Paintin
by Michele Malinchak
Most of us see fog for what it is—a gray haze that makes it hard to see anything else. What Desmond McRory sees is a magical mix of blues, greens, purples and a whole range of grays. Primarily a landscape painter, he pares down his subject matter, weaving color and light into visual poems that evoke a certain mood.
Desmond describes himself as a Tonalist painter whose goal is to paint the atmosphere that surrounds objects rather than the objects themselves. “I realized about five years ago that my heart is really at home in an artistic style that flourished about 100 years ago. Many of the prominent Bucks County Impressionists began painting in a Tonalist style. Tonalist painters attempt to capture the mood of scene without a great reliance on specific detail or saturated colors. There's a spiritual sense to Tonalist works that really appeals to me."
In 2014, one of Desmond’s paintings, Fog on Lower Creek, was chosen to be part of the permanent collection at Moravian College’s Payne Gallery. Pictured here, the painting was inspired by an early fall morning when fog enveloped the landscape near his Hunterdon County home. “The dreamlike nature of the scene appealed to me and called for a painting,” he said.
From his studio near Sergeantsville, New Jersey he paints landscapes from surrounding Hunterdon and Bucks counties. The ocean, rivers, fog, sunrises and sunsets are a few of his favorite subjects and he likes to paint early morning or evening scenes. Recently he had returned from a trip to Rhode Island where he photographed working fishermen for future paintings.
Throughout all his work he focuses on three basic elements: lighting, composition and mood. He relies heavily on compositional formulas and learned much from the book, Composition of Outdoor Painting by California Impressionist Edgar Payne. Originally published in 1941, the book is still a valuable reference tool for landscape painters and contains various composition diagrams such as the “O,” the “S” and “Steelyard.” Each one purposely leads the eye in a certain direction where the focus is intended.
He also uses a Japanese design element called Notan to plan his compositions. Meaning dark versus light harmony, Notan simplifies a subject’s values into a black and white design that emphasizes dark versus light values. After capturing images with his camera, Desmond often converts them to black and white enabling him to see their values. “It’s been said that value does all the work and color gets all the credit,” he stated.
On his computer he uses Photoshop to manipulate his images and harmonize compositional elements. When he is satisfied with the arrangement, he paints directly from his monitor.
Desmond dabbles with different techniques including drawing subjects in charcoal, using imitation gold leaf, distressing, scratching and scumbling the surface. Scumbling involves painting a thin or broken layer of color over another so that patches of the color beneath show through. He has also applied shellac over some of his work and often uses a palette knife to apply paint. To soften an area he might wipe it with a rag.
In his painting entitled Oasis, Desmond was inspired by a photograph of Edward S. Curtis. The subject, a Native American on horseback, is sketched in charcoal while the sky is abstracted in squares of gray and gold. The thinly applied wash in the foreground contrasts sharply with the embellished sky.
Combining charcoal with oil paint is employed in another of his works, Woman in Pink Hat. A couple at the beach is simply sketched in charcoal letting the neutral ground of the canvas show through. Off to the right a red beach bag adds interest and balances the composition. A simple, loose horizon line separates the ocean from the sky, which along with the sand, are painted as three distinct color blocks. A coat of shellac was applied over the surface to set the charcoal.
In his painting Mussel Gatherers, two figures are abstracted against a purple sky as they hunt for mussels at the Jersey shore. Desmond has used the “Steelyard” composition in which the larger size element, the man, is closer to the foreground of the painting, while the smaller one, the woman, is placed further away in the opposite direction.
The artist has several paintings going on at once because each requires multiple layers of colors and glazing in which thin washes of color are placed over existing paint. He knows when something doesn’t work and rather than over working a piece, he prefers to let it dry and come back to it. “Then I can then see it with a fresh eye,” he said.
Born in Levittown, PA in 1954, becoming an artist was not an early goal. As a boy he never had the urge to pick up paints or draw. In addition, there was little or no exposure to the arts where he attended classes at Bishop Egan High School. “I don’t recall any art classes being offered there,” he said.
Upon graduating high school in 1972, he attended the University of Pittsburgh in Scranton where he majored in English literature and history. During his senior year he studied abroad in Oxford, England at the Center for Medieval Renaissance Studies. Semester breaks were three to four weeks long and to pass the time he bought a Eurail pass and a Youth Hostel pass. During his travels he visited many of the great museums and galleries, among them the Tate Museum and the National Gallery in London, the Musée d'Orsay and Louvre in Paris, the Prado Museum in Madrid and in Vienna, the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien. The experience opened up a whole new world—instilling a deep appreciation of art and planting the seed that would later grow into his painting career.
He especially found a kindred spirit in the work of J.M.W. Turner at the Tate Museum. Seeing how Turner’s work changed from photo realistic to impressionistic was a revelation to him. Desmond reflected, “What is he seeing that I am not? I learned that color and line can be used to create atmosphere, not simply create photo-like representations.” Besides Turner, other artists he admires include William Lathrop, Charles Warren Eaton and Isaak Levitan.
Desmond received his bachelor’s degree in 1976 and a master’s degree in English Literature at Penn State in 1984. He began painting mostly still life and impressionist work and honed his skills by watching the PBS series, Welcome to My Studio, hosted by artist Helen Van Wyk.
“This program was very inspirational and I really began to devote myself to painting after watching this series,” he said. “Helen was not just teaching how to paint ‘happy little trees’. She was teaching an authentic academic painting method.” Helen’s memory lives on through the Internet site helenvanwyk.com, which offers instruction in the form of DVDs, books, articles and materials.
The necessity of earning a living prompted him to attend a computer trade school in Philadelphia. At Control Data Institute (now closed) he studied programming, hardware and software for six months. With his background he easily found a job as a technical writer at Burroughs Corporation in Flemington, NJ (which later became Unisys).
After four years he left to work at AT&T in Middletown, New Jersey from 1989-2012 where he continued technical writing and also did web development. More than ever, painting became an important creative outlet from work.
Within the last 10 years he began painting seriously. Largely self-taught, he has taken classes with local artists like Bob Beck, Ty Hodanish and Peter Fiore. Now retired for three years, Desmond devotes himself to painting full-time and traveling. He is a regular artist at the Silverman Gallery and his paintings can be viewed on the Gallery’s website: silverman gallery.com.
He and his wife, Jane, who worked as a program manager at Merrill Lynch, enjoy traveling together. “Jane gives me loving support and healthy criticism in painting and life in general,” he said. The couple has been to Italy and Desmond is now studying the language. He’s taken online courses and also from Barbara Ceglia in Lambertville, NJ. Meanwhile, Jane studies Spanish and both use Skype to talk with their friends abroad. Jane talks to her friend in Barcelona, Spain while Desmond practices Italian with friend Carla from Abruzzo, Italy.
He adores the art of Bernini and Caravaggio and could travel again and again to Venice, Tuscany and Rome. Dining in Italy is also a fine art and Desmond displayed several photographs of his meals as proof.
A man of many talents, he also started playing the saxophone at age 40. For six years he took lessons with Nelson Hill and played 2nd tenor sax for 12 years in a big band called the Summer Swing Orchestra. They played at weddings, senior centers, outdoor concerts and once at the Rainbow Room in New York.
While he sometimes regrets not painting sooner, he is quick to add, “I think I needed to come to art later in life after living a little.” For Desmond it’s always been more about the journey than the destination. But now that he’s found purpose and fulfillment in his work, he has achieved what writer Robert Louis Stevenson meant when he wrote: “To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end in life.”
Michele Malinchak is a freelance writer and avid gardener from Quakertown, PA.