Donna L. MacDonald

Born and raised in Nova Scotia, Donna has always been fascinated with the natural beauty of the sea and the rugged Maritime coastlines. She is often moved to paint seascapes, boats, and coastal scenes, in an effort to capture, in her own words, “that glimpse of the ordinary that sparks your imagination… something serene or dramatic or beautiful… that is just there, hiding in plain sight”. In addition to these themes, she also enjoys setting her brushes to task on still-life images, landscapes, and on occasion, works of pure imagination. Working as a Nurse Manager for over 20 years, she took up painting as a hobby some 14 years ago. Self-taught over that time, she now considers painting to be not just a means of relaxation and distraction, but moreover, an indispensable outlet for her self-expression.

Donna works with acrylics on canvas. She prefers to mix her colour values from a small palette that often includes two shades of blue, and one each of yellow, red, white, and black. Her paintings are currently on display in the “Dart Gallery”, (Dartmouth), Teichert (Halifax) and “Going Coastal” (Chester), and have been acquired by private collectors from nine of Canada’s ten provinces, from the United Kingdom, and from Minnesota, New York, California, and the Dominican Republic. Donna’s paintings have been chosen as the cover art for Northwood’s “Life” magazine (December issue) for the last three consecutive years.