{"id":313,"date":"2026-06-13T03:24:04","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T03:24:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/?p=313"},"modified":"2026-06-13T03:44:43","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T03:44:43","slug":"313","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/?p=313","title":{"rendered":"The Landscape Painter\u2019s Guide to Focusing on the Big Shapes &#8211; Easel Talk #46"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"video-container\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Landscape Painter&amp;apos;s Guide to Focusing on the Big Shapes - Easel Talk 46:\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/I7SrJRxMz5Q?feature=oembed&#038;wmode=opaque\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Everything in your painting is just shapes. A mountain isn\u2019t an intimidating subject, it\u2019s a large series of triangular shapes subdivided by smaller triangular-type shapes. That odd-looking tree is just a collection of organic shapes. Water, paths, skies, you can paint all of it because the problem isn\u2019t the subject. It\u2019s how you\u2019re seeing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Stop Believing You Can\u2019t Paint Certain Things<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many artists starting out say: \u201cI can\u2019t paint skies. I can\u2019t paint trees. I can\u2019t paint paths. I can\u2019t paint water.\u201d You can paint all that stuff. The issue is that you\u2019re not seeing the painting as a painting, a collection of shapes, colors, textures, and values. You\u2019re seeing it as a collection of subjects, difficult subjects to overcome. That\u2019s not the case. You need to flip the script.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Everything portrayed on your two-dimensional painting surface is nothing more than a shape. You have big shapes, little shapes, smooth shapes, sharply pointed shapes, colorful shapes, and dull shapes, bright shapes, and dark shapes. They\u2019re all just shapes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is especially powerful if you find yourself having to paint something you\u2019re uncomfortable with. You don\u2019t want to avoid things outright, especially if they\u2019re basic things like skies. Don\u2019t be the artist who hides their hands because they can\u2019t draw them. Hands are just shapes. Draw them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Your Painting Succeeds or Fails Based on the Big Shapes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Your painting will succeed or fail based on the harmony and balance of your large shapes. If you\u2019re struggling with painting landscape, pull it back. Forget about the details you\u2019ve finally figured out, how to paint leaves, ripples on a pond, pebbles on gravel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These things are well and good, but the main thing you want to teach yourself, especially starting out, is how to design your painting and make a pleasing arrangement of shapes. Start with the big shapes, which are then subdivided by smaller shapes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before you start a scene, identify the big shapes: Is there a path? That\u2019s a big shape. Is there a sky? That\u2019s a big shape. What\u2019s the main tree mass, and how are they organized? Those are big shapes. Get those right, and you do nice color modulations with good values. You have a painting right there. You don\u2019t even need to do any of the details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So much of the emotional content of the scene is going to be conveyed through the compositional structure, the value relationships, and the color. The detail is nice, it\u2019s gravy. But if you get the big shapes right, people will accept that as a painting and appreciate it and enjoy it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Detail Problem: Over-Cluttering Your Work<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many amateur artists, even some surprisingly successful professional artists, over-clutter their work with an endless array of details. This is usually a byproduct of working with photographic reference. The camera captures and delineates everything in the scene equally. A distant tree branch has the same importance as a foreground element. It\u2019s all just captured mechanically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When you\u2019re starting out, you don\u2019t really know where to put the emphasis. As you make paintings, bad ones and good ones, you start saying, \u201cI know where I went wrong there. I got all hung up on a bunch of details, and I didn\u2019t have the big shapes laid in properly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you\u2019re struggling, the real thing for you to do is pull it all back. Forget about the detail. Forget about your style. Style is something that skips over the top. If you\u2019re making an artificial version of \u201cthis is my style,\u201d you\u2019re putting the cart before the horse. If you\u2019re starting out, you don\u2019t have style. You don\u2019t need a style. No one cares about your style. You need to be focused on creating pleasing compositions with good colors and values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Details will never save a painting that\u2019s failing because of bad composition or poor arrangement of the shapes and forms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Practice Design, Not Masterpieces<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You would be better off doing 10 little underpainting-type sketches in a day when you\u2019re starting out than trying to do your masterpiece. Get a canvas pad and do three or four different versions of the scene you want to paint, just with one color, very quickly, very small. Focus on enjoying the designing process. That\u2019s what\u2019s going to carry the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to See the Big Shapes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">How do you develop your ability to focus on these big shapes? If you wear glasses, take them off, everything becomes shapes without the edges and delineation. If you have perfect vision, you can squint. I\u2019m not the only painter that\u2019s talked about that. A lot of painters will lay that on you because it\u2019s pretty vital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Work with it yourself and see what you can do. It\u2019s not as important to squint as it is to know that you must focus on the shapes. When you catch yourself thinking, \u201cI can\u2019t paint trees,\u201d replace it with the concept of shapes. It\u2019s just another shape. You\u2019ve got a whole bunch of shapes. It\u2019s just treated as a shape. And you\u2019re going to be free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Tonalist Approach: Simplified Masses<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Every masterpiece you\u2019ve ever admired is a thoroughly arranged collection of shapes. The toneless approach particularly embraces this perspective, focusing on the poetic arrangement of simplified masses rather than photographic detail. If you train yourself to think this way and work this way, you\u2019re going to be moving much more rapidly. You\u2019re going to get out of the weeds and into the vast plain of mastery, painting mastery, because this is very fundamental stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Train yourself to see this way, and you\u2019ll find there\u2019s not much that you can\u2019t paint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mike\u2019s New Site<\/a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.substack.com\/subscribe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Substack<\/a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.landscapepainter.co.nz\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Painting Website<\/a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.landscapepainter.co.nz\/mailing-list\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mailing List<\/a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.landscapepainter.co.nz\/products\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Store<\/a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/abyssm.bandcamp.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">My Music<\/a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.landscapepainter.co.nz\/donate\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Support<\/a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCS6NSbrJaICWu2Oztt_PXeA\/join\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Members Area<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>M Francis McCarthy, Your Painter in Residence<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Everything in your painting is just shapes. A mountain isn\u2019t an intimidating subject, it\u2019s a large series of triangular shapes subdivided by smaller triangular-type shapes. That odd-looking tree is just a collection of organic shapes. Water, paths, skies, you can paint all of&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":309,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","rsfv-has-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=313"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":315,"href":"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313\/revisions\/315"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}