"You are not decorating a house. You are honoring a life.
A hard-won, beautiful, one-of-a-kind life. You gotta act like it."
My Fancy Bio
Megan Carty (b. 1978) creates contemporary paintings that explore strength, presence, and the courage to take up space. Crowned birds that strut. Colors that hum. Work that invites vulnerability with a dare to be brave. Based in the verdant New England countryside outside Boston, Carty lives and creates amidst the beauty of nature with her family.
Carty holds a BFA from Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts. Over her 30-year career, her work has been featured by Anthropologie, CBS Sunday Morning, Minted, HomeGoods, Candlefish, In Her Studio Magazine, Artfully Walls, Michaels, Modern Luxury Interiors Boston, Artists & Illustrators Magazine, SHLTR, Morning Honey, The Spruce, The Jealous Curator, Maine Home & Design, Maine Cottage, The Improper Bostonian, Day’s Jewelers, Chris Loves Julia, The English Room, Honey & Fitz Collection, Renown Health, Hebrew Rehabilitation Center, and Sloan Kettering Memorial Hospital. Her original paintings reside in private collections across the USA and internationally. She has exhibited her work in three solo shows.
Carty offers several ways to collect her work: one-of-a-kind original paintings, museum-quality Giclée framed canvas prints, and commissioned pieces. She collaborates regularly with interior designers and art consultants. Studio visits in Groton, Massachusetts are available by appointment, or connect via video consultation.
Carty’s work can be viewed and purchased at www.megancartyart.com.
About My Artwork
My work doesn’t ask for attention; it commands it. My paintings move between figurative and abstract, using color, gesture, and symbolism to explore strength, presence, and emotional range. Crowned birds appear as recurring motifs, not as mascots. Through my brush I create a shorthand that is watchful, resilient, and wise; canvases that are forever regal and always irreverent. I'm a trained painter whose work moves fluidly between the symbolic and the abstract, anchored by a confident command of color and composition. I explore themes of resilience, self-possession, and emotional vitality without slipping into cliché, creating works that are vivid but controlled, expressive yet intentional. My entire body of work is built from a distinctly modern sensibility, that balances play with precision without being precious about any of it. My birds strut and the colors hum, with my finished pieces capturing a certain musicality. Ultimately my artistry is one that invites vulnerability with a dare to be brave.
Podcast Interviews and Blog Features
The Jealous Curator: The No Such Thing as Too Much Art Society daily news
Carve Out Time For Art: Interview
Real World Creatives: Interview
Roey Mizrahi's Little Blue Book
Your Creative Push: Podcast Interview with Youngman Brown
Dabblers Vs. Doers: Podcast with Dan Blank
Creative Chats: Podcast Interview with Mike Brennan
Step 1 | The Idea
My Painting Process
I am cruising down main street and a thought pops into my head. Perhaps it's a few colors I saw in a room on Pinterest earlier that look fun together. Maybe it's a composition for a painting layout that would look fresh. Maybe there's a bird I suddenly have a craving to paint. The common thread here is that transient ideas will appear in my mind when I am in a calm state of flow. The Creative Muse has visited. Some call it Spirit. Some call it God. Some call it Source Energy. It's all the same thing. A divine inspiration has been bestowed upon me and I feel compelled to bring it to life. In fact, it's my very purpose to create the things I'm shown...these are meant for someone out there. I just don't know who yet.
Step 2 | The Act of Creating
My Painting Process
With my shiny idea in my brain, I take a few notes and brainstorm a bit. Layouts, colors, phrases...all the things that swirl around the air need a place to land. I decide on my medium and substrate...acrylic paint on canvas? Watercolor on paper? Oil pastel on board? Again; I feel the intuitive pull toward a decision and I know to go with it. Then I begin work on the vision. I start the canvas with lots of neutral paint colors like tans, grays, or creams to form a base of interest that will show in parts below the next colorful layers. I scratch into the paint and allow the brush strokes to remain. When this underlayer is dry, I scribble on it and add interest with smudges, scratches, and fingerprints. This adds depth and history. Finally, I add layers and layers of paint; each mark reacting to the one before it. This conversation between color, line, shape, and texture goes on and on until it stops speaking. The top-most colors are always the brightest and most interesting.
Step 3 | Sharing the Spark
My Painting Process
Now, I have that inner knowing the piece is finished. Whew! However, the creative circle is not yet complete! I must varnish the surface for UV-light and dust protection. Next comes the frame (she needs a fancy outfit.) Now she's ready for her close-up as I take high quality photos of all angles for my website shop and social media.
The moment of truth has arrived: I must share the art with others so it can spark inspiration, delight, and emotion in the person it was meant for. The art will find its match. Someone out there is meant to see it, love it, claim it, and enjoy it forever. THIS is when the creative circle is completed. The painting that began as an idea placed by a divine force has found its rightful home.
The process begins again, and so goes the life as an artist.
Step 1 | The Idea
My Painting Process
I am cruising down main street and a thought pops into my head. Perhaps it's a few colors I saw in a room on Pinterest earlier that look fun together. Maybe it's a composition for a painting layout that would look fresh. Maybe there's a bird I suddenly have a craving to paint. The common thread here is that transient ideas will appear in my mind when I am in a calm state of flow. The Creative Muse has visited. Some call it Spirit. Some call it God. Some call it Source Energy. It's all the same thing. A divine inspiration has been bestowed upon me and I feel compelled to bring it to life. In fact, it's my very purpose to create the things I'm shown...these are meant for someone out there. I just don't know who yet.
Step 3 | Sharing the Spark
My Painting Process
Now, I have that inner knowing the piece is finished. Whew! However, the creative circle is not yet complete! I must varnish the surface for UV-light and dust protection. Next comes the frame (she needs a fancy outfit.) Now she's ready for her close-up as I take high quality photos of all angles for my website shop and social media.
The moment of truth has arrived: I must share the art with others so it can spark inspiration, delight, and emotion in the person it was meant for. The art will find its match. Someone out there is meant to see it, love it, claim it, and enjoy it forever. THIS is when the creative circle is completed. The painting that began as an idea placed by a divine force has found its rightful home.
The process begins again, and so goes the life as an artist.
Testimonials
I just wanted to reach out to say how much I love your artwork. I am an RN at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and they have a bunch of your pieces hanging in one of the wings. I can be feeling stressed and/or sometimes sad with cancer patients all day (just by nature, since not all cases go well), but honestly I can stop mid hallway - look at your art (goodie gumdrops is my favorite!) and feel better. Like the colors just helped to lighten the load a bit. So thank you, for creating pieces that are touching people (at least me!) on a daily basis.
I live in Michigan, 2 years ago my husband and I vacationed in the UP and saw so many falls and just fell in love with them. We were to go back this past summer. My husband became ill and was diagnosed w/cancer....I lost him in August. When I read your words and your thoughts when you were painting this landscape, all I kept thinking was this was meant to be with me. So I don’t know your intentions while painting, but I’m going with it was painted for me and my home.
I keep finding treasures that in my daily path and I like to believe he has allowed me to find your beautiful painting, he would have loved it!
From the Journal
Let's candidly discuss the suicidal mindset and how people who are suffering with suicidal ideation can begin to climb out of darkness and into brighter days.
Learn more about this custom diptych project for Renown Health in Reno, NV.
Learn about the Creative Circle of Inspiration and how Megan Carty uncovered this road to connecting with her collectors.
Uncover the story behind my signature crowned bird paintings and how healing from an abusive boyfriend forced me to remember my "shine."
