Gillian McDonald : Presence in Time
"I have walked, sketched, and painted this landscape for over thirty years until it has become part of me"
From her home on the north coast of Pembrokeshire, Gillian McDonald seeks out the dramatic, ancient landscapes that inspire her romantic and contemporary vision. Her semi-abstract works draw deeply from the region’s distinctive light, wild beauty, and the enduring mystery of its prehistoric standing stones—landmarks that embody the spirit and imagination of Pembrokeshire’s earliest artists.
McDonald’s paintings are rich in atmosphere and charged with a sense of isolation and reverence. Each composition becomes a quiet meditation on light, land, and time. Her distinctive mixed-media approach—layering collage, pigment, and natural materials—creates surfaces that shimmer with subtle tonal shifts and vibrant colour harmonies.
Her bold yet sensitive use of colour, combined with an innate understanding of changing light, lends these works a timeless quality. They speak of the landscape not as a backdrop but as a living presence: elemental, mysterious, and profoundly connected to human creativity across the ages.