Andrew McDermott, Long Evenings, oil, 5 x 15.
“For many years now, I have loved painting street scenes featuring the lights of the city and lots of action,” says Vancouver-based Andrew McDermott. That love literally shines from LONG EVENINGS, his award-winning representation of a thoroughfare on a rain-soaked evening. It’s created in a vigorous style he describes as “on the edge of realism and impressionism.” McDermott drybrushes water-soluble oils onto textured watercolor paper using a technique he developed that allows the paint to dry in minutes. This enables the artist to layer his oils like acrylics as he captures every dazzling nuance of the aqueous reflections.
Born in Bolton, near Manchester in northwestern England, McDermott was raised in Vancouver, where he has spent most of his adult life. Drawing avidly from an early age, he studied illustration at what is now Capilano University in North Vancouver. He has found inspiration in a varied bevy of past and present masters, including the French Impressionist painter of Manchester city scenes Pierre Adolphe Valette; British Modernist landscape artist Sir George Clausen; Spanish Luminist Joaquín Sorolla; and American pioneer of modern film poster illustrations Bob Peak.
McDermott has gone on to mastery himself, having received a master circle medallion from the International Association of Pastel Societies and three gold medals through the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, among other accolades. He shares that expertise by teaching drawing in his alma mater’s animation department and at the Vancouver Film School, as well as by conducting his own pastel and painting workshops. Yet, he still considers himself a student. He says, “There are always things to learn as an artist.”
Find McDermott’s work at www.mcdermott-art.com and Instagram: @andrewmcdermottart.
This story appeared in the December 2022/January 2023 issue of Southwest Art magazine.