About Scott McClelland
Life is interesting. Here I am creating artwork, which, hopefully, others will find to be appealing, or pleasing to their eyes. As a kid, I was influenced by my mother who liked to paint. I looked at her art books, and understood basic composition, but I never pursued artwork. After I graduated, I worked in the commercial silkscreen printing industry. I learned color mixing, and matching. I produced some of my own original art prints, and even sold some to retail stores. I also did photography, using that ancient stuff called film. Then I got married and had kids, got out of printing production, and moved into sales.
As my children grew, I began the family activity of painting on glass Christmas balls with the kids. We used acrylic craft paints, which dry quickly, and clean-up with water. (Painting with young children requires easy clean-up.) It was a lot of fun, and has proven to be the stuff of some great memories. Some of my most prized possessions are the Christmas balls my children, and now my grandchildren, have painted.
In short, I dabbled in art, but never seriously.
About 5 years ago, I painted a portrait of baby on a Christmas Ball, as a gift for a co-worker. She showed it around, and I began receiving orders from other co-workers. Ever since, during the holiday season, from mid-November until Christmas, I'm busy painting portraits of people, and pets, on Christmas balls. It's very painstaking, detailed work, and I have gotten pretty good at accurately depicting the subjects. I typically work from a photo that was sent via text.
Many of my customers asked me if I did larger paintings. So, in January 2019, I started doing canvas work. As it turns out, the color mixing skills, and brush work, from years of painting Christmas balls, made for an easy transition to larger formats. The same concept applies, whether on a Christmas Ball or a landscape painting on canvas, and I try to recreate that with my paintings.
Although I didn't realize it, because it happened gradually, I had learned to SEE. I had honed my observational skills. I am fascinated by the interplay between light and shadows, and how it creates depth. I love the way lighting conditions change throughout the day, throughout the seasons, and with different weather.
Painting on canvases quickly became a year round pursuit. If I count Christmas Balls, well over half of the paintings I've done have been commissioned.
What I try to capture with each painting, is the way I view a scene. If I'm painting a portrait, I prefer to capture the subjects actually doing something they enjoy. I don't aim for photo realism, although I'm often told that my paintings looks like a photograph.
I simply render my subjects as I see them, through my own perspective.