{"id":627,"date":"2026-10-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/?p=627"},"modified":"2026-10-10T15:20:01","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T03:20:01","slug":"woodland-stream-4x6-live-painting-session","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mfrancismccarthy.art\/?p=627","title":{"rendered":"Woodland Stream 4\u00d76 \u2013 Live painting Session!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/Owc-0HsoIQg\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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

Good morning, evening, or afternoon to all my friends. I\u2019m going to paint a kind of forested creek scene today, something quite atmospheric. I actually painted this subject a long time ago, and it was really successful; I thought it turned out beautifully. However, I gave that painting away, so here we are again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re still in 4\u00d76 mode, my friends, and I\u2019ve got a couple more of these sizes to do, maybe two or three more before I switch things up. I want to make quite a few of these small studies because they are such effective tools for learning and keeping the hand loose. Since I only have one or two in since I decided to commit to this size, we\u2019re not that far along yet. There is still room to grow, so let\u2019s dive back into the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Woodland Stream 4\u00d76<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Preparing the Palette: The Importance of Umbers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Before we even touch the board, let\u2019s talk about our materials. I am going to use raw umber and burnt umber. You will probably see a skin on the raw umber; that is always a good bit of information for you. It tells you how long it has been sitting out. Still, you don\u2019t want to be without those umbers in your palette. They are incredibly versatile anchors for your neutrals and darks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They are also cheap, which makes them ideal for this kind of experimental work. Yes, they do dry on the pallet quickly, but since they are inexpensive, it is not a big deal. Just scrape them up and replace them with fresh paint. What I don\u2019t recommend, however, is keeping all that dried paint sitting there indefinitely. If you let it get too old or crusty, it can start to introduce unwanted textures or “baubles” into your painting, which might ruin the look of your painting\u2019s surface. Keep your palette clean and active, but don\u2019t fear the cost of replacing these essential earth tones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Establishing the Underpainting and Composition<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Now we are going to do our under-drawing. The scene is very green here, so I think raw umber will help us establish that base tone. It\u2019s not bad as a starting point. That\u2019s working well. We have our burnt umber down, and I am adding a little bit of rose madder to it. As you can see on the palette here, that mixture is quite reddish, but that\u2019s okay because this is fundamentally a very green painting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are going to make it feel<\/em> like a green painting, which dictates how we will approach the color mixing later. The key to greens, and if you\u2019ve followed any of my recent talks or teachings, you know this already, is that red is essential. Even in a scene dominated by foliage and water, you need that complementary contrast to make the greens sing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not going to grid the board; I don\u2019t think we really need to for this small painting. However, I do think a bit of a horizon line will help ground the composition. It\u2019s interesting how much light drives this particular painting. I put a link in my last video to Rachel DeLue talking about George Inness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This painting kind of has little going on except for the light itself. It\u2019s very subtle. Of course, there is a little pond or stream in the middle. Let\u2019s do that first actually. It could have gone the other way there. I think I\u2019m going to make it straight-ish, probably what I did last time as well. Yeah, I like that tree form, but I keep thinking if I could push it further back. This is made up from memory and observation combined. I think it might be nice to have more depth there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s all going to be about broken light anyway. This is what I\u2019m painting right now: broken light filtering through heavy foliage. I probably don\u2019t want to go too far with the distinct foliage shapes because, in the end, it\u2019s all going to turn into just light. We are going to have a demarcation there, a shift from one light tone to another. Okay, drawing is done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Color Mixing Session: Building the Greens<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Color mixing time. We\u2019ll start with the lights. I\u2019m pretty happy with that initial color. Now I need to do the darks. I don\u2019t know why I started with the lighter ones this time! I do a lot of paintings that have similar challenges: light breaking through heavy foliage. That\u2019s a thing with me; I do it all the time. Usually, it involves a path or something more defined, but here I want this to be a little darker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lot of times, I\u2019ll let the shadows go too dark too quickly. Maybe I should have gone a little more gray on that darker bit initially. Here, I definitely want this feeling of yellow-suffused green light. That direction is key for capturing that forest atmosphere. Anyway, I started talking about that Rachel DeLue video earlier. She was discussing Inness\u2019 work… I got to read the book again. I don\u2019t know if I ever read the whole thing; I think maybe I did. I wrote my notes on it in like 2005, and I probably bought the book around 2011 or 2012. It\u2019s been a while!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Okay, now we\u2019re into the whole range of greens. All these greens are quite warm, but that doesn\u2019t mean we can\u2019t start with some Perylene Green. There\u2019s a tiny bit of skin on that, which is fine. Nice green. Probably if we have a break… yeah, I probably will make more of my green tone. That\u2019s nice. That\u2019s dark, but I want it a little darker still. I think I\u2019m going to add Burnt Umber to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nice. That has got the warmth I want without being overly warm, because we are going to go into much warmer tones later. Okay, so now we have our middle green. And almost equal parts… I talked about this in the talk I just did yesterday about strategic color placement. It\u2019s all about perception. Look at that: you can chuck in huge amounts of Burnt Sienna into your greens, and they are still perceptually green. But it creates a nice little platform for the colors to go deeper and darker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, I didn\u2019t even do my darkest dark yet. We did now? Okay, then we\u2019re getting into these other variations. Now that\u2019s still looking a bit fake or artificial. Just keep stepping on it. I like that. I think I\u2019m going to have to really blast it into another tone. That\u2019s probably where I need to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll keep some of that in reserve for the lighter greens. If you really want to push toward green, you will see me leaning into Cadmium Yellow. I am going to push this color into a slightly more orangey space. We are going to mix a couple of colors specifically for the ground and the water. Most of the colors in the stream or pond, whatever it is, are pretty similar, I\u2019ll say that much. It\u2019s kind of subdued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Painting Session: Applying the First Layers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re back! I picked out a foliage brush, I really wasn\u2019t thinking about this specific one, but it should be okay. I was looking at the Princeton Refine, which in some applications would be fine here, but I\u2019m going to use this brush for now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just one little movement… you saw it really slowed down there to get that oil distributed properly? Yes. I don\u2019t have the reference exactly huge on my screen; I\u2019m making it as small as I can go here, which forces me to simplify. There\u2019s a couple of shapes I don\u2019t like in the reference. There is this big kind of C-shape from the main tree mass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hopefully, you had a chance to look at the reference during the color mixing session. The reason I bring it up is that I want to break that C-shape up. I don\u2019t want it to be so prominent or rigid. Okay, back to Rachel DeLue and George Inness for a moment. It\u2019s been a long time since I listened to her talk and read her book, but one of the things she was on about, and what I believe Inness believed, was that as people, we don\u2019t really “see” in the traditional sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much of what he does with his painting is endeavoring for us to see reality as a spiritual experience. Which, you know, is a romantic idea. I wouldn\u2019t say my own motivations are quite so direct or spiritual, but like George, I am not as concerned with creating actual photographic realities. I am concerned with expressing my emotional response to what\u2019s going on in the scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the reference, it is obviously a reflection of the time and place, it\u2019s everything at once. I\u2019m just miles away from where I mixed some of these colors. And you notice I just keep chucking in more and more Cadmium Yellow. It helps warm things up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I believe what I am going to do is just wait to go to that pure white highlight. I think I\u2019ve got enough value contrast there that I wouldn\u2019t usually need to be so cautious. But in this particular painting, I\u2019m going to go straight into the darkest color first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am into the darkest values now. Now that wedge shape? I\u2019m going to be diminishing that. That\u2019s not going to be as present in the final image. Okay. I don\u2019t want any real outlining here on the trees, but I\u2019ve got to do something that reads as a lighter-colored tree trunk or branch against the darker foliage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m pretty dark on my brush here… too dark? It looks fairly red on the palette but quite green on the board. Interesting shift. Now, last time I painted this subject, it was in my “textured phase,” which lasted a couple of years. I don\u2019t have that great a desire to paint on heavy texture anymore. I think I did one last year. For textured boards I have to really adjust my brush technique because I\u2019ve got to push the paint into the crevasses of the texture, and I find it limiting now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As red as that looks on the palette… it doesn\u2019t look that red here in application. I think I\u2019ll be coming in there with a few more darks. Okay. I am going to really start driving in some greens. I\u2019m sure not to “green” the shadows too much, but given how things have been going, I think it should look pretty dang green overall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Okay. I said green earlier, so I am going to go very green. We got a whole bunch of lighter greens coming up now. The thing is, because I\u2019ve been pretty liberal with the paint application, I am going to have to bring in a little more oil medium to keep it flowing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m thinking this is the time to get the lighter \u2018sky\u2019 bit in. This is going to seem a little shocking at first glance, just letting you know that jump in value can be jarring, but it\u2019s necessary for the light effect. I am going to come in with a few more darks, so I need to be real careful because I\u2019m actually pretty happy with the overall effect right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I could almost walk away right now. But I definitely want a few more darks here and there. And I mean a few<\/em>. We are not going to overwork it. Because if you overwork this, you could mess up the harmony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Final Touches: Leaving It Vague<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The reason adding too much detail could mess this up is because we\u2019d be bringing in more definition. Right now, I think one of the strengths of this particular painting is that it is not<\/em> very defined. Some need to find their way through the foliage via value contrast alone, not line work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wanted to do something there, but I don\u2019t want that specific shape. I am just going to leave it vague. This is the “Leave It Vague” painting. All right, we\u2019re done with the main structure. Just going to let it live. Let it be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a bit chunky in spots, which I like. The texture of the brushwork adds energy. I\u2019ll do two seconds more softening now. I put my glasses on, which entails wiping off this brush… just a little touch here to blend that edge. Just a little.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I like this. We\u2019ll leave the chunks that are there as they are; they add character. It captures that fleeting quality of light in the woods without over-explaining itself. That\u2019s all for today, my friends.<\/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<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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