INTO THE WOODS – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

Another woodland painting and another repeat – I have put versions of this on the blog before. Certainly a little tighter than the previous blog of the woodland scene with no splattering; using brushes only, but I am pleased with the luminosity resulting. This is down to the layering of washes.

If I remember on my previous attempts I tried a loose approach which lost the constant tonal changes throughout the piece and resulted in taking out and scratching back. Slowly building up those changes this time seems to have paid off without it becoming overly fussy.

Other woodland and landscape paintings are available on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com

THE WOOD ON DELPH LANE REVISITED – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

I must admit that I was inspired by the texture I got on my previous painting that I put out on my last post  and so I decided to try and apply the splattering techniques to a scene I had done before in the hope that I would get a less staid outcome.

Well there is a lot of splatter on this but the outcome was less than I had hoped for. Perhaps I could have put the tree trunks and branches in whilst the paper was wet. I also did the splatter in two sections, one for the canopy leaves and one for the undergrowth. I also lost the translucency and the light coming through which I had in the earlier watercolour. So back to the drawing board – sorry about the pun.

Other landscapes are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com

SUMMER’S FINAL DANCE – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

Another floral theme, though without the flowers. I liked the idea of the remaining leaves dancing in the sun before they fall and  bitterness and ice struts in. This painting was done fairly loosely, trying to build up texture with spray as well as painting wet into wet. This has inspired me to look at some other woodland scenes I have struggled with in the past.

Other floral and woodland scenes can be found on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com

CACTUS DAHLIAS – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

Realising I need a few floral paintings to help support the upcoming demo I’m doing,  when I spotted some images of cactus dahlias I had taken in the summer I thought that they might be a worthwhile challenge. Indeed they were. I used the same colours as for the Hellebores I did a few days ago. I do find shading yellow quite difficult, but it seems to have worked here. The colour of the dahlias is a lemon yellow which doesn’t pull it away from the foliage much and as I wanted to rise into a light source in the painting I started to lose tonal options in the top part though the subtle changes are growing on me.

Other floral paintings are available on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com

A CLUTCH OF SEATED FIGURES – PASTEL AND CHARCOAL DRAWINGS

I  was trying for a more emphatic style with these pastels, but the second one slipped a bit in this endeavour. Certainly the light in this venue leaves a lot to be desired.

In fact this girl above announced that she was pregnant so I wonder if she will continue modelling. Here she is in a different session, but still sitting rather stiffly.

Other life drawings are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com

CROSSING HANOVER STREET – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

Unexpectedly I was offered a couple of slots at a Liverpool exhibition so I thought it might be worth showing  some paintings of the locality that  I had done. I liked this one which was posted some time ago on the blog, but whilst framing it I decided it could do with another figure in the foreground so I added the man with the briefcase. The exhibition  is at a location I have never been to before so it will be interesting just to investigate the place when I take them down on Friday.

Other Liverpool paintings are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com

HELLEBORES REVISITED – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

Long standing readers of this blog may recognise this, but I assure you that it is a new version produced for another of my demos I will be giving at the end of the month. I will have another go at this as I think it could do with more variations of colour in the top flowers just to add more interest. Anyway it’s a start and allows me to get the timing right. It may get me back to doing a few more floral paintings ready for the summer.

Other floral paintings are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com

BACK TO THE CANAL – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

I have a couple of watercolour demos to do at the end of the month. In fact they are on consecutive days which is a bit awkward – I need to get that secretary replaced. The first one wanted a canal scene so I have been looking through my images to find something suitable to do. I did this yesterday morning, so with a bit of preparation, like getting my paints ready and having everything to hand, I should be able to do in the allotted hour and a half.

This is a scene I have posted before, both as an on-site sketch and as a more finished painting. The painting never sold and I have made a  few small changes in this version. I am thinking of getting down to the canal and starting to build up a series of canal paintings as they were popular and its always a nice place to sit and paint.

Other canal scenes are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com 

SEATED FIGURE – PASTEL PAINTING

It’s been almost two months since I did any life drawing – that is if you discount drawing animals on the Etosha Saltpan. It is also about the same time since I did any pastel work. So I went down to the Liver Sketching Club and eased myself in between the easels, without standing on too many toes, and had a go yesterday. Here is the result. I did go in with a game plan of working off a mix of background colours, but could have thought the scheme through a bit better in relation to the selection of colours. Though I do always take a couple of different coloured papers, normally a cool and warm and dark and light and select one depending on the mood and pose at the time, so there are always many options which would need to be considered beforehand.

Anyway, it’s just a piece of paper and it got me up and running again.

Other life drawings are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com

A MOMENT TO MYSELF – ACRYLIC SKETCH

I had a great photo of my wife in Simons Town on our hotel balcony looking out over the bay but I lost the memory card and many other photos along with it. I thought I might have a go at recreating the image but sadly failed with this wooden affair. The point was the light falling on the subject, lighting up the figure against the blue of the sea, sky and hills. Still, it was a bit of practice.

Other paintings are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com