I was trying to capture the essence of the low-lying and fertile area behind our coastal sandy belt and decided to give it a go in pastels. I initially blocked in the dark areas with acrylic paint: a practice I had read about recently and wanted to try.
I am a bit ambivalent about the result, but it made a change from the watercolours.
Other landscapes and florals are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com
A change of pace here. With not much life drawing going on, I had to make do with the materials I had at my disposal. Apologies to any startled horses.
Though here in the UK, the BBC presented a life session last week – a few hours of models posing on live TV, though drawing time was curtailed by presenters adding their bit and analysis of studio participants work – including the mandatory celebrity. I suppose it was trying to get people to take up life drawing, rather than pander to my needs, but it was also hindered by the small images they presented – panning back from the model to take in the surrounds. On my TV it looked like the model was in another room, which is another barrier to success. At least they tried and I got a few loose sketches.
Other life painting is available on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com
On Monday morning I decided to try and lift the lethargy I described in the previous post, by getting out on my bike and seeking out new material. Normally I would have taken my painting gear, as it was a bright, if blustery morning, but I felt that that might upset the locals, so I put a camera in my pocket instead, and headed off along Plex Moss Lane – the lane defined by the posts in the watercolour above, past the farm you can see, and across Halsall Moss. Taking pictures as I went.
The land rises as you come off the Moss and there was a line of trees.
I did this one in pastel, of the trees bursting into leaf.
And I got a few more images that I can work up during lockdown.
As well as collecting images, a trip like this also allows you to pick out some possible places to paint when life does return to normal. I can waste a lot of time finding an interesting subject when I go out. If I have a few possibilities in mind before I set out it can set me off in a much better frame of mind when I settle down to paint.
Stay safe.
Other lansdcapes are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com
I think this is the beach at Birkdale, but it could be anywhere north of Liverpool from Crosby to Southport as the morning light catches the marram grasses and the birds glisten out on the sandbanks.
I would like to get down there and get another piece of driftwood to modify my fish mobile, as with time on my hands, I have been looking at the mobile I posted a while ago and decided that an adjustment is required, but with restrictions getting tighter that can wait.
Stay safe.
Other seascapes are available on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com
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
Over the last couple of weeks I have been doing a bit of life drawing with pastels. This is of Eve. She liked the painting and at the end of the session wanted to photograph it. I said she could have it if she sent me an back an image.
Arthur, a model in his sixties still runs, though he has stopped the marathons
An interesting angle, though I think I could have made more of this and the highlighting is a bit harsh.
Though dozing off with your mouth open just brings out the worst in me. Again I could have made more of this as the shapes were quite interesting.
Other life work is available on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com
Still messing about with pastels. I cut down a sheet into 3 long formats and did a few sketches on each portion. This, above, is a spring scene looking away from the Leeds to Liverpool canal in Burscough Lancashire. The Lancashire plane spread out before you and the new growth pushing upward into the warm, still, morning air.
At the other end of the seasons – harvest time and more of the Lancashire plane, but this time around Little Crosby which is on the northern outskirts of Liverpool, for the second painting in the series.
And finally, one regulars might recognise. I posted a watercolour of this a few weeks back with the sun momentarily glimpsing the rain sodden fields. I must admit the tonal contrasts were easier with the pastel.
Other landscapes are available for sale on my new website ( getting there -though still under construction) grahammcquadefineart.com
I got the pastels out for the last blog and thought I could do with having a stock check. This entails doing a few paintings and seeing what hues and tones I am short of. I found a shop in Liverpool which sells Unison pastels. Normally I buy them over the internet, but it is far better making sure that you get the right ones by seeing them in the flesh and trying them out. So here’s a scene of thistle seed heads in the sun. I was sat waiting for someone on a park bench this autumn when the sun came out and I was caught by the brightness of the seed heads and the way they seemed to glow against the shadows. So I snapped a few photos and here we are and I’ve got my list for a shopping trip.
Other floral paintings are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com
I received a set of Unison portrait pastels for Christmas and thought I’d find a subject where I could give them a road test. I had some images from my trip to South East Asia which caught some figures in the light – always a favourite subject of mine.
This is a compilation of a number of those images – ones of Buddhist monks and their initiates – and reflects a mindset I certainly get into myself, of being absorbed into activities which take away all sense of time. On talking to one Laotian monk in particular ( who engaged me in conversation just to practise his English) I came to the conclusion that they passed their life absorbed in worship, following rituals and were comforted by that routine. He did also say that many were monks for a short duration only and then activated the ejector seat to return to the secular world.
Other figurative paintings are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com
With a recent spell of bright sunshine we went for a walk along the canal a couple of days ago. It was the fields nearby that caught my attention. This one with the light on the top of the hill and the deep blue of the sky setting off what remains of the autumn leaves captured the day for me. I was thinking of putting some crows in it – but so far have resisted.
Other landscapes are available for sale on my website grahammcquadefineart.com
