TIDAL STUDIES – PASTEL AND WATERCOLOUR

I was not satisfied with an earlier version of this painting which I’d posted a while ago. The foreground of the original had some of the scoured beach, but I felt it wasnt convincing. So out came the pastels and the tide came in a bit further.

Whilst I had my watercolours and pastels out I thought I would do a sketch of another seashore scene. I liked the way that the main wave seems to be sliding shoreward and I put in a gull just to complete the picture.

It would be nice to get down to a suitable beach to have a look at some stormy waves and get some inspiration. Our beach is sandy and slopes too gently seaward to get good crashing waves like these – leastways I’ve never seen any. I’ll just have to wait until I can get to a suitable coast – perhaps a holiday is due.

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

WAVEFORMS – MIXED MEDIA SKETCHES

With my daughter visiting last weekend we took some time out for a walk. It was centered on the village of Parbold in Lancashire, which has a great art gallery housed in a disused windmill alongside the canal. The gallery is run by James Bartholomew who does a lot of work in pastel over gouache. Well, he certainly did when he came to do some demonstrations for the club I once ran. I dont think he does them anymore as the last time I tried to book him he said it wasnt worth his time.

His prices bear this out and are well deserved. Some time later,I was looking at entering a painting into the open exhibition of the Royal Society for Marine Artists in London. I looked them up to see what was doing well and discovered that he had won the main prize the previous year.

He does a mixture of subjects, but his seascapes always catch my eye. I have done similar work in watercolour, but seeing his work I thought I’d give the mixed media approach a go. So here are three sketches I did this week.

My base media was transparent watercolour, not gouache. The addition of pastel over the watercolour base allows for some vigorous markmaking in keeping with breaking waves and swirling wash on the beach.

I just wanted to give it a go and see what came out. I may try a bigger one for an upcoming exhibition.

We didnt buy a painting, but one of the reasons for the visit ( apart from climbing the steep hill behind the village) was to purchase some of the big mugs he stocks which have images of his work on the outside. They are good, bucket sized mugs. I had bought a few before, but the penultimate one cracked, spilling coffee over the table recently.

Anyway, now, we are fully stocked with big mugs again and the visit has inspired me to try out a new technique. Let’s drink to that.

Other seascapes and beach scenes are available for purchase on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com

AFTER THE STORM – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

Today I am doing the first of a run of workshops and demonstrations, that continue over the next month or so and consequently time is at a premium. So here is an old watercolour painting done in 2012 and sold soon after. It was based on a view I saw whilst on holiday in Cornwall. I was pleased with the way the cliffs and water worked, along with a sense of melancholy which adds to the painting.

Hopefully there wont be too much melancholia this afternoon.

Other seascapes and beach scenes are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com

A GLIMPSE OF THE SEA – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

A view from my recent walking holiday in Portugal. We had been on the top of the sea cliffs for most of the day when the path turned inland, into a wooded area. It twisted and turned and came out along the edge of a field with the trees on one side. Walking along, I spotted this gap in the trees, revealing the coastline and sea.

I was well ahead of the group and contemplated the opportunity for a quick painting. So I entered the half lit glade looking for a spot to settle down. As I dropped my rucksack I heard rustling off to the left. There was a guy in the wood moving around. Not sure what he was up to, I took a few photos, picked up my bag and headed on my way on the path alongside the field.

The path dropped down the high ridge towards a river which I knew we had to traverse. As I sat on the banks waiting for the rest of the group, the man in the woods came down and waded the shallow river. Perhaps I had spooked him as much as he had done me.

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

MEMORY JOGGERS- WATERCOLOUR AND ACRYLIC PAINTINGS

Still on holiday, we visited friends near my home town. One couple have just moved back to the area and they were showing us around their new house and on the wall was a familiar painting – one I did around 2013. It was pleasing to see it again, after all these years. I dug up this image of it from my files. I called it Early Start.

Here is another long forgotten painting I saw yesterday. I sold it to a lady who lived in the same block of flats as my step mother. The lady has since moved to a care home due to dementia and her family cleared her flat for renting out. This painting was then hung in one of the corridors of the block of flats. I just caught sight of it as I was passing and it made me pause. I had to ask my stepmother about it, who assured me it was the painting I had originally sold to Shirley.

Apologies for the light reflections from the glass. I like the almost abstract shapes at the bottom of the painting which slowly evolve into vegetation and buildings. I have used this approach before, and was pleased with the result here.

Landscapes and seascapes are available for sale from my website: https://grahammcquadefineart.com

BREAKWATER – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

Just two colours were used to paint this – a warm red and a cool blue. I wasnt sure whether it would come off, but after a lot of dry brushwork and the splattering of masking fluid, it started to take shape. I was pleased with the starkness of the image – you can almost hear the shingle being raked by the incoming waves.

And by way of contrast, a scene from the same beach, but with the tide out and the winter long forgotten.

This was an acrylic study and I used a few more colours here – but not many more.

Other beach scenes are available on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com

SET FINE FOR THE DAY – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

As days inch longer some of us northerners start to scent blue skies and lapping waves, so here is a toast of what is to come with a personal glimpse into the future.

Meanwhile I’ll get back to another painting as the rain thrashes the window pane.

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

VIEW FROM THE TERRACE – ACRYLIC PAINTING

I liked the mystery of this image. The original photo was even darker and more mysterious. I decided to add figures and reveal them a bit more and do it in a blocked style.

The actual place is a cafe on Beachy Head; the same headland painted on my previous post.

Other landscapes and seascapes are available on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com

TAKING IN THE VIEW 2 – ACRYLIC PAINTING

Taking a break from my series of watercolours, I thought that I would do something with acrylics. I have to give an acrylic painting  demonstration in Blackpool next week and decided to feature this piece which I posted on my blog some years ago.  It is done with square brushes to block in colour and, hopefully, encourages looseness and produces a more painterly piece, which some people prefer. I like to have a run through of a demonstration  to ensure that I can complete it in the allotted time and this one is a bit bigger than the normal size I demonstrate.

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

BLUE BECKONING – WATERCOLOUR PAINTINGS

After this dose of waveforms I will return to dry land on my next blog – promise. The handing in day for the exhibition is this Thursday, so I am still looking for a painting to replace the original wave I was going to submit, as I mentioned in my previous blog. After doing this one above, I realised that a simple waveform could convey more energy than the more complex one in my last post. I was certainly pleased with this and the serenity it conveyed but I wanted to have another go at the one with rocks and here it is, below.

So one goes into the exhibition, well to the selection panel, anyway.

Other seascapes and sea related subjects are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefine.com