THE BEACH AT SOUTHPORT – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

Rushing around looking at replacement paintings for the exhibition after the sudden sales, I considered a number of local landscapes for display. Some I had affinity for but was reluctant to put on show. So when the dust settled last week I thought that I should see whether I could get them to a stage where I would put them in a frame to exhibit.

This is the first one – the beach at Southport in the evening. The first version was quite large – a half imperial sheet. I realised I could get the essence by compressing it, with the sand, grasses and reflections on the water constained by a narrow format. I also kept a tight reign on the hue, reflecting the beach in the sky.

Other local beach scenes are available on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com

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A COUPLE OF NUMBER TWOS – WATERCOLOUR PAINTINGS

OK an old image for the New Year, but I wasn’t happy with my first attempt at ‘Entering Ainsdale Woods’. So here’s a second go and a title that saves overtaxing the troll’s sticky fingers.

I always have difficulties with light foregrounds against dark backgrounds and on the first one I had to resort to gouache to make some reclamations. I also felt the background tree trunks were too uniform and the dog needed repositioning. The first one looked quite good on the screen but the original didn’t stand up to close scrutiny – so that’s why you’re getting it again. This one has a lighter touch and brings out the sunlight on the autumn leaves which was something I was after.

So in compensation for repeating work, here’s a second painting, this time a repeat of ‘Receding Tide’. Hopefully I have now got the still wet feel of the shingle which I felt was missing on the first go and I extended the amount of shingle to break up the textures .

Paintings for sale are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com

RECEDING TIDE – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

I wanted to try out some textures on this one with the sky, sea, rocks and pebbles all requiring different approaches. I would like to have added further detail and texture, such as building up the seaweed and pebbles, but was aware that I was getting too fussy. It was a good exercise and like so many paintings, you get to the end and realise that there were slicker and better ways of achieving your aims. So perhaps another go later.  

For other seascape and beach paintings for sale, visit my website: grahammcquadefineart.com

TAKING IN THE VIEW 2 – ACRYLIC PAINTING

Taking a break from my series of watercolours, I thought that I would do something with acrylics. I have to give an acrylic painting  demonstration in Blackpool next week and decided to feature this piece which I posted on my blog some years ago.  It is done with square brushes to block in colour and, hopefully, encourages looseness and produces a more painterly piece, which some people prefer. I like to have a run through of a demonstration  to ensure that I can complete it in the allotted time and this one is a bit bigger than the normal size I demonstrate.

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

BREAKER’S THUNDER – WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

I  was assembling some paintings for the town’s big exhibition which takes place in the main Art Gallery. I had a few lined up for submission but last Saturday  I got a call from my framer who asked if I still had my painting of  a wave. This was going to be one of my entries. I  took it around to my framer who duly sold the painting to a guy who had seen it when it was displayed there in March and who  waited until now to make some enquiries.

It was a nice problem to have and  I thought I would do another couple and see how they turned out. Above is the first one. A second is in progress. I included some rocks on this one and really like their warmth against the cool colours of the sea.

It may be a bit over complicated when compared to the one I sold ( and displayed in February on this blog). I certainly liked the first one’s simplicity, which is  maybe why it caught the eye of the buyer  – see below.

Other scenes of water and the sea are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com

SHORELINE – WATERCOLOUR PAINTINGS

The last of the seaside paintings – well at least for a while – I promise. This is from the sketches I posted earlier.

I also did a painting of the water surface sketch I published in my last blog.

Other seascapes and beach scenes are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com

THE WAYS OF WATER – WATERCOLOUR PAINTINGS

I enjoyed loading up a large mop with masses of dark colour and floating the tip over the paper’s surface drawing out random patterns in this sketch. It will be worth trying again and getting the density of paint stronger. I had prepared a light underpainting first on this one, to try and get the swell and roll of water before going in with the reflections.

The second one is a half imperial sized version (52x36cm)  of the sketch I put on the blog on the 12th February. I decided to go in even closer on this version. I was quite satisfied with this one, so hopefully you wont see this again.

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