The Art of K Krueger McDonald
Pastel Paintings: people, places, flora and fauna
Katy Texas

Paintings Are Like Children:

As an artist, there is an idea that lives within you for a long period of time, pushing and kicking at you.  After this vision has been carried to term, you go through the labor of producing the artwork—sometimes the process is easy and sometimes long and arduous.  Once born, the painting lives and breathes on its own; but you shape it, watch it grow, and give it your very best.  When it is time to send it out into the world, you dream that it will make you proud and hope that one day it will leave home with someone who loves it.

Much as a parent, the artist cannot totally detach from his/her artwork to be objective. Jean Cocteau put this succinctly when he said that "an artist cannot talk about his art any more than a plant can discuss horticulture."* The work must stand on its own merits. As the artist-parent, I nurture my paintings with joy and try to imbue in them knowledge of the subject matter, grace gained through composition and design, fun realized through the aspect of viewpoint and discovery, and radiance achieved through light and color.  Once this is accomplished, then I can let them go. 

K Krueger McDonald

   24 February 2010                                                      * Jean Cocteau, Newsweek, 16 May 1955                                                               

K Krueger McDonald © 2009