From moments to memories

Megan McInerney captures the beauty of the coast and the joy of families with her unique oil paintings.

Focussed on capturing moments, the Geelong artist creates original works and commissioned pieces, featuring coastal landscapes and families.

Customers also have an option of customised originals, allowing them to purchase one of her backgrounds and upgrade them, adding their own personalised touch.

McInerney has always been creative, although hasn’t always worked as an artist. With a PHD in biochemistry, she’s spent the past 10 years as a scientist.

Like many others, she needed something to do during COVID lockdowns and picked up her paint brushes, doing pieces for family and friends and sharing them on Instagram.

In the past five years, she’s grown her audience and style, which she describes as whimsical, taking on more commissions.

At the start of this year, McInerney took a step back from her science career, focusing on being a mum and growing her art business at the same time.

With a strong passion for her artwork, McInerney captures the special moments between families, which she gets a lot of value from.

There are two main pillars where she draws her inspiration: the coast and watching her two children.

“Cosy Corner in Torquay is my happy place, I just love it there,” she said.

“If I’m ever feeling stressed or just need an escape, I’m down there and it just unwinds me.

“I love the coast and when you go to the beach and nothing’s ever the same, there’s always something different, it’s just a never-ending source of inspiration.”

The mum of two spends a lot of time focused on what her children are doing, and said a lot of her paintings are experiencing the world through the eyes of a child.

“Being a mum is hard work, but there’s so much happiness in it as well.

“Being able to watch two little people grow up and experience the world through their eyes again as an adult is just one of those things that’s awe inspiring.

McInerney has tried several different mediums in the past, before falling in love with oil painting.

“The reason I love it is because it’s so versatile and forgiving,” she said.

“You can paint something and if it doesn’t look quite right, you can really layer the paint and with oil paints you can dilute it with a medium and make it thinner.”

Diluting the paint is what allows McInerney to get the reflections into her work and adds texture by making it thicker and using a pellet knife.

McInerney generates what she calls a digital mock-up reference – a photo to paint from, often made up of pieces that have been cut and pasted together, merging them into one.

The reference picture allows her to go through the process with her clients, showing them what the composition is going to look like and moving things around if necessary.

All of her work has an emotional connection to special places and people, something she believes helps make her work stand out.

The landscape artist also includes portraiture in her painting, providing another point of difference in her work.

“You’ll get a lot of portrait artists that don’t do landscape and a lot of landscape artists that don’t do so much portraiture, but I’m trying to combine the two,” she said.

“I do enjoy the both of them, so it’s me trying to have the best of both worlds.”

When it comes to painting, McInerney enjoys being able to shut everything out and have one focus.

The majority of her painting is done when her kids are at school or once they’ve gone to bed, giving her time to herself and being able to dream things up.

“I often say it’s my form of meditation because with so much other stuff going on, when I sit down to paint, I can sit down for a couple of hours, and I’ve just been doing this one thing and really focussed, and it really just slows everything down for me.”

At the moment McInerney is working on her new collection, ‘Where I’d Rather Be,’ which will feature new seascapes.

The latest collection is based on how miserable winter in Vicotria is and all the places McInerney would rather be, including a piece of Port Douglas.

She’s also exhibited her work in the past and has a coming exhibition in Kyneton at the Old Auction House from November 21 until December 9.

Her works can presently be found at Rivertree Trading, Art 16, Eagles Nest Fine Gallery and Sequel Gallery.

For more information, head to megan-mcinerney-art.square.site or follow her on Instagram @megan_mcinerney