Frances McMahon Art for Sale and Sold Prices

b. 1965 -

Frances McMahon INTRODUCTION:

Born in Armidale, NSW in 1965, AUSTRALIAN artist Frances McMahon (nee Hardy) has lived in Canberra for most of her life.
Since the age of five she firmly decided that she was going to paint birds, and since then has had an undying and passionate interest in illustrating our beautiful native species.
Frances is entirely self taught.
She sold her first painting when she was fourteen, to renowned artist Paul Ashton Delprat, principal of the Julian Ashton Art School.
Her commissioned works hang in private collections in Australia, New York, Minnesota and Ontario, Canada.


MEDIUM, TECHNIQUE AND MATERIALS:

Developed over many years, her self-taught technique consists of airbrushed (liquid acrylic) backgrounds, with the main work completed in watercolour and gouache. Using a minute brush, her elaborate paintings take between 30 and 230 hours to compete. The technique is time-consuming but straightforward: an initial pale wash is then worked many times over with tiny strokes of the brush, building up depth and form. Many of the details are so fine they may only be seen with a magnifying glass.

Ensuring the longevity of her work, only the finest quality materials are used, including artist's quality lightfast paints and (recently) 2000gsm Rising Museum Board for the ground.
This is an archival quality board, buffered against acid migration and deterioration, and contains no optical brighteners. All works are professionally framed to the highest conservation standards, using archival quality 100% cotton matting, and Museum glass, which cuts out 99% of damaging ultra-violet rays. It also provides an astonishing clarity for viewing the work, whilst retaining anti-reflective properties.

From January 2013, all original works come with a signed and dated Certificate of Authenticity.