John McCartney Art
Time Out
The fashion statement of cap, glasses, braces, jeans, and boots, embody the contemporary. He is in the moment and lives in the moment, but free of being pretentious about his style. The coffee and phone are chill time...the kind of time out you need to stay in the zone...and that...is cool!
Graffiti Artist
The determination to radically change her surroundings rather than be shaped by them. She understands that for change to happen, she has to be the conduit for it...and that requires vision...the kind of focus that won't be distracted because the prize is too great and demands you give your all to capture it.
Umbrellas
The dynamic between the man and the woman is captivating. And their blending into the misty rain gives that ethereal quality to the scene. Not many watercolours work out so perfectly, to capture something special that words cannot convey...
Cafe Time
This piece really resonates with me. It is all about the contrast between the man and woman from their hair and clothes, to their posture and arm position, and even reflected in the meal. But somehow all these contrasting elements are harmonized and unified in their gaze at each other that makes for something beautiful.
Quiet Cafe
The light is the key to the ambience and warm feel. It conveys an ethereal quality in association with the contemporary setting that speaks of significance that goes way beyond just having a time out in a café.
On the Phone
The phone, clothes, bike and nike logo embody contemporary fashion. And the red is the explosive abstract element that converges with it...to energise and transform society at the cutting edge.
Skateboarder
The skateboarder is in the zone where vision, exhilaration, and risk converge. He embodies the movement for radical change that enables the kind of power to be released through him to transform culture at the heart of contemporary urban society.
Watching
The drama, the misty atmosphere, the piercing look straight at the viewer that compels your attention. The piece evokes an emotional response that seems to really differ from person to person. But for me as soon as I saw this scene I knew I had to paint it. It is one of those pieces that grips me like few others do. There is little respite from the cold but tense drama of the scene, and the only lighter area of the painting highlights the drainpipe to maximize the intended statement. A technically difficult piece to pull off, but a very satisfying outcome.
Power Walk
The execution of this piece was fairly rapid to capture the explosive boldness of the red against the black that is the feature of Power Walk. The title perfectly describes the mood, expression, and statement of the piece...that her movement enables the release of dynamic power...to change cities and culture...
Cool Green and Shades
The clothes, the shades, and her pose drew me to paint this piece. It is that contemporary fashion look that has that natural feel to it. It is not the image of the catwalk that is often contrived and overstated and somewhat removed from everyday life. But it is something that comes together in a moment and quickly goes away, it has to be captured rather than contrived, and the beauty is in the understatement rather than the overstatement.
Cafe Time 2
The intimacy of the moment...distractions are shut out...everything contrived or false is removed, and the vision of the other comes into full focus. It makes room for a dynamic exchange that enlarges possibilities to turn the page in life.