John Mackie was born in Glasgow in 1953, although today he lives in Turkey.

Perhaps the first sensation which made me want to paint was an awareness of the qualities of light and how it brings the most ordinary object to life, bringing them alive with colour and tone 'transforming mere stones into Diamonds'.

I started drawing from the Old Masters at age of 9 or 10 and admired the Sketches of Leonardo Da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo. My first experiment with Oil was with Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring which remained proudly on my Nana's wall for many years.

In 1972 I was fortunate to be accepted for the Glasgow School of Art and come under the guidance of John Cunningham, Sinclair Thompson, Duncan Shanks and David Donaldson. Each one of these Artists (Tutors) had a big influence on my work and in 1974 David Donaldson Gave me my first official Portrait commission of Gerald Magrath (Senior Magistrate of Glasgow).

Armed with some of Donaldson's old brushes and £50 he gave me to buy some decent clothes I embarked upon a travelling Scholarship to travel and work in the USA and Canada which would open up my impressionable mind to the world.

Through the years my work has changed and evolved but my early grounding has remained the backbone to all that I do. I've travelled to many countries searching for new challenges and subjects to record including France, Italy, Spain, Holland, Turkey and never forgotten my homeland of Scotland.

I hope to continue Drawing and Painting until I no longer have the privilege of holding a Brush.