I often joke on the channel that I’m a card-carrying member of Vignetteers Anonymous. I got a problem. I got a real bad problem. I love to vignette. I think it’s so powerful. And this talk probably won’t be that long because it’s...
Social media has been on my mind for a long time. I think it’s an incredibly destructive force in modern human culture. Let’s get into the reasons why, and some of the solutions. I’m not an expert on social media. I’m just a...
Join me as I create a tonalist riff inspired by Francis Murphy’s “Evening” In the Substack studio pass area, I put up a study from 2021, a painting called “Evening” by Francis Murphy. It got me thinking, I really like that old painting....
Welcome to another tonal landscape oil painting demonstration. This is your painter in residence, Michael Francis McCarthy. And the painting I’m bringing you today is called “Riff on Francis Murphy, Evening.” I painted this back in September of 2025 and I’ve been sitting...
Welcome to Easel Talk #36! Big shapes. This is going to be good, and it ties directly to our last talk on modulation. They go hand in hand, though big shapes are way more important. We’re talking composition today, while modulation handles value...
A Vision-Driven Approach to Creative Practice Hello, welcome to another talk. This is your host, Michael Francis McCarthy. The topic for today is my ideas about the correct place for AI in a creative practice. Mostly we’ll be talking about visual stuff here....
The painting I’m bringing you today, Light on the Path. It’s a 5×7, was painted last week, and I’m really happy to show it to you today. New Website I want to mention my new website: mfrancismccarthy.art. It’s my hub—where things are consolidating....
Transcription and key Insights I’ve already mixed the underpainting color: burnt umber with a significant amount of Mars black. I’m doing this partly for time savings. I recently painted a sky scene using this Mars black mixture, and it worked well. The key...
What Is Modulation? The definition: also known as gradation. It is always desirable in painting to modulate colors from cool to warm, from dark to light or from one hue to the next. Instead of just laying down a flat, unmodulated color, you...
Music by Black Wren When the night grows deep and the shadows call, sometimes all you need is a beacon to guide you home. Black Wren is a collaboration between Michael Francis McCarthy and Jennifer L Coward Buy the track on Bandcamp: When...