THE BEACH AT SOUTHPORT – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

Rushing around looking at replacement paintings for the exhibition after the sudden sales, I considered a number of local landscapes for display. Some I had affinity for but was reluctant to put on show. So when the dust settled last week I thought that I should see whether I could get them to a stage where I would put them in a frame to exhibit.

This is the first one – the beach at Southport in the evening. The first version was quite large – a half imperial sheet. I realised I could get the essence by compressing it, with the sand, grasses and reflections on the water constained by a narrow format. I also kept a tight reign on the hue, reflecting the beach in the sky.

Other local beach scenes are available on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com

LATE SUMMER, PLEX MOSS LANE – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

In the late rush for replacement paintings to populate the exhibition, I reworked this image which I posted a few years ago. I tried to better meld the buildings with the landscape and simplify the foreground to enhance the feeling of stillness. Whether I did or not, who’s to say, but it’s up on the wall now and a feeling of calm has descended upon my studio allowing a tidy-up for the second time.

Other landscapes are available on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com

AUTUMN ON CLIEVE’S HILLS – ACRYLIC PAINTING

I have been going through my back catalogue after the surprise sale of nine paintings. My framer should have six more frames ready today and I have some paintings to go in them – so we can bring the exhibition back up to 30 paintings with a few in reserve. However, I didnt have many larger paintings that I felt comfortable showing. I decided to redo a painting, but this time in acrylics, to fill a larger frame. This is a view over the Lancashire Plain back to where I live in Southport, on the coast. Just beyond these hills – and they are only small bumps – sits the town of Ormskirk, which would be behind the viewer.

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

LIVERPOOL SLICE 2 – ACRYLIC PAINTING

Having got the exhibition up and running on Wednesday I tidied up my studio and got myself back together and decided on what to do next. This painting, below, had been hanging around and I felt it needed changing. I posted it in November and had misgivings about the left hand side.

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I am certainly happier with it now and may exhibit it later.

As for the exhibition: I took 30 paintings for the show with 3 for reserves. I was able to breathe a sigh of relief after getting everything sorted out.

Then, yesterday, as I was quietly working on the painting above, I got a call to say one lady had just purchased 9 paintings. It made a bit of a hole in the exhibition as they are allowed to take them away with them. So I have been scrambling around finding more paintings and frames. I went around to my framer, but he’s got to order more wood. Anyway I was able to replace 6 paintings , so the hole isnt quite so large now. It’s a problem, but a good one to have.

Below are some snaps after I set it up, and before the shopping spree.

THURSDAY IN SATHORN – WATERCOLOUR SKETCH

I have been a bit busy sorting out things for my exhibition which I am going to set up tomorrow. This morning I decided to do a sketch from our last day in Bangkok.

We weren’t leaving until the afternoon and as we had held our room we took the boat up to the main riverboat and rapid transport terminal of Sathorn and walked around the streets and alleyways that surrounded the terminal.

The whole placed teemed with activity and industry from cafes to engineering workshops. You get the feel that the skyscrapers are slowly taking over and there were building sites with lorries squeezing into them delivering materials and everyone worked around each other, all quietly going their own way and all the time the highrises crept forward.

Other townscapes are available on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com

EARLY MORNING AT HASKAYNE – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

Well, my last post brought out the incisive, measured and constructive criticism I have come to expect from troll:

Onsnist@hotmail.com March 15, 2019 at 19:48 Edit

Yeah…the usual “bhaji” shite

So spurred on by their encouragement here is another canal-side offering which could feature in my upcoming exhibition. I have done this scene before, but wasnt satisfied with the result. This time I washed in three primary colours onto wet paper and mixed them with water from a spray. You get some lovely misty colour mixes. When dry, I worked specific areas in a similar fashion but without the spray, gradually building up the colours by mixing them on the paper and also increasing the detail.

In the past I stuck to just 3 primary colours, mainly to get cohesion. I was a bit dissatisfied with the results. This time I added other colours in the later stages and I am much happier with the result.

I really like the ethereal early morning quality I have achieved here and may be putting this up next week.

I opened up the local paper today and there was a big spread put out by the venue advertising my exhibition. So just a little pressure.

… and troll will think it’s their birthday.

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

GOING NOWHERE, FOR NOW -WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

The exhibition looms and I was unhappy with some of my canal scenes and decided to add a few more and make a decision from a wider field. This is another version of one I did plein air last May/June and posted. I really liked the light on the tarpaulin and the weeds growing around the boat.

Other canal scenes are available for sale on my website, as indeed is this one, grahammcquadefineart.com

RUSTLING FIELDS, BUSTLING TOWNS – ACRYLIC PAINTING

I need thirty paintings for a show in a couple of weeks and started getting things together before I left for holiday. The exhibition is based on paintings of the area around where I live. Most are in a realist or naturalist style but I have one abstract work and although I have some expressionistic works I wanted another abstract to complement it. It then takes the viewer on both a topographic and a stylistic journey. On the plane home I had an idea for something reflecting the canal where I live and do a lot of my plein air painting.

This was the result and may get further tweaked in the next weeks. I did do a couple of pastel sketches, but felt that they were a little busy.

This was the first one and on the second I decided to kill some of the blue

I liked the idea of building up the complexity in the middle, but keeping the outsides open and airy and decided to emphasise that on my acrylic piece. Perhaps I have gone too far now. I will leave it alone and make a decision later.

As I worked on the acrylic piece I started to think of the Nile – a little distance from the Lancashire plain where I started out.

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

BANGKOK MORNING – WATERCOLOUR SKETCH

All day long trains of barges carrying the city’s rubbish (I’ve been told) are towed down the main river, seaward. The barges are low in the water as they depart the city ( see a train of them below the reflection of the tall building) and then they return. bouyant, like corks. I must find out where it all goes to.

Other townscapes are available for sale on my website: http://grahammcquadefineart.com

PARKLIFE – WATERCOLOUR SKETCHES

In Siem Reap in Cambodia (the city’s name means Defeat of Thailand – no punches pulled there) we sat in the park with the flying foxes roosting in the trees. Groups of tourists were brought to see them and as the guide spoke , enterprising icecream sales people swooped to feed the stationary tourists.

A few days earlier in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam we sat in another park. A group of children sat to my left painting, Tai Chi sessions were everywhere and one man even washed himself,( sorry, I wasnt quick enough with my camera as he shoved the hose pipe down his shorts to clean the nether regions) then cleaned his bike, changed his clothes and after donning a new hat – he wore a grubby old hat whilst cleaning his bike, – rode off into the traffic.

Landscape and townscape paintings are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com