Ann McCay – Preparations, Expeditions and Imaginings

By - 22/04/25

Private View: Sunday 4th May 2025 – Noon – 4.00pm

The Exhibition continues until: Saturday 24th May 2025

“The storyteller of the imagination inherits the fates’ role, spinning possible versions of the future.”
Marina Warner (Historian)

Ann McCay - Early Morning - Oil on Linen - 20 x 20 Inches — Ann McCay – Early Morning – Oil on Linen – 20 x 20 Inches

This series of paintings invite the viewer to become the storyteller, encouraging them to consider the many ways the story might unfold. They are inspired by children’s play, fairytales, European mythology and my life. They often show a bold young girl of around eight years old, alone or with her group of friends as in “Choosing a Direction” and “Platform”.

They are mainly seen in the verdant outdoors and if not then the outside world has come inside. They exist in rich, foliage filled, colourful landscapes of trees and rivers, sunrises and sunsets. In many paintings in this series they are setting off on expeditions by boat, chicken or on foot.

Ann McCay - Drawing at Night - Oil on Linen - 10 x 12 Inches — Ann McCay – Drawing at Night – Oil on Linen – 10 x 12 Inches

I like to create believable settings, based on places known to me, a combination of the observed and imagined. As a child my parents owned a haberdashery and art supplies shop. It was a treasure trove of raw materials filled with objects that could be transformed into something else, as seen in the painting “The Shop of Delights”. I now live by the River Severn and walk along the banks every day. The river and the surrounding area are the backdrop to “Early Morning”, “Summer’s Day” and others in the collection.

Ann McCay - Two in a Boat - Oil on Linen - 16 x 16 Inches — Ann McCay – Two in a Boat – Oil on Linen – 16 x 16 Inches

I use memories, sketches, cuttings, photographs, paintings and books to help shape or recall ideas. As the painting develops, I often go out to find and draw the information needed. I work on many paintings at the same time as they are built up slowly and it allows them to talk with each other, ideas moving between them.

Ann McCay - Seated Owl - Oil on Linen - 9.5 x 7 Inches — Ann McCay – Seated Owl – Oil on Linen – 9.5 x 7 Inches

I find inspiration from many artists, but the following are my current favourites: the great painter and storyteller Paula Rego, the surrealist, Leonora Carrington, the visionary artist William Blake, the figurative painters Gwen John and Stanley Spencer and the contemporary German artists Rosa Loy and Neo Rausch.

Ann McCay - The Platform - Oil on Linen - 30 x 24 Inches — Ann McCay – The Platform – Oil on Linen – 30 x 24 Inches

I seek to create paintings about freedom of the imagination, showing different ways to engage with the world. They are calm yet disruptive images, exploring memory and imagination, offering alternative ways to see the world and live in it.

“a good picture should be timeless, suggestive and peculiar” Neo Rausch (Artist)