Old vinyl records, trainers, saws, PlayStations and the odd traditional canvas. You name it, Lee Carnegie has painted on it.
The 35-year-old graffiti artist, better known as Lac, started drawing when he “first picked up a pencil” and hasn’t stopped since.
There have been setbacks along the way, including being diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease just before his 21st birthday and having to give up art college when his shift patterns changed at work.
But these have only made him even more determined to pursue his passion for painting and drawing.
At the age of five, he joined the Boys’ Brigade, becoming an officer and earning its highest award, the Queen’s Badge.
It was an experience, he says, that taught him to identify his strengths and weaknesses and to “never give up”.
Triple Aces
For Lac, who is dyslexic, that has meant never giving up on his dream of working
full-time as an artist and he has spent several years establishing his reputation through word of mouth, social media, video releases, exhibitions and interactive events.
It’s been a slow process for the modest artist but luck is built into the name of the brand he is working to build – Triple Aces.
It’s nothing to do with playing poker, he says: “I was doing a magic trick with cards and it just clicked as I put out three aces.”
Originally from Turriff, and now living in Laurencekirk with his wife Emma and daughters Kayla and Abbie, Lac’s day job is with an auction house in Montrose.
On the day I caught up with him he had been transporting a grandfather clock, one of many “weird and wonderful items that get sold”.
As well as being a porter, he jokes: “I also list the tools because they thought ‘let’s give all the tools to the teuchter’.”
Lac happily describes himself as a “teuchter” and “Turra loon”.
“I do, because I did grow up in the country and I’m always a hands-on person and I speak in my Doric tongue most of the time.”
Describing his rural childhood, he said: “My mum and dad always knew I was good at drawing. It was my happy place because where I grew up was just outside of Turriff and there were hardly any bairns the same age as me.
“There was just a small group of houses and I didn’t have any pals to play with until my brother came along.
“Art has always been my go-to thing and my teachers always said ‘you’re good at drawing’.”
Art group
Lac left school at 16 and worked for a labourer, in fruit and veg, and then at a meat factory for 15 years.
“When we were doing late shifts I went to Banff and Buchan College trying to improve my drawing skills, but after six months work changed shifts and I couldn’t go back to college.”
Undeterred, Lac joined Cuminestown Art Group.
“I was the youngest there but I was learning new skills from other artists and they actually loved my pop art and graffiti style, it was something new for them.
“My dad built me a studio at the bottom of the garden. He made a long shed, the middle bit was his, the other bit was my brother’s – he’s the musical talent – and the rest was mine.
“Just before my 21st birthday I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease. I was really not well, I lost so much weight.
“I was depressed, I couldn’t work and art kept me sane. I kept drawing and in hospital I had a sketchbook.
“After almost five years of fighting it, they gave me a stoma bag and that changed my life because almost a year after, I met my wife.”
Lac now works on all sorts of projects, including upcycling, as well as clothing for Aberdeen Fashion Week, even doing a spot of modelling.
As for his used spray cans, he paints them with his unique designs, turning his materials into artwork.
Halloween treasure hunt
From noon Saturday, October 22 he will be hiding 16 cans around Duthie Park in Aberdeen for a Halloween treasure hunt.
Anyone who finds one can keep it as a prize, and in a typically creative attempt to showcase his work, the finder is urged to tag him on Facebook, Instagram and other social media.
As well as making videos for TikTok and YouTube, Lac also won Series 2 of Granite City Talent – which started online during lockdown.
It’s one of the stepping stones in Lac’s journey which he hopes will lead to him working full-time on art.
“Even Disney started on a farmyard,” he says.
“I’d like for my story to be like that, to start small and become big.
“I would like a legacy to leave for my daughters because they are my world and I want them to grow up knowing that their dad made something.”
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