Tag Archives: gulls

WORD GETS AROUND – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

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Now all the planned exhibitions have either finished or are currently running I can stop painting local scenes and start playing around a bit more. This is a half imperial size (56x76cm) watercolour – so double the size of watercolour I’ve been painting of late.

I’m not sure of its commercial value, but working into light is something I love doing. In this case it was a low evening sun washing a golden glow over the subject and casting long violet shadows. Not to forget the transparent feather tips of the gulls which seemed to carry their own illumination, particularly when set against the shadows. So I got a great deal of satisfaction doing it.

I’m not sure of the sentiment of feeding gulls and pigeons; as all you end up doing is increasing the population and teaching them to rely on people for food. But I did like the guy struggling with his plastic bag full of breadcrumbs, perilously close to having the bag being whipped from his hands by an impatient gull.

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

CENTRE OF ATTENTION – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

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This is a scene from my hometown of Hastings, on the south coast of England. Here the fishing boats are hauled up the shingle beach and then launched into the sea by tractors. Even the local Lifeboat is treated similarly. There is a harbour arm, but I dont think it would afford much protection. So you can walk amongst the beached boats with all the paraphernalia of a fishing port strewn across the shingle. I saw this fellow sitting out of the wind behind two boats eating his lunch and there was one gull jealously eyeing his fish dinner.

So I added a few more – to up the tension – for as you know, there aren`t many things hungrier than a gull, unless, that is, it`s a man who has just lost his lunch.

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

RECEDING TIDE – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

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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

BEACH LIFE – WATERCOLOUR SKETCH

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With a house filled with guests, I havent done any painting over the past few days.When I was clearing space in my studio, I picked up a sketch book and spotted something I had done whilst on the beach in August – and here it is – squabbling gulls on the waterline: perhaps apposite in the circumstances.

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

LOW TIDE AT SOUTHPORT – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

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The joke is that the sea goes so far out here, it always seems like low-tide.

I went down to the beach the other fine day to get some driftwood for a mobile I am making, which hopefully I will post shortly. There were some great cloud formations and whilst I was searching for suitable pieces I managed to find time to snap a few photos and later used them to give you a flavour of the beach here at Southport UK.

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