John MacDonald

From an early age, John felt an intimate connection to the natural world. As a painter, it was inevitable that the landscape would become his primary subject matter. His approach is poetic, rather than factual, and he feels most attuned to the movement in American art known as Tonalism. The master and founder of that style, George Inness, has been his greatest influence.

He attended Washington University in St. Louis where he received a BFA in 1979. Following college, he attended a four-month intensive printmaking workshop at the Institute for American Universities in Avignon, France. Returning to the States, he received an MA degree in drawing and painting from Purdue University in 1982.

For twenty years, John worked both an illustrator and landscape painter before moving into painting full time. He has won awards from Print Magazine, and his work has appeared in the Society of Illustrators annual exhibitions.  His work can be found in private, corporate, and museum collections throughout North America.