Original Art

Mark Robert McGrath

Mark was born in Oakland in 1958 and raised in Alameda and Lafayette, CA.

Mark was inspired to paint at an early age by his Uncle Ron who put a paintbrush in his hand and a collection of oil paints and a blank canvas before him at 9 years old. After many years of experimenting with pen and ink, charcoal, watercolors, oils and acrylics, he found that he most enjoyed painting large canvases with abstract themes.

Mark studied with Robert Robles, Mildred Marchand and Don Winegar over the years. During his studies, he discovered Wassily Kandinsky, widely thought of as one of the pioneers of abstraction in western art. He also credits as inspiration the great Jackson Pollock and has painted many works utilizing Mr. Pollock’s “drip technique”.

Mark has had his work shown at the Avalon Gallery on Maui and the Galleria Design Center in San Francisco. Many of his pieces reside in homes, offices, restaurants and hotels. His style is bold, colorful, whimsical and physical. The only time he uses a brush is to sign his work or to lay down a foundation color over the entire canvas. All other paint is applied via palette knives, sponges, squeeze bottles and his hands and arms.

Mark always paints with music playing, which inspires his movement, alternating between rock, pop oldies, classical and big band standards, including Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan, Tony Bennett and Ella Fitzgerald. He even created a commissioned very large painting using Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass recordings as inspiration as it was the favorite group of his client.

Mark has been commissioned many times to create an original, one of a kind painting to suit a client’s desires such as general color palette, mood, environment and size requirements.

Mark lives in Portola Valley, where he paints almost every day.