Lee McCarthy

For as long as I can remember I have always loved art. Whenever I had a chance I would get out my pencils and paper and sketch. Through my school years I never really thought about what I wanted to become but I always loved the art class and I always put in 100 per cent and took things a little further and the teachers were very encouraging and always liked my work.
Mostly self-taught though I do have A Level art and design, I always wanted to go further into university but It wasn’t affordable for me so after my school years I followed in my father’s footsteps and became a landscape garden designer, and so art was just a hobby in my spare time. I started my own landscape company which was quite successful for a few years but in 2008 I was forced to shut down due to recession.
After this I decided to set up a studio in my home and start painting full time. I built up a collection of work and would submit to online galleries and put my work in local art shows and galleries and rented stalls at art markets.
My love for the coast and holidays to the coastal regions of Britain has inspired me to create this collection of work. Working in acrylics on canvas I build up layers of textures and colour trying to keep a uniform colour co-ordination as I feel this brings the whole picture together. After that I will get to the fun part of adding all the details which brings the painting to life.
I have developed a style of my own over the past few years which I would call modern impressionism and naïve.
Inspiration can come from anywhere or anytime, anyplace. I find my ideas and inspiration comes to me mostly when I am about to sleep at night. I will be lying there and many ideas will race through my mind and I’ll have to jump up and note things down or do a quick sketch so I can then put them into practice when I next paint. Sometimes I will just jump up put on my overalls and paint into the early hours because I can’t wait till the next day.
Art is my passion which is with me every single day and I couldn’t think of anything more exiting to do and feel very lucky that I can do something that I love.