Michael McCarthy
Maker Monday - October 2025
About the Artist
Name: Michael McCarthy
Medium: painting
Years creating: many
SCAA member: Over a decade
Based in: Cranston, RI
Click an image to view portfolio slideshow
“Michael McCarthy has been exhibiting here for over a decade. His skillfull oil paintings can be larger than life. Michael has been donating artworks to our Great Art Heist Fundraiser for the past several years, and you can be sure his paintings are #1 on many people's lists! Keep reading to see his work and learn about his life as an artist.” - SCAA
Where are you from, and what do you make?
I am a retired social work supervisor. I grew up in Cranston RI and attended local schools. I like to oil paint.
I liked art as a child and could always draw. One of my aunts had a large collection of art books, which I always looked through. That was my early art education. The high school and college I attended had no art programs.
I am not a professional artist. I enjoy giving my paintings away to friends, family, and charities.
How long have you been seriously pursuing art?
I started painting after college because I had a need to decorate a bachelor apartment to impress the ladies. I eventually took a few art courses to improve my art. I applied to RISD, but was rejected.
What inspires you to create?
I create because, like many artists, I fundamentally feel uncomfortable the way things are. Existence is confounding.
Art can help one to try to figure out the meaning of things.
Which artist outside of your chosen medium has had the most impact on your art? What do they do and in what way do they influence you?
As an amateur songwriter, I love the music of Donald Fagan, who wrote for the rock group Steely Dan.
Is there a work of art that has changed your life or how you view the world in some way?
When I first saw the painting of The Daughters of Edward Boit by John Singer Sargent, his virtuosity and sense of space astounded me. I still love that painting. He was only age 27 when he painted it.
As a member of SCAA, what do you like most about us?
The staff is friendly, kind, and professional. They treat each work of art as if each has value, even the rejected ones.
Tell us a joke.
A man walked into a bar with a skeleton. He asked the bartender for two beers and a mop