My work begins and ends with drawing, no matter the medium, surface or technique. For me drawing a kind of dance in which each step opens up new possibilities and allows the ordinary to be seen in a new way. I use line and color in a free, fresh, loose style honed by many years of practice and observation. My surface of choice is paper, for original works and fine quality art prints. I work in series, in order to continue and develop ideas and visual explorations.
Original series include Ink Birds, Mad Cats, Pots, Bottles and Jars (Still Life), and two on-going series of urban/landscape scenes created from my sketchbook drawings.
Philadelphia: Famous Sites and Favorite Places is a tribute to my adopted City of Philadelphia. Each scene begins with an on-site drawing done with pen in my sketchbook. The choice of sites is a combination of appeal to my eye and a broader interest in places that are meaningful to and beloved of Philadelphians.
My International Series, from the hundreds of travel sketchbooks I’ve accumulated over a life of living and traveling in interesting places, is created with the same technique: a base of spontaneous, on-site line drawing on paper with colorful digital painting. “International’ means anything and everything beyond Philadelphia, including London, Paris, and New York City.
The loose, sketchy, spontaneous freedom of my line is the result of many years of drawing life as I find it around me, especially in my travels and in various places where I’ve lived, including Paris, California and New York. For the Philadelphia scenes and for my International Series featuring cities and places around the world I scan drawings done on site in my sketchbooks and compose the final work with digital painting, allowing the line to remain central and free within a colorful graphic design.
Artist Biography
Marilyn MacGregor is a fine artist, illustrator, and graphic designer with an extensive record of exhibitions and a popular series of colorful prints and cards. She uses her many sketchbooks from life and travel in the US and in Europe to create much of her illustration and graphic design work, including her Philadelphia series, her International Series of travel scenes, and colorful flowers, animals and birds. She exhibits her work in Europe and the US, and offers work for purchase on her website and other quality sites. She lives and works in Wilmington DE USA and in a small town in the Loire Valley, France.
Education
Hollins University, Roanoke, Virginia Master of Arts in Childrens’ Literature
Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY Bachelor of Fine Arts
2015 East Passyunk Neighborhood Art Show, Philadelphia, PA
2014 The Art of the Flower, Philadelphia Sketch Club, Philadelphia, PA
East Passyunk Neighborhood Art Show, Philadelphia, PA
2013 Paperworks Invitational, Trenton Art Museum, Trenton, NJ
2011 – 2012 The Decorated Book, The Philadelphia Athenaeum, Philadelphia, PA
2011 Featured Book, Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Minneapolis, MN
Book, Paper, Scissors, Philadelphia Center for the Book, Free Library, Philadelphia, PA
2nd Floor Front Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Small Oils Philadelphia Sketch Club, Philadelphia, PA
Something French Art in City Hall, Philadelphia, PA
LOVE B Square Gallery, Philadelphia, PA Invitational
Works on Paper, Philadelphia Sketch Club, Philadelphia, PA
2010 Book, Paper, Scissors, Philadelphia Center for the Book, Free Library, Philadelphia, PA
837 League Street Group Show, Philadelphia, PA
Insect Invitational, B Square Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
The Art of the Flower, Philadelphia Sketch Club, Philadelphia, PA
Works on Paper 2010, Philadelphia Sketch Club, Philadelphia, PA
Previous
Crossing the Line, ArtWorks Downtown, San Rafael, CA Keter Associates, Berkeley, CA Berkeley Artisans Open Studios, Berkeley, CA Alvarado Artists at the Rockridge Library, Oakland, CA Pro Arts Open Studios Artists/Friends – Dialogues, City College of San Francisco, CA Alvarado Artists at Giorgio Gallery, Berkeley, CA Strong Ties, Diverse Connections, Downtown Art Center, San Rafael, CA Alvarado Artists Founding Exhibition, Berkeley, CA Faculty Exhibition, Bentley School, Lafayette, CA Banaker Gallery, San Francisco CA Fine Woodworking, Sausalito, CA Marin County Civic Center, San Rafael, CA Fairfax Public Library, Fairfax, CA Saint John the Divine, New York, NY Saint Peter’s Church, New York, NY Saint Edwards School, Oxford, England The Leys School, Cambridge, England New Art Forms, Banaker Gallery at the Navy Pier, Chicago, IL Faculty Exhibition, College of Marin, Kentfield, CA Year of the American Craft, Syntex Corporation, Palo Alto, CA Inspired by Nature, California Contemporary Crafts Council, Corte Madera, CA Animals and Us, Artisans Gallery, Mill Valley, CA In the Landscape, Claudia Chapline Gallery, Stinson Beach, CA California Design, Baulines Craft Guild, San Francisco, CA Small Works California Museum of Art, Santa Rosa, CA Artists from the Erika Meyerovich Gallery, Governor’s Office, San Francisco, CA The Erika Meyerovich Gallery, San Francisco, CA
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