ECHINOPS AND FRIEND – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

A late entry to my upcoming solo exhibition of flower paintings. I have assembled 16 paintings to show at my framers next week. So I am spending time getting things ready, at the expense of painting.

I must admit to getting a bit down after putting work in a couple of mixed exhibitions of late and selling nothing, but last week I entered another and went to collect my work to find that I had sold three. One of life’s small victories which puts a spring back in your step. So I’m entering this one a bit more optimistically – but only a little bit.

Other florals are available for sale on my website ( which I am currently updating) grahammcquadefineart.com

LATE AFTERNOON, LORD STREET – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

Lord Street is the main street in Southport. Once a thriving shopping venue with covered walkways, today it is blighted with shop closures and lack of footfall.

In the winter, the low sun casts deep shadows and lights up reflective surfaces and makes for a great painting. The other afternoon I thought conditions were right for these perfect images. However, when I got down to the town centre, the sun was still too high to get the impact I was after – I need to wait a little later in the year – but still the contra jour effect of the setting sun gave an arresting image – particularly the lady dodging the traffic.

Other images of Lord Street and a range of townscapes are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com

FISHY ART – DRIFTWOOD

In the last blog I posted – the painting of Southport Beach- the principal reason why I went down there was to get some driftwood to complete a mobile. I liked the notion that the distressing of the wood is a product of the sea as are the fishes.

I started out by carving rough, archetypical fish forms out of the driftwood but gradually, as I proceeded with the project, I left it to the wood to convey the form – though on a couple I cut them in half and repositioned the ends to make better sense- well you do, dont you?

I am wondering whether to get another one and have 3 hangings a 2, 3 and 2 to better intermingle the forms – but now the wife is looking sceptically at them, so they might be reconsigned to the sea.

Sculptures and other artworks are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com

LOW TIDE AT SOUTHPORT – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

The joke is that the sea goes so far out here, it always seems like low-tide.

I went down to the beach the other fine day to get some driftwood for a mobile I am making, which hopefully I will post shortly. There were some great cloud formations and whilst I was searching for suitable pieces I managed to find time to snap a few photos and later used them to give you a flavour of the beach here at Southport UK.

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

TUMBLING AND PASSING – ACRYLIC PAINTING

I have worked on this piece for a long time, playing around with preparatory sketches – then putting them aside. I was looking through my sketchbooks recently and decided it was time to reach for a conclusion and set about pulling them all together. The blocks are only 6″ square (15cm) so it wasnt a massive undertaking, but I had been uncertain as to the interaction of the parts.

So here it is – the conclusion – at least for now.

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

AWAITING SOME ATTENTION – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

I saw this dog by the roadside whilst walking in the Yorkshire Dales this summer. Normally I would tackle such a subject in pastel but what made me paint it was the notion of exploring what kind of textures I could get with watercolour. So it was more of an exercise in techniques than anything else.

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

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ON THE STREET WHERE I LIVE – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

Well it’s actually a Drive where I live – but Alan Lerner apparently lived on a street- so you do what you have to, to make the title work.

I was putting the bins out the other day and looked up the Drive to see the autumn sun piercing the remaining leaves on the sycamore trees and patterning the pavement. I thought that it would make a good painting.

I added the dog walker as a focal point. There are plenty of them about as evidence on the pavement abounds.

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

FURTHER LIFE SESSIONS – PASTEL PAINTING

Admin seems to get in the way of painting of late. I have a joint exhibition today in Formby along with a demo near Blackpool – so have been getting pictures ready and preparing the demo. Next week I need to gather another 8 painting for a second exhibition later in the month.

So the cupboard is getting a bit bare regarding paintings to display – anyway, here are a couple of paintings from recent life sessions. I was fairly happy with this effort, above, though I think I could be introducing more of the background colours into the figure.

Here I managed to get more interplay with the colours. The guy had the look of Lenin about him, so perhaps I should have used more red than I did.

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

FINAL FALL – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

I have a pile of paintings in my studio that await the resurrection. I have misgivings about them and they wait, hoping that one day I can better resolve them. The first version of this was near the top of that pile. I put it on this blog in April 2018. In that one I felt the the leaf shapes were a bit repetitive and I had them going under one another and coming out the other side, so things got complicated. I also felt some of the panels were a bit dull.

So here is the born-again replacement. The new, more varied, leaf shapes were harder to arrange to get the paneling I required and the greater detail in the nature panels, though more satisfying, might cause confusion.

I have resolved the shortcomings of the first one but may have created new ones – you can but try.

Other townscapes, landscapes and seascapes – but unfortunately no factoryscapes – are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com

VIEW FROM THE TERRACE – ACRYLIC PAINTING

I liked the mystery of this image. The original photo was even darker and more mysterious. I decided to add figures and reveal them a bit more and do it in a blocked style.

The actual place is a cafe on Beachy Head; the same headland painted on my previous post.

Other landscapes and seascapes are available on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com