SUNSHINE AND ROSES – WATERCOLOUR SKETCH

I recently had some requests to do painting demonstrations in the coming months; two of them were for watercolour and one wanted a floral painting in watercolour. I was pondering on what to do when I recalled a painting of the yellow roses that grow in my garden which I did in 2019 and posted on this blog. I was pleased with it at the time, but it has hung around unsold and I thought that it might be a good opportunity to revitalise it and also have it as a subject ready for a couple of demos.

The original one, which I have put below, had quite a lot of hard edges and was perhaps a bit stolid, so I thought that I would incorporate more soft edges and mix those edges up a bit, as well as emphasising the light source to give the image more oomph. Also, in the first one I played around with purples and blues in the foliage to complement the yellows and I thought I could increase this contrast. So here is the result.

I will do another one, with an extra rose – more like the one below – to put up for sale. The one above is just a pilot for the demos. The more complicated you get the painting, the longer it takes to do and there is a chance you’ll not finish it on the night. In any case, I think there is enough in this one to provide a good example of my working practice. For a piece for sale I think the extra rose will give it a better balance.

Other floral paintings – and the one above – are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com

JUNE’S BLOOMS -WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

I have a yellow rosebush, close to our decking, which gives two flushes of flowers each year. It has just finished flowering and if I get around to deadheading it we should get another flush later in the autumn. I did this painting back in 2007 and sold it to a friend. It is one of a number of paintings I have done of it over the years. I love the pastel shades of the blooms and am always puzzled how red the buds start out, but always turn into various shades of yellow.

Other floral paintings – even yellow roses – are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com

YELLOW ROSE – ACRYLIC PAINTING

For my final offering of 2021, here is a portrait of one of my yellow roses which grows close to where we sit on our garden deck. It flowers in profusion in June. Perhaps a little dark in the petal folds and that bud could just extend a little further upwards.

I painted it to complete a small set of flower studies in acrylic. I have stopped painting watercolour flowers as they seem less popular – certainly mine do – and I thought some big, bold flowers in acrylic might prove more popular.

Here are the other two, which if you are a regular reader, you will probably recognise.

So, all that’s left to do is wish to you all a happy New Year.

Original floral paintings are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com

YELLOW ROSES AGAIN – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

Inklings of summer are seeping over the hedge and with it, the promise of yellow roses which sit at the back of the bed close to my decking. I wanted to increase my stock of floral paintings and decided to start with the roses, which I struggled with. Not as loose as I had imagined and wanted but in the end there are some reasons to be cheerful. There may be more flowers in the coming installments.

Other floral paintings area available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com

ROSES IN THE LIGHT -WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

A local painting club has asked me to demonstrate a floral watercolour next week , so I just tried out this painting of roses which I did from three photos. I need to be able to do it in two hours and probably they’ll stop  for a cup of tea  in the middle so painting time might be reduced to 90 minutes. I like to try it out so I know I can do it in the time. I will use more lemon yellow next time for the flowers and rearrange the leaves a little so I get a better feeling of depth.

I was once asked to paint a landscape for a Rotary Club meeting. Near to the day of the meet the man who arranged it let slip that they gave about 20 minutes for the talk. I then pared down the  demo and on the day did the painting in 19 minutes and they seemed to like the result!

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

FLOWER SKETCHES – WATERCOLOUR PAINTINGS

Meagre pickings today. I had to do another watercolour flower demo and thought that some roses might be worth trying. I had seen these climbing roses in France the other week and had a notion to try them. I really wanted to get some loose forms coming down the frame ending with perhaps one which was more defined, but was aware that following the demo I will be running a workshop next week when the class have a try, so I needed to approach it more formally and methodically. Well here it is, but in doing it, I also realised that it might be too much for the less experienced – I certainly had a tussle with it.

So back to the drawing board. Instead I went for the old fallback, the hellebores. Well, in the end all I want is to build confidence in loose washes and mixing on the paper. So here was what I did this morning as the demoo piece. It will be interesting to see what the class produce next week.

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

 

 

 

MORNING ROSES – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

A third painting for the upcoming exhibition in the garden centre. I got it completed in time to take in today. The exhibition seems a bit chaotic, but it will be interesting to see how it goes. Generally first exhibitions do well as you can be tapping into a new market, but after a few repetitions those that buy have no more room in their walls.

I need to go up and see how another exhibition near Preston is going. I entered a few years ago on their inaugural event and sold a couple of paintings, but now after  at least five years, I am not holding out much hope.

The exhibitions are coming thick and fast. I also have three painting down in Liverpool, which coincides with a festival they are having. The venue is a little out of the way and the theme was the Mersey which rather restricted what I could enter. Still, I was able to dig three out the archives.

Other paintings are on my website grahammcquadefineart.com