GRANITE GARDEN – ACRYLIC PAINTING

I’ve had this painting a while, but I could not get a decent photo of it. Amongst other discrepancies, all the greens turned blue on the images I took, no matter what setting I tried. It was only by tricking the camera that I got something that resembled the actual painting. And, well, it’s a bit of a Pollock, but at the moment I am playing around, and this is one of a series of experiments.

Abstract paintings quite often give me problems when I try to photograph them, whereas, I dont have as many such issues with representational paintings.

I will show other examples of these problems in subsequent posts. Sometimes they actually help you – which they did on a painting I’m currently working on. Hopefully that will be ready for next time.

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

SWEEPING EDEN – ACRYLIC PAINTING

At last I committed the recent ink and wash sketches to canvas. From all the sketches, I had an idea of what I wanted to try, but the new surface created a different rheology with both the ink and the paint. The paper I used for the sketches seemed to draw the ink from the dropper allowing for extended lines. This didnt happen on the gessoed canvas and it was hard work creating the flowing lines that I wanted. Splattering the line work with water created far more diffuse effects than I had previously experienced, mainly because the ink sat on the surface and then reacted more dynamically to the water. And before that, the underpainting took a lot of effort to control, particularly on a more extensive surface, so from the start, the colour fields I had wanted were quickly abandoned in the pursuit of simply avoiding mud.

So I finished with this breathless piece which took on a horticultural demeanour as I struggled to control the paint – like herding cats, though at least I wasnt scratched or bitten in the process.

Other abstract painting is available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com

A HINT OF AUTUMN – ACRYLIC SKETCH

With the lifting of the complete lockdown I went into Liverpool and got myself some acrylic inks this week. I am thinking of putting some of these line and wash style images onto canvas. Up until now I have been using standard inks for the line and watercolours to add washes and I feel I need acrylic inks to apply to canvas. This one above is done in acrylics on paper with acrylic ink, liquid acrylic and heavy body acrylic. I am happier keeping it simple than adding layers of complexity as I did in the one below.

In this one I used black and white inks to create the lines and I feel that has some mileage for developing.

I am still playing around with standard ink and watercolours as they are quick to do and here are a few more below.

The one above is a more complex version of the first painting and I dont think the complexity adds much value.

Putting ink onto a wet surface can give an overpowering effect especially with black ink, so it needs to be done sparingly. I did buy some red, yellow and blue inks and havent yet started using these. They look more potent than the liquid acrylics I use.

There may be more of these to follow.

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

OUT OF THE BLUE – ACRYLIC PAINTING

This has been through a number of iterations and may go through a few more yet. I just cant get the saturation of colour I was after in the reds and purples. I am considering going over it in oil paint though I will leave it for a while now and reflect.

I made the frame a while ago and love the shape. I have done a number of these non-standard shapes and may make some more in the future.

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