About the Artist

The paintings of Marsha McDonald have touched the hearts of animal lovers everywhere.  Whether the medium is pastel, watercolor, oil, or graphite, she has the ability to capture the very essence of her subjects in striking detail.  Excellent treatment of color, light and shadow have become her trademark. McDonald has been painting and making a living selling art for nearly thirty years.  She traded in a successful job and a hectic, big city life for small town serenity, and has never looked back.  Since then, she has pursued her painting continuously, and has found great success by combining her talent with hard work.  Ever the student, she is always striving to study, to learn and to improve whatever she does.  The artist believes strongly that it's important to allow herself occasional time off from a daily routine.    "Some days I feel the need to experiment.  Challenge myself to do something bold and different," she says.  "How it turns out isn't as important to me as what I can learn during the actual creative process.  When I go into what I call "learning mode,"  I am focused on colors or techniques.  Rarely do I pay much attention to composition during this time.  I try not to analyze too much.  My goal is to discover something new, not to turn out a masterpiece."  Through art workshops, many hours of studying books on painting, and long years of standing in front of an easel working, I have come to understand that there is so much more to being an artist than just using paint to realistically copy a photograph.  If I wanted to do that I would be a photographer and sell my pictures!  For me, the very essence of being an artist is to add my own unique vision and expression to the subject I am working on.  While it is important to get an animal's anatomy correct, I also want my painting to be a combination of great color, composition, harmony and mood." McDonald's artwork has been highly publicized and is in private and corporate collections both in the United States and abroad.  Reproduction rights for her paintings have been purchased for publication by magazines and greeting card and product companies, and her animal portraits have graced the covers of many of these publications.  She has been the subject of feature articles in magazines and breed journals.  Her pencil drawings are included in a popular book entitled "The Complete Book of Equine Drawing," by Dr. Marilyn Todd-Daniels.  The artist has been nominated twice as one of the Outstanding Young Women of America (1981 and 1984), and has also appeared in the 84-85 publication of Notable Women of Texas. Although painting has always been her top priority, she is a woman whose interests are quite varied. They are a reflection of this artist's own spirit and personality.  For years she traveled extensively to Oklahoma for Comanche and Kiowa Indian Pow Wows and used the Native Americans  for models in some of her earlier works.  Licensed by state and federal governments to handle and rehabilitate wild birds, the artist has used many of them as models whenever suitable.  She is an environmentalist who for six years gave educational programs to schools, colleges, private interest groups including the world renowned Fossil Rim Wildlife Sanctuary in Glen Rose, Texas, and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's Game Warden Training Academy in Austin.  And she is an accomplished private art teacher. Marsha has always been inspired by the wonders of nature.  So in addition to painting animals, it makes sense that she would also be drawn to painting landscapes and colorful garden scenes. Six years ago, the artist discovered gardening.  She has since worked and planted diligently to create a colorful paradise in which to paint and photograph.   During the summer, her peaceful acreage is covered in wildflowers. Much time is spent outdoors gathering subject matter.  She now has her property registered with The National Wildlife Federation's Backyard Habitat Program.   "It's wonderful!  So inspiring to just step outside and paint on location, or do photography. New marketing possibilities have opened to me as well," she explains.  "I am developing a different technique I would call painterly and whimsical.  Perhaps the resulting paintings and photos will make wonderful greeting cards?"  Only time will tell, as the saying goes.  And this artist will, no doubt, continue to find joy and meaning in her chosen field of work.