Born in Mallow Michael McCarthy studied life drawing‚ pictoral composition and painting in Newark College of Art under the noted British artist Robert Kiddey.

In his twenties he went to live in Australia. For more than 20 years he traveled around Australia painting outdoors with renowned artist Leonard Long. He won a major commission to return to his native Ireland to paint a series of landscapes for a new hotel in Sydney. This triggered a series of exhibitions of Irish landscape paintings in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Brismane.

In 1997 McCarthy returned to live permanently in Ireland. Autumn and Spring are his favourite Killarney painting times.

There have been many highlighta to McCarthys career. In 1988 opening night sell-out of his major bi-centenary exhibition at the George Styles Gallery in Sydney. Completing 25 paintings of native American trees in 1992 during a year as artist in residence in the US with the Institute of Forest Gentics (the scientific wing of the US Forest Service). In 2000 and 2004 highly acclaimed and sellout exhibitions at the Frank Lewis Gallery.

McCarthy‘s landscapes are included in public and private collections in Australia‚ Ireland and the U.S.