Mc Gahan & O’Gorman Coat of Arms

This commission was a 40th anniversary gift from the wife to the patriarch of the O’Gorman family and referred from a previous collector, Ms. Canty. This particular drawing is a combination of the Scottish Mc Gahan and the Irish O’Gorman family coat of arms elements. Meeting in Chicago, the skyline stretches across the top portion of the piece with a blue sky in the background. A few wine bottles flank the city illustrating a fondness for spirit. In Lake Michigan itself you find a kayak rider, representing Mc Gahan himself as it is an avid hobby of his. The kayak itself is taken from his actual vessel which he built himself. In the center of the piece are both the Irish and Scottish flags to represent each nation and the dual ancestry of this family. The O’Gorman Coat of Arms traditionally contains a blue background with three swords and a centered heraldic lion. The Mc Gahan, a blue background with three vertical grey fish. You will find the symbols of each making up the main section of the composition. and the blue from these two coat of arms is used as the lake, as the sky, and as a cascading abstraction that hugs the lower portion of the piece. This portion is a representation of a cruise ship with the bottom of the bow adorned in the coat of arms from County Tipperary, the place where the wife Susan’s father hails from. The red, white and blue curved lines around the top of the drawing are the colors of their favorite team, the Chicago Cubs. This is further instituted at the bottom of the composition which portrays the outfield wall of Wrigley Field, ivy and all. The ‘400’ ft sign has one of the zeros darkened in order to focus on the ’40’. for their anniversary. Below the curvilinear red, white and blue lines you will find drapes hung from golden circles. Within each disk are the letters ‘S’ and ‘P’, their initials. Hanging from them is the tartan of the Mc Gahan family, another direct tie to the Scottish ancestry. The family was very pleased to receive this gift and blown away to see how many elements from each side of the family I was able to integrate into the final composition. This drawing has a very clean feeling to it, there is an organization and balance to it that I truly enjoy.