Sheila McClean
Sheila McClean, RUA, (13 August 1932 – 5 August 2016) was an Irish painter, whose work was in the impressionist style. Life and work. Sheila McClean was originally from Moville, County Donegal, Ireland and attended Thornhill College in Derry, Northern Ireland where she later lived. She painted the land and sea around her. Derek Hill, a great admirer of her work, said, "Her paintings capture the Donegal we all feel in retrospect". Joseph McWilliams, PPRUA, said, "Her landscapes are "painted" landscapes, her boglands are expressive marks of paint, on richly textured surfaces redolent of bog cotton and dank brown  pools... Her work reflects a deep understanding of both place and paint". Commenting on her most recent one woman exhibition McClean stated: "Painting for me is a necessary means of self-expression. My desire as a painter is to establish a relationship between intuitive imagery, and a spontaneous method of painting. I try to achieve this, through a combination of economic statements, which are personal rather than purely descriptive and keeping myself aware of the life and integrity of the paint itself." "Paint is the image. Image is the paint"