McCarthy, William

Each of these luminous and mysterious images of trees against sky, field, and river evoke a subtle variation of light and atmosphere. The arrangement of the trees – whether standing in solitude or in pairs or in large groupings seem at once inevitable and yet surprising, formal yet accidental. All of these paintings are comprised from memory, imagination and thumbnail sketches from my beautiful basement studio in my home in Connecticut.

I work on wood board, paper and canvas using several layers of gesso before priming the surface with cadmium red base, a quick sketch using charcoal is used to lay out the design then the paint is applied. I work in layers using thinned down oil color, building on these layers with glazing techniques the colors are adjusted and brought up to completion before final coats of varnish are applied. Light has come to play an important part, and when I look back over this body of work, I feel it speaks about spiritual places, places that contain a quiet inner light, radiating an ethereal whisper, the places we see everyday.

COLLECTIONS

Mayo Clinic, Transplant Wing, Rochester, MI
Bell Haven Club, Greenwich, CT
Ritz Carlton, Washington, D. C.
Cirque du Soleil, Las Vegas, NV
Hartford Golf Club, West Hartford, CT
Patterson Club, Fairfield, CT
Davison Art Center, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
Yale Art Gallery, New Haven, CT
New York Public Library, New York, NY

AWARDS

2011 First Place for Painting, Westport Fine Art Show
2010 First Place Painting, Boca Raton Art Museum Show, Boca Raton, Florida
2009, Painting Award, Armonk art Festival, Armonk, NY
2008, Painting First Place, St. Stephens Art Festival, Coconut Grove, FL
2006 & 2007, Judges’ Choice, Mt Gretna Outdoor Art Show, Mt Gretna, PA
2006 First Prize for Painting, Bruce Museum, Greenwich, CT
2006 First Prize for Painting, Glastonbury On the Green Fine Art & Craft Show, CT
2005 Best in Show, Fine Art, Fine Furnishings Show, Providence, RI
2005 First Prize, Painting, Armonk Outdoor Art Festival, Armonk, NY
2005 Best in Show, Columbus Art Festival, Columbus, OH
2002 First Place in Oil, Glastonbury On the Green Fine Art & Craft Show, CT
2002 Best in Show, WCSH Sidewalk Art Festival, Portland, ME
2002 Jurors Choice Award, Columbus Art Festival, Columbus, OH

EDUCATION
1988 – 1994 Wesleyan University, Various Graduate Liberal Studies in Printmaking
1970 – 1972 Columbus College of Art and Design, Received Scholarship

www.williammccarthyfineart.com