Conversations with Terry McNaughton

Today we’d like to introduce you to Terry McNaughton.

Hi Terry, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself. 
I started painting classes in 1995. Read about art and artists voraciously. Figuring out techniques and reading about their interesting lives. I took to Pop Art. Loved the colours and subject matter! Love old ads, boxes, and cool graphics. I utilize same in all my art. Enjoy found materials and old wood. I’ve switched from canvas to old plywood and cupboard doors. Love the solid feel. I paint on the side. Have worked mainly retail through the years but have worked as a carpenter building houses and renovating. Be super to find a gallery interested in my work and journey. 

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Very rocky road. Lots of twists and turns. I’ve exhibited seven paintings at the Winnipeg Art Gallery in the 90s. As a kid I always wondered how to get something in there. So that was a huge bonus in life! My first wife got me started in art when I turned 30. I figured it was now or never. Lol. Sadly, that marriage didn’t last. I found over the years, through break-ups and deaths of my parents, job changes, and moves, that you have to keep going. There’s always going to be something in your way or hindrance. Believe in what you’re doing and like it. Artists are very hard on themselves. We naturally crave appreciation. But it is rarely there. Create for yourself. I get an idea, and I go for it. Sometimes it works great. Who cares? It’s out there, you’ve learned. Tastes change like the winds. Maybe your audience is generations away or a different location? 

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I feel my work is unique. I don’t outline everything in black like a lot of artists. I like to use contrasting colours to separate features and items, etc. I find this enjoyable and sometimes frustrating. Not always easy to accomplish what I’ve seen in my mind. I love looking at black-and-white photos or ads and imagining the colors contained within. Each new piece is a departure from the last. I don’t like multiple similar pieces. New idea should garner new techniques and colours. I’m most proud of my Big Wobble piece. That started life as a proposed magazine cover take-off. But that idea fizzled. I loved the Bonnie and Clyde movie from 60s. Thought of good vs. evil concept. So interchanged with Blondie cartoon. Did Faye Dunaway, in Metallics, show innocence? Warren Beatty is known for blue eyes. Did them as slits to look menacing. Put a line in there from movie about his impotence being reason to kill. Them shooting it out took eleven coats of paint. Technically the hardest one to conceive and accomplish. With the ones at Winnipeg Art Gallery, it was in juried shows that got them there. I considered that a big accomplishment. I think my work being unique stands out. 

What was your favorite childhood memory?
Favorite memory is of libraries and bookstores. We never had a library in elementary school or in our inner-city neighborhoods. We had a bookmobile trailer that came now and then. Had to reread quite a view of them as books did not change much. Loved catalogues, Reader Digest, old Popular Mechanics. Especially for ads, graphics, and lettering. I think this is why, over fifty years, I’ve become a great collector, especially books. Probably 5000 with thousands of magazines. Lots of artistic fodder. Still find it wondrous to enter a store or library. The adventures and knowledge of thousands of authors lay before you. 

Contact Info:

• Instagram: McNaughtonTerry
• Facebook: Pop Art by Terry McNaughton.
• Other: WestRailwayStudios.com