Tide in, tide out, angry waves, still water, blue azure, leaded grey – always change and none more so than at the high water line.
Other seaside and beach paintings are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com
A view of the Mersey Estuary under a low afternoon sun with the Wirral Peninsular in the background and just a hint of the wind turbines. Originally I painted the gulls bigger, but they dominated, as gulls do. Now they sit a little more reservedly in the landscape.
Other beach scenes are available on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com
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
Well, summer seems to be peeping around the corner around here, so why not paint another beach scene. This is a subject I tackled a long time ago, but the figures were just part of a bigger beachscape. I love this grouping and thought that it might be worth focussing in on the four of them walking along the wet sand in the morning.
And whilst I am the subject of repeats, here is another version of a painting I did post a few weeks ago. Breakout, though in that version not all the figures were breaking out – one seemed to be very occupied with their phone.
So I got rid of the texting man and added a running female. I also pushed her and the dog closer to the smaller boy and reduced the size of the painting from 52x35cm to 35x25cm and in doing so, got closer to the action. Hopefully I’ve got more of the exuberance of a summer’s day than I first had – days to come.
Other beach paintings are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com
For us in northern climes, a taste of what`s to come – that is, if they let us out the house .or we stage a breakout.
At this moment we should be cruising down the Nile – a holiday booked well over a year ago and I have been looking forward to seeing the sights of ancient Egypt that seem to be constantly on the television here. I was also eager for some time on deck, in the sun, painting the passing countryside as we cruised down river. So hopefully next year.
With this painting I liked the movement of the front child in the water and the gambolling dog. It looked a bit unconnected so I introduced a second child and pulled the dog into the man, who appears to be texting or reading his emails. In that format I have created a diagonal that hopefully reinforces the energy of waves and bathers.
Other seaside paintings are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com
Well for us in northern climes the corner has been turned and summer is on its way, though, no doubt, a rocky (and icy) road lies ahead. So here is a painting of what we’re aiming for. I did this as a pastel a long while ago and wondered whether it would make a watercolour. I love the shadows of the marram grass, the distressed fence, and the way the beach disappears into a hazy blueness. It makes a hopeful change from my recent winter beach scenes.
Here’s to the new year. Have a good one.
Other beach paintings are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com
Maybe the season of repeats. Here is another version of a painting I posted a few weeks ago. I decided the cliffs of sand dunes needed simplifying and enlarging and I removed clutter from the foreground. I also simplified the cloud formation and made them compliment the dunes better. Its a simple scene, but its about the openness of the beach which seems to roll on forever.
Merry Christmas – as its a nice day we are heading off for a walk along the beach on the Wirral. Hopefully there will be a few potential paintings waiting for me there.
Other beach scenes are available for purchase on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com
Last Monday afternoon, goaded by a splash of sunshine, we headed for the beach at Formby. Sunlight shot through through the gathering clouds and made intriguing contrasts in the fading light.
The car park shut at 3pm, and arriving at two, it only allowed for a short walk along the beach. Fortunately I brought my camera.
With the number of storms of late it was noticeable that the dunes had been well scoured by the waves. When I returned I decide to paint a few of the images I collected.
Other paintings of the Sefton beach are available on my website: grahammmcquadefineart.com
I have sold a number of beach scenes at Formby of late, so stocks of this subject were low and I wanted something not too taxing to paint as I worked on a more difficult painting.
It puzzles me why a local beach scene is such a popular subject but I suppose sunny days at the seaside are always uplifting and can hold happy memories – that is, until you have to paint masses of marram grass and footprints in the sand.
Other seaside paintings are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com
With the morning light on the dunes the marram grass glows and glistens and cajoled me into working up this view of the beach at Birkdale where I live. I had forgotten I had done a very similar piece before in April and it was only as I was storing this painting that I saw the earlier work. I had forgotten it, probably as I wasnt too taken with the regularly repeating rows of grass I had managed to get on that one. So I got the old painting out again and gave it a dose of reworking and here it is:
On the top painting I blocked in the dark areas with dark acrylic paint before applying the pastels and that saved a lot of time and layers of pastel in achieving the shadows and darker passages, In the lower painting darks were built up with pastel alone.
Other seascapes and seaside paintings are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com
