PASSING PLACES – ACRYLIC PAINTING

I have struggled with this painting and have decided to stop and have a rest. Publishing it will allow me to create some distance and ponder. I need the space: of late I have found my painting getting slower and slower and decisions taking longer and longer to make.

This painting comes from an old photo of a country lane near to where I live. I love the incongruous angles of the posts. The photo is below along with marks and water stains made by me.

I wanted to break the image up and decided to do this in a landscape format, like the photo. I did some thumbnail sketches.

And off I popped on a 75x50cm canvas. Before too long doubts crept in and out crept the gesso. Well the gesso came out after I had completed a new acrylic sketch over an old painting, which retained a lot of its original colours.

I thought that this format might be better so then the gesso did come out and I completed the painting at the top of the page. I thought that the notion of the painting being in three parts, with each part slipping past the other, echoed cars on this track having to negotiate past one another. I was reminded of that piece of performance art – Imponderabilia” Marina Abramovic where visitors had to squeeze between the naked artists stood at the only entrance to the exhibition. I apologise that this piece isnt as unnerving or erotic – but then that’s what you get on a Monday morning.

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

DANCING LIGHT, FLEETING SHADOWS – WATERCOLOUR PAINTINGS

Another view from Ainsdale pine woods near to my home, where the firs and bracken have populated the old sand dunes down to the beach.

You can understand, in a more credulous age, the belief in sprites and fairies as the morning light bristles or crepuscular darks grow.

And another go at the view of the woods and path I posted a few weeks ago. The first one was quickly done on the back of an old painting and I loved the glow I achieved. Unfortunately some of the old painting had been cut down so it didnt fit my frames and mounts. Hence this second attempt on a fresh sheet.

Other paintings of the Sefton coast are available for sale at great prices on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com

HALSALL MOSS ON A SPRING MORNING – PASTEL PAINTING

I painted an identical scene in watercolour and posted it on this blog a while back. In this version I wanted to see if I could enhance the textures of the vegetation using pastel and hopefully have got more variation with this media, even if the image is pretty similar.

The view is one of the many drainage channels that criss-cross this low lying marshy area which is now prime arable land. I originally sketched it one morning last year and during the painting the mist broke and the morning sun illuminated the fresh vegetation picking out the greens and yellows.

Hopefully I will soon be able to get out in the open to gather some fresh material to paint again, unless the government confine us all to barracks.

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

A WALK THROUGH AINSDALE WOODS – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

I saw a woodland scene simply done in watercolours the other day and wondered whether some of my scenes could do with decluttering. The painting was eye catching though too simplistic for my taste but I felt it was worth trying some of the principles.

This painting was from view I have had lying around for a while and I thought that it would make a good starting point. I proceeded with a wash of strong primary colours over the wetted sheet and then moved the whole lot with more sprayed water to get some colour mixing into a myriad of hues.

When dry, further forms were created into sprayed areas to give hit and miss shapes and gradually the whole thing was worked up with drier and drier brushwork.

I’ll do a few more and compare them with earlier paintings I have done.

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

SUNLIT CLEARING – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

Another reprise. A more finished version of our pinewoods in autumn with their mix of conifer and birch. I am not sure of the shaft of light – that might get amended before I frame it.

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

SEGARS LANE MORNING – PASTEL PAINTING

Another calming painting – well that’s the intention. I did this quickly just to see how it would work out. It comes from a couple of photos taken on an earlier outing when I did some watercolour paintings on a quiet summer’s morning. Hopefully there will be a few more to come, but not this week if the forecast is to be believed.

Other landscapes are available on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com

A CHILL MORNING ON PLEX MOSS LANE – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

Another one in the series of paintings I’m not happy with since I first did them. In this version I hope I adequately captured the chill mist you get in autumn on the low lying reclaimed marshlands. The switchback road, the tilting poles and the scrubby verge which falls away into a deep ditch, all contribute to a feeling of other worldliness where some bring the ghosts in their heads and give them free rein.

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

LATE SUMMER, PLEX MOSS LANE – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

In the late rush for replacement paintings to populate the exhibition, I reworked this image which I posted a few years ago. I tried to better meld the buildings with the landscape and simplify the foreground to enhance the feeling of stillness. Whether I did or not, who’s to say, but it’s up on the wall now and a feeling of calm has descended upon my studio allowing a tidy-up for the second time.

Other landscapes are available on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com

THE AUTUMN SUN SWEEPS AINSDALE WOODS – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

A few loose washes and plenty of splattered masking fluid got this off to a good start. I wanted the smokey luminosity of low autumn sunlight and it seems to have worked at least for the top half. A very similar subject to an earlier painting I posted , but not surprising as they both were from images taken on the same day, but I like the air of mystery in this one.

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

A COUPLE OF NUMBER TWOS – WATERCOLOUR PAINTINGS

OK an old image for the New Year, but I wasn’t happy with my first attempt at ‘Entering Ainsdale Woods’. So here’s a second go and a title that saves overtaxing the troll’s sticky fingers.

I always have difficulties with light foregrounds against dark backgrounds and on the first one I had to resort to gouache to make some reclamations. I also felt the background tree trunks were too uniform and the dog needed repositioning. The first one looked quite good on the screen but the original didn’t stand up to close scrutiny – so that’s why you’re getting it again. This one has a lighter touch and brings out the sunlight on the autumn leaves which was something I was after.

So in compensation for repeating work, here’s a second painting, this time a repeat of ‘Receding Tide’. Hopefully I have now got the still wet feel of the shingle which I felt was missing on the first go and I extended the amount of shingle to break up the textures .

Paintings for sale are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com