Artists & Illustrators - April 2016_

12 Artists & Illustrators

RIGHT Bridget

MacDonald,

Summer Cattle,

oil on linen,

102 x 1 27c m

BRIDGET MACDONALD

It may come as a surprise that Bridget MacDonald, an artist

known for her evocative paintings of the Worcestershire

countryside, didn’t always see eye to eye with the

landscape. “I’d never been quite sure how to approach it

as a subject in a way that made sense to me,” she admits.

Born in 1943, Bridget’s earlier work focused on large-

scale charcoal figures, until a residency at Barber Institute

of Fine Arts in Birmingham piqued her fascination with the

pastoral landscapes of Rubens and Lorrain. Soon after, the

rich rural scenes of Malvern, where she lives, found their

way into her art.

In Summer Cattle, the artist revisited the landscape

of her childhood, St Catherine’s Lighthouse on the

southernmost point of the Isle of Wight, just a few hundred

yards from where she was born. “I walked along the cliff as

I had done many, many times before as a child and since,

and was amazed to see a beautiful black Aberdeen Angus

bull with a herd of cows and calves in the field next to the

lighthouse,” she explains. “It was like a vision.”

The painting was created in Bridget’s studio from

memory and a few “not very good snapshots”, allowing her

own idealised view of the area to escape onto the canvas.

She built up layers of impasto paint to convey the

movement of the grass and glazed over those with a series

of darker toned glazes to achieve depth and shadows.

At Worcester City Art Gallery, Bridget’s work will come full

circle as it is shown side by side with the landscapes of

Claude Lorrain, Samuel Palmer and Peter Paul Rubens for

a special exhibition, This Green Earth. “I feel thrilled to have

my work displayed alongside them, although also very

daunted at being in such exalted company,” she admits.

This Green Earth runs until 25 June at Worcester City Art

Gallery and Museum. http://www.museumsworcestershire.org.uk

INSPIRING NEW ARTWORKS, STRAIGHT OFF THE EASEL

top tip

Bridget uses smooth,

synthetic brushes to

give the oil paint a^

gentle, luminous

finish

> >

12 Fresh Paint.indd 12 18/02/2016 14: