Skylark

Skylark announces itself with authority. Against a richly textured field of ochre and amber gold — applied with visible, almost geological layering — McNulty constructs a bold architectural form: a trapezoid, house-like in silhouette, outlined in confident black. It is at once a shelter, a window, and a world unto itself. This painting was done in a series along with Viceroy, Trope and Celluloid.

Within that contained space, the painting erupts into a vibrant, urban energy. Broad planes of cerulean and sky blue anchor the upper register, while a luminous aqua and teal wash the lower half, lending the composition a sense of air and openness — perhaps sky above, water or reflection below. Against these cool, expansive grounds, McNulty drives in vertical and horizontal strokes of crimson and deep red that suggest structure, tension, and movement simultaneously. They could be streets, beams, shadows, or figures — the abstraction is generous, inviting the viewer to bring their own reading.

A powerful white vertical cuts through the center of the composition like a beam of light or a load-bearing column, lending the painting a sense of spiritual geometry. It bisects the reds, touches the greens below, and pulls the eye from top to bottom in a single confident sweep. Flanking it: passages of black, burgundy, yellow, and a vivid emerald green that pulse with life from the painting’s interior. These are not decorative flourishes — they feel accumulated, worked over, earned.

The gold ground bleeds in at the edges of the central form, scratched and scraped into something ancient-feeling, like weathered plaster or sun-baked walls seen in a Mediterranean alley or a South American plaza. It is warm, worn, and deeply alive.

McNulty’s handling of paint is physical and unguarded. Brushwork shifts from broad, gestural sweeps to tight horizontal hatch marks to thick impasto ridges — evidence of a painter in active conversation with the surface. Nothing feels arbitrary; the chaos is organized, the spontaneity disciplined.

Skylark carries the confident swagger of its name. Bold, layered, and luminous, it rewards close looking and holds a room with ease. At 20 × 20 inches on a ¾-inch deep board, it arrives ready to hang and make an immediate statement — equally at home in a contemporary loft, a warm traditional interior, or a carefully curated collector’s wall.