Just a bit of fun with this one. I saw some of this as I came out of life drawing in Liverpool and added more bits to it to supply a narrative and add to the pun. I had a bit of a battle with the loose style and all the detail and the detail seems to have won out.
Other street scenes are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com
I posted a very similar painting a few months back. It was one I did mainly for my own amusement, but I included it in a group of paintings I submitted to someone who wanted to commission a view of Durham Cathedral. To my surprise they picked the earlier, portrait, version of this but wanted it in a landscape format – to fit the available space. As the lane winding up to the Cathedral is narrow and the towers hang over and dominate the scene it rather fits a portrait format, but anyway…. I managed to fill the space by including more of the Cathedral tower, a scattering of people and expanding the buildings on the left and right – thank goodness for Google. It might be a bit of a confection, but they seem happy with it, although there are a few things I might touch up before framing and dispatching.
Other townscapes are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com
Not being of hardy stock I only venture outside to paint when the sun starts to shine and the temperature rises. I have spent too long in the past waiting for washes to dry in cold bleakness or battled to warm up frozen mixes on my palette. Not any more.
So with some sunshine forecast we went over to Yorkshire and into Wharfedale to do some walking and along the way I was able to sit in the spring sunshine and do a bit of painting.
Starting out from Burnsall we climbed above the River Wharfe and amongst the hill farms I saw this scene, above, of broken down walls, isolated buildings and patchwork fields populated by grazing sheep.
Later, after lunch at a pub, we walked along the river and this was one of the derelict farmhouses alongside of the Wharfe in the shadow of the hill, crisscrossed with the drystone walls and peppered with a helping of the ubiquitous sheep.
A great day in the early spring sunshine which sparkled off the rippling river waters.
Other landscape paintings are available on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com
Returning to the station from a life painting session I was struck by the reflections on the pavement and took a few photos. The street has some interesting buildings, but the light never seems to be in the right position to bring out their beauty. So I guess this as near as I get to something I find satisfying.
I also had another go at the pastel I posted a week or ago, entitled ‘Crossing the Strand’ – another snapshot of Liverpool. I agreed with a reader’s criticism that the figures seemed to form a queue across the picture, so have bunched them up a bit and spread the rest out. I did it on a lighter paper which meant I had to fight to get the feel of the early evening gloom.
Other Liverpool paintings are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefinert.com
I managed to get the full figure on the sheet for once with this conte pastel study, but it does reduce the ability to develop detail.
I used the background as a middle tone and so had the figure coming in and out of focus or looking like a piece of Emmental cheese, depending on your viewpoint.
A charcoal study with strong toplight completes the set of recently completed work all done in various life groups around Liverpool.
Other life paintings and drawings can be found on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com
I was doing another painting of our local beach but things got out of control and I washed off what I had done with the intention of starting again, but when I got the paper dry again my heart had gone out of the project and as it was a piece of reclaimed paper I thought that I would try out an idea I had been carrying around in my head.
I am quite happy with the result and though a few of the panels could be improved I think that there is scope for further development and I might even be able to create a small series on the idea. Anyway, I’ll post any further work here.
Other landscapes and townscapes are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com
This is a modified painting which I posted some time ago. When I first posted it I had some reservations about certain aspects. Then, the other day as I was searching through some old paintings, I came across it again and took a moment to reconsidered it and realised that my issues could be addressed. One problem was the central tree which I modified and then I enhanced the main field and strengthened the top field. It may have moved away from the original scene, but it was a bit of a combination of views in the first place, broadly based on the Wear Valley in Durham City.
Other landscapes are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart
I was walking down Mathew Street in Liverpool the day after St Patrick’s day. A feeling of quiet reflection in the air. I liked the breaks of light and dark down the street where the Cavern Club, a place the Beatles used to play, was ( there still is a Cavern Club on the site of the old one)
Other Liverpool paintings are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com
This was done in my favourite three colours a warm red, yellow and blue and allowed wet colour mixing on the paper to get a myriad of subtle shades before picking out some recognisable shapes and forms.
Originally I had an image of a mountain river I took in New Hampshire one fall, but I felt the background was too dark. Recently I saw a woodland scene on the TV and it gave me an idea for a more interesting background. Both were contra jour so fitted well together and seemed to add up to more than the sum of the parts.
Other landscapes are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com
I wanted to try some more townscapes and get a little more rawness into the image. This is one of Liverpool with the Liver Building silhouetted in the background. I have done this view before and put it on the blog, but getting figures in this time and making them prominent gives the image more depth and vitality.
Other townscapes including those of Liverpool are available on my website grahammcquadefineart.com
graham mcquade 