stephenmcgrogan.com - Decoration,wall murals,artistic paint effects,Perpignan...

Decoration Perpignan,France.

About Stephen Mc Grogan...

I was born in Belfast in 66,a busy "troubled" industrial city at that time.These troubles brought us to Canada,my father decided it would be best for all of his children as we where five. A beautiful country Canada.We lived in different citys and towns such as Toronto and Montreal but the long winters brought us back to Ireland.It was in Dublin I started practicing fine art. I started night courses in Rathmines College of Commerce where I aquired my diploma in Art in Industerie and Commerce. There we used 'old school' techniques where computers where hardly even heard of,my professor was a 'Mr Karl Ullham',designer of stamps for 'An Post'. Everything was done by hand in his days,even letterheads (roman-times) a few 'mm' high,and extremly precise.

I started winning competitions and became an active full time painter, even side jobs where art related such as sign-writing and presentation for exhibition stands. I got a job working at the 'Kodak House',Portobello bridge,Dublin where I learned a lot about technicolor and how to re-touch photographs by hand.We used a matt varnish ans colored pencils and would heat seal them with plastic in a special machine hiding any trace of handy work, 'a long way from Photoshop eh!I moved to France in the early 90's to Toulouse, a beautiful town down south, there I exhibited and continued painting. I began working as a interior decorator,I created a few cafés and theme bars whitch are still open today,you can see them by clicking 'here'. I have been training here as a webmaster after finishing a course in infographie- professional training of Adobe products,I was get'n frustrated playing with them so I thought it was time to get serious. Below is a list of some of my clients.

Clients

Joe Elliot- Def leppard .Scraperboard and aerograph. "illustrations".

Sir Robert John Lang ('music producer'mutt). Commissioned illustrations .

Richard Burrows of Irish distillers Commissioned a few works.

Carla Elliot-'International Model' Commissioned a few personel works.

Michel Gilbert,'photograph' and arts director for Greenpeace .

Trevor Brennan,'international rugby player'Decoration for his irish pub in Toulouse, France .

Going Digital

I was fairly traditional in mind and body and worked a lot with an old aerograph, the "De Vilbis super 63", a great instrument used in the past and still today for spraying anaesthetic on patients while operating. Then I descovered Photoshop,Illustrator and Flash, motion became an important facture, I always plan work these days, 'how could I put life into this image'. Photoshop is a great tool for both design and artistic work, in France they call it "the gas factory", everybody has thier way of useing it but I must admit, after professional training there are no limits!!

Vector Art

Vector is one of my favorate newmedias. After seeing'A scanner darkly' (the film with Keanu Reeve's) all of the stills where created with illustrator, hundreds of designers on the job with a customised computer specially built for fast vector work, "must be seen!! Mixing two or three different applications at the same time can create amazing results.On this site there are works created by hand,scanned and then manipulated in photoshop or illustratorand then polished in flash.There are no rules when it is creative, plenty of room for the imagination.Have a look in the gallery. Fine art. I was trained as a fine artist in Dublin. I was always facinated with the skills of painters like Dali, D'Vinci,Rembrant and todays artists like Rodney Matthews,Jim Fitspatrick and I could go on,& on!! I specialise in watercolor now but I enjoy getting my hands dirty with large canvas and plenty of oil and acrylic . There are examples of this in the 'traditional' gallery. Enough talking anyhow, I hope you enjoy this site and please contact me with any enquiries at stephenmc.grogan@gmail.com