{"id":403,"date":"2026-07-24T02:48:32","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T02:48:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/?p=403"},"modified":"2026-07-24T02:49:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T02:49:15","slug":"light-through-the-trees-live-painting-session","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/?p=403","title":{"rendered":"Light Through the Trees 5×7 \u2013 Live Painting Session!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/y-FxyNlWBfg\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m creating a tonalist painting based on a California landscape reference I took almost 20 years ago. The original photo captured early morning light filtering through an oak forest, and I\u2019ve simplified the complex scene to focus on what matters, light, shadow, and atmosphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Transcript and Key Insights<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The reference has a confusing tree placement right on either side of the path, so I\u2019m opening up that area to improve readability. A busy, complex scene needs simplification. This is a five by seven, which felt right for today. The painting will work as a five by seven even though the reference might be a four by six. You just visually squeeze the composition to fit the new proportions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Light Through the Trees 5×7<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One key decision: pulling the tree over from where it sits in the reference. There\u2019s a lot more going on in the reference than what ends up on the canvas, but simplifications are a friend. I\u2019ve got roughly 10 branches coming up from one vertical trunk, but I\u2019ve simplified it to three and added one more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Underpainting<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m starting with a rich, dark underpainting using Mars black and ivory black mixed together. This gives me opacity and dimension right from the start. The board is oiled out, and I\u2019ve established a horizon line with my T-square, though we won\u2019t see much of it in the final painting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My drawing indicates where the trees, path, and light will be. The key is keeping the drawing simple so it guides rather than constrains the painting process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mixing the Sky<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The sky has a little blue in it, but I\u2019m not after a screaming blue. I\u2019m using raw umber with the blue to create a muted tone, you can see how green that mixture gets initially. To counteract the green, I\u2019m adding cad red hue (the mixing red), which removes the unwanted color cast and gives me a good, natural blue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the sky itself, I\u2019m mixing both cool and warm grays. I want the light to feel cool down in the lower part of the sky, but I also want glowing warmth up above. It\u2019s an early morning in the woods kind of scene, and that requires both temperatures working together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Building the Green Palette<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m mixing three greens for this painting. The darkest green starts with perylene black, it creates a beautiful cool green that feels natural. But that\u2019s too cool for this painting, so I\u2019m bringing it into warmer territory with burnt sienna. That gives me a rich, dark green with real presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the middle green, I\u2019m introducing orange and quite a bit more burnt sienna. This is the workhorse green, it\u2019s warm and natural-looking without being garish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lightest green is tempered with raw umber, keeping it earthy and believable. The great thing about Mars yellow is that it doesn\u2019t chalk things up too much, unlike yellow ochre, which has a chalky feeling. In the lighter areas, that chalkiness matters less, but I\u2019m still mindful of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Path and Ground<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The path color is close to what\u2019s already in my ground layer, so I\u2019m just adding a few accent notes. It\u2019s not my typical rich soil brown, I\u2019ve mixed in some yellow to warm it slightly. I also mixed a gray-brown for areas where the path catches less light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the darkest passages, I\u2019m after a super burnt sienna tone, not a purple-red. Getting the right color temperature in the shadows matters as much as getting the highlights right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Painting Process<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I start with the sky, laying in my blues and grays with a larger brush. The darks come in next, establishing the deep shadows under the trees. Then comes the foliage, I\u2019m using a new filbert brush for the foliage work, which handles the organic shapes beautifully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing I discovered at lunch: when a brush is stubby, it actively removes paint rather than just applying it. That matters less during the underpainting, but once you\u2019re working over existing paint, a short brush can create texture or reveal underlying layers in ways you didn\u2019t expect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m working from dark to light, but I\u2019m also reserving my brightest lights, the dappled areas where sun breaks through the trees. These catch lights are what make the painting sing. There\u2019s a spot where light doesn\u2019t quite come all the way up, leaving just a little brightness in the shadow. That\u2019s very moody and atmospheric.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Painting Comes Together<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The ground color is so close to what\u2019s already mixed that I\u2019m really just adding a few accents here and there. I\u2019m using that darker purple-red tone sparingly, just enough to suggest form and shadow without overwhelming the composition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time I\u2019m layering the greens over the darks, the painting starts to breathe. The brushwork needs to stay loose enough that it doesn\u2019t get too strokey or labored. If you find yourself hunting to do something, that\u2019s usually a sign you\u2019re done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A final balance check: I\u2019ve got two limbs coming in from one side, so I add another accent on the opposite side to even it out. Not too much, just enough to feel intentional rather than accidental.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The California landscape has always drawn me. I grew up there, and it\u2019s the landscape of home. I didn\u2019t get to paint as much of it as I would have liked before leaving, so being able to work from my own reference feels meaningful. Small paintings might not get the same credence as larger work, but to me, a painting is a painting. The size doesn\u2019t determine the quality of the vision or the problem-solving required to make it real.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take good care of yourself. Stay out of trouble. And fight the power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mike’s New Site<\/a> | Substack<\/a> | Painting Website<\/a> | Mailing List<\/a> | Store<\/a> | My Music<\/a> | Support<\/a> | Members Area<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

M Francis McCarthy, Your Painter in Residence<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m creating a tonalist painting based on a California landscape reference I took almost 20 years ago. The original photo captured early morning light filtering through an oak forest, and I\u2019ve simplified the complex scene to focus on what matters, light, shadow, and...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":404,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-403","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\/403","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=403"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":411,"href":"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403\/revisions\/411"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}