I would usually go out for a trip with my camera and take many photos and snapshots that I find interesting to me and looking for ideas that would work as possible paintings. Most of these photos are of Belfast mainly because it’s the place I visit most frequently, but I like to paint other subjects too. As I am attracted to action and movement in a scene I find people shopping and going about their daily routine very exciting to observe and to use as a subject. I also like to observe light and atmosphere, so the use of figures in my work isn’t always necessary but I find most of the time figures give a painting life and action even if they are only subtly used. 

Looking at them from a slightly deeper level, they are about capturing moments in time and the experience on the sensory perceptions and the psychological and emotional reactions. They are a kind of visual documentation and observation of life in Belfast not only from a personal point of view but from a wider point of view. 

This can sometimes involve recollections of past events. Memories associated with various stages of my life, both recent and in the distant past. This is combined with every day life that exists in the here and the now or whenever these observations took place. They are experiential observations of the masses of people pounding the streets, creating vibrant energies and the buildings on the streets as their backdrop.

Style wise, I would describe these particular paintings, as a sort of combination of expressionism and impressionism. Artists that have influenced me in this type of work usually capture mood, energy or movement within their paintings. The Expressionist style of Edward Munch. His paintings have mood and underlying symbolism along with complex multilayered qualities which I really like. Pierre Bonnard had a fascination with trying to paint the visual energies of light and colour with his figure studies in domestic settings. I also find Fauvism a great source of inspiration with its expressive and exaggerated use of colour. So I try to express mood and state of mind by intensifying some colours. I believe in a careful balance of colour in my paintings though, each colour relating to each other and uniting the picture as a whole. I create very deliberate imbalance in colour sometimes to get across strong emotions or mood. Sometimes this might involve intense colour conflicting with more pastel and harmonious shades in the rest of the picture. 

Sticking strictly to one style area can be too restricting though. Experimenting is very important to me. Some of my work requires me to completely rely on my imagination and go into my own version of surrealism which may have a sort of collage effect with bits and pieces thoughts, memories and experiences on the canvass. I usually have similar themes of streets and people running though out my pictures even if I do decide to use a radically different style, but the viewer is always free to interpret any painting his or her own way.

Charles McCartney


Updated artist statement coming soon to a web page near this one.   The above artist statement is from may 2008.  I  did have 2 new statements almost prepared but have recently lost them.  I am currently working on another statement which would help describe the more obscure paintings.