Artist in the Spotlight - Nic McLean
Name: Nic McLean
Age: 42
HOW long have you been in Caithness for?
We just moved to Reay in January. We visited Brough last March for a week hoping to see the northern lights and fell in love with Caithness so when a job opportunity came up for my husband we jumped at the chance to relocate here from Northern Ireland and were very lucky it all fell into place so quickly for us.
Occupation/what medium do you work in?
Before we moved here I worked full-time as a legal secretary and was a self-employed artist in my spare time. At the moment, I’m not working but I volunteer at the local SPCA rehoming centre a couple of mornings a week which, after walking my own two dogs on the beautiful beaches nearby every day, leaves me plenty of time to paint. I’m hoping to find a part-time job initially so that I can continue to dedicate more time to painting. I mostly use Indian ink, watercolour and acrylics. I have a love/hate relationship with oils in that I love how they look but hate how long they take to dry. My favourite technique is pointillism/stippling and I use this to some degree in most of my work whether stippling in ink or watercolour for pet portraits or using my own take on pointillism on my larger canvasses. Stippling in ink is very time intensive as each portrait will be made up of millions of tiny dots of ink (like newspaper print) but I find the process quite therapeutic.
Are you self-taught or have you studied in a particular field?
I studied art at school up to A Level but didn’t take it any further so, as that was quite a while ago now, I suppose I would say I am mostly self-taught. Every so often over the years I would pick up a paint brush again and I was commissioned to do several caricatures of couples as wedding gifts through friends of friends some years ago but it was in 2010 that I began painting again more seriously when I started writing a blog (www.nicsearth.com) about my hopes of turning my art into more than just a hobby — I was inspired by the quote that "it’s never too late to be what you might have been".
Have you exhibited your work/where?
I haven’t had an exhibition (yet) as I’ve been in the catch-22 situation of wanting to make a living as an artist but not having enough spare time to build up a body of work while also working full-time so therefore didn’t have anything to approach galleries with. Also much of the work I did was commission-based pet portraits so once the piece was completed it wasn’t mine to exhibit. I have sold work online through Etsy and Fine Art America and my own blog where I sell prints and greeting cards of my designs and I’m hoping that now I have more free time I can build up a bigger portfolio of work and get involved in the art scene up here which will hopefully enable me to exhibit some of my work.
What inspires you?
Animals and nature. I’m passionate about animal welfare and so dogs and farmed animals, in particular, feature in much of my work. I also love how nature can take something man-made and ordinary and sprinkle a little magic on it — such as the view of street lights through a rain-streaked window.
Are there common themes in your work?
Again the common themes in most of my work are animals and nature. Whether I am creating whimsical illustrations for greetings cards or large acrylic paintings, you will always find an animal or nature as the inspiration. I am working on a series called "windows to the soul" based on looking into the depth in an animal’s eyes and what I see reflected back at me from their perspective. I read a quote by Martin Buber which sums it up perfectly for me — "an animal’s eyes have the power to speak a great language". This is hopefully going to be the first series of paintings I exhibit although three of the four I’ve completed so far have already sold via my blog which is, I suppose, a fortunate position to be even though it means I’m no closer to having enough work to exhibit!
Who is your favourite artist?
First and foremost is Georges Seurat, a French post-impressionist painter who devised the technique of pointillism. His work is amazing. He used distinct dots of pure colour on his canvasses relying on the viewer’s eyes and mind to blend the colours into a fuller range of tones. My technique isn’t as pure as his as we have so many more colour choices straight from the tube nowadays than he had. I also love Salvador Dali’s surreal work and by contrast, I adore the rose-tinted idealistic depiction of 1950s America that Norman Rockwell paintings and illustrations conjure up.
What has been the highlight of your career so far?
There hasn’t been one huge moment as such, although I hope this is yet to come now I have more time to dedicate to art. I did win an online art competition on Pinterest recently though based on my painting receiving the most "likes" which was pretty good. The first time I gave someone a portrait they’d commissioned of their dog, it moved them to tears so I guess my art being able to provoke such an emotional response in someone is always a highlight and that feeling will never get old!
Which work are you most proudest of and why?
The largest painting I’ve done so far which I called Cowmodity depicting a cow we saw while on holiday in Ireland. I was moved by the various holes in her ears left when the yellow tag had ripped through and it struck me how we use these beautiful, sentient creatures as commodities much like we would inanimate objects. This was also the piece where I felt my own style had evolved to a point that I was really happy with.
What are your hopes for the future?
To continue to be inspired by the beauty of the wildlife and nature of Caithness and for others to like my work enough to hang it in their homes so I can fulfil my dream of making a living as an artist.