FLOODED FIELDS AT HASKAYNE – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

An old, sold painting, this morning, of flooded fields. The area behind our town is low lying, reclaimed, marshland and despite the many drainage ditches it can get flooded after torrential rain. So the farmer may be unhappy, but it can give great contrasts in lowlight such as sunrise and sunset.

I’ve been busy setting up an exhibition at my framers and manning a collective exhibition in the town centre. I also took a couple of paintings to the main art gallery which got some funding to stage an exhibition of the architecture and buildings of the town centre – a subject, on which, I have many paintings. I missed the opening as I had already promised to go to a life session that day.

Nothing of mine has been sold at the collective, though a few – and cheaper – paintings are going. I think that this will be my last time in this show after participating for twelve years. The numbers visiting are going down and down. Last Friday I had the lowest visitors for any day I’ve been in attendance. A sign of the times I guess.

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

WORKSHOP WATERCOLOUR

I was asked by a painting club in Formby to run a paint-along workshop in watercolour texture next month. The problem for me is that it is to take place over one afternoon. So time is of the essence, as the format is: I will do a bit and the attendees will then have a go, before I move on to the next step etc etc.

I selected this old favourite of mine as the subject.

So over the last few days I have been working out how to do this. I will focus on the road surface and puddles. Initially, though, we will quickly wash in the sky and fields to provide context and then set about painting the roadway. How long this will take is anyone’s guess – but the aim is to complete the road. If time is left over at the end, we will try and complete the painting, which is pretty simple.

To check how this approach will work out, I set about doing another painting. I didnt do the original in this order. The result is above and seems ok. It gave me timings and areas where I could speed things up.

I decided to complete the painting – the one you see above, and it may prove useful for an exhibition I am planning in November.

Other landscapes are available on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com

PRIMROSE HILL – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

This painting developed from an early morning sketch I posted a few weeks ago. A row of cottages at the top of a shallow incline – which in this area of flatness is called a hill. It was originally done in landscape format but I thought that it might pack more punch in long format. Even so, I’m not sure whether it will hold much interest for anyone save, possibly, the few souls that live there. Whilst working on another sketch by the side of the road up by the far cottage you see in the painting, a local stopped by and enquired whether I could paint his house which is just off to the right – I gave him my card, though so far I’ve heard nothing more.

As for the painting – it was the colour and shapes of the cluster of cottages set against the rough, dry grassland and the difference in brushwork between the two which interested me. Couple this with a scatter of random leaning power-line poles and you get my attention, though, I suspect, no-one else’s. But in the end I enjoyed the task – so here it is.

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

MORNING’S WALK BY THE SARACEN’S HEAD – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

Back to the Leeds to Liverpool Canal at Halsall for my subject. The view from the bridge over the canal by the old pub, The Saracen’s Head – which is out of sight, directly to the left.

With the light coming in from the left it almost silhouettes the narrowboats and other craft moored close to the pub.

I have posted views of this scene painted further along the canal from where the man is taking his morning constitutional. I did a sketch on the spot and then worked it up into a painting. I posted this painting in early 2020: Approaching the Saracen’s Head – Watercolour Painting In this view you can see the bridge peeping from behind the foliage in the background, along with the roof of the pub.

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

THE FOOTPATH TO HASKAYNE – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

Another in the series for an upcoming exhibition. I’m not sure of the painting’s commercial potential, though I love the subject. Again it was worked up from my sketchbook and some photos and I took the opportunity to rotate the footbridge to reveal the opening at the far end. When I originally painted it, the view was more side on.

These splayed bridges are designed to prevent livestock moving out of the field , but give free passage to walkers. I like the light and shade on the footbridge. I used tinted gouache, dry brushed onto the foreground grasses to imitate seedheads.

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

THE SHORT-CUT TO GREGORY LANE – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

You can be forgiven for thinking you’ve see this before. I put a sketch of this track on my blog a while ago. Recently, I have been going over sketchbooks looking for topics to show at my Christmas exhibition and this was one of the first that popped up.

It’s a track – I think called The Runnel – I used to cycle along, to and from work. Despite it having a cobbled surface it has been submerged in mud which is then churned up by the farm vehicles. So cycling down it after a wet spell, like you can see here, ends up with your bike getting covered in grit and mud. the only advantage is that it keeps you away from traffic.

As a subject though, it contains a favourite topic of mine – puddles. I might even try it out at the group exhibition I am in at present. I am minding the shop tomorrow, so I could see if there is a space for it there.

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

HALSALL SKETCHES – WATERCOLOUR

Warm autumn sunshine is too good to waste and yesterday morning I got up, rather later than normal, and went to a place I had spotted when returning from my last local plein air trip. It is of a cluster of farmhouses I have passed many times, but the newly mown field and an opening onto it gave me a different view and the crows also thought the same, between eating what the mowers had missed.

And then turning around, and looking in the opposite direction. I got a contre jour view of some cottages I have painted before, though, this time, with the hedge obscuring most of the view. There was still a slight mistiness which, earlier, may have completely obscured both views, this being a low lying marshy area. So it was a productive lie-in – As I’ve heard say, it’s not the done thing to arrive too early.

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

MORNING SKETCHES – WATERCOLOUR

We are having a spell of good weather, which for August in the UK is unusual. Unfortunately, with a few commitments, I havent been able to take advantage. One exception was last Wednesday when I dawn broke without a cloud and I was awake enough to get out. These scenes are from the village of Halsall, close to where I live. I have seen this view many times as I cycled to work, but I noticed a gate had been cut into a field which allowed me space to sit away from the road. This was the first view I painted and the dampness and coolness prevented the paint from drying quickly and there is a softness in the image which I quite like.

The next painting was done as the morning started to warm and the edges are much sharper due to the quicker drying. I only had to move a few feet from where I painted the first painting to get this view. I had just set up when two tractors and a wagon waited to go through the gate. The driver who unlocked the gate wanted me to paint him, though his enthusiasm seemed to drain when I told him he needed to take off his clothes.

With the rush hour over and the vehicles away and out of sight down the track you can see, I did this final painting – about 180 degrees from my first painting. Again the edges are much harsher and I can detect a tiredness creeping in.

It was a great way to spend the early morning, sitting contemplating the views, meditating and painting in the quietness of a still, sunny dawn ( well, apart from the brief disturbance of the tractors ) made better by the fact that I had only to move a few feet to get three good views. Then, as an added bonus, I saw a potential scene for another painting on my way home. Hopefully, some good weather will allow me to explore that one fairly soon..

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

SMALL LANE SOUTH, HALSALL, AGAIN – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

Those who read the text in my last blog may recall I had little hope regarding sales at our latest exhibition, which is now running. Well, the very day I put out the blog this painting sold. I must admit I was pleased with it when I put it out on the blog in October last year, and am still pleased with it. Certainly, enough to give it a second airing.

Here it was, by the chair, but no longer.

I had put it in a solo exhibition around Christmas, but no one seemed interested – despite other sales – and the painting followed me home. I thought that perhaps muddy puddles and broken roads were not what other people wanted, but they certainly interest me, and obviously, someone else.

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

ST CUTHBERT’S CHURCH, HALSALL – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

This is the last of a recent clutch of commissions: the village church at Halsall. On the right is what was the village pub – with its old sign, but is now a financial consultancy – how times have changed – and the war memorial is just visible in front of the church.

I originally did this plein air, tucked on a bank out the way, hoping not to slip into the stream as I worked, early one morning. I then turned that sketch into a painting which sold and now someone else has asked for a version. So you may have seen this before as I posted both the other versions.

On the original version I realised I had the church spire slightly out of proportion and by shortening the spire to the correct size meant I could include more of the foreground and shadows, which gives a better lead in. I was taken by the light creeping in from the right – just starting to illuminate the church and gravestones and allows for some nice tonal interchanges. I’ll keep this for a few days and see if I need to do any further adjustments

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