If ever a painter was born to paint, it’s Texas-born Jimmy D.
McDonald. Here is a natural talent whose abundantly engaging work has quickly
attracted a loyal coterie of admiring followers. Drawing his palette from the
rich and dynamic natural world he loves, and the human struggle to find intimacy
with that world, Jimmy creates art as bold and storied as an ancient rock
formation or a tumbling waterfall. My ideas often come to me as I take in what
has been masterfully created eons before my time, and is the lifeblood of all
living things,” he says.
Jimmy’s personal journey through life has been as eventful an adventure as any
of the road trips he’s taken on his Harley over the blue highways that
crisscross America. From the time he could hold a pencil, a paintbrush, or a
hammer; he was drawing, painting, and combining objects and ideas in brilliant,
unusual ways. After attending the University of Houston where he studied fine
art, graphic communications, illustration and advertising, he poured his many
talents into a sign business where he raised the craft of sign making to a high
art. Meanwhile, he continued to paint, applying colors to canvas with increasing
boldness and verve.
After two decades of business success, and a watershed experience that changed
his life, Jimmy launched himself into his painting with the wholehearted
enthusiasm, dedication, and focus that has marked his entire career. Each of his
fascinating canvases carries on as energetic a dialogue with the viewer as Jimmy
does with his family, closest friends, and often with perfect strangers. His
work showcases his inquisitive eye, his love affair with color, shape and
movement, and the lively interplay of shadow and light.
Behind the visual high jinks and high spirits of Jimmy McDonald’s work lies a
deep faith, an unquenchable thirst for life, and a generosity of spirit that
make this extraordinary artist a talent to be reckoned with in the years ahead.
Written by: Paula Bennett
