Flair McKay

Flair Mckay is a landscape oil painter based in Ōtautahi, New Zealand. A self-taught artist, she has been growing her skills since 17 years of age. Her works are painted with a focus on simplification; drawing out the folds and curves of landscapes and the sharp contrasts of shadow and light. They are based on images captured on camera, snapped when she comes across a natural composition that tickles her in just the right way.

Flair's artwork arises from a deep love of the mountains that surrounded her during childhood and the many years she lived in Wanaka, Central Otago. They have evolved as she developed a keen interest in the ever changing skyscape, focusing on the way light plays among both land and clouds. Inspiration for her work is sourced during solo adventures out into the mountains, where the quietness and expansiveness of the surrounding landscape pulls a feeling of hope and longing from within her. These times in the wilderness are a form of meditation, allowing for space among thoughts, for the every day-to-day bustle to fall away, and it is these feelings Flair aims to bring out in her artwork.