About Neil McBride — The Flying Painter

Neil McBride, British visual artist

Just like me, this bio is a work in progress — but a well-advanced one.

The day she noticed me and I fell in love.

I have come a long way since I first realised that drawing was a pleasurable thing I could do on bits of cardboard found around the house, at the grand old age of four. There were no books in the house except an old risqué novel that didn't really appeal — until a bit later.

There were always a few copies of Dandy and Beano comics to capture my imagination and begin my love of pictures. My older brother was pretty adept at drawing a passable Andy Capp, but cartooning was not for me. I had more discerning tastes and my own ideas about art, even though I didn't yet know what art was.

I remember being captivated by large reproduction prints on the corridor walls at school. Van Gogh's Boats on the Beach was the image that first triggered my imagination.

My love of music was emerging at the same age — classical music on BBC radio while my mother went about the housework. The only piece I can still recall is an uplifting, rhythmic work called Elizabethan Serenade, composed in 1951 by Ronald Binge. I never progressed beyond first triangle and backing recorder in the school orchestra, which remains a significant regret. My taste in music is eclectic without borders — classical, jazz, Latin, Indian, pop, rock, country, the whole gamut.

Star student

I first got a taste of the power of painting in junior school — swans on a lake with awful powder paints and cheap paper. The teacher was so impressed she dragged me and my picture into the neighbouring classroom to show my brother's class. That is the day I fell in love. With art.

Aged sixteen I really began to fly when I started four years of study at my local art college, where I was truly in my element. I worked so hard the caretaker had to kick me out in the evenings.

Flying Painter

I've had the flying without wings dream long before Westlife hijacked the idea. Apparently it implies high ambition and inner strength — I'll take that.

Quite by accident, or perhaps an inner desire to paint my dreams, I started painting landscapes and townscapes from a high viewpoint, before later adding crowds of people into the mix. I've been painting these subjects since around 2006.

Passion

Painting is not what I do — it's what I am. Every piece begins without a fixed idea of narrative or outcome, much like a novelist who lets the story evolve on the page. That unpredictability keeps the work alive and keeps me coming back.

Late developer

Direction came later than talent. Art college gave me the foundation, but it took years of working in advertising and graphic design — and a Clio nomination for the Halifax 'People Campaign' — before the crowd paintings that define my work today began to take shape. Sometimes the long route is the right one.

Charity

Giving back matters. Over the years I've participated in benefit shows for York Against Cancer at Castle Howard, The Great North Art Show at Ripon Cathedral (best selling artist 2014), Art for Youth North, and the Anonymous heART Project for Heart Research UK, among others.

Triggering your imagination

My crowd paintings are designed to act as triggers — not to tell you what to think, but to start a conversation in your head. Viewers regularly find entirely different narratives in the same painting. That's the point.

Biography

Neil McBride was born in Doncaster, South Yorkshire. He graduated from Doncaster College of Art with distinction in Applied Arts and works solely in the medium of painting.

During his award-winning career in advertising and graphic design, McBride received a Clio nomination for his work on the 'People Campaign' for The Halifax bank — work that would later inform his contemporary paintings featuring crowds of people.

Since 2004 Neil has developed his art practice full time, exhibiting in select shows and galleries throughout Yorkshire. He was the inaugural artist to show solo at the Inspired By gallery in Danby, North Yorkshire, and has exhibited in benefit shows in aid of numerous charities including York Against Cancer, The Great North Art Show, Art for Youth North, and the Anonymous heART Project for Heart Research UK. He has also participated in North Yorkshire Open Studios on several occasions.

He lives and works in North Yorkshire, UK.

Statement

British artist McBride follows a long line of international graphic artists including Oskar Kokoschka, George Braque, Marc Chagall, and Picasso. His influences span abstract expressionists such as Franz Kline and Pollock, figurative painters including Francis Bacon and Turner, and colourists like Howard Hodgkin and Monet.

McBride continues to develop paintings featuring crowds of people in life-affirming situations, crossing freely between figuration and semi-abstraction, mono and colour, without loss of spontaneity. Unusually, this body of figurative work began life as abstract paintings.

Many traditional techniques are employed, but paintings often begin without any pre-conceived narrative — allowing intrigue and excitement to emerge with every piece. The crowd paintings are designed to trigger the viewer's own imagination, frequently prompting lively discussion about the stories unfolding within each scene.

For more information or to arrange a Private View, email Neil directly.

April 2026