Unify, Simplify, Amplify

Greetings again from the land of Zed.

Yesterday I said I'd talk about the other note on my easel in my studio.

That Note says: "Unify, Simplify, Amplify" I borrow the term from Ken Carbone over at Co Design. He uses  it for marketing advice but I think it applies very well to landscape painting also.

When we create a landscape painting it has no reason to exist other than it pleases the eye of the beholder. If it does not accomplish this there is nothing else that it can be used for other than to possibly re-use the canvas for another painting.

"Spring Light" (Final)  8x10 by M Francis McCarthy

So how does this motto this help us create beautiful pictures that deserve to be beheld? 

Let's beak it down with some bullets:

• Unify - This mean that every part of the painting should work with every other part. Some aspects dominant while others supportive but all parts must reflect and coordinate with each other to create a unified whole.
• Simplify - This directs us to look for and represent in our painting a simplified pattern of pleasing large shapes subdivided by smaller pleasing shapes. Simplifying the scene is vital to create unity and amplification. It is difficult to create unity from immense amounts of detail all vying for the eyes attention.
• Amplify - Much of what I said yesterday about "More Light, More Dark, More Color", falls into this area. Adding contrast and amping up the color create more interest and attraction for the viewer. However to sucessfully amplify a picture it must be clear before it is amplified. Otherwise you just get a loud mess. 

"Spring Light" (First Revision)  8x10 by M Francis McCarthy

Together these three ideas add up to better paintings. It's taken me awhile to apply these concepts to my landscape painting. But I always tried for a similar result when I worked as an illustrator. 

It's only recently that I've become aware of the core differences between illustrating and landscape painting. I will expound on this more in a future post as it's definitely something I thought I knew all about. In reality I had it Wrong with a capital "W".

"Spring Light" (Original Painting)  8x10 by M Francis McCarthy

Okay, Lets talk about what I did to "Spring Light". 

This painting has actually been revised twice. The original was painted last year and I repainted it around February. 

I had the original up on my studio wall for quite awhile and though I liked the atmospheric quality I was bothered by elements of the picture. Heres how I addressed those bothersome areas.

First revision:

• Removed the hill from the background. This was creating an unpleasant downward arrow where the tree and hill met.
• Softened the diagonal band of clouds in the sky.
• Simplified the background and the sky.
• In the foreground I painted in a path or river coming in from the right. This only sorta was an improvement. Still, I was happy to be abandoning my photo reference and be creating with just imagination.
• Added a clump of trees to the right side where the previous hill had crested.
• Closed off the left side clump of trees. This helps direct the viewer's eye in a more pleasing manner and creates intimacy in the scene as well.

The revised "Spring Path" sat on my wall for another few months. I was happier but still not satisfied. Heres what I did to reach the final version.

Second Revision:

• Lowered the hills and indicated the horizon with a streak of distant foliage.
• Reworked the sky losing the diagonal completely.
• Increased the lightness at the base of the sky.
• Painted away my previous path from the left adding a pool or puddle of water in the center instead.
• Made the meadow behind the trees brighter.
• Softened the tops of the trees in the clump on the right.

All in all I am pleased with the result. I feel that "Spring Light" now has a feeling of intimacy, space and a peaceful quality that rewards the viewer. 

"Spring Light" is currently on display at my studio in the Quarry Arts Center' Whangarei, New Zealand. Feel free to come and check it out.

Cheers,

More Light, More Dark, More Color

Howdy folks,

Back from my extended stay in the studio, amongst other worthwhile pursuits.

I'm still busily reworking paintings I've done over the last year. Not all of them but far more than I thought I would when I began this revision process a few months ago.

Generally speaking for most of my artistic life, I've been hesitant to revise my work.

However since I made a quantum leap in my understanding of painting a few months back. What painting is. What it can be and what I want it to be for me as an artist. I've had to change my way of working in light of this greater capacity to see and address the shortcomings of my paintings.

"Clearing Up Revised"  8x8 by M Francis McCarthy

One of the major insights I gained from my of my leap in understanding painting, was realizing that I can change anything I see that rings as false or that fails to create unity in my work, at any time and to whatever degree is necessary to bring the painting into a harmonious and unified state. Regardless of time already spent on the painting or it's fealty to to source material.

A painting must be a painting not just a reproduction of a scene in nature or referenced from a photo.

"Clearing Up"  8x8 by M Francis McCarthy

Todays image " Clearing up" was revised considerably by me just recently. 

I'm showing the previous version here below and the revised version at the top. I have used this image before on my blog and also had it up in a gallery here in New Zealand. 

The previous version isn't really that bad but there were things that bothered me like the tree trunk in the foreground and the mass of trees to the left felt too solid. Also, I liked the atmosphere of the sky but the strong diagonals there bothered me.

So, given these misgivings, why did I proudly display the image here and in a gallery?

I did it because I felt at the time I'd "finished" the piece that there was nothing else I could do to it. The reasons for this attitude are too extensive for the blog format. Suffice it to say I'm a believer in finishing things and then moving on.

This leads onto todays topic More Light, More Dark, More Color.

I have this statement taped to the easel in my studio. It is one of two mottos taped there. The other will be explored in another blog post later.

More Light, More Dark, More Color means that a painting can be dark even very dark and succeed as long as there is strong light as well. In fact there must be one to have the other and I want those strong contrasts in my work as they create stronger feeling in the painting.

More color means just that. I'm not afraid to ramp those colors up to extreme levels of saturation if necessary.  No longer will I hold back that aspect in my work, for the same reason as kicking up the lights and darks. More color combined with stronger darks and brighter lights equals even more feeling and emotive content.

Here's what I did to "Clearing Up":

• Painted another foreground tree to cover that annoying trunk from the previous version. 
• Created a sloping arc for the foreground hill, softening the previous slashing diagonal there. 
• Established  the horizon more clearly with less clutter. 
• In the sky I went with a strong twilight coloration.  
• Broke up the strong diagonals there and introduced more contrast.

In the lower left portion of the painting

• I placed a brook that followed the same compositional diagonal that was in the previous version . 
• Opened up the distant field and simplified it also amping up the color to a golden grass color. 
• The clump of trees on the left I made smaller. 
• Softened the harsh edges against the sky for all the trees breaking the horizon line.

Note: I used a revised painting of the original 5x5 oil sketch as an aid in repainting the larger 8x8. I did not refer to any photo reference. I'm learning more and more that working in this way creates far more depth in my paintings as well as creatinbg a sort of magical quality that I'm very happy with.

Cheers,