We came back from Milford Sound in the afternoon and the light behind the distant mountains rendered them a deep blue whilst illuminating the tops of the rolling hills and gave form to the trees.
I have other paintings on my website:graham mcquadefineart.com
Another painting in my cafe series. This one is a more considered version of the sketch I did in plein air when I was in New Zealand, which can be found in March in the archives. This time the buildings are a little bit more upright. I suppose I should have focussed more on the diners and drinkers, but the building that housed the cafe was magnificent. It was a cross between Europe and the wild west of America.
Other paintings can be found on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com
I have been looking at a few of the paintings lying around the studio and thought that it might pay to do a bit of reworking. One, that is on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com , is still being worked on needing yet another amendment. This one, which is on the website and was posted on this blog (end May) also fell under the brush again. When I looked at the original posting, the figures seemed very insignificant, so I doubled their size and also increased the strip of sea. I then warmed up the sky and lightened it a bit. I did nothing to the bottom. Overall I like the concept and that is why I havent changed the layout and colour balance, other than increasing the sizes of the players. Just putting stuff on the website gives you another view of the work, almost like looking at it from a mirror.
Driving up to New Plymouth we stopped off at this beach. I took some photos and one reflected the blueness of the sky in the sand. I thought that it encapsulated the experience. This cherished moment symbolised by the infinite blue.
In reality, over to the right, was an industrial complex at New Plymouth, but turn your head slightly and your cup was half full.
Have a look at some more of my paintings on grahammcquadefineart.com
This was a watercolour I did from sketches, photos and other images. The sketch is posted below on my blog in February. There was no-one on the massive stretch of beach and the range of hills in the late afternoon light made it a magical setting.
This went a bit awry and I should have focussed more on theimportant bit of the diners and drinkers. When I looked up there were some painters from a local group doing similar paintings and having to allow for the cars that kept parking in front.
Devenport, over the water from Auckland was where I started my sketches in New Zealand and this is the last before we leave for Sydney, tonight. So there is some symmetry there.
Moving up to Hamilton in North Island. The big river which runs through town is used by scullers and canoeists. In the evening people come down and talk and then get in a boat and do a bit of exercise. These guys leapt up and disappeared into a canoe, but I had just managed to get them, before they disappeared.
Moving further up North Island and have arrived in New Plymouth. The town has been ransacked by planners and builders, but outside the area is dominated by mount Egmont a dormant volcano and several other, older ones. The views going up the mountain are magnificent and the area is covered in small farms . This sketch was one of them against the background of a smaller and older volcano.
The mountain is magnificent but a lot of the time it is covered in cloud. Just managed to see it early in the morning in the clear.
Back to the North Island and up to Wanganui. We took a riverboat up the river Wanganui and I did this picture whilst everyone was finishing their lunch. The old tinned roof riverside house with the hills behind made a good subject.
The riverboat ride on the restored steamer made a nice diversion although there wasn’t much to see.
Moving northwards up the South Island we came upon Hokitika. It is slightly down at heel since its gold mining days, although there is still a goldmine there. Most of the old harbour is gone but this old customs house remains so I had a go at painting it though the perspective seems to have strayed a bit. Around the building there were lots of blue alliums in flower.
In the town many lovely old buildings stand unused which look a bit sad. Hope they don’t knock them down.
On the beach local artists have gathered up the old washed up trees and have made sculptures of it which is quite nice. In the evening we watched the sun go down over the Tasman Sea. A nice end to the day.
graham mcquade 