A Landscape Painter’s Guide to Tonalism Part Two – Easel Talk #40
We covered a lot of ground in part one—the essence of Tonalism, its defining characteristics, the role of figures, time of day, scene selection, finding beauty locally, and the historical context. We also talked about how Tonalism is more subjective than objective, and how it was a response to massive historical change. Today, I want to focus on something more immediate: the contemporary relevance of Tonalism and why it matters right now.
Most People Don’t Know What Tonalism Is
Here’s the truth: most people are still not aware of Tonalism, at least not in any conscious way. I know that because it was the case for me. I was aware of it, but it was just percolating under the surface. Even now, living here in New Zealand, I’m confronted with complete ignorance of it on a regular basis. Just last week, a German guy came into my studio and tried to figure out how I fit into the history of landscape painting. He had zero awareness of Tonalism. Being European, he was thinking about the German Romantics. It’s all good. That’s why we’re here. That’s why I started this channel over a decade ago—to help promote Tonalism and create awareness of this movement.
The Emotional Power of Tonalism
The major thing that attracted me to this aesthetic is the richness and strong emotive qualities it possesses. There are many ways to paint a landscape, but I spent years basically duplicating my photo reference with some juicing up. I was aware of impressionism, but I wasn’t trying to work in any particular style. These things function on us in subconscious ways.
But when I came across Tonalism, after my initial exposure, I felt that I had discovered what to me was the pinnacle of landscape painting. It was the tippy top. Because it resonates very much with the type of person I am—a happy guy, but one who’s attracted to more emotive, poetic work. I like mood and atmosphere in my art. The second I really got exposed to this, I was into it. I started researching, and sadly, I learned that much of the great work has been forgotten by art history.
For me, no other school of painting came even close to the level of achievement in terms of emotional power. There’s no other school that hooks in as deep and grabs you the way Tonalism does.
The Yin and the Yang of Landscape Painting
Think of it this way: if you’re looking at landscape painting from the 19th century moving into the early 20th century, you have impressionism on one side—the light side, the yang. Tonalism represents the yin side. Tonalism is more resonant with subconscious influences, with atmospheres. That’s one of the reasons it’s more poetic and more emotive to me than impressionism, which is beautiful and wonderful. But Tonalism speaks to something deeper.
My Own Journey
I had little awareness of Tonalism until I was well into my painting journey. I had two great teachers—Bob Rome and Kevin MacPherson—both more in the impressionist vein. But they gave me a basic framework: prep your board, do your underpainting, mix your colors, do the sky, do the darks in the land, then bring everything up to the lightest tones. Simple. Effective.
But it wasn’t until I came across the work of George Inness and other Tonalist masters that I started pushing myself to learn this mode. It was quite a journey. Before I jumped into landscape painting with both feet, I was a commercial illustrator for 13 years. I made all sorts of saleable designs. Then I decided I wanted to dedicate myself to landscape painting. First I tried on the computer. That fell flat. Then I figured out: real paint, real world, real surface. That’s where it’s at.
If I had stuck with the direction I initially set off with, I probably would have had more commercial success. While Tonalism resonates with a lot of people, there are plenty of others who look at it and go, “That’s old. That’s dark.” One lady walked by and said, “Oh, that’s traditional painting.” I said, “I’m not traditional, man. I’m a contemporary tonalist.”
The Hundred Days Project
The hundred days of Tonalism was a turning point for me. There was a lady working at the art center who was a songwriter. She decided she was going to write a song a day for a hundred days. I thought, that’s a cool idea. What can I do? I decided I would do a hundred little studies after the Tonalist masters and record the process. I was just getting into video recording at that time, and that was really the genesis of this channel.
I was at a crossroads. I knew what I was doing was intrinsically valuable. I love that word—intrinsically valuable. Something being intrinsically valuable doesn’t mean the world will necessarily acknowledge it as valuable, but the value is intrinsic to it. It could be discovered at any time. The same thing applies to any painting you’ve done. People could sit in a box forever, and then one day, the person for that painting comes along and says, “I love this painting. I’ll have it right now.”
What Defines Tonalism: A Change in Mindset
A lot of what defines Tonalism is a change in mindset. It’s a shift from that impressionist, more strident approach to something quieter, more contemplative. The key is the middle tone. In Tonalism, the middle tone is lower than in other approaches. Highlights are still highlights, darks are still darks, but the overall middle tone is moved down. It took me a long time to figure that out.
The Niche Appeal
Tonalist paintings tend to appeal to contemporary buyers who are a bit more quirky, bohemian, and resonate with activities like collecting antiques or restoring their Victorian homes. In a sense, Tonalism is Victorian art—it’s from that same era. Tonalism fell out of favor in the early part of the 20th century, and while the greatest masters have had some attention and retrospectives, you’d be surprised what’s in the basement that museums aren’t showing you.
But here’s something amazing: you can still pick up a John Francis Murphy or a George Innis for reasonable money through auction houses. All you have to do is sign up and put in your bid.
Beyond Nostalgia: What We Need Now
Despite its relative obscurity in today’s art world, Tonalism offers something timeless that our contemporary moment desperately needs. A sense of quiet contemplation. Emotional depth. Connection to nature. That stands in stark contrast to our fast-paced, scroll-scroll-scroll, flip-flip-flip, AI-saturated lives.
When someone pauses before a Tonalist landscape—hopefully in the real world, because that’s where it’s at—there can be a moment of recognition. Not necessarily of the style, but of the feeling it evokes. I’ve seen this happen in my studio time and again. People come in, and they start getting it. They start resonating. And I’ve seen that actually move into them saying, “Hey, how much is that?”
There’s something buried deep in modern consciousness. It’s in our DNA. It’s part of our history. And as contemporary artists, we can’t invent some new movement in art. Everything visually that can be done has been done. But that doesn’t mean we can’t express ourselves. It means we look at what resonates with us from the past and start moving that forward. That’s why contemporary Tonalism is awesome.
Beyond Imitation: The Philosophy
As artists, we don’t want to merely imitate other artists. Even in my master studies, I’m introducing you to the work of the Tonalist masters, not trying to teach you to paint like them. We’re looking at the surface of what they did. We don’t know the DNA. But one of the great things about being in the modern world is you can see the DNA of what I do, because there are a thousand videos on this channel of me starting a painting and finishing it.
What I’m trying to do is introduce you to the underlying philosophy of Tonalism. That’s what’s going to have the greatest impact on your work—not a new tube of paint, which is great too. It’s the philosophy. As you modify and change your way of thinking about painting, that’s when everything shifts.
My hope is that you’ll take what I’ve shared and do your own thing. Come up with your own poetry. Express yourself. This is a living tradition. For those of us working in this mode today, we’re engaging with this somewhat overlooked historical movement, not out of nostalgia, but because it offers a profound way to express our relationship with the landscape, our interior state, and reality itself.
Nature Is Inside Us
In a time of constant digital stimulation and environmental anxiety, the quiet, contemplated spaces created by contemporary Tonalist paintings can provide a needed counterbalance. A way to reconnect with nature. And when I say nature, I don’t just mean trees and birds. Nature is inside us. It’s a part of who we are. We are not separate from this reality we’re inhabiting. That’s why I don’t need to go out and paint in plein air. I can do it right here in the studio because I am nature. We all are.
The Invitation
The core of Tonalism is about creating an evocative, atmospheric approach to the landscape. One that invites the viewer to experience rather than merely observe. It’s about feeling. It’s about creating a vital, vibrant, and living approach for contemporary painters.
We’re not about objective documentation. We’re about subjective expression of our interior states. When someone looks at a Tonalist painting, they can see the world through your eyes. And the resonance—that’s what it’s all about. Resonance.
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