I had my first art lessons when I was 11 years old. A neighbor in Schenectady, NY was an artist working for "The Conservationist" magazine at the time and she agreed to take me under her wing for a summer.For my first lesson we would be painting an osprey. As a volunteer at the local nature museum, Pat was allowed to check out taxidermied specimens from the museum collection. We painted twice a week and each time Pat would bring a different animal. Other times we would go on group sketching trips in the nearby Catskill mountains or just the woods & fields in our neighborhood.

When considering if and where to go to art school, my parents & I noticed that Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia offered an opportunity to study abroad during the junior year. Two years later I was studying Carravagios, Titians, Corregios & Carracis in Rome, Italy. I also met a wonderful artist named Kari and we are still together today.

After surviving my senior year, I attended graduate school at the University of Arizona in Tucson. We have since been back to Italy and have enjoyed trips to Ireland, Wales, England, Spain, Morocco, & France. My knapsack is always full of paints, pencils, & sketchbooks.

My mother is an elementary school librarian and my father is a scientist/musician. They kept my brother & I in a steady supply of books. My favorites were always legends, mythology, & folklore and I dreamed of illustrating them myself someday.

Currently I live near Washington, D.C. in Burke, VA where I work in a variety of mediums. I am partial to watercolors, colored pencils, oil, & acrylic paint. I have also worked as Art Director for a local printing company for the past seven years where the work has been either digital or black & white line art. Please contact me for more information about my illustration services or other art related projects.

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All images copyright © Brian McElligott 2003