MR AND MRS WYATT AND CAT – ACRYLIC PAINTING

I described recently a trip we had made to Portugal. At the end of it we visited an old university friend of mine who has retired to the Algarve. Well, he has retired there recently, but for twenty years his wife has lived in the villa. I started a painting of their house as a present for them, but the painting went a bit pear shaped and I said I’d do one on my return.

When I returned home I saw a photograph my wife had taken. I had done my first painting from below the house in what can be loosely described as the orchard, but my wife’s photo was taken from the pool deck and showed the place in a much better light. However, there were bits of furniture and a big metal cube covered in gauze where you could sit in the mosquito season by the pool. Some of these objects looked odd. So I decided to put Bob and Grace into the painting to conceal the gap I had created by these omitting the strange furniture.

The view had a Hockneyish, Californian, feel about it. So I thought that I would plonk a cat onto Grace’s lap to echo the painting of the Clarks by Hockney – they also own a cat. It got worse, I added some palm trees which I could see from the orchard and had included them in my first painting – though I think they are hidden behind the villa in this view.

So here we have the painting. I may tweak it a bit more before I show it to them. They already have a few paintings of mine which were on the walls when we visited, for the first time, so hopefully it might amuse them – even though it’s a bit more than the painting of their house I initially promised.

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

READY FOR THE OFF – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

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Whilst on holiday in Portugal I saw this boat moored by a pontoon. There was a feeling of calm about the scene with the gentle lapping waves lazily distorting the reflections. I took some photos to record the moment, as I didnt have time to do any painting.

The other day I thought it might be a good subject to paint whilst sat minding the shop in the pop up gallery. I was there two days consecutively last week. The first day I took everything – except my glasses. So, I could only do some of the washes as I couldnt see much detail.

The second day I made sure I took everything and was able to complete the task. I few of the visitors watched me paint. One lady was commenting on it and during the conversation asked where my paintings were on the wall. I pointed to my group, and she went over to look at them. Then she came back and asked to buy one of them.

Whilst painting the scene, I felt that it looked a little too empty, so I decided to add two figures and change the narrative a little. Now that it is complete, I wonder whether I have lost the calmness that first attracted me to the scene, by adding the activity of the figures.

It’s time to put this painting away now and consider it again later. However, if nothing else, it helped secure me a sale.

Other marine and seaside paintings are available for sale on my website: https://grahammcquadefineart.com

LORD STREET, SOUTHPORT – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

It’s been an unusually busy week, so I am showing an old painting that I havent posted before. It is of part of Lord Street, in Southport, where I live. It depicts busier times. Yesterday and today I’m doing a double stint at the pop up gallery which is feet away from where this painting was painted from. In fact, this painting was sold at the same pop-up around 10 years ago when sales were much better.

Having said that, I sold a painting at the shop this Thursday. It was of the canal, a painting I posted recently. I think the low sun clinched the deal, as you can see below.

Yesterday we had 13 people visit all day – life can be very lonely as a gallery worker and we only managed to sell 4 cards.

I took a painting to work on, but only managed to do a bit as I left my glasses at home. I’m clearly in need of an assistant

On Wednesday this week, I did a watercolour demonstration at a small town just north of Blackpool, it was my first demo since the first lockdown in March 2020. It seemed to go well. The painting I demonstrated was the puddles on Back Street South which I sold the last time I was at the pop up gallery – but that was the only one I did sell all month. I think I posted that very recently, but I still like it, so here it is again.

Well it’s Saturday, today, so we might get a few more punters at the gallery. I left my quarter completed painting there overnight, so I will try and remember my spectacles today and then I might have something to show for my next post.

Other townscapes, landscapes and anything else you can imagine are available on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com

HOLE IN ONE – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

I have just completed this small commission for someone who has bought paintings from me before. His sister hit a hole in one and he wanted a momento of it for her birthday. He supplied me with some dark and very green photos of the hole in question.

I had the idea of her walking to the green to see her good fortune and asked for a photo of her after explaining my thoughts. I got a family photo with her looking directly at the camera. Also, the mass of greens filled me with apprehension. Fortunately the photo showed her in a red top and I thought that if I made the figure bigger it might pacify all the raging greens. So I decided to have her right in the foreground, teeing off.

Another slight problem was that I was asked to put more in detail of the putting green and show the otherwise concealed bunkers, but as if the viewer was stood at the tee. This put some strain on the depth of field, but in the end it seems ok – I was told it was a short hole.

So here it is: my client is happy with it ( after asking me to change her driver for an iron) and he even thinks it looks like her – a good estimation of her side profile from the photo. Now we can only hope his sister likes it too – if it goes over the mantlepiece we know it’s a winner.

Other landscapes are available for sale or golfing commissions undertaken. See my website for details: grahammcquadefineart.com

BACK TO THE BEACH – PASTEL PAINTING

This morning I am taking some paintings into the pop-up gallery for my first collaborative exhibition in the run up to Christmas. This one will run for a month and I will have to do one day a week manning the shop and hoping for some healthy sales.

So now on to the second exhibition, in November. I have already sent in my list for the catalogue, but not all the paintings had been completed. This one above is the last of the eight I will be submitting. I felt I needed a local beach scene: similar to the one I am putting in today. I must admit I prefer that one, but what one person likes, another doesnt. Again it is of Formby beach, a popular destination in this area.

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

SUMMER IN AINSDALE WOODS – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

I continued my search for a woodland scene for an upcoming exhibition and painted this yesterday. I will probably submit this painting rather than the one I posted on my last post. Both are from the same woods.

You can see the path disappearing right, down what becomes a sharp hill, which quickly bottoms out and then rises sharply again. Great for cycling down until you meet another cyclist coming the other way doing the same thing – trying to get enough speed to get up the hill in front.

Fortunately on that day I didnt meet anyone coming the other way.

Anyway, I have now submitted my exhibition entry form, so that’s one less job. We start another exhibition in town on Sunday, so I need to label up another set of paintings.

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

FOREST GLIMPSES – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

I think I mentioned that I have a couple of exhibitions coming up. So apart from painting, I have been assembling paintings in readiness. Gathering the paintings together, I felt I needed another local forest scene and a beach scene to give me a good spread of subjects. Here is one forest scene I did this week.

But despite the loose splattering and layers of masking fluid, I felt that the painting lacks the punch I was after. I feel it needs more colour even though I injected more colour than is in the reference. I was also hoping the large tonal range would galvanise it but, for me, it isnt enough.

Fortunately I have time. I just need to produce a list for next week, so at the very worse, I can put down a generic title and keep my nose to the easelstone.

I dont regard these problems as a waste of time. It is a learning opportunity – even if it can get half forgotten in the months ahead. It is also good practise – something you can never get enough of.

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

LAST MEN STANDING – ACRYLIC PAINTING

I did this painting just before I departed for Portugal at the end of September. It came from my visit to Formby Beach when I was collecting material for a commission and seeing what else was about.

I loved the wind-sculpted shapes of the trees, though they are in peril. The sea is encroaching and pushing the coast back and this small cluster of trees will soon be no longer. You can see the next line of the pine forest in the background.

I think there is mileage in making the trees starker and I was going to introduce some reds and other colours into the trunks and foliage, but for now exploring the shapes of the trees and their relationship to the landscape is enough.

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

WALK BY THE CANAL – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

A slight change of subject now I am back home. An image from my recent visit to the canal: a dog walker taking an early morning stroll. This is on the Leeds to Liverpool canal near the small community of Burscough.

After the almost relaxing holiday I’ve just had ( ’til I tried filling in the documentation, a traumatic experience for a sensitive soul like myself, to get home, which took the best part of a morning that should have been spent poolside with a cold beer) I’m now entering a busy period with two commissions, two exhibitions and a demonstration coming up this month. This will be the first watercolour demonstration I have done since January 2020, after which our first shutdown started. Then I will be preparing for Christmas – how fast time flies. It seems such a short time since my last Christmas exhibition which, admittedly, lasted from November until March, due to the Covid lockdowns.

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

SKETCHES FROM PORTUGAL 2 – WATERCOLOURS

We have reached the end of our walks, arriving in Sagres in the Algarve yesterday – although it isnt over for us as tomorrow we visit friends near Faro for another few days. Sagres is a fishing port in southern Portugal and here are a couple of old boats sunning themselves in their retirement.

On the way to Sagres we walked along many clifftops and beaches and you keep taking photos as each place seems stunning at the time. In the end realise you have too many views of cliffs and beaches. So here is a painting of some cliffs instead.

Then, after a few miles of cliff you hit a beach and a small settlement and hundreds of surfers looking for the perfect wave. From a distance, and in their wet-suits, they look like the tadpoles that populate my pond in the spring.

And finally, yet another beach nestling amongst the cliffs. The others had gone for ice cream whilst I stayed to paint the scene for you.

There may be more sketches before we return. I have plenty of paper left.

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