{"id":326,"date":"2026-06-20T02:07:30","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T02:07:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/?p=326"},"modified":"2026-06-20T02:07:52","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T02:07:52","slug":"where-shadows-meet-light-7x12-live-painting-session","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/?p=326","title":{"rendered":"Where Shadows Meet Light 7&#215;12 \u2013 Live Painting Session!"},"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 Making of Where Shadows Meet Light 7x12 LIVE!\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ltZOyhatGyE?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<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Transcription &amp; Key Insights<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is a row of trees with a little path coming through. One, two, three, four trees here, then one, two, three, four trees there. There\u2019s a bunch of masses I\u2019m gonna have to pull off, and one tree that\u2019s going right there, I\u2019m gonna open that up a little.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019m really into this 7&#215;12 proportion. I just primed this board, though I\u2019m not sure I got it quite right. You can see the fleck of the hardboard, but I kind of like that. Next time I do these, I\u2019m gonna put more house paint on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Finding the Intervals<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The good thing about the underpainting stage is that\u2019s where we can experiment. To me, each tree has like an attitude, there\u2019s a certain attitude conveyed by the arc of the tree itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With this kind of painting, it\u2019s all about the intervals of this kind of painting, the spaces between. I\u2019ve compared it to music in the past, and I think that\u2019s out. You gotta get the intervals right. When you have established this spacing, you\u2019ve got to make sure that it\u2019s not exactly the same spacing again. Your reference will be, I can go closer, or I can go farther.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Grid and Composition<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019m getting my bearings from the grid. The good thing is I can experiment here. But when I establish spacing, I don\u2019t want that exact same spacing again. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s opened up enough. Also, this tree\u2019s not gonna be fat, so the idea is that we\u2019re gonna see some of this field back here. This all closes up over here. I\u2019m inventing here, I don\u2019t really see that in the reference. That\u2019s okay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You\u2019ve got to listen to your inner sensibility of compositional placement. Feel. It\u2019s all feel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Losing the Grid<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now it\u2019s time to officially lose the grid and dry things off a little. The path isn\u2019t designed to be super distinct. There\u2019s shadows on the ground, and we\u2019re gonna re-anonymize those.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That\u2019s opened up sufficiently now. Yeah, that\u2019s like that. I think this drawing is done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Color Mixing: The Foundation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before you start painting, you know, you want to have your piles topped up. If you got to mix them now before you start painting, it\u2019s the time. Not after.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The Gray:<\/strong> I\u2019m gonna need to make some mics gray before we even start. Gray is gonna be a player for sure. Not real light grays either. This is what we use for the mics gray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The Sky Color:<\/strong> Wow. We don\u2019t have very much of this. That\u2019s a lot of flack. That\u2019s a nice heaping helping of mics gray. I could have gone darker, which is this painting. Not every painting I\u2019m going to want a darker gray. That can be not good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Building Depth:<\/strong> I\u2019m gonna bring in some yellow. This will green it up a little bit. We have that reddish, slight reddishness from the burn number in there, so it shouldn\u2019t be too much of an issue. That\u2019s nice. That\u2019s a nice, slow gray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Burn Number<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I am happy with this. This is painted with the gesso, which I added a little diox to. Since this is such a brown painting, I\u2019m going to gold. There\u2019s going to be gold to nice things in the ground and reds, and it\u2019s going to be beauty, beauty, beauty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So that would be a green, but I\u2019m going to take a little of this. Watch this. It\u2019s pretty magical. That\u2019s what cad red can do for you. Do you need the matter on your palette if you can do that? That\u2019s really nice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Mixed Formulas for Foliage<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019m going to do one of my formulas, which is alternate for the foliage, reddish tones, and green tones. You know, when you\u2019re dry. In a sense it is barely green, I\u2019m aware, but definitely greener than that other color.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Building the Palette<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From here we\u2019re going to pivot into Mars yellow base. That\u2019s probably too much. And we\u2019re going to go for, like, the opaque version of the burnt sienna. It\u2019ll be a bit light with all that Mars yellow I started with. That\u2019s okay, because guess what? Just going to tie it all together as the burn number again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019m using cad to make my green. The raw umber has the green tendencies. It\u2019s going to bring it in even more. One or two more colors. We got these real golds. I can do just about anything I need to do with the natural scene of my palette.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The Trail:<\/strong> Let me get in some real golds now. I\u2019m going to do a grayish tone for the ground. I probably got a lot left from here. Let\u2019s bring a little life into it with the Mars Opacity Life Red, and then this is going to chill it out. More Mars. There we go. That\u2019s kind of more attractive. That\u2019s going to be our trail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">On Color and Supplies<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you love a color, you love a brush, you know, you really love it, buy a lifetime supply. If you did buy that lifetime supply when you run out of a tube, buy another tube right then and there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You don\u2019t want to be without raw umber. You might think, \u201cOh, I don\u2019t need raw umber.\u201d You need raw umber. You always do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Painting the Sky<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That\u2019s right. I\u2019m happy with this drawing. Sky brush. The board color is going to be kind of like a lot of the leaf colors, so I can see the pictures poking around. It\u2019s definitely cooler feeling than the reference, but I like it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is my yellow and it isn\u2019t very yellow. I\u2019m laughing because I\u2019ve made it lighter when it was the right color. It\u2019s not as yellow as the reference, but, I was a bit cold, so that\u2019s kind of my way of adjusting for that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I want to make sure there\u2019s not too much regularity in these. I want quite a lot of white, or light down there, but I don\u2019t want it to be all one color, so I\u2019m doing some bits and bobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s actually pretty bright, just be aware. We are actually going to go a little brighter down towards the bottom there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yeah, I went yellowish. I didn\u2019t go strong yellow as in the reference, but I do like that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Building Depth with Darks<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Time for the darks. I got my glasses on too. I can see a few things I might want to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This bead is not black enough. I can see the moniker. I can see that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I like painting this kind of thing. I like painting period, you know, but it\u2019s probably my favorite kind of thing to paint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The reason for the long filbert, I don\u2019t like these very much, but sometimes I do. I tried these first and I thought, wow, yeah, a long filbert. And they do have their uses, their excellent uses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since the board\u2019s already read, it looks very good. I think that\u2019s enough for this deep red.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Final Layers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019m loving this long filbert. And really it\u2019s going to be more reds, but really a lot more golds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019m going to want to go more of another green, which is going to be kind of merging into a gold green. Nice color. Actually, either what I want is more like this. That\u2019s the color. Is that my road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s a bit bright, but I killed it with the white, the color. This has been a really fun painting. I mean, I\u2019m close to done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Let\u2019s see if anything jumps out at us. If nothing big does, I\u2019d say we\u2019re done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Brushy, expressive painting. I really mean it loose. I believe it loose. I don\u2019t have to, I could tighten this into something else. I think the more I tighten it, the worse it\u2019ll be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We\u2019re going to call that done. I\u2019m happy with that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Take good care of yourself. Stay out of trouble. And fight the power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mike&#8217;s New Site<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.substack.com\/subscribe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Substack<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.landscapepainter.co.nz\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Painting Website<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.landscapepainter.co.nz\/mailing-list\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mailing List<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.landscapepainter.co.nz\/products\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Store<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/abyssm.bandcamp.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">My Music<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.landscapepainter.co.nz\/donate\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Support<\/a> | <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>Transcription &amp; Key Insights This is a row of trees with a little path coming through. One, two, three, four trees here, then one, two, three, four trees there. There\u2019s a bunch of masses I\u2019m gonna have to pull off, and one tree&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":327,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-painting","rsfv-has-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326","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=326"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":328,"href":"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326\/revisions\/328"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}