Location: Canada
Please visit my webpage at www.carolynmcdonald.info
Carolyn McDonald grew up in a small town in the countryside of Jamaica. As a child she loved to paint and draw, and delighted in the vibrant colours, textures and imagery of the tropics. She completed “Advanced Level Art” which included several exams in drawing, painting and Art History and was marked in Cambridge, England.
She obtained her B.A in Fine Art and teaching certificate in Ontario, Canada. On returning to Jamaica, she had several exhibitions, and was influenced by the rich artistic traditions on the island.
Carolyn then moved back to Canada, making her home in British Columbia where she continued to teach and paint. Although she is inspired by her travels, and the world around her, she believes in personal, original interpretation of ideas and feelings rather than painting by method. Each painting is an adventure on its own although it follows on from the previous painting. She works in Mixed media,Watercolour and Acrylic on canvas.
Some of her paintings invite the viewer to fill in the stories of special places that may seem familiar and yet hold a sense of mystery. She works both abstractly and realistically.
Carolyn has exhibited in Canada, Jamaica and Puerto Rico. She has given workshops on teaching art to children, and with Art Starts, she worked as an artist in the schools. She taught art at school, college level, and in her studio. Carolyn now lives on Vancouver Island.
Her paintings are in collections in Canada, the U.S, Jamaica, Bermuda, England and Puerto Rico
I often don't know what will inspire my next painting- - there are so many moments. The sun streaming across a lawn, people going about their daily lives. clouds gathering for rain, or more abstractly, shadows, shapes, colours and ideas. That is why the paintings are so varied. Each one seems to demand a unique approach and once on that path the painting itself helps me to make decisions.
I wanted to portray that moment just as the rain begins to fall -- when there is still light in the sky.
I hope that the viewer will wonder about the narrative behind this painting. The inclusion of a figure surrounded by the countryside-- the space and distance .. that is what I was interested in as I painted.
Thinking about how the light filters through the leaves and branches of small trees.
I began this painting as a pure abstract but as I worked it seemed to remind me of the Moroccan Desert that we travelled through last year.
Remembering my days as a school girl in Jamaica.
“Storm”
“The Fruit of his Labour”
“Spinney Hill”
“Devon Hamlet”
“Morocco”
“Blue Uniforms”
