'Star Dog' by Tanya McCabe

About the Artist

Tanya McCabe

Tanya McCabe creates colourful, quirky, whimsical abstracts that make her smile. She loves to create harmony and contrast between colours, shapes and forms that generate energy giving her work life.

From an early age, Tanya recalls “ being a daydreamer” watching clouds transform into creatures, finding weird faces in old-fashioned wall paper and imagining all sorts of weird and wonderful things.

As an adult, not much has changed, except she now captures daydreams in visual diaries and treats them as her seed banks of ideas and thoughts for future projects. Inspiration comes in many forms, from the vibrant colours of a sunset, the sassy body language of a cat or the lines that divide the land and how they all relate. 

Tanya also finds her ancestry full of mystery, curiosity, and diversity. With Maori, Tongan and Scottish roots, she is inspired by their patterns and stories. Each creation combines vibrant colours, layered with intricate texture elements and patterns using acrylics and mixed media on canvas or board. Tanya describes her art as a feast for the eyes. At first glance, it's often hard to take it all in. A bit like a smorgasbord with many delicious morsels to savour. You find yourself on a journey following elements within her paintings, contrasting colours playfully leading you to discover little nuggets of a story hiding in the composition. Each time you look, you see something new.

Creating art is an important part of Tanya’s health and well-being. Over the years, creativity has become a great tool to help her
navigate life's challenges. A safe place to tune out reality, allowing her to process emotions, thoughts, and feelings. Be it good or bad, they all have relevance in her creations, giving her work depth. Whenever Tanya paints, she doesn't always have an idea of what she wants to create but more of a feeling or an emotion to release.

Tanya usually has at least 20 to 30 works on the go at any time, allowing her to pick up and put down whatever her emotions dictate. Most of her paintings have evolved over months or years, resulting in many emotions and thoughts being artistically expressed. “Best therapy ever,” says Tanya. She likes to think of her art as stepping stones in her never-ending artistic journey and feels blessed for every day she gets to create.

You can connect with Tanya and view more of her amazing art on:

Website: ArtbyTanyaMccabe

Facebook: TanyaMccabeArt

Dimensions are:

80cm height

50cm length

35cm wide