Contemporary artist Marion McConaghie creates beautiful and intriguing images of animals, butterflies and insects in her art works. Inspired by natural history and vintage wallpapers, she explores both history and nature in her fresh and contemporary style. She has worked in mixed media, upcycling old books, as well as more traditional mediums such as paint, charcoal and pencil. Here, we spend a day in the life of Marion McConaghie, from her morning strong cup of tea to settling down with a box set after cooking dinner.
MY ALARM GOES OFF…
The first thing I do in the morning is to have a strong cup of tea. I’m never good in the morning and it takes me time to get awake.
HOW I STARTED LIFE AS AN ARTIST…
My earliest memory at school was the realisation that art was my favourite subject and what I enjoyed most but never thought I’d make a living from it. It was never something I was encouraged to do until I met an art teacher at college called Carol Nevin, after leaving secondary school. She was an inspiring, very different kind of teacher at that time who helped me apply to university to study art further, she is sadly no longer with us but she holds a memory of being a big part of my journey into art.
Marion's Studio
MY TYPICAL DAY…
My average day has changed somewhat since the lockdown happened in the UK. Currently I start my day sorting the house out then it’s homeschooling my 9 year old son. We work through what his school has sent him until lunch time then it’s sorting lunch for him and my husband who is also currently working at home. Then after lunch I grab some art time, this doesn’t always necessarily mean I’m creating new work, there’s a vast amount of admin to what I do including social media, emails and when I get orders through then I’ll be sorting those out too. My time is quite squeezed at the moment because of the situation so whenever I can grab some extra time like at the weekend then I try to but I always prefer to keep a work balance between family life and my artwork if I can.
MY MOST MEMORABLE ARTISTIC MOMENT…
Starting my artistic journey by moving from Northern Ireland to England to study for my art foundation course.
THE WORST PART OF BEING AN ARTIST…
I love creating a mess when I paint but don’t like the clearing up bit.
THE BEST PART OF BEING AN ARTIST…
I find it a privilege to do what I do, I never take it for granted and it’s lovely if someone sends me a photo of my work hanging in their home.
AFTER I CLOSE MY STUDIO DOOR AT THE END OF THE DAY…
I used to catch up with work in the evening but only do it if I’m busy, after cooking I like to watch a box set, watching favourite programmes such as most recently Better Call Saul, Devs, or anything that has a crumbling, haunted house in it such as Crimson Peak or Woman in Black.
IF I WASN’T AN ARTIST, I WOULD BE...
I love interior magazines and I have always loved the styling that goes into setting up the photoshoots so I guess I’d like to do that and also I fancied at a time doing restoration work on old buildings like working with English Heritage.
