Biography

Donna MacDonald was born in Windsor, Ontario and now lives in Calgary, Alberta. Best known for her impressionistic style she uses loose brushwork to simplify and suggest details in her paintings leaving it up to the viewer to participate by filling in the blanks.

She has traveled to the U.S. to study with master painters over the last several years striving to improve her technical knowledge and to grow as an artist.

Her paintings have won numerous awards and she has been featured in the American Art Collector and Canadian Brushstrokes magazines.  Donna has exhibited in numerous juried exhibitions and her work can be found in the Calgary Flames Rotary House collection as well as private collections in Canada, United States and South America.

As a way of “paying it forward” she contributes 10% from the sale of her paintings to charity.  This year HOPEthiopia, a Calgary based charity that works tirelessly for the betterment of the Ethiopian people has been chosen.  Their projects  include drilling water wells, building schools and providing dental and medical treatments.

Donna also participated in the this year’s Alberta Flood Rose Project with proceeds going to the Canadian Red Cross Flood Relief.

She is currently a teacher at the Calgary School of Art.

Artist Statement

Unlike a photograph where everything is in focus my paintings attempt to recreate how our eyes see.  We are only able to focus our eyes in one area at a time, the rest of the scene appears fuzzy.  This is the essence of my painting style, which can be called painterly or perhaps impressionistic.

Although my subject matter is varied, I am most captivated by a strong sense of light.  I enjoy oil paint as my medium because  of its slow drying quality which allows me to show movement..  My hope is that the viewer experiences my paintings, as not just a literal depiction of a scene, animal or person but feels the sun and atmosphere of the day.

“Painting has become a passion and a wonderful necessity in my life. Since becoming a full time artist, I have unexpectedly discovered that painting provides me relief from almost daily migraines which I’ve had for over thirty years.  I truly believe that I am doing what I was always mean to do and feel very blessed!”