Carol McArdle's uses vibrant colors and powerful
compositions in her oil and acrylic landscape and wildlife paintings of Natural
Florida. They tell the story of her experiences when in the midst of the
organic world of nature; the pleasures, respect and centering the outdoors
gives her. She uses various painting styles to tell her visual stories, from
detailed realism, usually for her bird portraits, to textured and painterly.
For each painting she chooses the style she believes will convey her vision of
the subject most effectively.
In a very short time since starting her Natural
Florida series in 2006 Carol has been invited to have many solo exhibits, her
paintings have been winning awards and are being shown and collected around the
USA. Some select highlights include her being a finalist in the 2008
International Guild of Realism Annual Juried Exhibition; in the 2009 Birds in
Art at the Leigh Yawkey Woodsen Museum; in the 2009 Paint America Top 200 and
in the 2009 Paint the Parks Top 100, which went on tour for a year around the
USA . She was also chosen to be the 2008 Resident Artist of Delnor Wiggins
State Park, Naples FL.
Carol McArdle was born in Jamaica and then from
age 3 grew up in Bristol England. After High School she attended West Surrey
College of Art and Design, leaving after about 15 months to became mostly a
self taught artist. For a few years she lived a short train ride from London
and took advantage of the many Art exhibits there in the National Gallery,
British Museum and The Tate. The variety of styles of Art that she was exposed
to has always remained with her and her long art career has spanned many art
disciplines from graphic design to her present fine art painting. In 2001 Carol became an American citizen. She
lives in Southwest Florida and continues to capture and portray in her
paintings what she experiences in the Preserves, State and National Parks and
other undisturbed areas of the natural Florida around her. Her work can be seen
in galleries around Florida and on her website at www.carolmcardle.com
Carol McArdle Artist Statement
Art is how I translate my experiences
into paintings. When stepping into the organic world of nature what I
experience is an immediate positive uplift. My breathing deepens, stresses fall
away and I feel a calming, centering and humbling pleasure. It happens every
single time and my whole being laps it up. This experience has given me an
appreciation and reverence for nature and that is what I want to capture and
expose.
I use my camera and Adobe Photoshop to
extensively study my subjects and plan my piece. Only when it is well prepared
will I then choose my paints, usually oil or acrylic and begin to execute it. I
employ painting styles from high realism to highly textured and painterly,
whatever I think will convey my experience of each scene and subject most
effectively. When you look at my paintings you will see that I like strong;
strong shapes, compositions, colors and values. This reflects both my
personality and the powerful experiences with nature that my paintings portray.
