If you are interested in a video demo of this method try the following links

Part1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aiZ1xdbgag

Part2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2TT4_ge1c0

Hi Don
Like I said in my introductory post Tonal Impressionism is largely misunderstood. I guess we may have different understandings of the word Impressionism but I think you may have hit the nail on the head so to speak when you said that Tonal and Impressionist seem somewhat contradictory. I am not sure if it was actually Meldrum who invented the term Tonal Impressionist. There are two lots of people who follow Meldrums methods. There are Tonal Realists and Tonal Impressionists. The Tonal realists finish their Paintings to a more refined detail. The Tonal Impressionist is interested in a simple impression of the scene and lets the brain of the viewer fill in the missing detail. The important units of a painting are Tone, Form and Colour and the most expressive and hardest to control is tone. I really think you should take the time to watch the video as it gives some understanding of the methods.
Meldrum claimed that anyone could be taught this method and it required no prior drawing or compositional knowledge. It doesn’t matter whether it is Landscape, Still Life or Portrait the rule are exactly the same and no prefatory drawing necessary.
When I said the painting and subject were viewed from a focal point a couple of meters back what I meant was that essentially the whole picture is painted from the focal point without looking at the subject at all while at the easel.

Tonal Impressionist paintings have to be seen in reality to appreciate what it is that sets them apart. Photos or reproductions never seem to do them justice. I cannot describe what it’s all about without quoting my personal experience. We used to travel each year to an exhibition of Don Gallager’s work. The thing that probably struck me most was that if you stood up close and moved backwards and forwards slowly, at about two meters distant they would suddenly appear in perfect focus.

Hi David
I think it’s to do with the philosophy of the system. It’s an objective approach where you paint exactly what you see or Visual Truth. If you changed to using hue to define form it wouldn’t be “Tonal” impressionism. The idea is that the first impression of the scene is a tonal one and this is what you are hoping to achieve. Part of the technique is to keep it simple. If two tones or two colours are close together well you paint them the same. If you know the model is wearing glasses but you can only see the light reflected off one rim then that is all you paint. You have to learn to paint tonal shapes of what you see and not what you know is there .You are not painting a white vase on a brown background but rather a pale light disturbance surrounded by a dark area.

I guess there are a few adaptations of some of Melfrum’s teaching. I’m a bit of a purist where this method is concerned and I don’t think it works unless you are. To master this approach requires some dedication and even though I believe, as is claimed, anyone can be taught this method it isn’t as easy as it seems. It takes some practice to be able to judge tones correctly.

Brian

PS can someone point me to where it explains how to use the quotes