Donald Macdonald - Beatha Beag Beathoch: A Little Bit of Life

Inspirations

Sometimes it’s a line from a song or something someone says. Sometimes I see a bird gliding or the shape of a stretching cat. Sometimes I look at my family and am overcome with feelings and emotions.

Sometimes I see a colour, sometimes even a shape, a reflection, a cup or a jar. It can be a toy or a sky, an apple, a mouse or even a house.

These are the kind of everyday occurrences and observations that inspire me to make my paintings. As an artist I love to re-create everyday experiences and emotions from the world around us in my own way.

I express these moments and feelings through imagined characters brought to life using everyday objects. To see and feel things differently, to find beauty in the norm and in items we see or use everyday, to find something new within the traditions of painting.

Paper People

I create these miniature paper characters to represent and act out various roles in my compositions. These roles can be anything from a relationship to a landscape to an unadulterated celebration of colour. A bed sheet can become an ocean, or a feather can become a sail for a boat made of paper. When I have set up a miniature scene I photograph it (sometimes for days) and use these photographs as a reference for my painting process.

I like to use these characters as they allow me complete freedom of creation and expression. As line drawings, the characters are very spontaneous, raw and loose and I love this contrast with the photorealism in the finished paintings.