margaret MCDONALD

ARTIST STATEMENT

I like mixing colour, mixing paints together. Coming from a scientific background, I know the physics of light—-why blue and yellow make green, but I prefer to think of it as magic.

I didn’t attend kindergarten so now is my time to play.

Painting non-representationally, whether with acrylic or pastels, gives me a chance to develop layers and depth that represent the effects of time and life on a person and our environment.

I like nothing more than preparing a stack of papers for collage. Scrapping paint, spraying through a stencil, adding texture to a print with household items are just a few of the ways I create my starting materials. The best pieces come from an uncontrollable element.

The stash is supplemented with found papers- the inside of an envelope, a ripped book page with a coffee stain, an outdated poster torn from a billboard while travelling on vacation.

The real fun and artistry starts when these varied papers start interacting. Seeing the relationships between colours, sizes and quality of line make for visual interest.

I often work in a series. Setting limitations of size, shape, and a colour scheme allows for a depth of exploration including pattern and repetition.

Creating anywhere from 3 to 15 similar pieces keeps any one piece from becoming precious and overworked. Some recent series include Gleanings, My Tangled Garden series and the Dictionary series.

I often try to create an interesting figure/ground relationship in my work. This is my most successful piece in this endeavour. There is a real sense of some striped sections sitting on top of the others. Holding your gaze on the art makes some of the sets change position. Think of a zebra, is it white with black stripes or black with white stripes? This piece called Stripes Coming and Going has an acrylic underpainting with pastel on top.