A VIEW FROM CLIEVE’S HILLS – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

Another view from the hills near my home in Southport. The hills are only small, but as there’s not much around this part of the Lancashire plain, people come for the view. You can see the mountains of Wales and Liverpool and of course the Lancashire plain. The trees here which line the lane, overlooking the plain, are wind sculpted from the prevailing westerly winds -although you cant see it from this angle.

As the sun goes down on a bright day it can make for a great picture

Other views are on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com

SEATED MODEL – PASTEL PAINTING

Another Saturday life session. I prefer the compacted poses rather than long thin stretches of form which hardly fill the paper. Then I have to worm my way into a position with a foreshortened view without upsetting too many of the natives. I went for more naturalistic colours this time, but then a few other colours slipped in.

Other life poses are on my website grahammcquadefineart.com

AN AFTERNOON DRINK 2 – ACRYLIC PAINTING

I published the first version of this on 29th June and although I was happy with the style I felt I had included too many extraneous bits in the image. I wanted to concentrate on the three people enjoying their drinks in the sunshine  and some other figures to provide the context. I also wanted to cut down some of the foliage, if you can excuse the pun, as well. Really, in the end it was just about making the central figures larger and focussing on what really matters.

Other paintings are on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com

ON TOP OF CLIEVE’S HILLS – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

This was from a previous evening’s painting session. I liked the partially obscured trees and buildings that lined the top of the hill and the tight spectral range of the view. There may be even room to increase the green of the cornfield in the foreground to link up closer to the trees behind. Taking a few photos allowed me to paint a long format view which is a format I am quite fond of.

Other images are on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com

THE DEPTHS OF THE FOREST – PASTEL PAINTING

I was playing around with some small pieces of pastel paper I found in an old sketchbook, just exploring some possible subjects. On one sheet I wanted to create a stained glass effect, using the trunks and branches of trees as the lead support. As I worked the image seemed a little stilted with the dark interstices so I started to overpaint some of the branches and trunks with the blues yellows and greens and with some blending it gave a pleasing effect. Once I fixed the painting I could then overlay further colour and built up the image, creating texture with the top layers.

I was pleasantly surprised with the result; the image has an undersea feel, which might open up some other images. I might try a bigger version and then work out from there. For the moment here’s the first version.

Other pastels are on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com

THE HEAT OF THE GAME – ACRYLIC PAINTING

This was from a set of photos I have had kicking around for a while. I did an unsatisfactory watercolour with them a while back, but thought I might try with acrylic.

The place is  Racou, which on the Mediterranean coast, nestling at the foot of the Pyrenees. It is a cluster of beach houses built in the nineteen thirties with restaurants, shops, bars and a few hotels tacked on. It is at the end of Argeles sur Mer, but it keeps itself fairly independent, even declaring independence at one stage. The boules club – if it is called that in these parts – is pretty central to the place, set at the end of the very busy car park. Many of the beach houses have been owned by the same family for generations, so they all come and have a game in the afternoon and between games chew the fat.

Other paintings can be found on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com

SPLASH – SCULPTURE: HAND CARVED SYCAMORE

This is a piece I have just carved which is made up of a trunk which was cut into two and then joined together to increase the width. I wanted the feel of water being thrown aside by a sudden force , like a rock hitting the surface.

One of the problems carving tree trunks means that the subjects tend to be long and thin which  can be a bit repetitive. This was an attempt to get greater scope. The actual join was not entirely satisfactory as the trunk was too big for my circular saw, but I managed to fill the gaps.

Not sure about the impact of the piece, but you can only try.

Other sculptures are on my website grahammcquadefineart.com

FOXGLOVES AMID FOLIAGE AND LIGHT ON PARBOLD HILL – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

This is the third painting from my trip up Parbold Hill in early July when the weather was good. The low light of the evening sun pushing through the contorted trees attracted me and the splashes of red from the drifts of foxgloves gave some complementary colour. It made for a productive trip even though I didn’t quite get the view of the churches I was after.

Other paintings are on my website grahammcquadefineart.com

LUNCH IS SERVED AGAIN – ACRYLIC PAINTING

About a year ago, on August 20th 2014, I did a version of this image in watercolour. I thought I’d give it a go with the style of acrylics  have been playing with. I did the original watercolour in portrait format, but decided on a landscape format for this one. In hindsight the portrait format could allow more focus on the  point of action. I also wonder whether I am getting too dark in the shadow areas. I think I need some darks but I think I am going too uniformly dark. I will try a more varied approach on my next painting. Well it keeps you busy and off the streets.

Other paintings can be found on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com