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Nicola McLean

Joined Artfinder: March 2015

Artworks for sale: 42

(20)

United Kingdom

Updates from Nicola McLean's studio

  • Buster - a commission

    Buster - a commission

    So, it's been nearly a year since I posted anything to my 'me at work' section! Last year I was working on a lot of commissions and smaller art to fill my shelf at a local gift shop so I wasn't very active on Artfinder. That's set to change this year as I am very keen to start painting much bigger canvasses again - my eyesight will welcome that if nothing else as I had been working on such incredibly miniature art on tiny pebbles and sea glass that I'm sure I need stronger glasses now! Anyway, this was a commission I completed in February this year - I do love painting companion animals and this wee guy was super cute. His portrait was a surprise birthday gift for his person and it was very well received! I'm happy to take commissions via Artfinder so if you have anything in mind, please do get in touch.

    03 April 2019
    Spring has finally sprung in the Scottish Far North!!

    Spring has finally sprung in the Scottish Far North!!

    It's been months since I uploaded any new work to Artfinder but that doesn't mean I haven't been productive. I've been working on local exhibitions and I started taking commissions again so I've been really busy with those, which is great. This is the one I'm working on currently. A very special pet portrait with a difference - hopefully it'll be finished today. If you have a special animal or location that you'd like me to re-imagine in multicolour then please just let me know - the only limit is your imagination! This photo was taken yesterday when it seemed that spring had finally arrived in Scotland - the skies were clear blue and the sun was warm (if you could ignore the biting wind that still had a distinct nip!) I love my art shed on days like that!

    01 May 2018
    Can't see the woods for the trees

    Can't see the woods for the trees

    I have been working on local exhibitions recently which means I haven't been able to upload much work to my Artfinder shop unfortunately but I've been very busy nonetheless. This is one that I painted from a photograph I took while on a camping weekend in Aviemore in Scotland. I have discovered a love of painting the patterns found in nature such as the shapes created by the light shining through the leaves and the texture of the bark on these tall pines.

    29 January 2018
    On the surface

    On the surface

    I just love painting watery reflections! All those random shapes and colours that look completely abstract up close but come together to (hopefully!) create a realistic scene when you take a step back and look at the painting as a whole. This is based on a photo my husband took in the Tiergarten in Berlin earlier this year. I knew as soon as I saw those fabulous reflections and the amazing colours in the Mandarin duck that this would be added to my list of things I wanted to paint!

    15 October 2017
    Majestic

    Majestic

    I am creating some small paintings right now for an annual Christmas (I know, already!) exhibition in a local gallery and for this one I decided to mash together two reference photos both taken by my husband. I loved the way the sun shone through the trees but felt it needed a little wildlife to provide a focal point. Stags always seem so majestic to me, hence the title. This is painted in acrylic on canvas measuring a miniature 5 x 5 inches.

    28 September 2017
    Middle of a memory

    Middle of a memory

    I'm planning to start quite a large canvas for a painting of the iconic Blue Swallow Motel, in Tucumcari, New Mexico for the next in my series of moments on the Mother Road, inspired by a road trip on Route 66. However, I decided to start small first with this little mini of the motel and what is possibly the most famous neon sign on the Route. I do enjoy doing these tiny paintings although getting the sign writing so small was certainly a challenge!

    31 July 2017
    Lawson the baby goat

    Lawson the baby goat

    My favourite form of social media is Instagram - probably because it's so visual and I love to see the exotic places people travel to and follow all the adorable animals with their own Instagram accounts as well as seeing what fellow artists are creating and posting my own artwork. I follow a charity called Goats of Anarchy based in New Jersey run by Leanne who rescues severely disabled goats and offers them a safe life free from exploitation from humans. One of those goats was a little kid called Lawson who was born with a severe heart defect. He had open heart surgery and seemed to be recovering well but unfortunately he passed away suddenly just the day after he got home from the hospital. I couldn't stop thinking about him and so I painted his portrait based on one of the photos of him on Instagram. I sent the original painting to Leanne and plan to use his image in my spirit animal cards which I'm working on to represent the goat as a tribute to him.

    31 July 2017
    A little memorial for Muffin

    A little memorial for Muffin

    In June a fellow artist friend of mine sadly had to say goodbye to her little shitzhu, Muffin. Muffin used to sit on my friend's desk as she was painting and I thought she might like a little Muffin figurine to place on her desk as a little tribute to her. I'm delighted that my friend adores her little clay Muffin.

    31 July 2017
    Working in polymer clay

    Working in polymer clay

    Sometimes as well as painting on canvas I like to model little 'cake topper' figurines out of polymer clay. So far, they've all been gifts for people I know. Recently I made this one of Boris, the chocolate labrador as surprise for his person's birthday.

    31 July 2017
    Road less Traveled

    Road less Traveled

    This is me working on the third in my 'moments on the Mother Road' series inspired by a road trip across America on Route 66. I used acrylic modelling paste to get a heavily textured background to paint on which worked really well for the dried, cracked road surface. This is inspired by a photo taken on the original Route 66 just outside of Shamrock, Texas at sunset.

    13 June 2017

    The making of 'Sink'

    I've been practising with my GoPro camera and prefer to make time lapses of just little snippets of the painting process rather than the whole painting from start to finish. Here's a wee clip of my most recent painting 'sink', part of the surreal series of space junk paintings I've been working on. This was inspired by the phrase 'universal plug' when I went to buy a new plug for our bathroom and discovered that's how they're described when one size fits all!

    11 May 2017
    Blurred lights

    Blurred lights

    This is the second in a series of paintings inspired by an American road trip. This was based on a photo I took deliberately out of focus in Chicago as I love the bokeh effect of blurred lights and wanted to have a go at painting it. This is a bit more abstract than my usual paintings and it helps if you stand back a bit and squint! The completed painting is in my Artfinder shop.

    29 April 2017