{"id":436,"date":"2026-08-07T09:36:43","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T09:36:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/?p=436"},"modified":"2026-08-07T09:40:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T09:40:29","slug":"northland-cove-5x7-live-painting-session","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/?p=436","title":{"rendered":"Northland Cove 5&#215;7 \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 Northland Cove - Live!\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/H11uuhMnkPw?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\">Transcript and Key Insights<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Good morning, evening, or afternoon. Here we are with a bit of potential right now: this board. We&#8217;re making paintings here, so let&#8217;s get into it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Reality of Painting vs. Digital<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I downloaded this reference at random. It&#8217;s not really going to be tonal, except I can&#8217;t escape being tonal, that&#8217;s a topic for another day. But more importantly, how digital supports what we do in the real world matters. A lot of people like making art in the computer, but that&#8217;s not valid if it doesn&#8217;t connect to reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I did a pretty good painting yesterday. It was kind of an echo of a recent high-water-mark painting, but obviously, not as high. That&#8217;s called painting: you get good sometimes, and you get great. Good is okay; it can decorate someone&#8217;s home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I&#8217;m going to move this island over manually. I could pull it off in Photoshop, but why bother? This is only variable insofar as it supports what we&#8217;re doing in the real world. We&#8217;re making things physically, so the digital part just has to hold up our process. Want to minimize this beach? Yeah, do whatever you want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"734\" src=\"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Northland-Cove-5x7-1-1024x734.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-439\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Northland-Cove-5x7-1-1024x734.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Northland-Cove-5x7-1-scaled-600x430.jpg 600w, https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Northland-Cove-5x7-1-300x215.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Northland-Cove-5x7-1-768x551.jpg 768w, https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Northland-Cove-5x7-1-1536x1101.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Northland-Cove-5x7-1-2048x1468.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Northland Cove 5&#215;7<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Mass Drawing vs. Detail<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, let&#8217;s talk about mass drawing. This is looking at masses, always concerned with correctness. You can sit there and draw this all out, measure it out, and have it look pretty close to a real place. Maybe that painting will go in a gallery that cares about accuracy, maybe not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But here? I&#8217;m not too crazy about how chunky this is getting. There&#8217;s something outside the scene, detail with rocks, that ends up being distracting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There&#8217;s a pattern dividing the beach here which is really essential, I need to make sure it&#8217;s up the middle. This beach itself should be minimized; in the reference, the beach comes all the way up, but I&#8217;m adjusting that. And those rocks? They&#8217;re tempting me, but they&#8217;ll just distract. Keep it simple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Color Mixing Strategy: Crisp and Natural<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Okay, color mixing time. Let&#8217;s do it. We need a heaping helping of blue. So when I&#8217;m gonna wake it up, reveal its true identity with white. I think we need to be honest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For mixing greens: red brings in balance with the green, making it darker. I&#8217;m gonna leave it like that; I can lighten it as I paint. Next blue, I think that might have been better for water anyway, but whatever. Life is struggle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now I&#8217;m going to mix a creamy tone. Notice how a little black\/cool gray brings it right in line? Pretty good. It&#8217;s maybe not as neutral as I want, but I&#8217;ll go further. I don&#8217;t want it too yellow because we&#8217;re going for naturalist feel with really bright white clouds, that&#8217;s another thing. The way to do that isn&#8217;t 100% titanium, never do that, never. It\u2019s too much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For my sand mix: start with Mars Yellow, then add raw umber for a beautiful, subtle sand color. Sand will go red or green, but always subtly. The green properties in yellow ochre will modify that cherry-ish feel and make it more natural. Also, the light greens needs critical balance. We want naturalness here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Painting the Sky: Cool Grays vs. Warm Whites<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Back from lunch, picked out some brushes. Starting in the sky with a trusty DAS bristle flat. For skies, it could be the flat or the filbert, either one works. As these brushes get worn in, flats become filberts, even brights. What&#8217;s a bright? A short filbert or a short flat. Maybe you noticed I made a change in the drawing just real quick, I erased some of the mass. That&#8217;s much more like the reference now, and it feels better weight-wise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Really looks quite green, doesn&#8217;t it? I always tell you: if you&#8217;re underpainting, stop at that point. Today, I mixed paints, left them out, went to lunch. So sure enough, my lovely wife asked, &#8220;Are you going back to work?&#8221; Because it&#8217;s her day off. I said, &#8220;Yeah.&#8221; She said, &#8220;Oh,&#8221; which is good, it&#8217;s good your partner misses you. But a painter must paint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A bit dark up there, but okay. I like to go a little lighter. Didn&#8217;t mix my lightest blue? But that&#8217;s okay, easy enough. Add yellow ochre and titanium buff, then some proper titanium into the blue mix. Lighter colors down below in the sky serve as reminders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I want to avoid a big bar of gray across; bring things tighter there. Cool grays set against warm ones, that&#8217;s pretty interesting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There&#8217;s gonna be a lot of white in this, real bright. Reset with a little umber and black. Too much? Okay. Lighter and cooler, that&#8217;s where we&#8217;re headed. Much bigger fan of painting blue skies now than I used to be, I\u2019ve done millions of sunsets. You can deffo express yourself with cool gray, warm gray, blue, white, cream. Bonus points for modulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Set the cool grays against warm ones. Make edges varied, if painting something like this, don&#8217;t go all the way into blue; let white sit real close. That&#8217;s looking pretty cool. Kind of slashy, but not as many things to resolve yet. Typical. Gonna lighten that a bit at the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Overwork it? No, leave it. Happy with it. Doing its job. Looking nice. Leave it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Bringing in Water and Foliage: Darks First<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sky down water next. Ready for darks in the foliage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Leftover underpainting colors sometimes hit with extra red, I&#8217;m looking for plain black over here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now painting the sea Getting in there with a brush, not too big, not too much spread. Practically stubby. Careful. Clear? Yes. Nice. Got awkward stuff going on here. It&#8217;s not in the reference, but never regret making proper changes. It\u2019s a logic thing: see more sand as water&#8217;s shallower. That&#8217;s what umber represents. Probably enough for now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some darks back there on that island, but don&#8217;t want them as dark. Use more oil. Strategy! Enough. Safe to start putting greens in. Brush ain&#8217;t small; this is a zero. The two was too long. Some nice darks. No red = a crisper effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Admit it: this floppy brush is not as controlled as I was thinking. Put things together; don&#8217;t want this too spotty. Before light green, get into other tones. Too light? Pull it right in with more red. We learned that lesson with the dark green actually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Modulation, my friends. ABM Always Be Modulating!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is too dark so we break up a bit. I don\u2019t want a black outline. Whoa, whoa, whoa, that just came off like gray. Leave billions of details here ignoring them all. No one misses them. Key to painting, my friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Finishing Touches: Waves and Edge Control<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Almost done. Doing some waves, little ones. Could be big mistake; fortune favors the brave! Brush length could help with these waves. A bit warm, but hey. Gotta do more waves. Just little ones. Too bright? Pop something in beach cover there, rocks? I\u2019m inclined to leave alone. Done? Inclination says yes. Break up a little.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Alright. That&#8217;s it. See ya. Thanks for joining me. 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>Transcript and Key Insights Good morning, evening, or afternoon. Here we are with a bit of potential right now: this board. We&#8217;re making paintings here, so let&#8217;s get into it. The Reality of Painting vs. Digital I downloaded this reference at random. It&#8217;s&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":437,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-436","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\/436","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=436"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":440,"href":"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436\/revisions\/440"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}