A FEW MOMENTS AT BURSCOUGH – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

It was the stance of the fellow by the narrowboat that caught my attention. Coupled with the shade of the tree and the haziness in the background , I thought that it might make an interesting picture. The location is the old quay at Burscough with it’s cobbled pathway at the side of the Leeds to Liverpool canal – if you are going in that direction. It is the same location where I painted the old guy with his kettle – posted on 12th April, only taken from a slightly different angle.

Perhaps it is the slow flow of the canal that creates a gentle, unhurried ambience upon its banks. Time to talk, time to pause and stare, time to sit with a hopeful eye on your fishing rod. A narrowboat glides by and walkers wave, whilst ducks unhurriedly part to the canal sides and find another place to search for their watery fare.

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

BURSCOUGH DOCK – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

Life has been a little hectic of late and has prevented me from doing much painting. Fortunately I have a few old paintings that I havent shown on this blog before. Here is one I did this in 2005 and it sold. I came across an image of it yesterday and was pleasantly pleased with it, well, apart from the perspective of the arch over the near window. Though it was the reflection off the sliding door and the cobblestones that caught my eye.

This old building has since been gentrified with bars, boutiques and galleries, but the brick shell remains. The area is great for subjects to paint such as the canal and the old mill you can see in the distance.

Even more canal side paintings can be found for sale on my blog: grahammcquadefineart.com

MORNING AT BURSCOUGH – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

Last week I was out, early morning, by the canal painting. As I was scouring the canal footpath, looking for suitable subjects, I saw the scene above. Without room to sit, I took some photos and painted this when I got home.

The sketches I did manage didnt have the same impact and I rather regretted not making myself a nuisance by sitting painting on the path.

With this view, above, I think I liked the light on the big tree as much as anything else.

Here, you can see the morning has got into its stride. The white of the boat immediately caught my attention and in the background the hawthorn berries gave some welcome complementary to the greens.

Whilst I sat and painted, a guy came to talk to me. He was a musician and certainly got my sympathy regarding the problems he had with the effects of both covid and music streaming on opportunities and income. Trouble was he spent twenty five minutes on this subject – so it slowed me down somewhat.

When I was putting together this article I thought it might reawaken the Troll who whose cowardly sneering peaks at the sight of canal art and who has been silent of late.

Wrong again. OCD Troll raged similarly against my last post – a seaside scene. So much so. that they sent two mouth frothing messages yesterday :

This is in no way ART!!….it is pure s***e!

And then twenty minutes later:

Pure crap.

Well the art was sold, Troll – yes art ( Troll’s ignorant of art history – what chance have I got?) to an artist, actually.

Other art is available for sale – even to Trolls – on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com – that’s right, Troll, FINE ART. And I’ll be putting it out for a good while longer.

MOORINGS AT CRABTREE LANE – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

Another view of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal near Burscough in Lancashire. It’s a place that I’ve painted before but here I dwelt on the cluster of shapes created by the narrowboats and houses and in doing so made it a portrait format. This format also allowed the full reflections of trees and posts. The bankside vegetation also added interesting detail.

At this point on the canal is a narrow swing bridge – partially visible on the left which allows traffic to cross the canal.

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

ONE FOR THE TROLL – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

A troll has landed on my site like some bird-droppings on my shoulder. Making oblique, sarcastic comments, they clearly dont like my paintings and repetitively parrot this distaste. It seems that they particularly dislike canals and narrowboats – or barges, as they put it. So I thought I’d post another one – just for them.

I dont like some of the  stuff either and the last one they commented on had a glaring error which seems to have gone right over their head whilst they focused on their superior taste – yeah they seem to have some hierarchy  reverberating in their empty head at which they naturally place themselves at the top and me squarely at the bottom. Its sad to hear the poor onanist  on full sneer, unable to discern between objectivity and subjectivity.  They may grow out of it, though I doubt it.

I dont know whether any other bloggers have the tedium of these style fascists, but you wonder about their mentality and why, when they see something they dislike, they dont just move on. I mean, I dont mind criticism, and deserve it, but haranguing someone because they dont match your tastes is bewildering at the least.

Anyway enough of this. If you like what you see I have a website of paintings for sale on grahammcquadefineart.com, though you’ll have to form an orderly queue behind the style fascist who will be placing an extensive order.

MORE SCENES OF THE CANAL – WATERCOLOUR SKETCHES.

The good weather continues so I have been getting up early and heading for the canal. This one is at Burscough that has a few pleasant buildings along the canal which I have painted in the past.

This one is near the first painting. Whilst I sat in the warm morning sunshine painting away a fledgling magpie hopped over to me and sat on my knee. It then wandered off, probably looking for its nest. Then later it came back and tried to get into my bag – probably the next best thing to the nest.

This morning started off sunny and enticed me from my bed but by the time I sat down to paint the mist was rolling in. I persisted with this one painting, below,  but I do find that when the watercolour doesn’t dry, or dries slowly it gives you problems and I finish up waving the paper around in the air to get it dry. Wears me out!

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

 

BREAKFAST ON THE CANAL – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

I am working on a couple of projects at the moment. One is a set of paintings based around the Leeds Liverpool Canal which meanders across the countryside close to me. I went out the other week and  posted a painting I did on the spot. This is a view of a couple of the narrowboats I posted then, but viewed from a different angle where I spotted a couple of the owners having an early morning cuppa in the sun. It seemed a good subject to start off the series.

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

THE CANAL AT LATHOM – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

Exhibitions are coming thick and fast and my framer said he would take some paintings  to put in his window. Canals are quite a popular theme with the Leeds Liverpool canal running along close-by. I was a bit short of suitable paintings and had this image. I like the narrowboats  against the backdrop of the old mill.  I did a similar theme a long while ago where I got up close to the narrowboats, again with the mill in the background and the trees giving deep shade to counterpoint the lit surfaces. It was a favourite painting and sold quickly. This view pulls back a bit, but I thought that it would still make a great subject. Anyway it is in a frame now along with eight others. Now I need to focus on the next exhibition. Thankfully they only want two.

The other  canal painting is in the sold section of paintings on the artist page of my website: grahammcquadefineart.com