a creative and correct attitude. The idea is not to lavishly copy your reference image detail for detail, or note for note in every individual aspect. The best approach is to use it as just that, a reference, to stimulate your own personal, subjective creativity not to be a human copy machine.
In the case of my current batch of re-paintings, I'm getting a very interesting quality that is desirable. It's hard to describe the effect but I could easily point out paintings that I've done that were repainted over older scenes in a lineup because of this quality.
In some cases I am leaving much of the old painting there, perhaps just exchanging a new clump of trees for an old one. In other cases, I am leaving almost nothing of the original motif. Even in those instances you would be surprised how much of the original painting is peeking through here and there.
There is one particular scene that features a clump of trees on a beach that had some grasses in front of it and a hillside in the background. I worked so hard on this painting. Unfortunately it never really came together. It had nice color and texture but real issues in the composition especially in the clump of trees. For this particular painting, I've removed almost every aspect of the original except for portions of the sky.
There's a lot of value in repainting over unsuccessful older work and I highly advise you to try it if you never have. You might be pleasantly surprised that the good result you get, and the best part is you are getting rid of an unsuccessful old work and replacing it with something new that is hopefully more outstanding.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Morning Trail 10x14. As I stated in our previous blog posts that featured the study, I am happy with this painting and I feel it is a successful piece. The real star of the scene would be the striated colors in the sky but there is also a good sense of movement and I also appreciate the overall simplicity of this motif.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Morning Trail by M Francis McCarthy, 10x14 (Detail) |
Morning Trail' 5x7
Hello and welcome to Tonalist painting by M Francis McCarthy.
Today's study is 'Morning Trail' 5x7.
Our video today features the progression of this study from its earliest drawing stages on up through the final finishing brushstrokes. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check that out.
I thought I would talk today about color pigments. The pallet that an artist uses is one of the most subjective and defining aspects of their work, no matter what medium they are painting in. I paint in oils as most of you know and I favor several brands of paint. The brand I use the most would be Daler-Rowney Georgian followed by Gamblin and other odds and ends from various suppliers. For the most part, I use Daler Rowney for the less expensive pigments. I buy most of my paint from Takapuna Art Supplies here in sunny New Zealand.
Some of you may not be aware that the reason that different colors of paint cost different amounts of money is because of the source of the base pigments. For example, a color like yellow ocher is always going to be less expensive no matter what particular brand you are using, while a color like cobalt blue will be expensive across the board. One reason for this is that yellow ocher is a clay and is very cheap to obtain while a color like cobalt blue is an expensive mineral that must be mined and processed.
Daler-Rowney Georgian is an inexpensive brand of paint and is aimed predominately at students. I have found that this line of paint actually works as well or better than many of the professional grades from other suppliers. There are some exceptions throughout their line of course but Daler-Rowney Georgian is great for ivory black, all of the earth colors, pthalo blue and green as well as alizarin crimson.
I do not use their titanium white because it is mixed with zinc. Zinc is a nice white to paint with but is very brittle even in small quantities and cracks easily. You need to be careful and check the labeling on white paints to verify that it is not present.
It is included in almost every cheap version of titanium white currently on the market and the reason for this is because it is pearlescent and transparent, while titanium white alone is very opaque and handles better with the addition of zinc. Therefore, it makes titanium easier to use but I have read quite a few articles that indicate that zinc white can be a potential problem in any quantity, so I would rather not take the chance.
For my titanium white I use Gamblin because I know that I'm getting pure titanium. For my lead white I use Windsor Newton because that's what is available and it works well. I like Gamblin for some of their specialty colors. As I mentioned in the video today I am using a quinacridone violet from them now as well as a unique color called transparent orange. I was using Daler Rowney Georgian versions of an orange and a violet but have noted that the permanence ratings are not as high as I would prefer. For that reason I've made the switch to the Gamblin for those colors.
You need to be careful with many of the pigments currently on the market. There will always be some sort of permanence rating marked on the tube from any reputable paint manufacturer. Also the relative transparency or opaqueness of the pigment will be indicated. Because of my use of lead white I need to be careful not to mix with any cadmium pigments on my palate because oxidation can occur over time as these two different minerals interact.
Also indicated on the label is the code that tells you what pigments are being used for a specific color. These will be letters and numbers like PB1 (for example). It is very good to familiarize yourself with these pigment identifiers, you can easily type these color codes into Google to find out more about almost any color. It's good to know what the pigments you like are because when you are shopping for paint, you can focus on the pigments themselves more than the names listed on the tubes which can be misleading and often save yourself some dosh in the process.
The history of pigments is a fascinating topic and many artists get very deep into referencing and sourcing different pigments in their work. For my part, I just like to make sure that I'm working with pigments that are strong in coloration, permanent and high in quality as well as being as reasonable a price as I can find.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Morning Trail' 5x7; this is based on the scene that I took a photo of in England several years ago. It was very early in the morning and supercold. I've had this reference image for a while but it's not till just recently that I had a good conception of how I wanted to paint the motif.
I chose to put the emphasis mostly on the sky and the striated mauves, rust and ivory tones. I'm happy with the result I got on this study as well as the larger painting that we will be discussing next week.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Morning Trail by M Francis McCarthy, 5x7 Oil Painting on Wood Panel |
Our video today features the progression of this study from its earliest drawing stages on up through the final finishing brushstrokes. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check that out.
I thought I would talk today about color pigments. The pallet that an artist uses is one of the most subjective and defining aspects of their work, no matter what medium they are painting in. I paint in oils as most of you know and I favor several brands of paint. The brand I use the most would be Daler-Rowney Georgian followed by Gamblin and other odds and ends from various suppliers. For the most part, I use Daler Rowney for the less expensive pigments. I buy most of my paint from Takapuna Art Supplies here in sunny New Zealand.
Some of you may not be aware that the reason that different colors of paint cost different amounts of money is because of the source of the base pigments. For example, a color like yellow ocher is always going to be less expensive no matter what particular brand you are using, while a color like cobalt blue will be expensive across the board. One reason for this is that yellow ocher is a clay and is very cheap to obtain while a color like cobalt blue is an expensive mineral that must be mined and processed.
Daler-Rowney Georgian is an inexpensive brand of paint and is aimed predominately at students. I have found that this line of paint actually works as well or better than many of the professional grades from other suppliers. There are some exceptions throughout their line of course but Daler-Rowney Georgian is great for ivory black, all of the earth colors, pthalo blue and green as well as alizarin crimson.
I do not use their titanium white because it is mixed with zinc. Zinc is a nice white to paint with but is very brittle even in small quantities and cracks easily. You need to be careful and check the labeling on white paints to verify that it is not present.
It is included in almost every cheap version of titanium white currently on the market and the reason for this is because it is pearlescent and transparent, while titanium white alone is very opaque and handles better with the addition of zinc. Therefore, it makes titanium easier to use but I have read quite a few articles that indicate that zinc white can be a potential problem in any quantity, so I would rather not take the chance.
For my titanium white I use Gamblin because I know that I'm getting pure titanium. For my lead white I use Windsor Newton because that's what is available and it works well. I like Gamblin for some of their specialty colors. As I mentioned in the video today I am using a quinacridone violet from them now as well as a unique color called transparent orange. I was using Daler Rowney Georgian versions of an orange and a violet but have noted that the permanence ratings are not as high as I would prefer. For that reason I've made the switch to the Gamblin for those colors.
You need to be careful with many of the pigments currently on the market. There will always be some sort of permanence rating marked on the tube from any reputable paint manufacturer. Also the relative transparency or opaqueness of the pigment will be indicated. Because of my use of lead white I need to be careful not to mix with any cadmium pigments on my palate because oxidation can occur over time as these two different minerals interact.
Also indicated on the label is the code that tells you what pigments are being used for a specific color. These will be letters and numbers like PB1 (for example). It is very good to familiarize yourself with these pigment identifiers, you can easily type these color codes into Google to find out more about almost any color. It's good to know what the pigments you like are because when you are shopping for paint, you can focus on the pigments themselves more than the names listed on the tubes which can be misleading and often save yourself some dosh in the process.
The history of pigments is a fascinating topic and many artists get very deep into referencing and sourcing different pigments in their work. For my part, I just like to make sure that I'm working with pigments that are strong in coloration, permanent and high in quality as well as being as reasonable a price as I can find.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
I chose to put the emphasis mostly on the sky and the striated mauves, rust and ivory tones. I'm happy with the result I got on this study as well as the larger painting that we will be discussing next week.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Morning Trail 5x7 by M Francis McCarthy (Detail) |
Radiant Grotto 5x7
Hello and welcome to Tonalist painting by M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is 'Radiant Grotto' 5x7.
Our video features the progression of this painting from its initial drawing stages on up through the final brushstrokes and finishing touches, also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check that out.
On today's video I was talking about failure. For better or worse, failure is a part of every artists working life. If you're going to be a competent artist you need to have a strategy for dealing with it.
My favorite strategy is to just keep painting. I will either destroy or put aside paintings that were less than successful. There is always a sense of disbelief on my part as I am left wondering what went wrong and why it happened to me. This is something that as artists, I believe we all experience and that would include even the great giant of landscape painting George Inness. There are quite a lot of mediocre to outright bad George Inness paintings out there, so we can take comfort that even someone as prolific and superb as he was, struggled and failed as we do.
What's funny, is there are times that I can tell that the painting is not going to work out long before I've even started the piece. There is a voice in my head saying "this isn't going to work out", as I (usually) choose to ignore it and proceed anyway. Other times I'm not hearing a voice, but if things are not going well at the initial stages (when doing the underpainting), I still feel that I can persevere and overcome.
The ability to persevere is a personality trait that is a bit of a double edge sword. On one hand there have been times that I have been able to pull a failing painting out of the fire and actually produce a nice work. Far more often though I am unable to save it, I just have to keep working on the painting, trying to save it as I am crashing and burning.
Out of any given series of paintings that I do, there are always going to be one or two that are excellent, three or four that are pretty good, some that are okay and one or two that are failures. It may seem that (failure) is a bit of a harsh term, but I believe in calling them as I see them.
It's always painful and unpleasant to deal with this aspect of working as an artist but again, there is one excellent strategy that is very helpful in dealing with this issue. That strategy is to produce a lot of work. If you produce a lot of work, you have more good paintings and the lemons can just be painted over, destroyed or perhaps saved for one day when they can be addressed again.
The logic behind this is pretty clear, if you are only doing a few paintings every year and 25% of them are failures that could mean out of four paintings you did in a year that one of them was bad and you only have one or two excellent works and one mediocre and one failure to speak for that time. If you worked harder and were more prolific, you have more good work to show (and sell) and you can let the lesser pieces take care themselves.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Radiant Grotto' 5x7; this painting depicts a scene that is up in the hills near my home in Northland, New Zealand. The woods here are primeval and I have taken more than one crack at painting them. I do find the excess of detail in the bush to be a challenge and something that I'm coming to grips with every time I go after a motif of this type. I am very happy with 'Radiant Grotto' the 5x7, but as I discussed in the video the large painting did not work out and I have shelved it for another day.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Radiant Grotto by M Francis McCarthy, 5x7 Oil Painting on Wood Panel |
Our video features the progression of this painting from its initial drawing stages on up through the final brushstrokes and finishing touches, also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check that out.
On today's video I was talking about failure. For better or worse, failure is a part of every artists working life. If you're going to be a competent artist you need to have a strategy for dealing with it.
My favorite strategy is to just keep painting. I will either destroy or put aside paintings that were less than successful. There is always a sense of disbelief on my part as I am left wondering what went wrong and why it happened to me. This is something that as artists, I believe we all experience and that would include even the great giant of landscape painting George Inness. There are quite a lot of mediocre to outright bad George Inness paintings out there, so we can take comfort that even someone as prolific and superb as he was, struggled and failed as we do.
What's funny, is there are times that I can tell that the painting is not going to work out long before I've even started the piece. There is a voice in my head saying "this isn't going to work out", as I (usually) choose to ignore it and proceed anyway. Other times I'm not hearing a voice, but if things are not going well at the initial stages (when doing the underpainting), I still feel that I can persevere and overcome.
The ability to persevere is a personality trait that is a bit of a double edge sword. On one hand there have been times that I have been able to pull a failing painting out of the fire and actually produce a nice work. Far more often though I am unable to save it, I just have to keep working on the painting, trying to save it as I am crashing and burning.
Out of any given series of paintings that I do, there are always going to be one or two that are excellent, three or four that are pretty good, some that are okay and one or two that are failures. It may seem that (failure) is a bit of a harsh term, but I believe in calling them as I see them.
It's always painful and unpleasant to deal with this aspect of working as an artist but again, there is one excellent strategy that is very helpful in dealing with this issue. That strategy is to produce a lot of work. If you produce a lot of work, you have more good paintings and the lemons can just be painted over, destroyed or perhaps saved for one day when they can be addressed again.
The logic behind this is pretty clear, if you are only doing a few paintings every year and 25% of them are failures that could mean out of four paintings you did in a year that one of them was bad and you only have one or two excellent works and one mediocre and one failure to speak for that time. If you worked harder and were more prolific, you have more good work to show (and sell) and you can let the lesser pieces take care themselves.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Radiant Grotto' 5x7; this painting depicts a scene that is up in the hills near my home in Northland, New Zealand. The woods here are primeval and I have taken more than one crack at painting them. I do find the excess of detail in the bush to be a challenge and something that I'm coming to grips with every time I go after a motif of this type. I am very happy with 'Radiant Grotto' the 5x7, but as I discussed in the video the large painting did not work out and I have shelved it for another day.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Radiant Grotto 5x7 (Detail) |
Night Scene 8x10
Hello and welcome to Tonalist paintings by M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is 'Night Scene' 8x10.
Our video shows the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stage all the way through to the final glazes and finishing touches. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check that out.
In the studio today, I've been finishing some studies for the current pass of images that I am working on. I didn't use to do two color passes on my 5x7's but after completing the hundred days of tonalism project, I decided that it was worth it to give them a little extra polish. Another reason that I like to finish them off more now is because I will be abandoning my photographic reference while doing the final stages of my larger painting, referring to my study only.
For both my studies and my larger paintings I use photographic reference for the drawing/underpainting stages and also the first color pass. For my color studies, I will refer to my reference once again when I am doing my second and final color pass.
On my larger paintings, I use my photographic reference for my underpainting stage and the first color pass only. Then I refer to my 5x7 study for the second color pass and (lastly) for the third painting stage (if I am doing a third stage). I will use no reference at all and just apply myself to dealing with things in the larger painting that need to be addressed.
These are important strategies for me. I have succumbed to all of the evils inherent in using photographic reference in my career as a landscape painter. These techniques I utilize now help me to avoid falling into some of the fundamental traps that can come about when utilizing photos as reference for landscape painting.
I discussed this topic a lot on my previous blog so I won't go into it much further here. I thought that it would be good to update (those of you interested), on my current strategies for using photos as reference. If you want to know more about my struggles in this regard you can go to the old blog and to some searching for the word photos, you will find a lot of information there about the processes I've gone through.
It might be legitimate to ask "if there are so many traps inherent in using photos why would you even bother?" Well, a lot of the traps intrinsic to using photos will also be there laying in wait for you when working out in nature directly. So either way, you need to be careful.
The main thing is to not overwork or over detail your painting. Photos and reality in general, contain a plethora of detail that is just not suitable to be rendered into a painting. The other big issue we can face is just mindlessly copying the existing composition of the photo or the scene that you are referencing. This is a big issue and I have addressed composition on this blog many times as well.
My struggles with composition are ongoing of course, but I'm getting better all the time and it feels good to not make the same stupid mistakes over and over.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Night Scene' 8x10; I'm happy with the way this painting turned out as well as the study that we discussed previously. As you can see from the video I worked with a blue ground for this painting instead of my usual burnt sienna undertone. I will be experimenting with other ground colors is in the future for night scenes as I'm still very much working on my approach to nocturnes.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Night Scene by M Francis McCarthy, 8x10 Oil Painting on Wood Panel |
Our video shows the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stage all the way through to the final glazes and finishing touches. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check that out.
In the studio today, I've been finishing some studies for the current pass of images that I am working on. I didn't use to do two color passes on my 5x7's but after completing the hundred days of tonalism project, I decided that it was worth it to give them a little extra polish. Another reason that I like to finish them off more now is because I will be abandoning my photographic reference while doing the final stages of my larger painting, referring to my study only.
For both my studies and my larger paintings I use photographic reference for the drawing/underpainting stages and also the first color pass. For my color studies, I will refer to my reference once again when I am doing my second and final color pass.
On my larger paintings, I use my photographic reference for my underpainting stage and the first color pass only. Then I refer to my 5x7 study for the second color pass and (lastly) for the third painting stage (if I am doing a third stage). I will use no reference at all and just apply myself to dealing with things in the larger painting that need to be addressed.
These are important strategies for me. I have succumbed to all of the evils inherent in using photographic reference in my career as a landscape painter. These techniques I utilize now help me to avoid falling into some of the fundamental traps that can come about when utilizing photos as reference for landscape painting.
I discussed this topic a lot on my previous blog so I won't go into it much further here. I thought that it would be good to update (those of you interested), on my current strategies for using photos as reference. If you want to know more about my struggles in this regard you can go to the old blog and to some searching for the word photos, you will find a lot of information there about the processes I've gone through.
It might be legitimate to ask "if there are so many traps inherent in using photos why would you even bother?" Well, a lot of the traps intrinsic to using photos will also be there laying in wait for you when working out in nature directly. So either way, you need to be careful.
The main thing is to not overwork or over detail your painting. Photos and reality in general, contain a plethora of detail that is just not suitable to be rendered into a painting. The other big issue we can face is just mindlessly copying the existing composition of the photo or the scene that you are referencing. This is a big issue and I have addressed composition on this blog many times as well.
My struggles with composition are ongoing of course, but I'm getting better all the time and it feels good to not make the same stupid mistakes over and over.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Night Scene' 8x10; I'm happy with the way this painting turned out as well as the study that we discussed previously. As you can see from the video I worked with a blue ground for this painting instead of my usual burnt sienna undertone. I will be experimenting with other ground colors is in the future for night scenes as I'm still very much working on my approach to nocturnes.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Night Scene 8x10 (Detail) |
Night Scene 5x7
Hello, and welcome to Tonalist painting by M Francis McCarthy.
Today's study is 'Night Scene' 5x7.
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early drawing stages on up through my final glazes and scumbling. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please enjoy it.
I recently received a book on George Inness called George Inness. This book was created to go along with a large retrospective exhibition back in 1985. Here is a link to this book on Amazon. I highly recommend it. While not a perfect art book, this book is absolutely worthwhile to check out. It has some great writing about George Inness and I feel that many of the reproductions are nice as well, so ignore any negative comments you read about this book on Amazon and purchase it used. You won't regret it.
In the back portion of this book there is an article reprinted from Harper's New Monthly Magazine February 1878 titled a 'Painter on painting.' This was a very famous interview with George Inness at the beginning of his general recognition of being a genius. Unfortunately for painters like myself that are hungry for technical information about George's painting style there is little information of that type. What there is, is quite a lot of philosophical discussion about art and painting that is illuminating. I'm going to share a few of George's statements here today in this blog:
When asked about art education George Inness replied.
"Pupils can't be taught much by an artist. I have found that explanations usually hinder them, or else make their work stereotyped. If I had a pupil in my studio, I should say to him sit down and paint."
When asked "what is it that the painter tries to do?"
"Simply to reproduce in other minds the impression which a scene is made upon him. A work of art does not appeal to the intellect. It does not appeal to the moral sense. Its aim is not to instruct, not to edify, but to awaken an emotion. This emotion may be one of love, of pity, of irritation, of hate, a pleasure, or of pain; but it must be a single emotion, if the work has unity as every such work should have, then the true beauty of the work consists in the beauty of the sentiment of emotion which it inspires.
Details in the picture must be elaborated only enough fully to reproduce the impression that the artist wishes to reproduce. When more than this is done, the impression is weakened or lost, and we see simply an array of external things which may be very cleverly painted, and may look very real, but does not make an artistic painting."
When asked "what is the tendency of modern art buyers?"
"Our country is flooded with the mercantile imbecility's of hundreds of artists whose very names are a detestation to any lover of truth. The true artist loves only that work in which the evident intention has been to attain the truth, and such work is not easily brought to a fine polish. What he hates is that which has evidently been painted for a market. That sleekness of which we see so much in pictures is a result of spiritual inertia, and is a detestation. It is simply a mercantile finish.
No great artist ever finished a picture or a statue. It is mercantile work that is finished, and finish is what the picture dealers cry for. The art buyer instead of covering the walls of his mansion with works of character, or, what is better, with those works of inspiration which alerted his mind to the regions of the unknown, is apt to cover them with the sleek polish of lackadaisical sentiment, or the pure realities of impossible conditions.
Consequently, the picture dealer although he may have, or may have had, something of the artistic instinct, is overwhelmed by commercial necessity. Let every endeavor be honest, and although the results of our labors may often seem abortive, there will here and there flash out of them a spark of truth which shall gayness the sympathy of a noble spirit."
When asked "what is the true use of art?"
"The true use of art is, first to cultivate the artists own spiritual nature, and secondly, to enter as a factor in general civilization. And the increase of these effects depends on the purity of the artist motive in the pursuit of art. Every artist who, without reference to external circumstances, aims truly to represent the ideas and emotions which come to him when he is in the presence of nature, is in the process of his own spiritual development, and is a benefactor of his race.
Of course no man's motive can be absolutely pure and single. His environment affects him. But the true artistic impulse is divine. The reality of every artistic vision lies in the thought animating the artist's mind. This is proven by the fact that every artist who attempts only to imitate what he sees fails to represent that something which comes home to him as satisfaction - fails to make a representation corresponding to the satisfaction which it produced to the satisfaction felt in his first perception.
Everything in nature has something to say to us. No artist need fear that his work will not find sympathy if he only works earnestly and lovingly."
These are just a few quotations from this excellent interview of what is most likely the greatest landscape painter who ever lived. The sentiments of his that I presented to you today are just as relevant to us in the modern age as they were over hundred years ago and I could not agree more with George Inness.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Night Scene' 5x7; this is one of my recent attempts at a nocturne. I'm quite happy with this study and also the larger painting that we will be discussing in a few days. Check out the video narration for a bit more insight into my thoughts and feelings about nocturnes and my approach to this painting in particular.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Night Scene by M Francis McCarthy, 5x7 Oil Painting on Wood Panel |
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early drawing stages on up through my final glazes and scumbling. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please enjoy it.
I recently received a book on George Inness called George Inness. This book was created to go along with a large retrospective exhibition back in 1985. Here is a link to this book on Amazon. I highly recommend it. While not a perfect art book, this book is absolutely worthwhile to check out. It has some great writing about George Inness and I feel that many of the reproductions are nice as well, so ignore any negative comments you read about this book on Amazon and purchase it used. You won't regret it.
In the back portion of this book there is an article reprinted from Harper's New Monthly Magazine February 1878 titled a 'Painter on painting.' This was a very famous interview with George Inness at the beginning of his general recognition of being a genius. Unfortunately for painters like myself that are hungry for technical information about George's painting style there is little information of that type. What there is, is quite a lot of philosophical discussion about art and painting that is illuminating. I'm going to share a few of George's statements here today in this blog:
When asked about art education George Inness replied.
"Pupils can't be taught much by an artist. I have found that explanations usually hinder them, or else make their work stereotyped. If I had a pupil in my studio, I should say to him sit down and paint."
When asked "what is it that the painter tries to do?"
"Simply to reproduce in other minds the impression which a scene is made upon him. A work of art does not appeal to the intellect. It does not appeal to the moral sense. Its aim is not to instruct, not to edify, but to awaken an emotion. This emotion may be one of love, of pity, of irritation, of hate, a pleasure, or of pain; but it must be a single emotion, if the work has unity as every such work should have, then the true beauty of the work consists in the beauty of the sentiment of emotion which it inspires.
Details in the picture must be elaborated only enough fully to reproduce the impression that the artist wishes to reproduce. When more than this is done, the impression is weakened or lost, and we see simply an array of external things which may be very cleverly painted, and may look very real, but does not make an artistic painting."
When asked "what is the tendency of modern art buyers?"
"Our country is flooded with the mercantile imbecility's of hundreds of artists whose very names are a detestation to any lover of truth. The true artist loves only that work in which the evident intention has been to attain the truth, and such work is not easily brought to a fine polish. What he hates is that which has evidently been painted for a market. That sleekness of which we see so much in pictures is a result of spiritual inertia, and is a detestation. It is simply a mercantile finish.
No great artist ever finished a picture or a statue. It is mercantile work that is finished, and finish is what the picture dealers cry for. The art buyer instead of covering the walls of his mansion with works of character, or, what is better, with those works of inspiration which alerted his mind to the regions of the unknown, is apt to cover them with the sleek polish of lackadaisical sentiment, or the pure realities of impossible conditions.
Consequently, the picture dealer although he may have, or may have had, something of the artistic instinct, is overwhelmed by commercial necessity. Let every endeavor be honest, and although the results of our labors may often seem abortive, there will here and there flash out of them a spark of truth which shall gayness the sympathy of a noble spirit."
When asked "what is the true use of art?"
"The true use of art is, first to cultivate the artists own spiritual nature, and secondly, to enter as a factor in general civilization. And the increase of these effects depends on the purity of the artist motive in the pursuit of art. Every artist who, without reference to external circumstances, aims truly to represent the ideas and emotions which come to him when he is in the presence of nature, is in the process of his own spiritual development, and is a benefactor of his race.
Of course no man's motive can be absolutely pure and single. His environment affects him. But the true artistic impulse is divine. The reality of every artistic vision lies in the thought animating the artist's mind. This is proven by the fact that every artist who attempts only to imitate what he sees fails to represent that something which comes home to him as satisfaction - fails to make a representation corresponding to the satisfaction which it produced to the satisfaction felt in his first perception.
Everything in nature has something to say to us. No artist need fear that his work will not find sympathy if he only works earnestly and lovingly."
These are just a few quotations from this excellent interview of what is most likely the greatest landscape painter who ever lived. The sentiments of his that I presented to you today are just as relevant to us in the modern age as they were over hundred years ago and I could not agree more with George Inness.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Night Scene' 5x7; this is one of my recent attempts at a nocturne. I'm quite happy with this study and also the larger painting that we will be discussing in a few days. Check out the video narration for a bit more insight into my thoughts and feelings about nocturnes and my approach to this painting in particular.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Night Scene 5x7 (Detail) |
Forest Trail 5x7
Hello and welcome to Tonalist paintings by M Francis McCarthy.
Today's study is 'Forest Trail' 5x7.
Our video features the progression of this painting from its earliest stages on up through the final touches, as well as my usual rambling narration, so check it out.
Putting a sincere good effort out is what matters most when it comes to being an artist.
These days the word artist can mean a lot of different things to different people. Ultimately, it's up to each one of us to define for ourselves what being an artist means to us. For me, being an artist means that I am more than just a craftsperson, more than just the person doing a job for a salary. Being an artist means that I do my best to communicate my deepest and most earnest feelings in a way that is as compelling and beautiful as I can manage.
The feelings and impressions that life brings me are always felt deeply, but my ability to communicate and express those impressions is improving all the time. The best measurement that I can think of to judge a piece of artwork is on its ability to stimulate an emotive response in the viewer. In other words, it should touch them emotionally and not just or even necessarily in an intellectual way. Art is best created at the level of being and not the level of ego and art that is produced with this forthright intention tends to be more worthwhile.
I should say here that what I mean by provoking an emotional response, is provoking an enriching emotional response. Not the sort of emotive response like, 'oh my God I can't believe how hideous this painting is. I want to gouge my eyes out and would rather be blind than look at it again'.
Unfortunately, there is an epidemic of ugly art that exists now, solely due to the intellectual machinations of various artists, art dealers and the art establishment in general. Much of this arts goes for big bucks and is treated like a commodity and also as a store for wealth instead of being regarded for what it is, which is abysmal dreck in many cases.
I read an article on my Flipboard newsfeed recently about this wealthy art collector who had won the bid on a piece of 'art' by Jean-Michel Basquiat. Here is a link to the article that I read. I invite you to look at this painting in the article as well. It is jaw-droppingly ugly and I am in a state of dumbfounded disbelief at the price that this art investor paid for this thing.
I don't mean to stir up crap with the modern art lovers out there but Jean-Michel Basquiat (as a painter) leaves a lot to be desired in my opinion. This is like a case of the Emperor's new clothes in that something that is so ugly and extremely displeasing to look at as Jean's painting, is being afforded an extraordinary amount of respect and money, in my opinion unduly so.
I won't rant about this again here. If you look around on this blog you can see several times where I commented on the state of the modern art market. Fact of the matter is, that this travesty of the sensibilities called 'modern art' is not even modern anymore. That's just the term that we are forced to use to refer to this type of ugly inexcusable nastiness that is being treated as something worthy of collecting or even looking at. I know almost nothing about Jean-Michel Basquiat other than the fact that I've heard his name before and for that reason alone he's probably collectible.
There are a lot of people these days buying art that have no sense of connoisseurship and little knowledge of what makes art great and why. I read about a lot of rich people trying to preserve their enormous and obscene wealth by buying artwork like this. The funny thing is that they may know, no more, about someone like Jean-Michel Basquiat than I do, and yet are willing to spend millions and millions of dollars not only to purchase a piece of 'art' like this but in so doing they actually afford this insanity a level of respect that should never have happened.
I said I wasn't going to rant, I guess I'm not so good at not ranting. To end this post on a positive note I should talk about what I feel is the solution to this dilemma.
My view is that if something that is moving and beautiful and touches people it will always be valuable, if only to the people that are being moved by it. As an artist, one's sole responsibility is to connect with the universe and to expend their energy in realizing the greatest and most powerful and potent art that they can muster. If an artist has done that, then they have done their best and should be proud.
I do not begrudge people like Jean-Michel Basquiat doing paintings if it pleases them. All of us should be free to express ourselves in any way we please, as long as no one is being actively harmed. However, something as ridiculous and ugly as the painting referenced in that article should only be loved by the mother of the artist and only then because she loves the artist.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Forest Trail' 5x7: As I stated in the video, this painting is a study only and I did not paint this motif larger. Check out the video narration for all the reasons why. That said, I am happy with this painting and proud to present it to you today.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
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| Forest Trail by M Francis McCarthy, 5x7 Oil Painting on Wood Panel |
Today's study is 'Forest Trail' 5x7.
Our video features the progression of this painting from its earliest stages on up through the final touches, as well as my usual rambling narration, so check it out.
Putting a sincere good effort out is what matters most when it comes to being an artist.
These days the word artist can mean a lot of different things to different people. Ultimately, it's up to each one of us to define for ourselves what being an artist means to us. For me, being an artist means that I am more than just a craftsperson, more than just the person doing a job for a salary. Being an artist means that I do my best to communicate my deepest and most earnest feelings in a way that is as compelling and beautiful as I can manage.
The feelings and impressions that life brings me are always felt deeply, but my ability to communicate and express those impressions is improving all the time. The best measurement that I can think of to judge a piece of artwork is on its ability to stimulate an emotive response in the viewer. In other words, it should touch them emotionally and not just or even necessarily in an intellectual way. Art is best created at the level of being and not the level of ego and art that is produced with this forthright intention tends to be more worthwhile.
I should say here that what I mean by provoking an emotional response, is provoking an enriching emotional response. Not the sort of emotive response like, 'oh my God I can't believe how hideous this painting is. I want to gouge my eyes out and would rather be blind than look at it again'.
Unfortunately, there is an epidemic of ugly art that exists now, solely due to the intellectual machinations of various artists, art dealers and the art establishment in general. Much of this arts goes for big bucks and is treated like a commodity and also as a store for wealth instead of being regarded for what it is, which is abysmal dreck in many cases.
I read an article on my Flipboard newsfeed recently about this wealthy art collector who had won the bid on a piece of 'art' by Jean-Michel Basquiat. Here is a link to the article that I read. I invite you to look at this painting in the article as well. It is jaw-droppingly ugly and I am in a state of dumbfounded disbelief at the price that this art investor paid for this thing.
I don't mean to stir up crap with the modern art lovers out there but Jean-Michel Basquiat (as a painter) leaves a lot to be desired in my opinion. This is like a case of the Emperor's new clothes in that something that is so ugly and extremely displeasing to look at as Jean's painting, is being afforded an extraordinary amount of respect and money, in my opinion unduly so.
I won't rant about this again here. If you look around on this blog you can see several times where I commented on the state of the modern art market. Fact of the matter is, that this travesty of the sensibilities called 'modern art' is not even modern anymore. That's just the term that we are forced to use to refer to this type of ugly inexcusable nastiness that is being treated as something worthy of collecting or even looking at. I know almost nothing about Jean-Michel Basquiat other than the fact that I've heard his name before and for that reason alone he's probably collectible.
There are a lot of people these days buying art that have no sense of connoisseurship and little knowledge of what makes art great and why. I read about a lot of rich people trying to preserve their enormous and obscene wealth by buying artwork like this. The funny thing is that they may know, no more, about someone like Jean-Michel Basquiat than I do, and yet are willing to spend millions and millions of dollars not only to purchase a piece of 'art' like this but in so doing they actually afford this insanity a level of respect that should never have happened.
I said I wasn't going to rant, I guess I'm not so good at not ranting. To end this post on a positive note I should talk about what I feel is the solution to this dilemma.
My view is that if something that is moving and beautiful and touches people it will always be valuable, if only to the people that are being moved by it. As an artist, one's sole responsibility is to connect with the universe and to expend their energy in realizing the greatest and most powerful and potent art that they can muster. If an artist has done that, then they have done their best and should be proud.
I do not begrudge people like Jean-Michel Basquiat doing paintings if it pleases them. All of us should be free to express ourselves in any way we please, as long as no one is being actively harmed. However, something as ridiculous and ugly as the painting referenced in that article should only be loved by the mother of the artist and only then because she loves the artist.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Forest Trail' 5x7: As I stated in the video, this painting is a study only and I did not paint this motif larger. Check out the video narration for all the reasons why. That said, I am happy with this painting and proud to present it to you today.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Forest Trail 5x7 (Detail) |
Through the Forest 8x10
Hello and welcome to Tonalist paintings by M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is 'Through the Forest' 8x10.
The video traces the progression of this painting from its initial drawing stages through to my final color application as well as my usual rambling narration,so please check that out.
Landscape painting is easy to do badly. If you'd asked me when I was young if I thought I would ever become a landscape painter I would've laughed at you, because in the 60s and 70s when I was a child there was an awful lot of really bad landscape art around. It wasn't until I became older that I started seeing things that I really liked.
I was more interested in drawing superheroes when I was younger, I really loved artists like Frank Frazetta and science fiction and fantasy art in general. Oddly enough, it was Frazetta more than anyone else who opened up my young eyes to the possibilities of paint. His work was so loose and expressive yet cohesive, you could see how it was put together (almost). It's not easy to achieve that fluid looseness and still produce work that is cohesive at the same time. This is one of the greatest challenges any painter faces.
I have a whole array of strategies that are designed to assist me in being loose yet cohesive. I've talked about supporting yourself as an artist in a recent blog post. I rely on all the various approaches and preliminary stages that I do for my paintings to enable me, when I am actually going in with my first color pass to be loose and expressive. At that stage, I don't want to be attempting to be loose and expressive while solving compositional problems (although God knows that happens far too often), I want to be laying in my color in a free, liberal and expressive manner while moving across the painting surface in a deliberate and expeditious manner.
It is necessary for me to plan for looseness in my work. Some artists don't have this problem and perhaps they would be better served by learning how to discipline themselves more, and to hunker down and actually figure out how some of the objects that they are attempting to paint actually work.
Everybody is different and no one approach is going to work for every painter. The sort of approach that I do will work well for somebody that is into working in an organized way and yet still is sensitive to being expressive instead of just delineating what they perceive.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Through the Forest' 8x10: I'm happy with this painting. I think I got a good balance between the detail and big shapes as well as nice shifts in color.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Through the Forest by M Francis McCarthy,8x10 Oil Painting on Wood Panel |
The video traces the progression of this painting from its initial drawing stages through to my final color application as well as my usual rambling narration,so please check that out.
Landscape painting is easy to do badly. If you'd asked me when I was young if I thought I would ever become a landscape painter I would've laughed at you, because in the 60s and 70s when I was a child there was an awful lot of really bad landscape art around. It wasn't until I became older that I started seeing things that I really liked.
I was more interested in drawing superheroes when I was younger, I really loved artists like Frank Frazetta and science fiction and fantasy art in general. Oddly enough, it was Frazetta more than anyone else who opened up my young eyes to the possibilities of paint. His work was so loose and expressive yet cohesive, you could see how it was put together (almost). It's not easy to achieve that fluid looseness and still produce work that is cohesive at the same time. This is one of the greatest challenges any painter faces.
I have a whole array of strategies that are designed to assist me in being loose yet cohesive. I've talked about supporting yourself as an artist in a recent blog post. I rely on all the various approaches and preliminary stages that I do for my paintings to enable me, when I am actually going in with my first color pass to be loose and expressive. At that stage, I don't want to be attempting to be loose and expressive while solving compositional problems (although God knows that happens far too often), I want to be laying in my color in a free, liberal and expressive manner while moving across the painting surface in a deliberate and expeditious manner.
It is necessary for me to plan for looseness in my work. Some artists don't have this problem and perhaps they would be better served by learning how to discipline themselves more, and to hunker down and actually figure out how some of the objects that they are attempting to paint actually work.
Everybody is different and no one approach is going to work for every painter. The sort of approach that I do will work well for somebody that is into working in an organized way and yet still is sensitive to being expressive instead of just delineating what they perceive.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Through the Forest' 8x10: I'm happy with this painting. I think I got a good balance between the detail and big shapes as well as nice shifts in color.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Through the Forest 8x10 (Detail) |