My paintings imply a story to be told, a dream to be understood. The settings are based on places that I know very well and that I have spent time in and walked through for years. There is a troupe of characters who inhabit these places, by trees, along the riverbank, in sheds, in a magical shop, in the company of animals, quietly occupying themselves, maybe reading, rowing or in a reverie.
I paint groups of paintings at the same time as they speak to each other and one idea informs another. Elements from magazine cuttings, literature, old photographs and art history combine with my personal stories. I paint in an illustrative way which evokes memories of childhood perceptions of the world and everything beyond it. I’m attracted to the Romantics and their emotional response to their surroundings, finding metaphors and symbols in them which connect to the viewer.
Ann McCay graduated with a degree in Fine Art from the University of the West of England in 1983. She then worked as a professional artist in southern Spain and London before moving back to Shropshire where she grew up. Since then she has continued to paint and exhibit regularly. She is married with two adult children.
Ann is also an established portrait painter. She has exhibited in the B.P Portrait Competition and at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters.