Megan McDonald, Artist, Melbourne Australia

Megan McDonald is an Artist and Web Designer who lives in Melbourne, Australia. Her love of painting, photography, and being creative has always been a large part of her life. She loves to experiment with different mediums and subject matter and in turn produces unique pieces.

For as long as I can remember I have loved making, collecting and creating objects. My work is normally related to cars, roads and driving and everyday life.

More recently I have been painting road scenes and concentrating on the strong simple lines of winding roads and beautiful blue skies where the car becomes part of the landscape. It reflects the pleasure of a drive on a wide open road through the countryside on a perfect day and encourages the notion of "enjoying the journey"

My older paintings are based on objects, particularly cars from the past. I love shiny cars that have been painstakingly restored just as much as old dilapidated rusted out heaps. I keep an eye out on country drives for abandoned cars and I take photos which I keep and refer to at a later date. I also love wandering through car shows and seeing restored cars parked in rows waiting to be admired. I love the presence, strong shapes and unique characters of cars.

I have noticed that images of old cars can evoke memories of another time in our lives. At a recent exhibition opening where I had my “Car Features” series showing, men started congregating around my paintings and discussing memories in relation to particular car models. The car is such a big part of all our lives; this latest series continues the love and fascination of cars and reveals the front view of old cars. It came about from my observations whilst stuck at traffic lights and noticing that the oncoming cars appeared to take on a human like quality. These cars had a face and character – the headlights as eyes and the bumper bar a mouth. The form of the object easily identifiable, simplified and earthy colours are used giving the paintings a distinctive look. My love of painting cars has led to numerous commissions of car paintings. Cars from the past are frozen for a moment in time on canvas, the proud owner relishing fond memories.

As well as painting I love to put together assemblages. I collect once precious objects and old treasures from different sources and store them in cardboard boxes. When inspiration arises I combine these objects with photos and re arrange and adjust them in a carefully selected boxes or containers until I am happy with it.

I now spend my time either working on paintings, or designing and developing websites.