The Outback Artist; Sandy McLean’s natural talent spreads it’s self across a variety of mediums. Sandy McLean paints with acrylics, draws with pencil, pastel and ink and occasionally creates works using all these mediums.

Sandy McLean has spent her whole life living and working on the land of the sometimes-harsh outback-rural Australia and this is obvious in her true understanding of her subjects.

Welcome to "the Outback Artist" Outback and rural Australian inspired art by Queensland Artist, Sandy McLean.

Sandy McLean’s ability to tell a story though her paintings and drawings stands out in her work. She is intrigued with the history of the Australian outback rural people, Australian outback places, Australian outback horsemen and his horse, also the Australian Rodeo scene, bull riders and cowboys. She is passionate about the Australian rural life now and also the past. She endeavors to show how things were done in Outback rural Australia when life was slower and people had time. Of special interest to Sandy is the Australian Aboriginals and their contribution to outback Australia.

I welcome you to view my paintings and sketches of outback-Australian bushman, outback Australian Aboriginals, outback-Australian horsemen, and many more Outback Australia inspired work. The majority of artwork display in the Outback Gallery are the works from an exhibition I have just completed at the Stockman’s Hall of Fame in Longreach in Central Queensland. Some of these Australian Outback inspired pieces are now hanging in the Eagle’s Nest Bar & Grill in Longreach, (just in case you are passing though!). Please feel free to contact me if you need any extra information on the pieces.

I was born in Longreach in 1957 where my 3 sister’s and myself spent a wonderful childhood riding our ponies and swimming in the local pool. I attended school in Longreach and then later spent 4 years at boarding school in Brisbane. I then jillarooed on property’s in the Blackall district in Western Queensland, until I married and settled on a sheep property south west of Longreach where we had 2 of our 3 children. In the early 1990’s our family moved to another property at Augathella, where my last child was born. It was here that I started to paint again something I hadn’t done since leaving school.

This time at Augathella was overshadowed by a fall in wool prices and one of the biggest droughts ever to hit that part of Queensland. Surprisingly it took these trying times to make me really use my talents as an artist, I went round the area drawing the impressive homesteads in pen and ink and reproduced them into a calendar. They were very successful selling thousands around Australia and overseas. I also donated $1.00 from each calendar to Drought Relief to help other farming families in the same situation.

Towards the end of the ‘90’s our family moved again this time to a property in the Bollon district in South Western Queensland. Again my art took a back step to work on the place. After 8 years we moved to a cattle property north of Rockhampton and in the past 2 years I have bitten the bullet and spend about 80% of my time shut away in my art room doing what I love best.