#13 George Inness 'The Storm' - 25 Days of Tonalism
Hello and welcome to Tonalist painting with M Francis McCarthy.
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| Painted after - 'The Storm' by George Inness, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
Today's painting is a study after George Inness, 'The Storm.'
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
Today, I would like to talk about the nature of visual imagery in our modern world. It wasn't that long ago that if you wanted any type of image you had to create it using charcoal, pencil or paint. In the early 1800s photography became available, although it was expensive and required some special chemicals, not to mention expertise.
Fast-forward 150 years and we find ourselves immersed and inundated with visual imagery everywhere we turn. In addition to all of the print media of the past, we have television, computers, video games and movies. As a consequence of this, people have become very accustomed to being saturated with visual imagery on a daily basis.
As I've spoken before on this blog, I worked for many years as a commercial illustrator using primarily digital media to create and execute my illustrations. I was lucky that I was on the forefront of the technology wave and was able to use my artistic talent and knowledge of programs like Photoshop to secure myself a good paying job.
For many years I was quite content to crank out images at an amazing rate utilizing pen, paper and of course my computer to finish the illustrations. I created some visually stunning work but there was inevitably something unsatisfying about creating images with a computer and printing them out on paper.
No matter how much time or effort I expended in creating an image, it always came out of a printer onto a piece of paper. Some printers are better than others and some paper is definitely better than other paper but the reproduced images is always just that, a reproduction on a piece of paper.
This insight was one of the major catalysts that drove me toward creating original oil paintings on wood panels. When I make a mark on my panel it is non-repeatable and always completely unique. The combination of myself as the artist, the oil-paint and the panel all unite to create a special and original object. While this object is two-dimensional on its face, it is really more than that, my painting is something that has been created by the human hand.
I pride myself on taking excellent photographs of my paintings and I go to great lengths to adjust and correct them. The fidelity to my original is as close as possible. There are huge swaths of the population that will never see one of my original paintings, they are interacting with a digital replica in most cases.
Even this digital replica could not have been created inside the computer. It would be utterly and completely impossible to accomplish this, not just with the present technology but it would be nearly impossible to accomplish even with future technologies yet un-invented.
As an aside, I might mention that I was chatting with a local artist recently who was putting on a show of their work that consisted entirely of reproductions. They seemed convinced that the reproductions were just as good as their originals, but if you asked me, this is self-deception and patently incorrect.
I did not argue with this artist because it is not my place to dispel their personal illusions. But I assure you that an original handmade work of art will always be uniquely and utterly compelling as an original object, especially compared to any facsimile regardless of how clever and accurate the reproduction might be.
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about my study after George Inness' 'The storm'. Of the 25 days of Tonalism studies that I have done, I would say this is one of the strongest and most attractive George Inness paintings. He is without a doubt, my favorite painter and I thoroughly enjoyed making this study after his remarkable painting.
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| Original painting 'The Storm'' by George Inness |
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| 'The Storm' by George Inness, Study by M Francis McCarthy (Detail) |
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| 'The Storm' by George Inness, Study by M Francis McCarthy (Detail 2) |
Golden Creek 5x7
Hello and welcome to Tonalist painting with M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is 'Golden Creek' 5x7.
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
Today I like to talk about doing studies as preparation for larger paintings. I didn't start doing studies in earnest until 2011 or so. I got the idea from a painter whose work I was looking at on YouTube or some other site who was a portrait painter. What he would do prior to starting his larger paintings was compose very small color studies of his models. His study was bereft of any detail and served mostly to indicate values and color for the painting that he was to complete.
I thought this was an interesting idea and so I purchased some smaller size wood panels and did a few studies for some of the scenes that I was getting ready to paint back then. It's most likely because I started learning how to paint by teaching myself using small canvases that I really took to doing small studies.
It wasn't long after the first few that I did that I decided to make it a regular part of my working method. After doing this for a while, I discovered several cool things about doing studies:
These are some of the advantages to producing studies. Since integrating this into my working practice back in 2011 I have painted hundreds of 5x5 and 5x7 studies, many of which I turned into larger paintings and quite a few that I did not.
However, I do see some significant downsides to studies and they are:
This may be the only two disadvantages but they are significant and it is irksome when I have to deal with this part of creating studies. All in all, you can see the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages and I'm always looking for ways to utilize this part of my process to create better paintings.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Golden Creek' 5x7; I'm happy with this painting. It might be a little big for a creek but it's definitely too small to be a river so I guess creek is appropriate.
I used a reference photo that I took recently on vacation to help me create this painting and it probably won't be the last time you see this particular creek featured in paintings of mine.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
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| 'Golden Creek' by M Francis McCarthy, 5x7 Oil Painting on Wood Panel |
Today's painting is 'Golden Creek' 5x7.
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
Today I like to talk about doing studies as preparation for larger paintings. I didn't start doing studies in earnest until 2011 or so. I got the idea from a painter whose work I was looking at on YouTube or some other site who was a portrait painter. What he would do prior to starting his larger paintings was compose very small color studies of his models. His study was bereft of any detail and served mostly to indicate values and color for the painting that he was to complete.
I thought this was an interesting idea and so I purchased some smaller size wood panels and did a few studies for some of the scenes that I was getting ready to paint back then. It's most likely because I started learning how to paint by teaching myself using small canvases that I really took to doing small studies.
It wasn't long after the first few that I did that I decided to make it a regular part of my working method. After doing this for a while, I discovered several cool things about doing studies:
- Because they are small they are painted quickly.
- Because they are small I can sell them reasonably to tourists and collectors on a limited budget.
- They give me a roadmap for the way I will be approaching the scene that I am planning on painting at a larger size.
- They allow me to see if a scene will work well as a painting.
- They are nice-looking and have an almost jewel-like quality.
These are some of the advantages to producing studies. Since integrating this into my working practice back in 2011 I have painted hundreds of 5x5 and 5x7 studies, many of which I turned into larger paintings and quite a few that I did not.
However, I do see some significant downsides to studies and they are:
- Some people get a bit carried away with comparing the studies to the larger paintings. This can be frustrating because it is a bit like comparing tangerines to oranges.
- Some things that function well at the small size do not translate to a larger size, although this is something I'm becoming more proficient at spotting.
This may be the only two disadvantages but they are significant and it is irksome when I have to deal with this part of creating studies. All in all, you can see the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages and I'm always looking for ways to utilize this part of my process to create better paintings.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Golden Creek' 5x7; I'm happy with this painting. It might be a little big for a creek but it's definitely too small to be a river so I guess creek is appropriate.
I used a reference photo that I took recently on vacation to help me create this painting and it probably won't be the last time you see this particular creek featured in paintings of mine.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
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| 'Golden Creek' by M Francis McCarthy (Detail) |
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| 'Golden Creek' by M Francis McCarthy (Detail 2) |
#12 Charles Appel 'By the River' - 25 Days of Tonalism
Hello and welcome to Tonalist painting with M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is a study after 'By the River' by Charles Appel.
Our video features the progression of this study from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
For many years I worked as an illustrator. Prior to that time I was usually engaged in drawing and learning how to draw better. I know quite a lot about drawing and illustration and I have some thoughts about the differences between the illustrative mode of art versus the fine art approach that I'm going to try to share today.
One of the primary differences I find is that when you are illustrating and endeavoring to capture every particular of your subject, it requires a lot of conscious focus and concentration. The more detailed and accurate your illustration is, the more focus and concentration is required. The part of our minds that focuses attention is directly tied to the intellect. For this reason, I see illustration as more intellectually driven than painting.
When I was a young artist I used to really like super detailed drawings and illustrations. I was a big fan of science fiction, fantasy artwork and comic books, my favorite artists were always the ones with the most detail in their work. As I matured my tastes changed and I became more fond of artists that were able to convey a lot of expression with just a simple brushstroke.
These days I appreciate that type of work even more. Using the intellect to render very precise and faithful portrayals of your subject, often means that there is little room left for simple gesture and emotion to be expressed. Now That I create fine art paintings I often think about that interplay while I am painting.
There is a juxtaposition between the ordered part of our minds and our spirits that interact when painting. When painting a tree for example and looking at the reference, I do not try to accurately capture every individual branch of that tree, nor do I worry about rendering every rock present in the scene or accurately delineating any aspect of the scene at all. What I am predominantly interested in, is expressing my impression and getting across an emotive response. Because of this, I have to use both my intellect and my intuition while creating a painting.
This can be frustrating if the painting starts to get disjointed or too inaccurate. I often feel that it would just be easier to hunker down and use my intellect while creating a painting. What happens when I end up doing this, is that the painting becomes choked and less expressive not to mention less pleasing to look at.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'By the River' by Charles Appel; as I stated in the video I can find problems with almost any painting by Charles.
He was not the best of the Tonalist painters. That said, there is an awful lot that I like about his work, I definitely get something out of doing studies after his paintings.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
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| Painted after - ' 'By the River' by Charles Appel Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
Our video features the progression of this study from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
For many years I worked as an illustrator. Prior to that time I was usually engaged in drawing and learning how to draw better. I know quite a lot about drawing and illustration and I have some thoughts about the differences between the illustrative mode of art versus the fine art approach that I'm going to try to share today.
One of the primary differences I find is that when you are illustrating and endeavoring to capture every particular of your subject, it requires a lot of conscious focus and concentration. The more detailed and accurate your illustration is, the more focus and concentration is required. The part of our minds that focuses attention is directly tied to the intellect. For this reason, I see illustration as more intellectually driven than painting.
When I was a young artist I used to really like super detailed drawings and illustrations. I was a big fan of science fiction, fantasy artwork and comic books, my favorite artists were always the ones with the most detail in their work. As I matured my tastes changed and I became more fond of artists that were able to convey a lot of expression with just a simple brushstroke.
These days I appreciate that type of work even more. Using the intellect to render very precise and faithful portrayals of your subject, often means that there is little room left for simple gesture and emotion to be expressed. Now That I create fine art paintings I often think about that interplay while I am painting.
There is a juxtaposition between the ordered part of our minds and our spirits that interact when painting. When painting a tree for example and looking at the reference, I do not try to accurately capture every individual branch of that tree, nor do I worry about rendering every rock present in the scene or accurately delineating any aspect of the scene at all. What I am predominantly interested in, is expressing my impression and getting across an emotive response. Because of this, I have to use both my intellect and my intuition while creating a painting.
This can be frustrating if the painting starts to get disjointed or too inaccurate. I often feel that it would just be easier to hunker down and use my intellect while creating a painting. What happens when I end up doing this, is that the painting becomes choked and less expressive not to mention less pleasing to look at.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'By the River' by Charles Appel; as I stated in the video I can find problems with almost any painting by Charles.
He was not the best of the Tonalist painters. That said, there is an awful lot that I like about his work, I definitely get something out of doing studies after his paintings.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
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| Original painting' 'By the River' by Charles Appel |
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| Study by M Francis McCarthy of ' 'By the River' by Charles Appel (Detail) |
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| Study by M Francis McCarthy of ' 'By the River' by Charles Appel (Detail 2) |
Meadow at Dusk 5x7
Hello and welcome to Tonalist painting with M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is 'Meadow at Dusk' 5x7.
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
Today I would like to talk about board prep. In a recent blog post, I discussed the differences in using various different surfaces for painting and promised that I would get a little further into my use of panels and my preparation thereof.
When I started working with wood panels, I was initially painting directly onto the wood surface with my oil paints. This is actually very enjoyable and gives you a sort of unique effect as the wood has the tendency of sucking oil right out of the paint as you work. The problem with this working method is that the wood will continue to absorb the oil out of the paint until all of the paint has either been absorbed into the wood or flaked off.
For this reason, if you're going to be painting on wood panels or ply of any type, you need to properly prepare the board prior to painting. Back when I first started doing board prep, I experimented with doing extreme or interesting textures but ended up settling on doing three layers of acrylic sanding sealer for my larger paintings.
With this sanding sealer and multiple coats, I was getting a furniture type finish on my panels that was very smooth. I worked this way for quite a while on my larger pieces. For my smaller 5x7 studies, I had/have a different approach in that I would use transparent acrylic gesso with some acrylic paint mixed in to tone the board.
I would take the gesso and with the side of a fairly wide brush, smack the board to create a textured surface. I work this texturing over quite a lot so that it ends up being very uniform. After it's dried, I lightly sand the board to take off the sharpest peaks of the texture.
About two years ago I started texturizing my larger panels as well. Though I liked painting on the sanding sealer, smooth surface, I felt that it was too slippery and that I would get better results if I had more tooth to play off of with my brush.
How you prepare your board is very critical to how the finished painting will look. I always teach my students that how you start is how you finish and your boards should always be thoroughly prepared and ready to receive the paint nicely. If you cut corners in your board preparation, your painting will suffer sooner or later for it.
I may put up a video at some point showing my board preparation technique but feel free to experiment. I use Liquitex brand transparent gesso. A lot of artists use this for pastel work and the like but it works really well for board preparation and is the best brand that I found. One big jar of gesso will last you quite a while.
Applying gesso or something like a sanding sealer is absolutely imperative because, as I mentioned above, if you do not buffer the board surface, the paint will become absorbed into the wood over time. I believe I've talked about this before on this blog, feel free to search around and you may get some additional information.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Meadow at Dusk' 5x7; as I discussed in the video, this is a recent painting that is going to remain a small study and not be realized as a larger piece. There are a myriad of reasons for this, so if you're interested please check it out.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
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| 'Meadow at Dusk' by M Francis McCarthy, 5x7 Oil Painting on Wood Panel |
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
Today I would like to talk about board prep. In a recent blog post, I discussed the differences in using various different surfaces for painting and promised that I would get a little further into my use of panels and my preparation thereof.
When I started working with wood panels, I was initially painting directly onto the wood surface with my oil paints. This is actually very enjoyable and gives you a sort of unique effect as the wood has the tendency of sucking oil right out of the paint as you work. The problem with this working method is that the wood will continue to absorb the oil out of the paint until all of the paint has either been absorbed into the wood or flaked off.
For this reason, if you're going to be painting on wood panels or ply of any type, you need to properly prepare the board prior to painting. Back when I first started doing board prep, I experimented with doing extreme or interesting textures but ended up settling on doing three layers of acrylic sanding sealer for my larger paintings.
With this sanding sealer and multiple coats, I was getting a furniture type finish on my panels that was very smooth. I worked this way for quite a while on my larger pieces. For my smaller 5x7 studies, I had/have a different approach in that I would use transparent acrylic gesso with some acrylic paint mixed in to tone the board.
I would take the gesso and with the side of a fairly wide brush, smack the board to create a textured surface. I work this texturing over quite a lot so that it ends up being very uniform. After it's dried, I lightly sand the board to take off the sharpest peaks of the texture.
About two years ago I started texturizing my larger panels as well. Though I liked painting on the sanding sealer, smooth surface, I felt that it was too slippery and that I would get better results if I had more tooth to play off of with my brush.
How you prepare your board is very critical to how the finished painting will look. I always teach my students that how you start is how you finish and your boards should always be thoroughly prepared and ready to receive the paint nicely. If you cut corners in your board preparation, your painting will suffer sooner or later for it.
I may put up a video at some point showing my board preparation technique but feel free to experiment. I use Liquitex brand transparent gesso. A lot of artists use this for pastel work and the like but it works really well for board preparation and is the best brand that I found. One big jar of gesso will last you quite a while.
Applying gesso or something like a sanding sealer is absolutely imperative because, as I mentioned above, if you do not buffer the board surface, the paint will become absorbed into the wood over time. I believe I've talked about this before on this blog, feel free to search around and you may get some additional information.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Meadow at Dusk' 5x7; as I discussed in the video, this is a recent painting that is going to remain a small study and not be realized as a larger piece. There are a myriad of reasons for this, so if you're interested please check it out.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
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| Meadow at Dusk 5x7 (Detail) |
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| Meadow at Dusk 5x7 (Detail 2) |
Evening Path 12x12
Hello, and welcome to Tonalist painting with M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is 'Evening Path' 12x12.
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
Today I would like to talk about art school. A few days ago I was leafing through an art magazine that is popular out here in New Zealand called 'New Zealand Artist.' I noticed in the back that there was an article about a young lady who had decided to eschew art school and just begin her career as an artist.
I think this is a great move on her part. I personally did not go to art school though I know many who have. I guess before I go any further I should state that not all art schools are created equal, some are great, most are not. That said, permit me to continue speaking in broad generalities as is my way.
The primary issue that I have with art school, is the way that it can control and constrain the mind of the young artist. In most art schools there are both talented and untalented students. I feel many times that talented students get misdirected while those with little or no talent just learn how to talk in 'art speak' and imitate the work of others. Meanwhile, the art school is more than happy to collect the tuition of both talented and untalented artists and not only that, to happily give degrees to the untalented.
There is one aspect of art school that I think is very valuable and that is life drawing. However, you do not need to go to an art school to get into a life drawing class. If you research a bit you will probably be able to find some sort of life drawing going on in your area. Also, there are many resources for life drawing online these days, including YouTube and some dedicated sites.
There are times in art school where you will get an extraordinary teacher that is more interested in teaching artists how to develop their own abilities than in creating clones of themselves. More frequently, you will find a lot of people that received art degrees with little talent or ability that are now using those degrees to get jobs as art teachers.
If you getting the idea that I think art school is usually a scam you're not far from wrong. It is possible for a talented artist to get through art school and still be able to develop as an artist, but there is a greater reality play. That reality is that as an artist, you should be the one in charge of your education and progression. No one else is going to do the drawings or the paintings and regardless of how good the instructor might be if you do not do the work, you will not progress and all will be for naught.
By the way, this young lady I referred to is super talented and her work is actually better than a lot of artists I have seen that are much older. She's making a good move in my opinion because she knows what she wants to do and she's clearly able to drive her own artistic progression. I believe she will be very successful.
I have seen times where artists that had unique individual approaches went to art school and came out doing work that was pedestrian and generic. I've also seen times where artists who had talent and drawing ability were content to produce abstract garbage with contrived titles and the only good thing about their art was that it was satisfying their egos.
There is a great danger in doing art for the wrong reasons. That is going to be the topic of a future blog. Suffice to say for now that while there are some cases where art school can be beneficial to the young artists, there are many traps and pitfalls inherent in the modern way of teaching art. Ultimately, art school is never a substitute for just doing a lot of drawings and paintings.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Evening Path 12x12; this is a painting I'm happy with and it is residing in my studio currently. While the painting is relatively simple, I believe the composition is quite effective and also a good twilight mood has been conveyed.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
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| 'Evening Path' by M Francis McCarthy, 12x12 Oil Painting on Wood Panel |
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
Today I would like to talk about art school. A few days ago I was leafing through an art magazine that is popular out here in New Zealand called 'New Zealand Artist.' I noticed in the back that there was an article about a young lady who had decided to eschew art school and just begin her career as an artist.
I think this is a great move on her part. I personally did not go to art school though I know many who have. I guess before I go any further I should state that not all art schools are created equal, some are great, most are not. That said, permit me to continue speaking in broad generalities as is my way.
The primary issue that I have with art school, is the way that it can control and constrain the mind of the young artist. In most art schools there are both talented and untalented students. I feel many times that talented students get misdirected while those with little or no talent just learn how to talk in 'art speak' and imitate the work of others. Meanwhile, the art school is more than happy to collect the tuition of both talented and untalented artists and not only that, to happily give degrees to the untalented.
There is one aspect of art school that I think is very valuable and that is life drawing. However, you do not need to go to an art school to get into a life drawing class. If you research a bit you will probably be able to find some sort of life drawing going on in your area. Also, there are many resources for life drawing online these days, including YouTube and some dedicated sites.
There are times in art school where you will get an extraordinary teacher that is more interested in teaching artists how to develop their own abilities than in creating clones of themselves. More frequently, you will find a lot of people that received art degrees with little talent or ability that are now using those degrees to get jobs as art teachers.
If you getting the idea that I think art school is usually a scam you're not far from wrong. It is possible for a talented artist to get through art school and still be able to develop as an artist, but there is a greater reality play. That reality is that as an artist, you should be the one in charge of your education and progression. No one else is going to do the drawings or the paintings and regardless of how good the instructor might be if you do not do the work, you will not progress and all will be for naught.
By the way, this young lady I referred to is super talented and her work is actually better than a lot of artists I have seen that are much older. She's making a good move in my opinion because she knows what she wants to do and she's clearly able to drive her own artistic progression. I believe she will be very successful.
I have seen times where artists that had unique individual approaches went to art school and came out doing work that was pedestrian and generic. I've also seen times where artists who had talent and drawing ability were content to produce abstract garbage with contrived titles and the only good thing about their art was that it was satisfying their egos.
There is a great danger in doing art for the wrong reasons. That is going to be the topic of a future blog. Suffice to say for now that while there are some cases where art school can be beneficial to the young artists, there are many traps and pitfalls inherent in the modern way of teaching art. Ultimately, art school is never a substitute for just doing a lot of drawings and paintings.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Evening Path 12x12; this is a painting I'm happy with and it is residing in my studio currently. While the painting is relatively simple, I believe the composition is quite effective and also a good twilight mood has been conveyed.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
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| Evening Path 12x12 (Detail) |
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| Evening Path 12x12 (Detail 2) |
#11 Camille Corot 'The Rocky Stream' - 25 Days of Tonalism
Hello and welcome to Tonalist painting with M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is a study painted after Camille Corot - 'The Rocky Stream'.
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
On today's video, I was talking a bit about a discussion I heard recently featuring Tom Campbell. Tom is a physicist, philosopher and consciousness researcher. In this discussion, he was pointing out that in our daily choices there are thousands of potential wrong decisions that can be made and only a few good ones for each possible choice.
This got me thinking about landscape painting and how a painting is very similar. There are more ways to do a bad painting than a good one. Some of the ways that it is possible to fail are:
These are some of the ways to fail that come to mind readily. I'm sure I would find quite a few more if I really put my mind to it. This is one of the reasons that many teachers use negative qualities and 'don't do's' as their teaching approach.
If you avoid these potential issues your painting is probably going to be pretty good. For this reason, it's a lot easier to tell people what not to do sometimes than what it is they should be doing.
The fact is, (as a teacher) when you concentrate on telling people what they should be doing, you will often succeed only in creating clones of yourself since the aspiring painters are not being encouraged to find what is right for them. This is one reason why critiquing is a good way of helping student artists develop.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about my study painted after Camille Corot - 'The Rocky Stream'; Camille got it right more than he got it wrong that's for sure and for this reason he is one of the all-time greats.
I learn a lot every time I do a study after his work and gain greater appreciation of him and his paintings as time progresses.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
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| Painted after - ' 'The Rocky Stream' by Camille Corot, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x5, Oil on wood panel |
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
On today's video, I was talking a bit about a discussion I heard recently featuring Tom Campbell. Tom is a physicist, philosopher and consciousness researcher. In this discussion, he was pointing out that in our daily choices there are thousands of potential wrong decisions that can be made and only a few good ones for each possible choice.
This got me thinking about landscape painting and how a painting is very similar. There are more ways to do a bad painting than a good one. Some of the ways that it is possible to fail are:
- Bad composition.
- Odd or garish color choices.
- Areas of the painting that are inappropriately eye-catching.
- Poor draftsmanship.
- Muddy or inconsistent values.
- Too much or too little contrast.
- Insipid or cloying subject matter.
- Abstraction that does not come off well.
- Overreliance on an affected style.
- Boring scene selection.
- Ugly surface quality.
- Too much or too little texture.
These are some of the ways to fail that come to mind readily. I'm sure I would find quite a few more if I really put my mind to it. This is one of the reasons that many teachers use negative qualities and 'don't do's' as their teaching approach.
If you avoid these potential issues your painting is probably going to be pretty good. For this reason, it's a lot easier to tell people what not to do sometimes than what it is they should be doing.
The fact is, (as a teacher) when you concentrate on telling people what they should be doing, you will often succeed only in creating clones of yourself since the aspiring painters are not being encouraged to find what is right for them. This is one reason why critiquing is a good way of helping student artists develop.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about my study painted after Camille Corot - 'The Rocky Stream'; Camille got it right more than he got it wrong that's for sure and for this reason he is one of the all-time greats.
I learn a lot every time I do a study after his work and gain greater appreciation of him and his paintings as time progresses.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Original - Camille Corot - the Rocky Stream |
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| Study after - ' 'The Rocky Stream' by Camille Corot (Detail) |
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| Study after - ' 'The Rocky Stream' by Camille Corot (Detail 2) |
Hillside Path 5x7
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| 'Hillside Path' by M Francis McCarthy, 5x7 Oil Painting on Wood Panel |
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
This is a bonus post today. As I mentioned in the video there were several 5x7 studies that did not become more fully realized as larger paintings. I thought it might be cool to insert a few of these studies into some midweek blog post/video.
Today, I like to talk about momentum. As is the case with so many topics that I address on this blog, I am reasonably sure that I have touched on this subject before. You'll forgive me if I'm not going in to the blog and searching it out myself, but you are more than welcome to do so, if you like.
If you are interested in getting something done in this reality, momentum is going to be one of the major forces that you can harness to accomplish your goal. I am not a physicist, but as I understand it, the hardest part of getting a rocket off the earth is taking off. This is true of any enterprise that you engage in as well.
I've seen quite a few artists become stymied in their progress due to their misunderstanding of the phenomenon of momentum. Often times they will achieve a high watermark with their work only to put down the brush and become interested or occupied in other tasks. What they're not doing is harnessing momentum to drive their work forward.
The best thing that you can do after accomplishing a successful painting is to begin another one. This is not just true of painting of course, it is true of anything that you are trying to become better at.
In my work practice, I acknowledge this fact, by making sure that I paint every day. Some days I paint more and some days I paint less but I paint every day of the week except Sundays. I used to work Sundays too but it is good to take a day off and do necessary chores around the house, not to mention hang out with my lovely wife.
Because I am engaged with my practice of painting every day, painting for me is a continuous flow of work. I have peaks and I have valleys. While my peaks are consistently high, my valleys are far less low because I work this way. I'm putting the principle of momentum to work for me. If I do a bad painting I have also not so long ago, done a painting that is successful. I can be pretty sure that I will be doing another painting the next day which is also likely to be successful.
When you take big breaks from working you have to use a lot of energy and intention to (metaphorically) get off the ground. Just like a rocket uses the bulk of its energy to leave the gravity of the Earth, you will have to use a lot of energy just to get back to the point you were the last time you were painting.
As I'm writing this, it seems like the idea that I'm expressing today should be common sense to most people, yet you would be surprised how many artists make this mistake while engaged in trying to get things done.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Hillside Path' 5x7; as I stated previously, this is a study I did very recently that I am not going to be doing as a larger painting of, at least at this time. I am happy with this study though and I feel that it's definitely worth sharing with you.
This painting is based on a photograph I took nearly 15 years ago of a hillside in California where I used to live. I have always enjoyed walking around in the foothills of San Jose, I think that is reflected in this painting.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
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| 'Hillside Path' 5x7 (Detail) |
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| 'Hillside Path' 5x7 (Detail 2) |
Evening Path 5x5
Hello and welcome to Tonalist painting with M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is 'Evening Path' 5x5.
Our video features the progression of this study from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
Yesterday, we were talking about constraints and how they relate to art. I touched upon the topic of grounds in that post (ground meaning the surface that we are painting on). Today, I'd like to talk a little bit more about this subject.
There is no doubt that the most popular surface for artists to do paintings on, is canvas. There are two basic types of canvas that artists work on, cotton duck and linen. Cotton duck is far more popular, mostly because it is cheaper. Cotton duck tends to have a more coarse texture and it is the primary type of canvas that you will find pre-stretched in your local art or craft store. Linen canvas has a finer texture and a much tighter weave. There is no question that of the two, linen is far superior but it is also much more expensive.
I was recently sent an email by a company called Natural Pigments that sells many traditional pigments and specialized substrates. The article is about canvas and the general issues common with working on it. I'm putting a link to that article here.
To briefly summarize the article, the main issue that you will have with canvas is that humidity and changes in temperature cause the canvas to expand and contract over time in a different way than the paint film on top of it. This causes cracking in the paint film as well as other issues. One of the ways that some artists get around this, is by mounting their canvas to boards and then doing their painting.
This leads us to painting on boards, whether they are made out of wood, metal or some modern synthetic substrates. As some of you may know, I work on wood boards exclusively. I have tried many different types of ply and these days I work on an MDF board that is laminated with Kauri. This works very well for me because there is very little warping and yet, I get all of the advantages of working on wood in that there is a nice grain that's interacts with my board preparation technique. I will be talking about how I prep my board's in a future blog post. I'm pretty sure this is a topic I've addressed before as well.
Some painters work on metal substrates generally copper or zinc. These days there are also some interesting synthetic boards that will probably last forever. I haven't tried the synthetic boards yet. I'm fairly confident that my laminated MDF solution is going to be very long-lasting. Also, because I live here in New Zealand, I would be paying through the nose for these new synthetic substrates as they would have to be specially imported.
My main issue with canvas is not so much the permanence factor, though I am very concerned with permanence. I'm not especially fond of the texture of canvas, especially cotton duck. I did do some pricing on linen but it was so astronomically high out here that I decided to stick with my specially prepared board.
One of the historical reasons that canvas gained in popularity, was that as artists worked in larger and larger sizes, using boards became problematic because wooden panels can be unwieldy and heavy in larger sizes. Also, working on canvas enables you to stretch and restretch the canvas as needed. Painted canvases can be rolled up and stored to be re-stretched at a later time.
By the way, concern regarding the permanence of your art and the vicissitudes of time are best left to artists producing professional work. If you are a student or amateur, I wouldn't worry much about it until you are producing paintings that are consistently good, it's not a problem to work with more impermanent materials.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Evening Path' 5x5; as I stated in the video, this painting resembles the initial photographic reference only vaguely. I made many significant changes to the reference photo in Photoshop prior to painting.
For the most part, I'm very happy with this motif and the way that this study turned out, as well as the larger painting that we will be discussing next week.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
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| 'Evening Path' by M Francis McCarthy, 5x5 Oil Painting on Wood Panel |
Our video features the progression of this study from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
Yesterday, we were talking about constraints and how they relate to art. I touched upon the topic of grounds in that post (ground meaning the surface that we are painting on). Today, I'd like to talk a little bit more about this subject.
There is no doubt that the most popular surface for artists to do paintings on, is canvas. There are two basic types of canvas that artists work on, cotton duck and linen. Cotton duck is far more popular, mostly because it is cheaper. Cotton duck tends to have a more coarse texture and it is the primary type of canvas that you will find pre-stretched in your local art or craft store. Linen canvas has a finer texture and a much tighter weave. There is no question that of the two, linen is far superior but it is also much more expensive.
I was recently sent an email by a company called Natural Pigments that sells many traditional pigments and specialized substrates. The article is about canvas and the general issues common with working on it. I'm putting a link to that article here.
To briefly summarize the article, the main issue that you will have with canvas is that humidity and changes in temperature cause the canvas to expand and contract over time in a different way than the paint film on top of it. This causes cracking in the paint film as well as other issues. One of the ways that some artists get around this, is by mounting their canvas to boards and then doing their painting.
This leads us to painting on boards, whether they are made out of wood, metal or some modern synthetic substrates. As some of you may know, I work on wood boards exclusively. I have tried many different types of ply and these days I work on an MDF board that is laminated with Kauri. This works very well for me because there is very little warping and yet, I get all of the advantages of working on wood in that there is a nice grain that's interacts with my board preparation technique. I will be talking about how I prep my board's in a future blog post. I'm pretty sure this is a topic I've addressed before as well.
Some painters work on metal substrates generally copper or zinc. These days there are also some interesting synthetic boards that will probably last forever. I haven't tried the synthetic boards yet. I'm fairly confident that my laminated MDF solution is going to be very long-lasting. Also, because I live here in New Zealand, I would be paying through the nose for these new synthetic substrates as they would have to be specially imported.
My main issue with canvas is not so much the permanence factor, though I am very concerned with permanence. I'm not especially fond of the texture of canvas, especially cotton duck. I did do some pricing on linen but it was so astronomically high out here that I decided to stick with my specially prepared board.
One of the historical reasons that canvas gained in popularity, was that as artists worked in larger and larger sizes, using boards became problematic because wooden panels can be unwieldy and heavy in larger sizes. Also, working on canvas enables you to stretch and restretch the canvas as needed. Painted canvases can be rolled up and stored to be re-stretched at a later time.
By the way, concern regarding the permanence of your art and the vicissitudes of time are best left to artists producing professional work. If you are a student or amateur, I wouldn't worry much about it until you are producing paintings that are consistently good, it's not a problem to work with more impermanent materials.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Evening Path' 5x5; as I stated in the video, this painting resembles the initial photographic reference only vaguely. I made many significant changes to the reference photo in Photoshop prior to painting.
For the most part, I'm very happy with this motif and the way that this study turned out, as well as the larger painting that we will be discussing next week.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
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| Evening Path 5x5 (Detail) |
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| Evening Path 5x5 (Detail 2) |
#10 George Inness 'Moonrise' - 25 Days of Tonalism
Hello and welcome to Tonalist painting with M Francis McCarthy.
Today's study is painted after 'Moonrise' by George Inness.
Our video features the progression of this study from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
Today I like to talk about how the concepts of constraints apply to painting in general, and landscape painting specifically. People often think of constraints as a bad thing but when it comes to art, having constraints are absolutely vital to the creation of any work of art that is successful.
One of the first ways a painter constrains themselves is by the support that they choose to paint on. Each of the different supports whether it be canvas, paper or board has its good points as well as its drawbacks. Some artists choose to paint on canvas attached to a board but even then they are constrained by the texture of the canvas. A painting done on canvas will have a different feeling than a painting done on board or paper. I have written about different supports in the past and will do so again in the future.
Another obvious constraint involved with painting is the media that the artist chooses to execute their work. There are a plethora of different media available to the artist today from watercolor to pastel to acrylic or oil paint, not to mention other alternative medias like encaustic resin. The media you choose to create your painting with will be one of the major constraints you are placing upon yourself as an artist. I have chosen oil paint to do all of my work and to be honest, I don't think there's another type of media more flexible or permanent.
I've known artists that like to jump from one media to the next and from one type of support to the another. I guess it depends on your personality, but to me this seems like a good way to avoid mastery of any one media. For this reason, I choose to constrain my painting to oil paint only. Oil paint can work very thin or thick and retains its original coloration even after drying. I have not run up against too many things that I could not accomplish with oil paint that I would be able to do with some other media better.
Another way that I constrain myself as an artist, is by focusing on landscape painting. There have been many artists in history that did not specialize in only one type of painting. Most of the great Masters of landscape painting did not often paint other subject matter very often. Constraining myself in this way enables me to focus on improving the way I approach the landscape and I'm constantly building on a series of previous successes and failures. Were I to fracture my attention by doing a landscape one day and a figurative painting or still life the next, I might accomplish some good paintings, but for the way I work, I would not really be succeeding majorly at any of them.
In a world full of options, setting constraints enables an artist to focus on directing their inspiration into realization instead of wasting a lot of time of fiddling about with the tools used in the process. Tools, should be just that, tools that enable the artist to create something that is greater than the parts that went into it the painting, this includes the reference used, the inspiration as well as the tools used to execute the painting.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about my study after 'Moonrise' by George Inness; though very small, this study got an appreciable amount of attention when it was residing in the drying area of my studio. It is a striking motif and while not one of the greatest paintings that George Inness created, it is still pretty awesome.
I got quite a lot out of doing this study and I'm hoping to integrate some of those lessons into my own paintings.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
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| Painted after - 'Moonrise' by George Inness, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x5, Oil on wood panel |
Our video features the progression of this study from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
Today I like to talk about how the concepts of constraints apply to painting in general, and landscape painting specifically. People often think of constraints as a bad thing but when it comes to art, having constraints are absolutely vital to the creation of any work of art that is successful.
One of the first ways a painter constrains themselves is by the support that they choose to paint on. Each of the different supports whether it be canvas, paper or board has its good points as well as its drawbacks. Some artists choose to paint on canvas attached to a board but even then they are constrained by the texture of the canvas. A painting done on canvas will have a different feeling than a painting done on board or paper. I have written about different supports in the past and will do so again in the future.
Another obvious constraint involved with painting is the media that the artist chooses to execute their work. There are a plethora of different media available to the artist today from watercolor to pastel to acrylic or oil paint, not to mention other alternative medias like encaustic resin. The media you choose to create your painting with will be one of the major constraints you are placing upon yourself as an artist. I have chosen oil paint to do all of my work and to be honest, I don't think there's another type of media more flexible or permanent.
I've known artists that like to jump from one media to the next and from one type of support to the another. I guess it depends on your personality, but to me this seems like a good way to avoid mastery of any one media. For this reason, I choose to constrain my painting to oil paint only. Oil paint can work very thin or thick and retains its original coloration even after drying. I have not run up against too many things that I could not accomplish with oil paint that I would be able to do with some other media better.
Another way that I constrain myself as an artist, is by focusing on landscape painting. There have been many artists in history that did not specialize in only one type of painting. Most of the great Masters of landscape painting did not often paint other subject matter very often. Constraining myself in this way enables me to focus on improving the way I approach the landscape and I'm constantly building on a series of previous successes and failures. Were I to fracture my attention by doing a landscape one day and a figurative painting or still life the next, I might accomplish some good paintings, but for the way I work, I would not really be succeeding majorly at any of them.
In a world full of options, setting constraints enables an artist to focus on directing their inspiration into realization instead of wasting a lot of time of fiddling about with the tools used in the process. Tools, should be just that, tools that enable the artist to create something that is greater than the parts that went into it the painting, this includes the reference used, the inspiration as well as the tools used to execute the painting.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about my study after 'Moonrise' by George Inness; though very small, this study got an appreciable amount of attention when it was residing in the drying area of my studio. It is a striking motif and while not one of the greatest paintings that George Inness created, it is still pretty awesome.
I got quite a lot out of doing this study and I'm hoping to integrate some of those lessons into my own paintings.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
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| Original painting 'Moonrise' by George Inness |
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| Painted after - 'Moonrise' by George Inness (Detail 1) |
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| Painted after - 'Moonrise' by George Inness (Detail 2) |
Dappled Glade 8x10
Hello and welcome to Tonalist painting with M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is 'Dappled Glade' 8x10.
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
On today's video narration, I was discussing vignetting. Today's painting 'Dappled Glade' is highly vignetted and therefore it's probably a good time to talk about vignetting as a concept.
The definition from Google for the word "vignette" refers to the type of vignette you have with an illustration that is free of a discernible border. The way that I am referring to vignetting, is more like the photographic term, where the image already in a frame is shaded heavily in some or all of the corners of the picture.
I find vignetting to be a very powerful tool and I use it a lot in my painting. What I like about vignetting the corners and sides of my painting, is that it keeps the viewer inside of the picture plane and also creates drama.
There are times when I have gotten carried away with vignetting, it's really easy to get carried away with it. What I like to do to address this, is create my vignette shading (on my reference image), in a separate layer in Photoshop so that I can preview the image with and without it or if necessary adjust the transparency of the effect.
I'd like to mention (again), that it has been called to my attention by a reader of this blog, that an important book is being reprinted very soon: A History of American Tonalism: Crucible of American Modernism 1880 to 1920 by David A Cleveland.
I own two copies of this book's first edition and have just now ordered a copy of the new edition. The book is currently being sold on Amazon for the preorder price of $79. This is a steal given how great this book is. If you have any interest at all in Tonalism, you owe it to yourself to order this book immediately.
The previous edition of this book went out of print many years ago and has been selling for hundreds of dollars on the Internet since that time. Recently it has leveled out at a price of around $200. If I had to, I would pay that or even more. David A Cleveland has written the definitive history of American Tonalism. Not only is the book an easy and inspirational read but the color reproductions in it are excellent, as well there being plenty of them.
I wouldn't be surprised if this new reprint goes out of print quickly as there seems to be a great demand for this book. Hopefully, they will continue to keep it in print now to satisfy that demand. This book belongs on the shelf of any art lover.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Dappled Glade' 8x10; I painted this piece last year in late December/early January. I thought it would be interesting to feature a painting from a year ago as the New Year always seems to be a good time to look back and reflect on the previous year.
I like this kind of painting and I hope to do more as time and good reference make themselves available.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
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| 'Dappled Glade' 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 brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
On today's video narration, I was discussing vignetting. Today's painting 'Dappled Glade' is highly vignetted and therefore it's probably a good time to talk about vignetting as a concept.
The definition from Google for the word "vignette" refers to the type of vignette you have with an illustration that is free of a discernible border. The way that I am referring to vignetting, is more like the photographic term, where the image already in a frame is shaded heavily in some or all of the corners of the picture.
I find vignetting to be a very powerful tool and I use it a lot in my painting. What I like about vignetting the corners and sides of my painting, is that it keeps the viewer inside of the picture plane and also creates drama.
There are times when I have gotten carried away with vignetting, it's really easy to get carried away with it. What I like to do to address this, is create my vignette shading (on my reference image), in a separate layer in Photoshop so that I can preview the image with and without it or if necessary adjust the transparency of the effect.
I'd like to mention (again), that it has been called to my attention by a reader of this blog, that an important book is being reprinted very soon: A History of American Tonalism: Crucible of American Modernism 1880 to 1920 by David A Cleveland.
I own two copies of this book's first edition and have just now ordered a copy of the new edition. The book is currently being sold on Amazon for the preorder price of $79. This is a steal given how great this book is. If you have any interest at all in Tonalism, you owe it to yourself to order this book immediately.
The previous edition of this book went out of print many years ago and has been selling for hundreds of dollars on the Internet since that time. Recently it has leveled out at a price of around $200. If I had to, I would pay that or even more. David A Cleveland has written the definitive history of American Tonalism. Not only is the book an easy and inspirational read but the color reproductions in it are excellent, as well there being plenty of them.
I wouldn't be surprised if this new reprint goes out of print quickly as there seems to be a great demand for this book. Hopefully, they will continue to keep it in print now to satisfy that demand. This book belongs on the shelf of any art lover.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Dappled Glade' 8x10; I painted this piece last year in late December/early January. I thought it would be interesting to feature a painting from a year ago as the New Year always seems to be a good time to look back and reflect on the previous year.
I like this kind of painting and I hope to do more as time and good reference make themselves available.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
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| 'Dappled Glade' by M Francis McCarthy (Detail 1) |
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| 'Dappled Glade' by M Francis McCarthy (Detail 2) |
#9 George Smillie 'Windy Day' - 25 Days of Tonalism
Hello and welcome to Tonalist painting with M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is a study after George Henry Smillie - Windy Day.
Our video features the progression of this study from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
Today I'd like to talk a little bit about the concept of consistency. One of the primary differences between a professional versus an amateur artist, is that the work of the professional artist is invariably more consistent in quality and style.
Some artists consider consistency to be like a plague and something that only artists in the past worried about, that was now best avoided by the "modern artist". This may be because many of your average modern artists have no real artistic skill set, and thus must rely on a combination of copying the work of others, mixed with other assorted random bullshit.
In the past, artists usually received training from the local Master painter in their village or city. If you showed any talent artistically you would often go off to live with the Master and while performing other chores in his employ, the apprentice would be taught the fundamentals of creating art. A great trade-off that has been replaced with either self-education or submersion in waste of time art schools.
The good news these days regarding art schools is that there has been a big resurgence in recent years towards teaching foundational artistic skills to young artists. There are many schools and academies now dedicated to this pursuit. The reason that having good art skills relates to consistency is that without the ability to draw/paint well, you will never be able to create consistent effects in your work.
I'm often surprised at the continued belief of amateur artists in their idea of what inspiration is. It's like they believe that great artists are struck with a lightning bolt from nowhere and only then are able to create something great. This is in clear opposition to the application of a vigorous work ethic applied to their working practice, combined with ongoing efforts at education and illumination.
While my work tends to be consistently professional and also recognizably my own work, I do have peaks and troughs. Those peaks and troughs are not as extreme as they would be were I not well-trained and also hard-working. I find consistency in an artists body of work to be a sign of both hard work and continuing education.
I've written in the past about concepts like style and the influence of other artists. It is common for the amateur artist to be moved about quite easily with each new influence and inspiration they come across. There's absolutely nothing wrong with this if you are starting out, it's good to do a lot of different things and you should not be concerning yourself overly with ideas like style or what your particular style is. For the professional artist though consistency in approach will give their work more gravitas and market saleability.
I'd like to mention that it has been called to my attention by a reader of this blog, that a very important book is being reprinted very soon: A History of American Tonalism: Crucible of American Modernism 1880 to 1920 by David A Cleveland.
I own two copies of this book's first edition and have just now ordered a copy of the new edition. The book is currently being sold on Amazon for the preorder price of $79. This is a steal given how great this book is. If you have any interest at all in Tonalism, you owe it to yourself to order this book immediately.
The previous edition of this book went out of print many years ago and has been selling for hundreds of dollars on the Internet since that time. Recently it has leveled out at a price of around $200. If I had to, I would pay that or even more. David A Cleveland has written the definitive history of American Tonalism. Not only is the book an easy and inspirational read but the color reproductions in it are excellent, as well there being plenty of them.
As an aside, I had purchased his previous work about Charles Warren Eaton for some big money, unfortunately this is not as great as his book on American Tonalism, though I still value owning it. It is full of black-and-white reproductions and that is one of my pet peeves with older art books. I guess it was unavoidable in the days when color reproduction was more expensive.
I wouldn't be surprised if this new reprint goes out of print quickly as there seems to be a great demand for this book. Hopefully they will continue to keep it in print now to satisfy that demand. This book belongs on the shelf of any art lover.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about my study painted after George Henry Smillie - 'Windy Day'; George was not technically considered to be a Tonalist but he worked during the time of the Tonalist era and this particular painting resonates with me as a Tonalist work.
It's good to keep in mind that artists at that time were not as into definitions and distinctions about, what to them, was modern art as we are now a hundred years later.
I enjoyed doing this study and it was one of the paintings that I had been most looking forward to making a study of back when I was collecting inspiration for the 25 days of tonalism project.
Info about George here
To see more of my work, visit my site here
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| Painted after - 'Windy Day' by George Smillie, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
Our video features the progression of this study from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
Today I'd like to talk a little bit about the concept of consistency. One of the primary differences between a professional versus an amateur artist, is that the work of the professional artist is invariably more consistent in quality and style.
Some artists consider consistency to be like a plague and something that only artists in the past worried about, that was now best avoided by the "modern artist". This may be because many of your average modern artists have no real artistic skill set, and thus must rely on a combination of copying the work of others, mixed with other assorted random bullshit.
In the past, artists usually received training from the local Master painter in their village or city. If you showed any talent artistically you would often go off to live with the Master and while performing other chores in his employ, the apprentice would be taught the fundamentals of creating art. A great trade-off that has been replaced with either self-education or submersion in waste of time art schools.
The good news these days regarding art schools is that there has been a big resurgence in recent years towards teaching foundational artistic skills to young artists. There are many schools and academies now dedicated to this pursuit. The reason that having good art skills relates to consistency is that without the ability to draw/paint well, you will never be able to create consistent effects in your work.
I'm often surprised at the continued belief of amateur artists in their idea of what inspiration is. It's like they believe that great artists are struck with a lightning bolt from nowhere and only then are able to create something great. This is in clear opposition to the application of a vigorous work ethic applied to their working practice, combined with ongoing efforts at education and illumination.
While my work tends to be consistently professional and also recognizably my own work, I do have peaks and troughs. Those peaks and troughs are not as extreme as they would be were I not well-trained and also hard-working. I find consistency in an artists body of work to be a sign of both hard work and continuing education.
I've written in the past about concepts like style and the influence of other artists. It is common for the amateur artist to be moved about quite easily with each new influence and inspiration they come across. There's absolutely nothing wrong with this if you are starting out, it's good to do a lot of different things and you should not be concerning yourself overly with ideas like style or what your particular style is. For the professional artist though consistency in approach will give their work more gravitas and market saleability.
I'd like to mention that it has been called to my attention by a reader of this blog, that a very important book is being reprinted very soon: A History of American Tonalism: Crucible of American Modernism 1880 to 1920 by David A Cleveland.
I own two copies of this book's first edition and have just now ordered a copy of the new edition. The book is currently being sold on Amazon for the preorder price of $79. This is a steal given how great this book is. If you have any interest at all in Tonalism, you owe it to yourself to order this book immediately.
The previous edition of this book went out of print many years ago and has been selling for hundreds of dollars on the Internet since that time. Recently it has leveled out at a price of around $200. If I had to, I would pay that or even more. David A Cleveland has written the definitive history of American Tonalism. Not only is the book an easy and inspirational read but the color reproductions in it are excellent, as well there being plenty of them.
As an aside, I had purchased his previous work about Charles Warren Eaton for some big money, unfortunately this is not as great as his book on American Tonalism, though I still value owning it. It is full of black-and-white reproductions and that is one of my pet peeves with older art books. I guess it was unavoidable in the days when color reproduction was more expensive.
I wouldn't be surprised if this new reprint goes out of print quickly as there seems to be a great demand for this book. Hopefully they will continue to keep it in print now to satisfy that demand. This book belongs on the shelf of any art lover.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about my study painted after George Henry Smillie - 'Windy Day'; George was not technically considered to be a Tonalist but he worked during the time of the Tonalist era and this particular painting resonates with me as a Tonalist work.
It's good to keep in mind that artists at that time were not as into definitions and distinctions about, what to them, was modern art as we are now a hundred years later.
I enjoyed doing this study and it was one of the paintings that I had been most looking forward to making a study of back when I was collecting inspiration for the 25 days of tonalism project.
Info about George here
To see more of my work, visit my site here
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| Original painting, 'Windy Day' by George Smiley |
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| Study after 'Windy Day' by George Smiley (Detail) |
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| Study after 'Windy Day' by George Smiley (Detail 2) |
Dappled Glade 5x7
Hello and welcome to Tonalist painting with M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is 'Dappled Glade' 5x7.
Our video features the progression of this painting from its initial underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
Today I'd like to talk about painting substrates. I'm sure this is a topic we have covered before but it's always good to revisit such a critical element of the painting process. Like most people I started out painting on canvas when I first began doing oil paintings. Because I was painting quite small I found the canvas texture to be overly dominant. It wasn't until later that I learned about the differences between cotton and linen canvases.
As I began studying the different aspects of oil painting while doing small paintings, I discovered that many artists painted on various types of wood panel. After learning this I went down to my local contractor supply store and ordered some Lauan panels. I had them cut them into small sizes and started painting on them.
After having done a few paintings on raw wood (which I found quite enjoyable to work on), I learned that the wood panels needed to be properly primed before being painted on or they would absorb the painting into the panel over time. Initially, I started doing my board prep with house paint. Eventually, I moved on to different preparation techniques (this is a topic for another blog post).
I enjoyed painting on the Lauan panels but they were very thin and kind of wonky. I started trying out different types of wood. One thing I really enjoyed about painting on wood was that the wood texture could be nicely integrated into the final painting surface. This looks really good unless the wood grain is too deep and intense. While in the USA I painted on several different types of wood panel one of my favorites was maple.
After coming to New Zealand I endeavored to find a good supplier of wood panels here and eventually found a guy in my town who was very helpful. One of the things that I had decided to do after moving to New Zealand was to start working in larger painting sizes, so I had my panel guy cut me some 8x12's and 12x16 out of Pine. Pine is quite pleasant to work on but as it is very soft I found it unsuitable for working at larger sizes. Also sometimes the texture isn't quite right depending on the panel.
After trying the pine panels I got into painting on Kauri Marine ply. The surface quality of the Kauri was really nice but there was a problem with it that became clear as I worked on larger paintings. The issue that I ran into was that there was sometimes warping in the boards even before I put any paint on them. This warping is not the worst thing in the world, the painting can be forced into a frame and securely fastened in. When I started selling work online I became concerned that it would be offputting to people who had invested in my paintings.
After some research and working with my ply supplier Scooters here in Whangarei, I arrived upon a solution. What we came up with was a laminated MDF board. The laminated MDF boards are about 7 mm thick and have a laminate of Kauri on both sides. I have to order the boards custom and they are not cheap. However, they are comparable in cost to fine art canvas on stretcher bars. The laminated Kauri board lays completely flat and for the last two years that I've been using this substrate, I've had great results with it.
As an aside to this substrate topic I would like to mention that I see many artists painting on cheaply available pre-stretched canvas'. While this is not the worst possible thing you could do, it is certainly not great. These cheap canvases have several issues. First of all, they are made out of cotton duck instead of linen so they are quite coarse, the texture is not very pleasing. Another issue is that they are made with cheap stretcher bars that are often not square and can warp and buckle over time. If I were painting on canvas, I would only paint on high-quality linen canvas with custom-made stretcher bars. One great truth about art is how you start is how you finish.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Dappled Glade' 5x 7; as I stated on the video, this painting is based on a portion of a larger reference photo that I took many years ago. One day while going through various photos I've taken I saw this area of that photo and visualized a painting. I enjoy doing this type of intimate forest scene and I'm sure I'm going to be doing more in the coming year.
To see more of my work, visit my site here.
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| Dappled Glade' by M Francis McCarthy, 5x7 Oil Painting on Wood Panel |
Our video features the progression of this painting from its initial underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
Today I'd like to talk about painting substrates. I'm sure this is a topic we have covered before but it's always good to revisit such a critical element of the painting process. Like most people I started out painting on canvas when I first began doing oil paintings. Because I was painting quite small I found the canvas texture to be overly dominant. It wasn't until later that I learned about the differences between cotton and linen canvases.
As I began studying the different aspects of oil painting while doing small paintings, I discovered that many artists painted on various types of wood panel. After learning this I went down to my local contractor supply store and ordered some Lauan panels. I had them cut them into small sizes and started painting on them.
After having done a few paintings on raw wood (which I found quite enjoyable to work on), I learned that the wood panels needed to be properly primed before being painted on or they would absorb the painting into the panel over time. Initially, I started doing my board prep with house paint. Eventually, I moved on to different preparation techniques (this is a topic for another blog post).
I enjoyed painting on the Lauan panels but they were very thin and kind of wonky. I started trying out different types of wood. One thing I really enjoyed about painting on wood was that the wood texture could be nicely integrated into the final painting surface. This looks really good unless the wood grain is too deep and intense. While in the USA I painted on several different types of wood panel one of my favorites was maple.
After coming to New Zealand I endeavored to find a good supplier of wood panels here and eventually found a guy in my town who was very helpful. One of the things that I had decided to do after moving to New Zealand was to start working in larger painting sizes, so I had my panel guy cut me some 8x12's and 12x16 out of Pine. Pine is quite pleasant to work on but as it is very soft I found it unsuitable for working at larger sizes. Also sometimes the texture isn't quite right depending on the panel.
After trying the pine panels I got into painting on Kauri Marine ply. The surface quality of the Kauri was really nice but there was a problem with it that became clear as I worked on larger paintings. The issue that I ran into was that there was sometimes warping in the boards even before I put any paint on them. This warping is not the worst thing in the world, the painting can be forced into a frame and securely fastened in. When I started selling work online I became concerned that it would be offputting to people who had invested in my paintings.
After some research and working with my ply supplier Scooters here in Whangarei, I arrived upon a solution. What we came up with was a laminated MDF board. The laminated MDF boards are about 7 mm thick and have a laminate of Kauri on both sides. I have to order the boards custom and they are not cheap. However, they are comparable in cost to fine art canvas on stretcher bars. The laminated Kauri board lays completely flat and for the last two years that I've been using this substrate, I've had great results with it.
As an aside to this substrate topic I would like to mention that I see many artists painting on cheaply available pre-stretched canvas'. While this is not the worst possible thing you could do, it is certainly not great. These cheap canvases have several issues. First of all, they are made out of cotton duck instead of linen so they are quite coarse, the texture is not very pleasing. Another issue is that they are made with cheap stretcher bars that are often not square and can warp and buckle over time. If I were painting on canvas, I would only paint on high-quality linen canvas with custom-made stretcher bars. One great truth about art is how you start is how you finish.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Dappled Glade' 5x 7; as I stated on the video, this painting is based on a portion of a larger reference photo that I took many years ago. One day while going through various photos I've taken I saw this area of that photo and visualized a painting. I enjoy doing this type of intimate forest scene and I'm sure I'm going to be doing more in the coming year.
To see more of my work, visit my site here.
 |
| Dappled Glade 5x7 (Detail) |
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| Dappled Glade 5x7 (Detail 2) |
#8 Edward Bannister 'Oak Trees' - 25 Days of Tonalism
Hello and welcome to Tonalist painting with M Francis McCarthy.
Today's study is painted after 'Oak Trees' by Edward Mitchell Bannister.
Our video features the progression of this study from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
I thought it would be good to talk with you today about the concept of insight. There are three major ways to improve as an artist, education, hard work and insight. Of these three concepts, education and hard work (are for the most part) self-explanatory. The concept of insight is more nebulous but equally as important to one's artistic development.
Here is the definition of insight that Google pops up:
insight
noun
the capacity to gain an accurate and deep understanding of someone or something.
"his mind soared to previously unattainable heights of insight"
That's what insight is, but this definition does not really answer the question of how to attain it. Insight can be a bit of a slippery fish to acquire. The short answer regarding how to attain insight would be that it is arrived at mostly through education and hard work.
By working hard and constantly educating ourselves about the history of landscape painting and the amazing artists that have come before us, we can and will achieve insights. One good insight can completely change the direction of your work and solve a myriad of problems that previous to the insight were insurmountable.
I've noticed that early on in my career as a landscape painter the insights came fast and furious. As I progressed I've had to work harder in my career to achieve and understand greater insights. When you first start out there is a lot of low-hanging fruit that is easy to collect, yet as you advance you must climb higher up the archetypal tree and take chances if you want to get your work to another level.
When I first started out learning how to paint I had a lot of books and DVDs that I would consult, as well as online forums. These days, I do that far less but I do spend time looking at the great work of painters, this helps me progress. It seems that insight comes in more subtle and deeply unconscious ways these days. For someone who has progressed to a certain level, it's no longer an overt process that can be mechanically stimulated, it has to rise organically.
A short post today, but a valuable concept to consider. One of the main purposes of my blog here is to help other artists and fans of art achieve and attain greater insights so that they can improve and further their own understanding of painting.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about my study after 'Oak Trees' by Edward Mitchell Banister; this is an interesting composition and I'm happy with the way this study turned out.
I have taken quite a few shortcuts as per usual with myMaster studies. This is absolutely necessary because I am painting at a much smaller scale than the original by Edward Mitchell Banister. One of the primary techniques I've used here is the use of the dry brush effect to simulate detail from the larger original work.
Info about Ed here.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
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| Painted after - 'Oak Trees' by Edward Mitchell Bannister, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
Our video features the progression of this study from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
I thought it would be good to talk with you today about the concept of insight. There are three major ways to improve as an artist, education, hard work and insight. Of these three concepts, education and hard work (are for the most part) self-explanatory. The concept of insight is more nebulous but equally as important to one's artistic development.
Here is the definition of insight that Google pops up:
insight
noun
the capacity to gain an accurate and deep understanding of someone or something.
"his mind soared to previously unattainable heights of insight"
That's what insight is, but this definition does not really answer the question of how to attain it. Insight can be a bit of a slippery fish to acquire. The short answer regarding how to attain insight would be that it is arrived at mostly through education and hard work.
By working hard and constantly educating ourselves about the history of landscape painting and the amazing artists that have come before us, we can and will achieve insights. One good insight can completely change the direction of your work and solve a myriad of problems that previous to the insight were insurmountable.
I've noticed that early on in my career as a landscape painter the insights came fast and furious. As I progressed I've had to work harder in my career to achieve and understand greater insights. When you first start out there is a lot of low-hanging fruit that is easy to collect, yet as you advance you must climb higher up the archetypal tree and take chances if you want to get your work to another level.
When I first started out learning how to paint I had a lot of books and DVDs that I would consult, as well as online forums. These days, I do that far less but I do spend time looking at the great work of painters, this helps me progress. It seems that insight comes in more subtle and deeply unconscious ways these days. For someone who has progressed to a certain level, it's no longer an overt process that can be mechanically stimulated, it has to rise organically.
A short post today, but a valuable concept to consider. One of the main purposes of my blog here is to help other artists and fans of art achieve and attain greater insights so that they can improve and further their own understanding of painting.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about my study after 'Oak Trees' by Edward Mitchell Banister; this is an interesting composition and I'm happy with the way this study turned out.
I have taken quite a few shortcuts as per usual with myMaster studies. This is absolutely necessary because I am painting at a much smaller scale than the original by Edward Mitchell Banister. One of the primary techniques I've used here is the use of the dry brush effect to simulate detail from the larger original work.
Info about Ed here.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
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| Original painting, 'Oak Trees' by Edward Mitchell Bannister |
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River Glow 14x14
Hello and welcome to Tonalist painting with M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is 'River Glow' 14x14.
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
I have a list of topics on my desk that I make notes on when I think of something that would be good to write a blog about. Usually, I get through all the topics on the list but occasionally there is a topic that I never actually get to and just end up carrying through from list to list. Today's topic is one of those topics.
Why is it so dark?
I get asked this question by visitors to my studio occasionally. While it seems to be a simple question that would ideally elicit a simple answer, the reasons why some of the paintings are dark is not always simple to me.
Our vision/perception of the reality around us is completely subjective. As an artist, it's very important to be aware of this and it is one of the reasons that creating art is interesting and valuable to society because it shows us how other people see things.
Our perception of a unified view in front of us is actually being created from many discrete perceptions that are collected and then composited by our brains into a cohesive scene. This process is automatic and therefore not usually acknowledged or recognized by most people. It is just taken for granted that things look the way they look and that's how it is.
This is not a problem because for the most part we are perceiving the important things the same. If there is a tree in front of us we will go around it etc. So, how does this lead us to today's theme of why is that painting so dark?
If you are looking at the sunset, the sky is illuminated and the objects in front of it are naturally going to be darker. However, because of the nature of human vision/perception we can draw more light into the shadow areas. For this reason we perceive light in the sky and light in the foliage at the same time. By the way, there are ways that you can accomplish this with photography (HDR) but it's interesting to note that photographs treated this way often appear to be very artificial and synthetic in a bad way.
Because I like to paint pictures with bright colorful skies and I want to have a natural sort of feeling, I must necessarily make the objects offset against those skies darker. In actuality, the objects in my reference are usually much darker than how I rendered them in my painting. I am lightening things up quite a lot but it's important as an artist to recognize where you can get too carried away and move into a sort of HDR type of landscape painting that looks gaudy and unreal.
This is not as much of a problem if you are painting scenes in bright daylight. There is direct light from the sun and refracted light all around that is creating many different light effects. At its core, Impressionism deals with this sort of light. Tonalism on the other hand (at least as I practice it), focuses primarily on late afternoon or twilight. While there is a lots of light around in the scene it is not from one direct source like the sun, it is from the entire sky being illuminated. The reflected light from the sky illuminates objects but in a less direct way.
I guess you could say many of my paintings are dark because I am painting darker times of the day. That would be a good approximation of a simple answer. I'm glad we worked this out today here on the blog. Next time someone comes into the studio that's what I'll tell them.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'River Glow' 14x14; this painting is was created from reference composited from some photos I took on my recent trip through England and California. I am very happy with it and it's reflective of the direction I would like my work to go in 2017.
To see more of my work, visit my site here.
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| 'River Glow' by M Francis McCarthy,14x14 Oil Painting on Wood Panel |
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
I have a list of topics on my desk that I make notes on when I think of something that would be good to write a blog about. Usually, I get through all the topics on the list but occasionally there is a topic that I never actually get to and just end up carrying through from list to list. Today's topic is one of those topics.
Why is it so dark?
I get asked this question by visitors to my studio occasionally. While it seems to be a simple question that would ideally elicit a simple answer, the reasons why some of the paintings are dark is not always simple to me.
Our vision/perception of the reality around us is completely subjective. As an artist, it's very important to be aware of this and it is one of the reasons that creating art is interesting and valuable to society because it shows us how other people see things.
Our perception of a unified view in front of us is actually being created from many discrete perceptions that are collected and then composited by our brains into a cohesive scene. This process is automatic and therefore not usually acknowledged or recognized by most people. It is just taken for granted that things look the way they look and that's how it is.
This is not a problem because for the most part we are perceiving the important things the same. If there is a tree in front of us we will go around it etc. So, how does this lead us to today's theme of why is that painting so dark?
If you are looking at the sunset, the sky is illuminated and the objects in front of it are naturally going to be darker. However, because of the nature of human vision/perception we can draw more light into the shadow areas. For this reason we perceive light in the sky and light in the foliage at the same time. By the way, there are ways that you can accomplish this with photography (HDR) but it's interesting to note that photographs treated this way often appear to be very artificial and synthetic in a bad way.
Because I like to paint pictures with bright colorful skies and I want to have a natural sort of feeling, I must necessarily make the objects offset against those skies darker. In actuality, the objects in my reference are usually much darker than how I rendered them in my painting. I am lightening things up quite a lot but it's important as an artist to recognize where you can get too carried away and move into a sort of HDR type of landscape painting that looks gaudy and unreal.
This is not as much of a problem if you are painting scenes in bright daylight. There is direct light from the sun and refracted light all around that is creating many different light effects. At its core, Impressionism deals with this sort of light. Tonalism on the other hand (at least as I practice it), focuses primarily on late afternoon or twilight. While there is a lots of light around in the scene it is not from one direct source like the sun, it is from the entire sky being illuminated. The reflected light from the sky illuminates objects but in a less direct way.
I guess you could say many of my paintings are dark because I am painting darker times of the day. That would be a good approximation of a simple answer. I'm glad we worked this out today here on the blog. Next time someone comes into the studio that's what I'll tell them.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'River Glow' 14x14; this painting is was created from reference composited from some photos I took on my recent trip through England and California. I am very happy with it and it's reflective of the direction I would like my work to go in 2017.
To see more of my work, visit my site here.
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| 'River Glow' 14x14 (Detail 1) |
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| 'River Glow' 14x14 (Detail 2) |
#7 Camille Corot 'The Pond' - 25 Days of Tonalism
Hello and welcome to Tonalist painting with M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is a study after Camille Corot 'The Pond'.
Our video features the progression of this study from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
While narrating today's video, I touched upon the concept of inspiration versus illustration. For those of you that do not know, I worked as a commercial illustrator for 13 years. I was employed full-time to create illustrations for all sorts of merchandise but mostly T-shirts. I consider this one of the best learning situations I've ever been in because I was forced to work quickly to produce excellent illustrations that had immediate impact and appealed to a retail market.
Inspiration versus illustration is a challenging topic to address, mostly because I am talking about subtle internal processes. This is something I think about quite often and I feel it's worthwhile to try and express the differences and distinctions that I see between illustration and fine art.
Creating an illustration is much like creating any other work of art, in that it requires intention, research and execution. The primary difference is that an illustration is created for a specific purpose like a design or to sell a product. While you can create exquisite and moving art as an illustrator that might qualify as fine art, the intention behind the creation of an illustration is usually commercially driven and this greatly affects the art created.
Underlying any work of art is intention. Intention is the force that drives the work through all of the myriad stages it goes through from conception to completion. Inspiration, is a byproduct of my intention to create a painting that is beautiful and emotionally cogent. For this reason, I do not always succeed as often at creating something great while pursuing fine art landscape painting as I did when I was a commercial illustrator.
You will often hear me talking on the videos about the relative success I had in the studio on that day or week. This is very different than my life in the studio as a commercial illustrator where I felt that I was always building on a previous success. Because I was solving commercial problems with limited schedules, I would use almost any sort of tool at my disposal to get the job done.
Another significant difference between illustration and fine art is that illustration greatly relies on style and technique to get across the meaning and significance of the artwork created. While this could also be true of fine art, I would argue that the fine artist style should ideally be created as a byproduct of the inspiration, driving the artwork rather than the other way around. We had a blog post about this topic recently and I conveyed some of my ideas about "style" there.
The one strong consistent aspect between being an illustrator and now working as a fine artist is that I have always strived to create the most excellent art that I was able to in the moment. As a fine artist though I will not cheat in any significant way. By cheating I mean copying the style or intent of another artist. There is no motive to do this because I am endeavoring to express what is individually unique about myself using oil paint and paint brushes and I have unlimited time to do that.
These are some of my thoughts on this topic. I may get into this again at a later date.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about my study of "The Pond" by Camille Corot; as I mentioned in the video, I have removed the figure from Camille's original design, also I have forced it into a square shape. For most of the square-shaped motifs in the 25 days of Tonalism project, this has been the case.
It's interesting how few artists have utilized the square format for landscape painting as opposed to the more traditional rectangle. In the case of this painting, it looks like Camille was working with a proportion of 3x4, so not too hard to add a little bit of sky at the top. I like the square format quite a lot and use it for about one-third of my paintings.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Painted after - 'The Pond' by Camille Corot, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x5, Oil on wood panel |
Our video features the progression of this study from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
While narrating today's video, I touched upon the concept of inspiration versus illustration. For those of you that do not know, I worked as a commercial illustrator for 13 years. I was employed full-time to create illustrations for all sorts of merchandise but mostly T-shirts. I consider this one of the best learning situations I've ever been in because I was forced to work quickly to produce excellent illustrations that had immediate impact and appealed to a retail market.
Inspiration versus illustration is a challenging topic to address, mostly because I am talking about subtle internal processes. This is something I think about quite often and I feel it's worthwhile to try and express the differences and distinctions that I see between illustration and fine art.
Creating an illustration is much like creating any other work of art, in that it requires intention, research and execution. The primary difference is that an illustration is created for a specific purpose like a design or to sell a product. While you can create exquisite and moving art as an illustrator that might qualify as fine art, the intention behind the creation of an illustration is usually commercially driven and this greatly affects the art created.
Underlying any work of art is intention. Intention is the force that drives the work through all of the myriad stages it goes through from conception to completion. Inspiration, is a byproduct of my intention to create a painting that is beautiful and emotionally cogent. For this reason, I do not always succeed as often at creating something great while pursuing fine art landscape painting as I did when I was a commercial illustrator.
You will often hear me talking on the videos about the relative success I had in the studio on that day or week. This is very different than my life in the studio as a commercial illustrator where I felt that I was always building on a previous success. Because I was solving commercial problems with limited schedules, I would use almost any sort of tool at my disposal to get the job done.
Another significant difference between illustration and fine art is that illustration greatly relies on style and technique to get across the meaning and significance of the artwork created. While this could also be true of fine art, I would argue that the fine artist style should ideally be created as a byproduct of the inspiration, driving the artwork rather than the other way around. We had a blog post about this topic recently and I conveyed some of my ideas about "style" there.
The one strong consistent aspect between being an illustrator and now working as a fine artist is that I have always strived to create the most excellent art that I was able to in the moment. As a fine artist though I will not cheat in any significant way. By cheating I mean copying the style or intent of another artist. There is no motive to do this because I am endeavoring to express what is individually unique about myself using oil paint and paint brushes and I have unlimited time to do that.
These are some of my thoughts on this topic. I may get into this again at a later date.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about my study of "The Pond" by Camille Corot; as I mentioned in the video, I have removed the figure from Camille's original design, also I have forced it into a square shape. For most of the square-shaped motifs in the 25 days of Tonalism project, this has been the case.
It's interesting how few artists have utilized the square format for landscape painting as opposed to the more traditional rectangle. In the case of this painting, it looks like Camille was working with a proportion of 3x4, so not too hard to add a little bit of sky at the top. I like the square format quite a lot and use it for about one-third of my paintings.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Original painting, Camille Corot 'The Pond' |
 |
| Painted after - 'The Pond' by Camille Corot (Detail 1) |
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| Painted after - 'The Pond' by Camille Corot (Detail 2) |
River Glow 5x5
Hello and welcome to Tonalist painting with M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is 'River Glow' 5x5.
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
While painting I listen to several different podcasts. I find it helpful to have some talk going on in the background while I paint and since two different parts of my brain are being engaged, I'm able to learn things and/or be amused at the same time I am doing my painting.
Recently, on the Gavin McInnis podcast he had mentioned that "there was nothing new in stand-up comedy much like there was nothing new in landscape painting." I found this to be a remarkable coincidence since I was in the process of creating a landscape painting while listening to his podcast, and his podcast usually has nothing at all to do with landscape painting.
He brings up a good point though. Is there anything new in landscape painting? While I can honestly say that I've never seen anyone paint quite the way I do, I don't consider what I do to be new in any way, shape or form. For the most part, I would say there is no way to do anything "new" with painting of any type, whether it be portrait, landscape or abstract it's all been done already.
I guess to some people this would mean that painting and landscape painting specifically were artistic dead ends. This idea points to a larger philosophical question pertaining to something having a new quality being valuable in and of itself. Certainly, newness is a real commodity in the modern era. In my view, newness must ultimately be abandoned in favor of other criteria that is of greater significance to the fine artist.
When newness is the pursuit of any media, the art produced can often be a combination of outlandish and trite and also not terribly "new" if you wipe off some of the surface trappings to peer underneath to the foundations of how the art was constructed. This would apply to music, architecture and painting not to mention stand-up comedy.
For my part, I never have set out to do anything new. I have tried my best to express how I feel with paint, and landscape painting for me is the best way to do this. When I first started painting, I was essentially just duplicating my photographic reference in paint with a brush. As time progressed and I gained skill, I became increasingly aware of the problems with this limited way of working and thinking. I also became more and more interested in the Tonalist painters that came more than a hundred years ago.
I became interested in these older painters because their work struck an emotive chord with me and I felt a kindred relationship with them. From that point forward, I set out to express myself using the same Tonalist language as Tonalist painters from the 1800s.
In its pursuit of the new, art history has for the most part, left a lot of these Tonalist guys somewhere in a dark cupboard. The reasons for this are many and perhaps a good topic for another blog post. Suffice to say I resonated with the Tonalist style of painting and decided to learn how to use that same language to express myself in the modern era.
I do not consider my paintings to be traditional, though I understand they will be labeled so. I'm not bothered by that. Especially because all of us as people are labeled all the time in ways that are reflective of just a small part of who and what we are. How something is labeled is not as important as what it is.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'River Glow' 5x5; I'm very happy with this little study. There's a bit of grain coming through that I am generally not too keen about but it works here okay.
This is one of the occasions where a study really helped to inform and inspire the larger version of this motif. I'll talk more about this next week when we go over the large version of 'River Glow.'
To see more of my work, visit my site here.
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| 'River Glow' by M Francis McCarthy, 5x5 Oil Painting on Wood Panel |
Today's painting is 'River Glow' 5x5.
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
While painting I listen to several different podcasts. I find it helpful to have some talk going on in the background while I paint and since two different parts of my brain are being engaged, I'm able to learn things and/or be amused at the same time I am doing my painting.
Recently, on the Gavin McInnis podcast he had mentioned that "there was nothing new in stand-up comedy much like there was nothing new in landscape painting." I found this to be a remarkable coincidence since I was in the process of creating a landscape painting while listening to his podcast, and his podcast usually has nothing at all to do with landscape painting.
He brings up a good point though. Is there anything new in landscape painting? While I can honestly say that I've never seen anyone paint quite the way I do, I don't consider what I do to be new in any way, shape or form. For the most part, I would say there is no way to do anything "new" with painting of any type, whether it be portrait, landscape or abstract it's all been done already.
I guess to some people this would mean that painting and landscape painting specifically were artistic dead ends. This idea points to a larger philosophical question pertaining to something having a new quality being valuable in and of itself. Certainly, newness is a real commodity in the modern era. In my view, newness must ultimately be abandoned in favor of other criteria that is of greater significance to the fine artist.
When newness is the pursuit of any media, the art produced can often be a combination of outlandish and trite and also not terribly "new" if you wipe off some of the surface trappings to peer underneath to the foundations of how the art was constructed. This would apply to music, architecture and painting not to mention stand-up comedy.
For my part, I never have set out to do anything new. I have tried my best to express how I feel with paint, and landscape painting for me is the best way to do this. When I first started painting, I was essentially just duplicating my photographic reference in paint with a brush. As time progressed and I gained skill, I became increasingly aware of the problems with this limited way of working and thinking. I also became more and more interested in the Tonalist painters that came more than a hundred years ago.
I became interested in these older painters because their work struck an emotive chord with me and I felt a kindred relationship with them. From that point forward, I set out to express myself using the same Tonalist language as Tonalist painters from the 1800s.
In its pursuit of the new, art history has for the most part, left a lot of these Tonalist guys somewhere in a dark cupboard. The reasons for this are many and perhaps a good topic for another blog post. Suffice to say I resonated with the Tonalist style of painting and decided to learn how to use that same language to express myself in the modern era.
I do not consider my paintings to be traditional, though I understand they will be labeled so. I'm not bothered by that. Especially because all of us as people are labeled all the time in ways that are reflective of just a small part of who and what we are. How something is labeled is not as important as what it is.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'River Glow' 5x5; I'm very happy with this little study. There's a bit of grain coming through that I am generally not too keen about but it works here okay.
This is one of the occasions where a study really helped to inform and inspire the larger version of this motif. I'll talk more about this next week when we go over the large version of 'River Glow.'
To see more of my work, visit my site here.
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| River Glow 5x5 (Detail) |
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| River Glow 5x5 (Detail 2) |
#6 Leon Richet "Landscape" - 25 Days of Tonalism
Hello and welcome to Tonalist painting with M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is a study after Leon Richet 'Landscape'.
Our video features the progression of this study from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
Today, I'd like to talk about areas of landscape painting that I call "eye-catching spots". I wish I had a more elegant term for this particular painting phenomenon but "eye-catching spots" is the best I could come up with.
"Eye-catching spots" refers to areas of the painting that catch the viewer's eye intentionally or inadvertently. The goal of a landscape painter is (of course), always to make it intentionally. This idea could refer to composition (the overall underlying structure of the painting), yet many times, "eye-catching spots" are created accidentally and have nothing much to do with the painting's composition.
Here are some general ways "eye-catching spots" are created:
If you watch my videos you will see there is almost always a time (usually at the end of each painting session), where I go over my painting with a palette knife. Many times it doesn't seem from watching the video that I am doing much of anything but what I am usually doing with the knife is obviating these "eye-catching spots". This takes care of the spots that I am seeing consciously.
As far as catching the spots that I do not readily see, that usually occurs while my painting is in my studio's drying area. Over the time that the painting is drying and I am working on other works, I am visually scanning the painting and looking for areas that can be improved or for these "eye-catching spots".
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about my study after Leon Richet 'Landscape'; as I stated in the video this painting got a lot a favorable attention, well it was in the drying area of my studio. A lot of people were getting excited by the fact that I had painted a cottage into a landscape scene which is not something that I usually do.
It's not something I plan on doing a lot more of either but I am happy with the way this study turned out and I really enjoy Leon as a painter and hope to make more studies after his work in the future. I have some links to information about Leon Richet here and here.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Painted after - 'Landscape' by Leon Richet, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
Our video features the progression of this study from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
Today, I'd like to talk about areas of landscape painting that I call "eye-catching spots". I wish I had a more elegant term for this particular painting phenomenon but "eye-catching spots" is the best I could come up with.
"Eye-catching spots" refers to areas of the painting that catch the viewer's eye intentionally or inadvertently. The goal of a landscape painter is (of course), always to make it intentionally. This idea could refer to composition (the overall underlying structure of the painting), yet many times, "eye-catching spots" are created accidentally and have nothing much to do with the painting's composition.
Here are some general ways "eye-catching spots" are created:
- Areas that are brighter than the surrounding areas, whether due to pigmentation or glare coming off the painting.
- Areas significantly darker that are isolated by bright areas surrounding them.
- Human figures or animals in a landscape painting.
- Bits of dried paint that are a different color than the paint around them or just sticking out enough to catch the light.
- A brush stroke or brushstrokes going a very different direction or color than the surrounding brushwork.
- Hairs from a brush
- Big blobs of paint that stand out from the overall surface.
If you watch my videos you will see there is almost always a time (usually at the end of each painting session), where I go over my painting with a palette knife. Many times it doesn't seem from watching the video that I am doing much of anything but what I am usually doing with the knife is obviating these "eye-catching spots". This takes care of the spots that I am seeing consciously.
As far as catching the spots that I do not readily see, that usually occurs while my painting is in my studio's drying area. Over the time that the painting is drying and I am working on other works, I am visually scanning the painting and looking for areas that can be improved or for these "eye-catching spots".
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about my study after Leon Richet 'Landscape'; as I stated in the video this painting got a lot a favorable attention, well it was in the drying area of my studio. A lot of people were getting excited by the fact that I had painted a cottage into a landscape scene which is not something that I usually do.
It's not something I plan on doing a lot more of either but I am happy with the way this study turned out and I really enjoy Leon as a painter and hope to make more studies after his work in the future. I have some links to information about Leon Richet here and here.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Original painting, "Landscape" by Leon Richet |
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| "Landscape" by Leon Richet (Detail) |
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| "Landscape" by Leon Richet (Detail 2) |
River Sunset 14x20
Hello and welcome to Tonalist painting with M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is 'River Sunset' 14x20.
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
Yesterday we were talking about influence by other artists on this blog. Today I would like to talk about style which is a topic that is directly related. I know I've talked about style before on this blog so feel free to do a search if you would like to see my previous views on this subject.
I relate artistic style and influence very closely together. Young artists and amateurs are always very interested and enamored by style. Style is one of the aspects of a painting that we can most readily perceive and sort of hang our hat on. As you mature as an artist style becomes less and less relevant to you. Style becomes something that is just a part of your process and your personality. This is appropriate and desirable.
While I was employed as a commercial illustrator, I was often required to ape the style of other artists. As an intellectual exercise this can be quite fun but it is not very satisfying from the standpoint of being a true artist. There is no way to copyright a style and it can be especially harsh for the artist who is being knocked off to see replicants of his approach in the marketplace.
When you set out to learn painting you are obviously going to be attracted to different styles by the different artists you admire. If you're somebody who is just starting out I think it's absolutely fine to do your best to duplicate what they are doing by making studies after their paintings. When you actively copy another artists style as a mature/professional artist it is essentially a criminal act. Not criminal in the eyes of the law but morally bankrupt.
When I do my studies after the Masters, I think it is okay to make them because most of the artists are for one, long dead and two, they were all traditional Tonalist or Barbizon painters and so already working in the type of style that I do in my own work.
By the way, it's important if you do make a study after another artists painting to always attribute them clearly on the back of the work itself so that people in the future are aware that you were making a study after another artist and not creating a completely original work.
When I am making studies after the paintings of Masters I am not concerned with duplicating their style. What I am mostly after is getting to the deep inner core of their work, and hopefully absorbing some of that goodness into my own work. I put my focus mostly on getting the composition and colors right and not so much their particular approach to brushwork and paint handling (the most defining of "style"). Another thing that precludes me from directly copying their particular approach is that I am painting my studies very small and they generally worked much larger.
You can sum all the above in a nutshell, I would say that young artists and amateurs are very interested in style and professional artists just find it difficult to escape.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'River Sunset' 14x20; this painting was painted over the top of a less successful work that I did recently. I am happier with 'River Sunset' than I was with that other painting, though there are a few areas that I feel could be better.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| 'River Sunset' by M Francis McCarthy, 14x20 Oil Painting on Wood Panel |
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
Yesterday we were talking about influence by other artists on this blog. Today I would like to talk about style which is a topic that is directly related. I know I've talked about style before on this blog so feel free to do a search if you would like to see my previous views on this subject.
I relate artistic style and influence very closely together. Young artists and amateurs are always very interested and enamored by style. Style is one of the aspects of a painting that we can most readily perceive and sort of hang our hat on. As you mature as an artist style becomes less and less relevant to you. Style becomes something that is just a part of your process and your personality. This is appropriate and desirable.
While I was employed as a commercial illustrator, I was often required to ape the style of other artists. As an intellectual exercise this can be quite fun but it is not very satisfying from the standpoint of being a true artist. There is no way to copyright a style and it can be especially harsh for the artist who is being knocked off to see replicants of his approach in the marketplace.
When you set out to learn painting you are obviously going to be attracted to different styles by the different artists you admire. If you're somebody who is just starting out I think it's absolutely fine to do your best to duplicate what they are doing by making studies after their paintings. When you actively copy another artists style as a mature/professional artist it is essentially a criminal act. Not criminal in the eyes of the law but morally bankrupt.
When I do my studies after the Masters, I think it is okay to make them because most of the artists are for one, long dead and two, they were all traditional Tonalist or Barbizon painters and so already working in the type of style that I do in my own work.
By the way, it's important if you do make a study after another artists painting to always attribute them clearly on the back of the work itself so that people in the future are aware that you were making a study after another artist and not creating a completely original work.
When I am making studies after the paintings of Masters I am not concerned with duplicating their style. What I am mostly after is getting to the deep inner core of their work, and hopefully absorbing some of that goodness into my own work. I put my focus mostly on getting the composition and colors right and not so much their particular approach to brushwork and paint handling (the most defining of "style"). Another thing that precludes me from directly copying their particular approach is that I am painting my studies very small and they generally worked much larger.
You can sum all the above in a nutshell, I would say that young artists and amateurs are very interested in style and professional artists just find it difficult to escape.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'River Sunset' 14x20; this painting was painted over the top of a less successful work that I did recently. I am happier with 'River Sunset' than I was with that other painting, though there are a few areas that I feel could be better.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| 'River Sunset' by M Francis McCarthy, 14x20 (Detail) |
 |
| 'River Sunset' by M Francis McCarthy, 14x20 (Detail 2) |
#5 Paul Desire Trouillebert, Landscape- 25 Days of Tonalism
Hello and welcome to Tonalist painting with M Francis McCarthy.
Today's study is painted after Paul Desire Trouillebert,"Landscape."
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages, on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
Today's topic is about the influence of other artists. While none of us is a totally original artist, it's important to have an appropriate approach to those painters that you have allowed to influence your style and the manner in which you have been influenced.
In the past, a young person with artistic talent would be sent to work with a Master artist on their own. Their time would be spent grinding paint and stretching canvases, as well as all the other sorts of chores that went with working in a Masters studio. At certain times during the day, the Master would make some time to teach the apprentice about drawing and painting. Eventually, the student became more and more proficient and would often do whole sections of a Master's painting with other apprentices, leaving only the most significant areas for the Master to complete.
There were some definite advantages to this learning approach, in that young artists got a solid art education at a very early age. On the flipside, unless the student was of genius level, he would often become just an echo or clone of the Master.
In the modern era, art education takes many forms and we are lucky that we have resources like books, the Internet, and museums all readily available. (Being clever, you might have noticed that I left out art school and college, a topic for another day). Many painters teach workshops giving instruction in their manner of painting. I myself have not actually given any workshops but I'm having an influence on other artists through my work on this blog and on YouTube.
I like to keep my videos short and sped up because, while it gives you a good idea how I went about accomplishing the painting, it's not done in a way that is overly influential on another artist's mind. I'm not saying do this, then do that, then do this etc. While it's possible to slow down the videos and follow along in a painstaking matter I don't think many of you are doing that. If you are, that's absolutely fine and you might pick up some good information by doing so. Notice I said 'might.'
After many years of taking instruction from books, forum's and DVDs I eventually just settled on painting a lot. In the end, there is no substitute for just painting a lot of paintings. If you paint a lot of paintings and you never had a Master you cannot help but arrive at your own unique style. I think tomorrow we will talk more about style and my thoughts on the subject.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about my study after 'Landscape' byPaul Desire Trouillebert; I really enjoyed doing this study and I have a lot of respect for Paul Desire Trouillebert.
Paul was a well-known French painter that lived in the later part of the 19th century. He worked in a lot of different styles and motifs, however, he seems to be mostly remembered for doing landscape painting in the mode of Camille Corot.
While analyzing his work, I saw strong similarities to Corot but there are some significant differences as well. A couple of links to info about Paul Desire Trouillebert here and here.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Painted after - "Landscape" by Paul Desire Trouillebert, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages, on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
Today's topic is about the influence of other artists. While none of us is a totally original artist, it's important to have an appropriate approach to those painters that you have allowed to influence your style and the manner in which you have been influenced.
In the past, a young person with artistic talent would be sent to work with a Master artist on their own. Their time would be spent grinding paint and stretching canvases, as well as all the other sorts of chores that went with working in a Masters studio. At certain times during the day, the Master would make some time to teach the apprentice about drawing and painting. Eventually, the student became more and more proficient and would often do whole sections of a Master's painting with other apprentices, leaving only the most significant areas for the Master to complete.
There were some definite advantages to this learning approach, in that young artists got a solid art education at a very early age. On the flipside, unless the student was of genius level, he would often become just an echo or clone of the Master.
In the modern era, art education takes many forms and we are lucky that we have resources like books, the Internet, and museums all readily available. (Being clever, you might have noticed that I left out art school and college, a topic for another day). Many painters teach workshops giving instruction in their manner of painting. I myself have not actually given any workshops but I'm having an influence on other artists through my work on this blog and on YouTube.
I like to keep my videos short and sped up because, while it gives you a good idea how I went about accomplishing the painting, it's not done in a way that is overly influential on another artist's mind. I'm not saying do this, then do that, then do this etc. While it's possible to slow down the videos and follow along in a painstaking matter I don't think many of you are doing that. If you are, that's absolutely fine and you might pick up some good information by doing so. Notice I said 'might.'
After many years of taking instruction from books, forum's and DVDs I eventually just settled on painting a lot. In the end, there is no substitute for just painting a lot of paintings. If you paint a lot of paintings and you never had a Master you cannot help but arrive at your own unique style. I think tomorrow we will talk more about style and my thoughts on the subject.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about my study after 'Landscape' byPaul Desire Trouillebert; I really enjoyed doing this study and I have a lot of respect for Paul Desire Trouillebert.
Paul was a well-known French painter that lived in the later part of the 19th century. He worked in a lot of different styles and motifs, however, he seems to be mostly remembered for doing landscape painting in the mode of Camille Corot.
While analyzing his work, I saw strong similarities to Corot but there are some significant differences as well. A couple of links to info about Paul Desire Trouillebert here and here.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Original painting, "Landscape" by Paul Desire |
 |
| "Landscape" by Paul Desire Trouillebert (Detail) |
 |
| "Landscape" by Paul Desire Trouillebert (Detail 2) |
River Sunset 5x7
Hello, and welcome to Tonalist painting with M Francis McCarthy.
Today's painting is 'River Sunset' 5x7.
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
Yesterday we talked about tree shapes and their significance in landscape painting. Today, we are going to talk about the intermediate zone between where the trees end and the sky begins. Like yesterday's topic, I am pretty sure I have discussed this before, you are most welcome to dig into the pile of blogs here and see if you can find how redundant I am, if you like.
The tree edge intermediate zone is one of the most crucial do or die aspects of any painting. When it's done poorly your trees will look like cutouts against a light background. When it's overdone and over blended your trees will lack substance or a sense of stability.
There are several different strategies for this area of interaction between the trees and sky and I have tried all of them. In my early days as a painter, I would endeavor to use the edge of the brush to sort of splatter the tree edges against the sky. Back then, I was not as aware of photography's limitations in portraying nature accurately. Because the trees in my photo reference were silhouetted darkly against a bright sky, I would proceed to paint them the same way in my painting and just try to break up the edges. While there are times that this approach can work successfully, this can give the painting a false graphic sort of feeling.
Another approach (I see a lot of amateur artists do), is to smear the tree color into the sky color often with a fan brush. Although oil paint is very adept at this sort of smearing technique, to me it is always the sure sign of an amateur and comes off as greasy and fake looking. Also, this technique reminds me of Bob Ross and speed painting in a bad way.
The approach that I favor the most is to create an intermediate series of colors that can be used where the trees come into the sky. For example, if you had a green tree and a gray sky you could mix some of the gray sky mixture into your green and paint that. This will take an extra amount of time in mixing and planning, but it is time that is well spent if you want to get a convincing quality of air into your trees.
When I say convincing, I mean that it feels like the belongs with the sky and there's air as well. I am not always 100 percent successful at getting this effect across. All of the great landscape artists have wrangled with this aspect of landscape painting. Of them all, the one that was most adept at getting air into their trees was Camille Corot. I've had the good fortune of seeing Camille's paintings in real life and the way he accomplished his painting effects is by using intermediate colors but also, applying them with many delicate small brushstrokes.
Unfortunately working with small delicate brushstrokes is not a painting approach that gives me good results. Instead, I work mostly with color to address this challenge and I also attempt to get some diffusion and fracture in the brushwork so that there is no hard edge. Most the time this gives me a nice result but not always. This is something that I am always working on to improve.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'River Sunset' 5x7; I've painted this motif many times since taking the reference photo back in 2006. Each painting I have done using the same reference comes out very differently. The main reason I did it again recently, was that I was looking for some good reference material to use for some quick paintings before taking a holiday and I had this scene to hand. I had several unsuccessful paintings around that, I wanted to do new paintings on top of before I left.
'River Sunset' 5x7 is a sketch for the larger painting we will be discussing next week which was painted on top of an unsuccessful painting. I quite like this sketch. I am possibly happier with it than I am the larger version coming up.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| 'River Sunset' by M Francis McCarthy, 5x7 Oil Painting on Wood Panel |
Our video features the progression of this painting from its early underpainting stages on up through the final finishing brushwork. Also featured is my usual rambling narration, so please check it out.
Yesterday we talked about tree shapes and their significance in landscape painting. Today, we are going to talk about the intermediate zone between where the trees end and the sky begins. Like yesterday's topic, I am pretty sure I have discussed this before, you are most welcome to dig into the pile of blogs here and see if you can find how redundant I am, if you like.
The tree edge intermediate zone is one of the most crucial do or die aspects of any painting. When it's done poorly your trees will look like cutouts against a light background. When it's overdone and over blended your trees will lack substance or a sense of stability.
There are several different strategies for this area of interaction between the trees and sky and I have tried all of them. In my early days as a painter, I would endeavor to use the edge of the brush to sort of splatter the tree edges against the sky. Back then, I was not as aware of photography's limitations in portraying nature accurately. Because the trees in my photo reference were silhouetted darkly against a bright sky, I would proceed to paint them the same way in my painting and just try to break up the edges. While there are times that this approach can work successfully, this can give the painting a false graphic sort of feeling.
Another approach (I see a lot of amateur artists do), is to smear the tree color into the sky color often with a fan brush. Although oil paint is very adept at this sort of smearing technique, to me it is always the sure sign of an amateur and comes off as greasy and fake looking. Also, this technique reminds me of Bob Ross and speed painting in a bad way.
The approach that I favor the most is to create an intermediate series of colors that can be used where the trees come into the sky. For example, if you had a green tree and a gray sky you could mix some of the gray sky mixture into your green and paint that. This will take an extra amount of time in mixing and planning, but it is time that is well spent if you want to get a convincing quality of air into your trees.
When I say convincing, I mean that it feels like the belongs with the sky and there's air as well. I am not always 100 percent successful at getting this effect across. All of the great landscape artists have wrangled with this aspect of landscape painting. Of them all, the one that was most adept at getting air into their trees was Camille Corot. I've had the good fortune of seeing Camille's paintings in real life and the way he accomplished his painting effects is by using intermediate colors but also, applying them with many delicate small brushstrokes.
Unfortunately working with small delicate brushstrokes is not a painting approach that gives me good results. Instead, I work mostly with color to address this challenge and I also attempt to get some diffusion and fracture in the brushwork so that there is no hard edge. Most the time this gives me a nice result but not always. This is something that I am always working on to improve.
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'River Sunset' 5x7; I've painted this motif many times since taking the reference photo back in 2006. Each painting I have done using the same reference comes out very differently. The main reason I did it again recently, was that I was looking for some good reference material to use for some quick paintings before taking a holiday and I had this scene to hand. I had several unsuccessful paintings around that, I wanted to do new paintings on top of before I left.
'River Sunset' 5x7 is a sketch for the larger painting we will be discussing next week which was painted on top of an unsuccessful painting. I quite like this sketch. I am possibly happier with it than I am the larger version coming up.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| River Sunset 5x7 (Detail) |
 |
| River Sunset 5x7 (Detail 2) |