We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Patrick Kane McGregor a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Patrick Kane, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
I think it was when I got my first big check from painting, which was when I was working in the billboard industry in the early 90’s as an apprentice to my mentor Art Pastusak. We worked for a company that hand-painted high pictorial advertisements on the sides of buildings, sometimes 10-15 stories high or more. After cleaning his brushes for a few years, watching and learning, I was let loose on a section (it was a Jersey of legendary WBA star Dane Staley for the USA Olympics women’s basketball team) to paint for a Nike mural we were doing in Philadelphia and it passed the clients inspection. I started to paint more and more after this, therefore getting a raise in wages and in confidence, steering me towards the chance to move on to be a lead painter. Now I use these skills, confidence and work ethic to paint what I love today, really big, colorful dogs!
Patrick Kane, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I use the skills I’ve learned along the way from the billboard industry and even graffiti before that in every mural or commission that I paint. Over the last 10 years I’ve leaned towards portraits of canines. All of the photos I use in my paintings are taken by me, mosty of my own dogs. This started while working in NYC for a an advertising company when I painted my bulldog “Boug” on a few large canvases that I purchased around 2006. Since then I have used not only brushes and oils as I did in the billboard industry to paint my dogs, but moved onto spraypaint and even house paint depending on the surface. I think the work ethic that I acquired from the advertising industry gives my work strength and provides clients with relief of finishing a big project on time with no hurdles. I no longer rely on the advertising companies for work, now my clientele are mostly building owners and dog lovers for commissioned art work and art festivals.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
I had to “unlearn” to pay attention to all of the small details required in painting advertisements for brands to make my art feel more therapeutic and free to myself… more “loose” so to speak. I spent so many years paying attention to reproducing an ad to make it look exactly like the picture that it made it hard for me to paint freely and spontaneously.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
The goal for me is to paint what I love and make enough money doing it. I just turned 50 and I feel like I am close, although some jobs I should say no to slip through the cracks. This is usually a job that I can do with my son that is lucrative in both experience and money (hopefully). But if I am painting dogs, I am in my happy place.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.Patrickkanemcgregor
- Instagram: @patrickkanemcgregor