Mac McDade Art
Creations of a Self-taught Artist
Gallery
About Mac
Growing up.
I was born in 1961 and grew up in Paisley with my parents and two older brothers. We were born 16 months apart, Jim, Robert and then me, so we were very close growing up. We lived in Seedhill Road, next door to my gran, in a small one bedroom flat with an outside toilet in the tenement close. When I was 4 years old, just before I started school, we moved to a council flat in Foxbar. This was luxury. Not only did it have 3 bedrooms and a massive loft space, but it had an inside toilet, a separate kitchen and a view to die for. We had a top floor flat that gave us views right across Paisley, Glasgow Airport, the River Clyde, Kilpatrick Hills and beyond. It was here that my real love for art began.
It's in the genes.
I suppose you could say that my brothers and I were naturally arty. Our dad was very creative and we must have got that gene.
I started drawing as soon as I could hold a pencil.
I used to draw movie stars from the old Photoplay and Film Review magazines and copy comic book art by the likes of Frank Frazetta and Boris Vallejo, and the pulp art of Robert McGinnis in my teens. I can vividly remember my brother Robert and I, lying on our bedroom floor, with a selection of pencils and felt-tip pens between us, listening to movie soundtracks and drawing for hours and hours.
Art was the only subject I was good at and really enjoyed at school. However, I lacked confidence, mostly due to the teachers always comparing me with my brothers who were in the years before me. Teachers were really cruel back in the 70s. School was not a happy time for me at all.
I got my artistic mojo back.
I joined the Royal Navy at 17, then work and life in general took over and art took a bit of a back seat. I did the odd portrait, Kate Bush and Olivia Newton John for some shipmates, and painted a couple of murals, but didn't really get back in to it for over 30 years. During COVID lockdown I injured my foot and finally got round to start creating. I painted David Bowie in acrylics on canvas, something I'd never done before. That was it. I rediscovered my passion for art and got my mojo back. I'm now challenging myself, using mediums I'd never used before. Painting with acrylics, watercolours, mixed media and water mixable oils, and I’m loving it.
I continue to challenge myself, learning more and more every time I put a pencil, brush or stick of charcoal in my hand. It's like having an old friend back in your life.