J.D. McKay

J.D. McKay grew up on Glenfield Street in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas. There was another person from Oak Cliff who had a great influence on him: Frank Reaugh, although they never met because Reaugh died seven years before McKay was born. McKay's first exposure to the paintings of Reaugh was at Fair Park, in Dallas, in the form of a wax figure. The Hall of State had several of his small pastels in the basement, and McKay was hooked. However, they were not the first western landscapes that captured his imagination. McKay's mother had several Frederic Remington prints, which she later gave him, that he admired very much. Reaugh's more subtle and atmospheric style is what attracted and inspired McKay. Many times during his twenties, McKay made trips to the Panhandle Plains Museum in Canyon, Texas, to see the collection of Reaugh paintings. He would camp in Palo Duro Canyon with a little box of pastels and sketch until the museum opened, study Reaugh's work all day, and then go back to the canyon to sketch until the sun went down. Big Bend National Park and Palo Duro Canyon have long been two of his favorite camping places. For McKay, there is something captivating about the vistas of a west Texas horizon that creates a longing unlike anything at Yellowstone or the Grande Tetons McKay does feel that he is evolving as an artist and plans to keep growing for the rest of his life; he never wants to feel as if he's arrived and has it all down. He makes a point to learn from all kinds of art, not just wildlife art. He is also fortunate to have a family that supports his pursuit of this sometimes less than secure career.