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Artist: Marg McCarthy
First Place - Painted Category
Second Place - Painted Category
Third Place - Best of Show
  
"Swans"
First Place Winner - Painted
and Second Place - Best of Show
"Cougar"
Second Place Winner - Painted
I had a successful egg artist tell me once that when
she grew up she wanted to be Marg McCarthy.
Not surprising, when it comes to ultra-realism, there are few artists
of McCarthy's caliber. She
is able to capture not only the movement of the subject, but also it’s
personality. It is as though she
has caught that one perfect moment in time and frozen it on an eggshell.
You expect that at any moment the movement will begin again.
 Painting
on this fragile canvas instead of a more traditional surface seems right to
Marg. She finds the simplicity and
shape of the shell itself to be both an art form and a challenge. The curved shell varies in texture and color, even within the
different bird species. She
has worked on everything from finch eggs no larger than a jellybean to ostrich
shells over 20” in circumference.
 
Mouse on a Brown Hen Egg
Each animal portrait is done entirely freehand.
“The eyes seem to be the best  starting
point for me.” Marg tells us. She went on to say that she uses both acrylic and
water-mixable oil paints on the shells. Among
her customers the emu eggshell seems to be the consistent favorite because of
the color and texture of the shells. The
egg above and to the left is called "Free Spirit" It's on an Emu
shell that didn't get the top cuticle so it's the lighter aqua color.
   
"When I Grow Up"
"When I Grow Up" won 1st Place in Hand Painted at
the Dallas Eggs-ibit International show. You can see how
protective the Mother Egret is of her babies.
 "You
can bet I wore the magnifier glasses to do this one." jokes Marg. No
wonder, this dove shell is only 1" high, even with the stand it only
reaches 2". Four tiny Chickadees circle the egg, which won First in Miniatures
this year at the Dallas Eggs-Ibit International.
   
"Hangin' With the Big Guys"
Marg occasionally does an egg as a donation piece. The
emu egg above, "Hangin' with the Big Guys" is for The Gabriel
Foundation in Aspen, Colorado, a non-profit parrot
rescue/sanctuary. The tiny little Hahns Macaw is being looked over very
carefully by the Blue and Gold
Macaw. There is a Scarlett Macaw, a Severe Macaw and a
giant Hyacynth Macaw. The Hahn's being the smallest of the Macaw family
and the Hyacynth being the largest.
 In
1999, Marg was chosen by the American Egg Board and the Colorado Egg Producers
to paint an egg representing the state of Colorado for a display at the White
House. As she worked on the egg, it became her quiet tribute to the
children and teacher killed at Columbine High, Littleton, CO in 1999.
The state flower is the Columbine as well as name of the school. The Rufus
Hummingbird is a symbol of friendship. The egg was on display at the White
House in April 2000, during the one year anniversary of the tragedy. Marg
has been chosen to paint an egg for 2002.
A member of the International Egg Art Guild, she recently
won her Intermediate Master's rating. "It is a tough program because
they want to see your best work. I flunked the Intermediate the first time
I tried it and it really gives you the "push" to try harder because
the only competition is yourself." Marg
encourages new egg artists to push themselves too, and to try painting.
“It can be used along with just about any other form of eggshell art
to give an extra little spark to their creations.”
Read more about Marg McCarthy in Karen Meyer's article "A
Passion for Art, Animals and Eggs"
Visit her website, The
Eggcellent Collection™
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