THE WAY THE WICKED WIND BLOWS – SCULPTURE

This was the birthday present I made my wife. There is a long backstory to this which I wont burden you with. What pleases me – apart from that it is still working as I type – is the fact that it is made entirely from scrap materials which I have cut, soldered, brazed and tapped together. Even the ball bearings, the indicator runs on, were reclaimed. The carving is made from part of an old cherry tree. I had intented making a motif that was two dimensional, but when asked, my wife wanted someone reading a book – something she does a lot of in French and English. I couldnt work out a clear way of depicting a reader in 2D so I carved a version of Rodins Reader and fixed it to the top.

I did have a hic up when the indicator fell off soon after erection – mainly due to my poor brazing skills, but it is now up and running again and hopefully more robust.

When the nuclear fall-out decends I will now know which way to run.

All manner of artwork is available for purchase at very reaonable prices on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com

FISH MOBILE – DRIFTWOOD

Some time ago on this blog, I published a version of this mobile made up of modified beach driftwood. In high winds one of the fish crash-landed and needed replacement. Emboldened by my cycle ride last Monday, the next day I headed off to the beach to collect some more wood.

I made two more fish like forms from wood I found lying around, after an extremely high tide, and placed them on a new string so I had three ranks of fish, rather than the two I first had.

Now it looks like a menacing shoal hanging around outside – well my wife seems to think so when the wind has them knocking against the window in the night.

Anyway, a bit of fun and a chance to get down to the seashore after a month or so away.

See my website for artwork available for sale: grahammcquadefineart.com

SCATTER – WOODEN SCULPTURE

A few years ago I reroofed my garage which entailed reboarding it. I had a lot of off-cuts and, being naturally parsimonious, I stored them, despite having no idea of what to do with them. A couple of months ago an idea trickled into my head and after a few sketches and a pretty useless maquette, I came up with this. I still need to do a bit more filling and then paint it to give it some weather proofing.

Yesterday it came out of the workshop and I thought I would try it out on the centre of the lawn – the wife didnt complain too loudly, so that was some kind of victory.

With the sun shining, the facets were accentauted, so I thought I might as well photo it and post the images. I am quite pleased with the outcome – so long as those pigeons dont use it as a perch…

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

EARLY MORNING DOWN CARR MOSS LANE – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

I sold quite a few of these wide format paintings and the stock of frames ran low so I ordered another batch and since then I haven’t painted anything in this style. With a few exhibitions coming up I decided to rectify that and here is the first one. This is of the low flats that run inland from the sea where I live. I am a sucker for the powerlines which run along the raised roadways and the low mist that hangs over the grassland in the mornings. Once again sticking to the three colour palette.

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

SPLASH – SCULPTURE: HAND CARVED SYCAMORE

This is a piece I have just carved which is made up of a trunk which was cut into two and then joined together to increase the width. I wanted the feel of water being thrown aside by a sudden force , like a rock hitting the surface.

One of the problems carving tree trunks means that the subjects tend to be long and thin which  can be a bit repetitive. This was an attempt to get greater scope. The actual join was not entirely satisfactory as the trunk was too big for my circular saw, but I managed to fill the gaps.

Not sure about the impact of the piece, but you can only try.

Other sculptures are on my website grahammcquadefineart.com

TAILSPIN – SCULPTURE IN APPLEWOOD

A change of pace and medium. I get given small trunks of trees and the sizes rather restrict the possibilities, but I was pleased with the outcome of this one. Carving through the outer wood and into the heartwood gives some interesting tonal changes. The strip of wood has the feeling of fabric in freefall.

Other sculptures and ceramics are on my website grahammcquadefineart.com