Pointillist painter, Ed McCarthy was born in 1957 in New York City. McCarthy has been an artist most of his life, but generally kept his work private. In 1980, he moved to Colorado with his wife, Jeannie, and their oldest son, and the family expanded here.

Pursuing art as a career never crossed his mind until recently. And therein lies the "miracle", for McCarthy has been so busy over the years trying to find that "one perfect job" that he never looked at what he loved doing the most, making art.

Maybe it was the influence of seeing his dad always looking for ways to make ends meet for a family of nine. Or maybe it's just that McCarthy has a wanderer's soul. Whatever the case, McCarthy has worked at a variety of jobs. Many jobs.
"Well, I've worked in a butchers shop, as a clam digger, a boat yard worker, a house painter, a flight line mechanic in the Air Force, as a scrap metal salvager, a greenhouse gardener, a restaurant manager, a furniture maker, on a land surveyor's crew, as an aerospace quality assurance manager, and a few others," he says. McCarthy wasn't fired from any of his diverse jobs. It was simply that Ed McCarthy was searching, as Billy Crystal's character says in the film City Slickers, "...searching for that one thing."

"In all those jobs that I worked, I saw lots of people that just weren't happy and lived and worked simply for the day that they could retire. I didn't want to become like that. I didn't want to come to the end of my short days on this world with the only thing I had to show for it all, was a great retirement package," the artist explains. "This is what has driven me."

Ironically, the one thing McCarthy was searching for was the very thing he already possessed: a gift for making art.

McCarthy has painted in the pointillist technique for over twenty-five years, always returning to it after trying other styles. Eventually, the self-taught artist committed himself to learning everything he could about pointillism. McCarthy readily gives credit where it is due: "George Seurat may have been the 'father' of neo-Impressionist pointillism, but I believe Paul Signac was The Man! Signac painted with this technique for over fifty years. I can only hope to be half as good as him in a hundred."

Until recently, McCarthy didn't recognize that his great passion in life was something he could or should really do for a living. "So many people claim that you just can't make a living painting pictures. I just didn't give it a serious thought."

Today McCarthy is pursuing his passion and gift with all zest of a new convert. For Ed McCarthy, being a "jack of all trades" has been a long and arduous affair. Learning to be a "master of one" is to find a sense of peace.

Source:
http://www.savageauart.com/bio-mccarthy.htm