while his strong sense of abstract design lends his work structure and balance. He approaches his chosen subject matter, the natural world, with a clear and uncompromising vision which is immediately recognizable.

John lives in Portland, Oregon   His work has been shown in galleries in Portland’s prestigious Pearl District, and can be found in private collections in Oregon, New York, London, Hawaii and throughout the Pacific Northwest..

Prints of his work are published nationally and internationally by Gango Editions of Portland.

Artist Statement:

Process

The process of creating an image on canvas continually facinates me. There is a point where the painting suddenly takes on a life of its own, when dabs of paint become a coherent image, seemingly out of thin air.  This is the moment the artist lives for.  While in essence I have created the work, the result can often surprise, shock and amaze me. 

There are so many dimensions embedded in the process, that the notion of mastering it begins to seem like pure vanity. Of course, art is a reflection, a microcosm of life, and full of meaning that is inexpressible with words.  For me, this process is an open-ended pursuit - rewarding, frustrating, terrifying, and uplifting.

Subject

I choose to paint the natural world because it is communion with nature that I crave.  I believe landscapes have a timeless, archetypal resonance with the psyche.  I love the great open expanses of land and sky in the Pacific Northwest.

Trees and flowers reveal particular aspects of nature - the patterns of life, the physical requirements imposed by gravity and competition, and sometimes, great beauty for no apparent reason.  Rocks, the bones of the land, embody the great expanses of time and the ravages of elements.

All parts of nature tell their story.

Style

I strive to balance the need for emotional expression with the desire to coax a sense of realism out of the material and tools at hand.  The subject provides me with the abstract structure upon which to build a painting.

I like energetic brushwork that allows the paint to make its own expression, so that I become its facilitator.

Like all painters, I have absorbed and assimilated the styles of many that have gone before me, and I try to build upon that.  I particularly resonate with the Early American Impressionists, and fondly imagine that I see the world through similar eyes to their own.

John Macnab Fine Art

About the Artist

John Macnab was born in Bristol England and moved to the U.S. as a musician in1983 at the age of twenty six. He has been painting and drawing all his life, and has always had a love of and fascination with the natural world.

As a young man he was greatly inspired by the works he saw in the wonderful museums and galleries of London and Paris, and was especially moved by the works of the Impressionists, who seemed to be able to paint the light as it danced through the air and animated its subjects.

John’s work clearly shows this influence in his loose, energetic brushwork and vibrant use of color,

All images copyright @ 2009 John Macnab Fine Art, Portland, Oregon ~ All rights reserved

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