Beth McDonald is an elementary school teacher who has lived in the hills of Naguabo, Puerto Rico for 27 years. She began taking art lessons at the age of 11 at the Gertrude Herbert Art Institute in Augusta, Georgia and received her BA in Art from Augusta College in Augusta, Georgia in 1975. She received a first place in acrylic at the 1978 Thomson Arts and Crafts Festival in Thomson, Georgia and first place in pastel at the fourth (2002), sixth (2005), seventh (2006), eighth (2007), ninth (2008) and tenth (2009) annual juried shows of the East End Art Guild. Her media experience includes pottery, printmaking, oil, acrylic, watercolor, and pastel. Her recent training includes printmaking with Regina Held, printmaking and scratch art with Diane Cutter and watercolor, oil and mixed media with Monica Laird. She is currently working exclusively in pastel.

 

Her subjects are primarily landscapes, flowers, farm stock, and architectural forms. “I love the direct contact with the medium that you get with pastel. I do a lot of blending with my finger on the paper and that intimacy appeals to me. The instant vibrant colors that pastels deliver are also very gratifying.”