Lex graduated from the Glasgow School of Art with an Honours degree in Fine Art. For 17 years her ran a successful fashion design business creating top end couture ranges and acting as consultant to large-scale manufactures in the UK and abroad. He has shown collections in New York, Paris, Amsterdam and dressed stars such as Alan Cumming and Karen Mulder.
Lex returned to painting and drawing in 2002 and has gained a growing following who collect his strong portraits, sculptures and colourful still lifes. His growing reputation has been highlighted with the receipt of the PF Charitable Trust Award, the major prize at the Visual Arts Scotland Exhibition at the Royal Scottish Academy.
In 2020 he was the recipient of the prestigious Glasgow Art Club Award at the 132nd Paisley Art Institute Exhibition.
He produced the life size ‘Angel’ statue for Angel with Bagpipes on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile and one of his paintings is in the private collection of HRH, The Princess Royal. He exhibits throughout the UK and in France.
He lives on the Crinan Canal in Argyll, Scotland and in Burgundy, France in the medieval village of Noyers sur Serein where he co-owns La Galerie Ecossaise, and where McFadyen’s work is increasingly influenced by the long periods he spends there.