On the Leeds to Liverpool canal near Scarisbrick I happened upon the cluster of bankside trees set against the morning sun and the reflection they cast on the water. In the distance the ducks and a huddle of moored boats hopefully drag the eye through the painting. Most of all I loved the serene peacefulness of the still hour – worth the early rise.
Other canal scenes are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com
Before Christmas, when the cold was raw, I went on a walk along the Leeds to Liverpool Canal on a day when the sun shone bright. I have recently shown 3 paintings taken from that walk on this blog ( St Thomas’ Church, Canal at Pygon Hill Lane and Up the Hill) Here is another one from that day. With the blue of the sky and its reflection in the water, pitted against the ochres of the reed beds and birches it made a pleasing combination. I also liked the snaking of the canal as it lines up to go under the roadbridge just ahead.
Now things have warmed up I have stated the big garden clear-up and shrub moving and walks like this will have to wait for a while – still, it was a productive day.
Other canal scenes are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com
I recently put two posts out – Up the Hill and St Thomas’s Church – which were taken from a recent walk I did. This is another scene from that walk. Here I am back to the Leed to Liverpool Canal having taken a concealed footpath that emerges past these two cottages and meets with Pygons Hill Lane. As I walked towards the lane I looked back to the cottages, into the afternoon sun, and was struck by the sunlight on the canal-side vegetation which seemed to glow against the water of the canal. I thought that it might make an interesting painting.
Other paintings of canal scenes are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com
We recently had a lunch booked at a canal-side pub, but one of our friends was sick and had to cancel. As it was a bright day, we decided to have some lunch and then go for a walk. Due to a miscalculation on my part, the walk was a bit longer than intended and we arrived back to the car, at the pub car-park, as the sun was beginning to get low in the sky – reflecting off the boats collecting at their winter moorings. I thought that it might be worth painting
This bridge has changed over the years. It was a favourite location of the art group I ran and and was the subject of some plein air painting in the summer – allowing for a drink at the pub afterwards. You can see in an earlier painting of mine – which I posted a long time ago – that there was a magnificent willow tree which stood at one side – though I think the removal of the ivy has been an improvement.
Other canal paintings are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com
A long-sold painting from 2006, of the Leeds to Liverpool canal in the north of Liverpool at Lydiate. Due to painting birthday cards and a visit by my daughter, my normal output has been curtailed of late.
Also, there is a bit of apathy after being told, on Saturday, that one of my exhibitions has been called off as the owners want the facility for other purposes. It came out of the blue, as we had been discussing the exhibition since July and only last week, I submitted a press release with images to them and also signed and returned their agreement document.
I have expressed my disdain and pointed out, that based on our agreement, I had ordered 5 new frames and turned down an offer of participating in another exhibition. I still have two more exhibitions from November until January, but it is extremely annoying.
Still, on the upside, the painting I presented on my previous blog – which was painted specifically for the cancelled exhibition – was spotted by someone who lives close to the scene depicted and frequently runs along the canal path you see in it. He has said he will come around tomorrow to buy it, So I had best get on and frame it.
Other canal scenes are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com
Regular readers will probably know I have been banging on about revisiting old paintings in preparation for upcoming workshops and demos I have been asked to do. Trial runs leave you with a painting that you can exhibit, which is a great side product and one I am certainly in need of. This is because I have overcommitted to two solo exhibitions and a group show from November onwards, which at times are running concurrently. I need frames and more paintings. The frames have been ordered and I am making some late additions to the paintings.
Here is one. I’ve posted a version before, but this time I did it in a long format – mainly because I have a few spare long format frames and not much to put in them. It is of the Leeds to Liverpool Canal at a small town called Burscough – north of Liverpool.
It was a lovely morning, well worth getting up at 5am for and I remember doing a couple of paintings in the warm sun before being regaled by a musician who complained for a good half hour, as I worked, about payments for gigs – or the lack of payment, as I recall. I told him to take up painting: then he would really have something to complain about.
Other canal scenes are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com
I have just realised that it will soon be February, when I have two painting demonstrations to do. One request is for a canal scene, and this is what I intend to demonstrate. It is a painting I did in 2008 and at the moment I am working out how to best complete the painting in an hour and half. For me, it is a question of getting the order right, so the audience isnt sitting around whilst you mix colours, and there is quite a bit of mixing here to get the water effects. I also need to ensure to emphasise the points I want to raise.
The second demonstration was picked for me by the art club that engaged me. It is of a field of poppies I did more recently.
It isnt a painting I would select if I had a choice. There is a lot of texture in the foreground field that I did in a very haphazard manner, at the time – feeling my way through. I used masking fluid in the painting. Again I want to avoid delays, so I may need to get the hair dryer out to avoid waiting for the masking fluid to dry. Other techniques are a little faster – I did some scraping back and and finally resorted to gouache when all my options were used up. Again, I am working through this to find the best order needed to present it in a coherent way.
After all this I’ll need a holiday and yesterday I ordered some Egyptian pounds for a two week cruise down the Nile at the end of February. Hopefully we will get to go this time – this is the second attempt.
I will be taking my sketch book.
Other landscapes and canal scenes are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com
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
On my last post I showed two sketches I did on a morning painting trip near Burscough in Lancashire. Here is a scene I saw on the way between those sketches. The old cottage and canal boats caught in the sunshine, contrasting with the shade of the bank I was cycling on. This was the reason why I didnt paint it at the time – being in the shade, the paint would have taken an eternity to dry and I would probably be still painting it.
Presently I am debating whether to go in darker with the overhanging leaves on the near bank: I was taken by the gloominess and darkness of the bank compared to the brightness on the other side. Perhaps a metaphor for life – though it looks like the cottage needs a lot of work doing to it and I’d much rather be out painting.
Other canal scenes are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com
With a new laptop and other issues there isnt much new painting to show you so I am reverting to two old watercolours of the canal sold a long while ago and which have never been put on this blog. The first is a canal mooring in Burscough in Lancashire, close to a long defunct mill which I think they are now converting into flats.
This second is of another favourite haunt of mine at Haskayne, further along the same canal, which is always enchanting on a cloudless summer morning, as this was. Just around the corner there is a lovely canal-side pub, which we used to paint at when I was a member of a local painting group.
Other canal scenes are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com
graham mcquade 