Painting called “Maine Coast” by John McLean
Painting called “Autumn” by John McLean
John McLean with one of his paintings
John McLean, center, with art show volunteers and church members Page and Dave Houseman
John McLean, left, and wife, Venita
Gay Arthur, left, holds up a painting by John McLean, right.
When retired Chattanoogan John McLean was taking his weekly art class while a schoolboy in his native Ireland decades ago, the teacher one day let the students experiment with watercolor painting.
“I fooled around with it, and he came over and said, ‘You can do this,’ and he made a couple of squiggles, and it came to life,” Mr.
McLean recalled of first falling in love with the medium.
That set off a lifetime of watercolor painting as a rewarding hobby during and following a work career as a mechanical engineer in such places as Ireland, Canada, Boston, and Chattanooga.
However, although he dealt primarily with manmade objects in his former vocation, including pressure vessels at TVA Sequoyah Nuclear Plant, he focused more on the tranquility of nature in his paintings in his avocation.
“Almost all of them are landscapes,” he said. “Some of them are real places or my memories of real places. A few are from photographs.
“And a lot of them are just ideas out of my head or ideas I have stolen from other artists.”
While he hopes these paintings brighten a room, he is also trying to help brighten lives.
Saying he has come to a point in his life as a senior citizen when he is focusing on what he can leave behind as a positive legacy, he came up with an idea of how to help his community.
And what has resulted is literally an old Irish blessing of the visual variety, if you will.
“I had a lot of paintings and realized I am not going to be around here much longer and thought, ‘What am I going to do with them,’” he said. “I took it to the Lord, and said, ‘Show me what I can do with these paintings and benefit someone.’ ”
What he felt led to do, he said, was donate them to his church, First-Centenary United Methodist in downtown Chattanooga. The church, in turn, has been enthusiastically selling them in person or online at a set price or through silent auction.
All the money will go toward the church’s Centenary program, which nurtures children in the Chattanooga community through academic tutoring, physical education, and life skills and spiritual expression development.
The ministry, which is opening a branch location at White Oak United Methodist Church this fall, offers all these activities through an after-school program and summer day camp, as well as a student launch program that guides students through the college/career search process.
The paintings number more than 75 and were done in the last 10-12 years, said Mr. McLean, who has studied with Jim and Carolyn Wright among others and has been a member of the In-Town Gallery.
Some of the art pieces feature area bucolic farmland scenes such as barns by pastures, while others highlight a building on the Maine coastline or still lifes of flower bouquets. Most are framed and all are matted.
While these paintings capture somewhat isolated and peaceful scenes, the attention around them has been the opposite. Dozens of First-Centenary United Methodist Church members and others attended the first public viewing on Sunday, and several paintings were already sold outright after bidding opened online last week.
The on-site viewings in the church’s hallway cloister by the sanctuary are open to the entire Chattanooga community, officials say. The showings will continue Monday through Thursday until Oct. 14 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and on the next two Sundays through Oct. 17 from noon to 2 p.m.
The paintings can also be viewed – and purchased and bid on -- online at https://firstcentenary.com/johnmcleanartshow.
The bidding will close on Oct. 17 at 2 p.m., and purchasers can pick up their paintings on either Oct. 19 or 20 between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. at the church.
Centenary directory Mary Grey Moses – who welcomes those with further questions about the sale to contact her at mgmoses@fcumc.org -- said the church has been touched by the gesture of Mr. McLean and his wife, Venita, who have been longtime Centenary supporters.
“We were very honored that he selected us to be the recipients,” she said.
For Mr. McLean, attempting to help spread joy through the paintings that can help the church’s Centenary program is an extension of the joy he has received from his lifelong hobby of painting.
That is, even though this medium that mixes color pigments with water is not considered the easiest way to paint, he stated with a laugh.
“You have a piece of beautiful white paper, and it gives me pleasure to put the colors down,” he said, adding that he often does not have a full mental idea of a painting when he begins, and that watercolor has a mind of its own and sometimes he just lets a painting do its own thing.
“It’s just a joyful experience, and at times a little frustrating. Sometimes things don’t go as planned. But it keeps you humble!”
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Jcshearer2@comcast.net