EARLY MORNING SKETCHES – WATERCOLOUR PAINTINGS

With the light not  as good of late and other commitments, I havent been out early morning  painting recently, though this Friday I woke to a glorious morning, but I was unprepared as the weather forecast hadnt been that good and  I had to let that slip by.

Here is what I have in my new sketchbook, done earlier in the month. The one above was painted  with my back to the canal, taking in the country around Downholland in Lancashire.

Another one looking away from the bridge over the Leeds Liverpool Canal onto one of the many barn conversions.

But I couldnt resist the canal for long, not in this early morning light.

This was a barley field, looking over to Clieves’ Hills. When I completed this I had a ride around on my bike and saw the path cut into the barley and the view was more into the sun. It was this that was the subject of the pastel painting I put on the blog a week ago.

Finally, this was a view of a field I painted that I found when I discovered a footpath on my map I had never tried before. It gave me some other views I might paint later. It started to cloud over as I painted so I returned home, only to find the cloud gone by the time I got back.

Other landscapes are available on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com  

or grahammcquadefineart.co.uk

 

 

THE SHORT WAY BACK – PASTEL PAINTING

I was intending on doing this in watercolour, but I enjoyed working on the pastel I did for  the previous post and the pastels were still  out on my workplace – so why not.  I hear many times from bloggers that the photo doesnt do justice to their work. Well here it’s the reverse. This shot flatters the actual painting. It makes it almost presentable.

I’ll leave it alone and see how I feel about it in a week or so. In the meantime it’s back to watercolours.

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

PATH BETWEEN THE BARLEY – PASTEL PAINTING

Out one morning painting,  I spotted this footpath across a field that the farmer had preserved. If I had come across  it earlier I would have used that as my subject, but I had just completed two watercolours, so I took a few photos instead. On the other side of the lane I  I discovered a cherry tree and got a bagful of cherries to supplement the morello cherries on my tree at home. I made three pots of cherry jam yesterday. I love cherry jam on toast – particularly after a tough morning with the paintbrush..

Other landsscapes in pastel, watercolour and  acrylics are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com 

TABLE FOR THREE? – ACRYLIC PAINTING

I started a version of this last week whilst on duty again at the exhibition I was part of. I don’t think it is as successful an image as the painting I did of the dog walkers on my last stint at the gallery, but I do love the impatient anxiety of the woman trying to catch the waiter’s eye and the nonchalance of her husband, given charge of the lapdog.

In the gallery I followed my sketches and did  a version of this but by the middle of the afternoon I realised I had the scale wrong. So the painting displayed above was one I did at home. The half completed first attempt is below. As you can see I beefed up the figures and pulled in the scene.

As for the exhibition. In the end I sold 3 paintings which was a good result as far as I am concerned. Today I entered 4 paintings for a juried exhibition, so I wait to hear the decision of the panel’s deliberations,

Paintings fort sale area available on my website at very reasonable prices: grahammcquadefineart.com 

BLUE BECKONING – WATERCOLOUR PAINTINGS

After this dose of waveforms I will return to dry land on my next blog – promise. The handing in day for the exhibition is this Thursday, so I am still looking for a painting to replace the original wave I was going to submit, as I mentioned in my previous blog. After doing this one above, I realised that a simple waveform could convey more energy than the more complex one in my last post. I was certainly pleased with this and the serenity it conveyed but I wanted to have another go at the one with rocks and here it is, below.

So one goes into the exhibition, well to the selection panel, anyway.

Other seascapes and sea related subjects are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefine.com

BREAKER’S THUNDER – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

I  was assembling some paintings for the town’s big exhibition which takes place in the main Art Gallery. I had a few lined up for submission but last Saturday  I got a call from my framer who asked if I still had my painting of  a wave. This was going to be one of my entries. I  took it around to my framer who duly sold the painting to a guy who had seen it when it was displayed there in March and who  waited until now to make some enquiries.

It was a nice problem to have and  I thought I would do another couple and see how they turned out. Above is the first one. A second is in progress. I included some rocks on this one and really like their warmth against the cool colours of the sea.

It may be a bit over complicated when compared to the one I sold ( and displayed in February on this blog). I certainly liked the first one’s simplicity, which is  maybe why it caught the eye of the buyer  – see below.

Other scenes of water and the sea are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com

CANAL SIDE AGAIN – WATERCOLOUR PAINTINGS

I decided to work up a couple of my sketches into paintings. I used three colours again for this one of the Leeds Liverpool canal at Haskayne. I feel I could make it more dramatic and may well have another go at this one.

I do like the long format and took a sketch I published earlier and narrowed it out and gave the man a dog. He was actually walking along bare chested – but I gave him a red shirt ( I cant stand nudity at such an early hour). Again it was done with three primary colours and again it was of the Leeds Liverpool Canal between Burscough and Parbold.

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

BREAKING OUT – PASTEL PAINTING

I have been having more than the normal problems with painting recently particularly where I start a painting and abandon it or complete another version and come out with two paintings I am dissatisfied with. This one is a case in point. I had some images of a pack of Patagonian ponies squeezing through rocks and vegetation. I was taken by the forms of the horses as they tussled to progress  and I started a pastel painting of it. To make some narrative of the image I obtained  some pictures of  horses in motion. However the group of equine forms soon transformed into a brown indulgent mass  and  I abandoned the enterprise. However the  extra horses I had found had movement and strength about them and I decided to focus on these and here is the result. I still have a few reservations, but I do like the flow of the forms.

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

MORE LOCAL IMAGES – WATERCOLOUR SKETCHES

The heatwave continues -not good news for my garden – forcing me  up early to explore the local area. I see these cottages when I travel by train into Liverpool and their shapes always catch my eye, so I set my stool up along the lane which leads to the railway line, As I painted  a dog came along and attacked me, knocking over my cup of tea, and water container.  It wasnt very big – just a nuisance. The owner followed and kicked the dog away and wanted some info on my website and prices  – but as to yet no sales,

The next day I set down by the River Douglas, warily watched by grazing sheep – though none attacked.  which meant I could drink my tea

. Wading birds stilted the muddy flats and squabbling ducks caused a heron to fly off for more  peaceful fishing.

This is a bit further down the River Douglas . I wanted to get closer to the moored boat, but despite over half an hour of trying I had to settle for this  original view. I have a rule where I dont paint things I can barely see, but after all my efforts and the sun getting higher,  I let slip this rule, though with my telephoto lens I did get enough should I want to paint it at home.

Other views of the Southport area and other landscapes are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com

DOG WALKING – ACRYLIC PAINTING

Yesterday was spent manning an art exhibition I have a few paintings in. The other person scheduled  to sit in failed to show, so I was on my own. There were not many callers and I spent my time painting this – so not all was lost. It was from a photo I took last year which I altered considerably,  but I loved the figures in the dappled light and the contrast between light and shade. I was quite pleased with the result.

The exhibition is in an unused shop in town we are able to use. I have had some good results in the past, though so far on this exhibition  I have only sold one painting – but there are two weeks to go.

You can just see the painting in progress on the easel.

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