Ed
McCarthy loves color. Not just any color, but all colors. To look at
a McCarthy is to immediately understand this. But to be able to experience one
of Ed McCarthy’s pointillist paintings at all is something of a small miracle
in itself.
Born in 1957 in New York City, McCarthy has been an artist most
of his life, but generally kept his work to himself. In 1980, he moved to Colorado
with his wife, Jeannie, and their oldest son, and the family expanded here: Ed
and Jeannie now have three children, Christopher, Patrick and Becky, and one grandson,
Nathan.
Pursuing art as a career never crossed his mind until recently. And
therein lies the “miracle”, for McCarthy has been so busy over the years
trying to find that “one perfect job” that he never looked at what he
loved doing the most, making art.
Maybe it was the influence of seeing
his dad always looking for ways to make ends meet for a family of nine. Or maybe
it’s just that McCarthy has a wanderer’s soul.
Whatever the case, McCarthy has worked at a variety of jobs. Many jobs.
“Well,
I’ve worked in a butchers shop, as a clam digger, a boat yard worker, a house
painter, a flight line mechanic in the Air Force, as a scrap metal salvager, a
greenhouse gardener, a restaurant manager, a furniture maker, on a land surveyor’s
crew, as an aerospace quality assurance manager, and a few others,” he says.
This wasn’t due to an inability to make commitments. McCarthy has been
married to his wife for 22 years, and has maintained a strong faith in God for
most of his life as well. Additionally, McCarthy wasn’t fired from any of
his diverse jobs. It was simply that Ed McCarthy was searching, as Billy Crystal’s
character says in the film City Slickers, “...searching for that one
thing.”
“In all those jobs that I worked,
I saw lots of people that just weren’t happy and lived and worked simply
for the day that they could retire. I didn’t want to become like that. I
didn’t want to come to the end of my short days on this world with the only
thing I had to show for it all, was a great retirement package,” the artist
explains. “This is what has driven me.”
Ironically, the one thing McCarthy was searching for
was the very thing he already possessed: a gift for making art.
McCarthy has painted in the pointillist technique for over twenty-five years,
always returning to it after trying other styles. Eventually, the self-taught
artist committed himself to learning everything he could about pointillism. McCarthy
readily gives credit where it is due: “George Seurat may have been the ‘father’
of neo-Impressionist pointillism, but I believe Paul Signac was The Man! Signac
painted with this technique for over fifty years. I can only hope to be half as
good as him in a hundred.”
Until recently, McCarthy didn’t recognize
that his great passion in life was something he could or should really do for
a living. “So many people claim that you just can’t make a living painting
pictures. I just didn’t give it a serious thought.”
But today, with
the help of good friends and his supportive wife, McCarthy is pursuing his passion
and gift with all zest of a new convert. For Ed McCarthy, being a “jack of
all trades” has been a long and arduous affair. Learning to be a “master
of one” is to find a sense of peace.
Click
here to see more artwork by Ed McCarthy.
Artwork:
top, Hope for a Season
middle, Tuesday Afternoon (sold)
bottom, October—Rest
for the Day (sold)
