About Alistair S. McIntyre (Specky Al)

I was born in 1964 at the Eastern General Hospital, Edinburgh. My mother worked in the bonds at the time and my Father was a house painter and decorator. I was the eldest of 5 children. We all lived in a single bedroomed flat at Lower Granton Road and moved to a larger council house when I was aged 8. I had a happy life until my Father left and I went to live with him at age 11. I didn’t attend school regularly after that and missed in total around two years of study. When I left school at 15 years old in 1980 I immediately started working on a government Youth Training Scheme, or YTS, eventually securing a position as an apprentice painter and decorator.

I was a troubled soul and highly influenced by my father who had little or no time for education. One of the comments he made when I took a book home to read was, “stupid bloody books”. When I went back to live with my mother after I had left school she would throw out any books I brought home. I used to draw at an early age but this was never encouraged. It was the general consensus among my peers and family that artists were never one of us. There were the famous artists and there were the idle rich, who played at it, but it wasn’t real work.

At age 21 I became a Christian. This transformed my life and I began to see and experience the joy of reading and studying. I spent my day reading commentaries on the Bible and listening to sermons on my Walkman while I worked. I also made a point of reading 10 chapters of the Bible a day. I soon went to Bible College in Wales and did three years of a four year course before being offered the position of Pastor at my local church. This I declined.

I married at age 22 and at the age of 28 I was separated from my wife and divorced soon afterwards. Two years later, after being homeless and confused, I found myself in the Royal Edinburgh Hospital with a diagnosis of a mental health issue. I wrote an autobiographical account of my experiences with mental ill heath called “A Journey into Madness & A Journey out of Madness”. I used to create and paint watercolours now and then but was often too ill to concentrate for long periods.

I met Tracey and we were married in 1998. I again started to study, signing up to the Open University, and did some short courses before settling on Psychology. I changed career and became a community development worker working for the NHS in a community flat in Craigour. I used to facilitate groups and recruit people from the community to participate. I also learnt to play the guitar and taught some people while I was learning. I joined a radio station as a radio presenter of a blues music show and came up with the new name of Specky Al. Then I started a band called Specky Al and Friends and played a few gigs, produced an album and generally had fun.

It was around the time of the band January 2018 that I moved to Musselburgh. My wife Tracey and I would explore the area and before long I felt compelled to comment on the scenes I saw by drawing and painting them. It was like a conversion - I became obsessed and drew and painted every day. I soon had a large body of work, and started showing my artwork in cafes and bars, even persuading some galleries to exhibit examples of my work.

I started studying art and did a few small courses before settling with the Open College of the Arts. I didn’t have the funds to start studying with them at first so what I did was sell my American 50th Anniversary Telecaster and Blues Junior Amplifier for £800 which gave me the deposit for my first course on the Painting Degree pathway.

These studies were a life line during the pandemic and I came on in leaps and bounds. I was featured in the local paper as someone who avoided mental health problems throughout the pandemic by painting my way through it. In 2023 I started the Musselburgh Artists Open Studios where artists from the local area opened their doors to the public for a weekend. I again organized it along with a couple of other people the following year, and funded it. I resigned in 2024 and left the organizing to others who have decided to change its name to include crafters.

And now in March 2025 I am having my Degree Show.