Barry McCarthy
“It is the act of painting that allows me to live in harmony with myself, my work and my world,” —Barry McCarthy
Born in Deep River, Ontario in 1951, Barry McCarthy grew up experiencing the vast shores of Lake Superior and the dense woods of the far north. McCarthy’s deep connection with the landscape of his youth continues to inform his work.
After studying fine art at the University of Guelph, Barry McCarthy’s appreciation of 17th century Dutch landscape painting stimulated his passion for watercolour. He developed an outstanding technique to convey soft impressionist light in the meedium of watercolour. In scale alone, often on paper five feet by three feet, and in absolute command of the transparency of this medium, the artist achieved memorable results and challenged the very concept of this traditional art form.
Enlightened by his constant travels throughout Canada and abroad, McCarthy always seeks new imagery and ideas for his compositions. McCarthy’s evocative watercolour studies and oil paintings show the gently rolling landscape of southern Ontario around the artist’s home in Elora, and wondrously detailed studies of Nova Scotia with its windswept coastlines and haunting lone houses in east coast landscapes. McCarthy chooses his best studies in watercolour and commits them to a large format in oil.
McCarthy’s work transforms the common object, ordinary person, or familiar landscape. He looks for subjects or situations imbued not merely with beauty but with a sense of angst and tension. Through his skilled use of colour, light, and texture he leaves the viewer with a resonant and haunting afterimage. We recognize the subject but, more than merely viewing it, we experience a moment in time. Whatever the subject matter he chooses to paint, Barry McCarthy reveals its spirit, its inner self, and its mysticism.
Available Artwork
Cove Island, Georgian Bay
- Oil on Canvas
- 30 x 40 in
- CAD $9000.00
Flower's Cove, Newfoundland
- Oil on Canvas
- 40 x 30 in
- CAD $9000.00
Burning Off, Lobster Cove
- Oil on Canvas
- 36 x 48 in
- CAD $10500.00
For Emergency Only, Cape Cod
- Oil on Canvas
- 40 x 30 in
- CAD $9000.00
Bay Watch
- Watercolour on Paper
- 39 x 26.5 in
- CAD $8500.00
Broken Light, Waterloo County
- Watercolour on Paper
- 16 x 40 in
- CAD $7000.00
A Day in the Life
- Watercolour on Paper
- 14 x 41 in
- CAD $7000.00
Light Reflections
- Watercolour on Paper
- 10 x 14 in
- CAD $1800.00
From the Porch
- Watercolour on Paper
- 10 x 14 in
- CAD $1800.00
Distant Glow
- Watercolour on Paper
- 10 x 14 in
- CAD $1800.00
Cove Island, Study
- Watercolour on Paper
- 10 x 14 in
- CAD $1800.00
Approaching Storm, Newfoundland
- Watercolour on Paper
- 10 x 14 in
- CAD $1800.00
Bending Light
- Oil on Canvas
- 30 x 40 in
- 2022
- CAD $9000.00
Landmark, Study
- Watercolour on Paper
- 14.5 x 10.5 in
- 2022
- CAD $1800.00
Pointe au Baril, Study
- Watercolour on Paper
- 10 x 14 in
- 2022
- CAD $1800.00
Landmark
- Oil on Canvas
- 60 x 40 in
- 2022
- CAD $12000.00
Pointe au Baril
- Oil on Canvas
- 40 x 60 in
- 2022
- CAD $12000.00
Riding Into Cheticamp After the Rain, Study
- Watercolour on Paper
- 18 x 41 in
- 2018
- CAD $7500.00
Study for The Red Shed, Nova Scotia
- Watercolour on Paper
- 10 x 14.5 in
- 2017
- CAD $1800.00
Museum Monument
- Watercolour on Paper
- 7 x 8.75 in
- 2005
- CAD $700.00
Exceptional Sales
Pot à l'Eau-de-Vie Lighthouse, Quebec
- Oil on Canvas
- 30 x 42 in
- 2013
- Sold
Serpentine Fence
- Oil on Canvas
- 40 x 48 in
- 2013
- Sold
New Bedford Mermaid
- Oil on Canvas
- 43 x 31 in
- 2016
- Sold
Killarney
- Oil on Canvas
- 60 x 40 in
- 2020
- Sold
Property Line
- Oil on Canvas
- 52 x 40 in
- 2013
- Sold
The Haunting
- Oil on Canvas
- 40 x 52 in
- 2013
- Sold
East Coast Community, Trinity Bay, NFLD
- Oil on Canvas
- 40 x 60 in
- 2012
- Sold