Donna McGinnis was born in Spokane Washington and grew up in an artistic family. Her mother was an artist, her grandmother a musician and her father a photographer. Drawing came naturally to her, as she had very vivid memories of admiring her father’s black and white photography. These silvery prints inspired McGinnis. Through his love affair with the still image, McGinnis learned composition, Chiaroscuro (light and dark tonality), form and line, in essence the basics of formal art theory. McGinnis took early private art lessons and later went on to major in art in high school and then was awarded her Bachelors of Arts at Washington State University. After graduation, McGinnis moved to California and settled in San Francisco. With a degree in graphic design, McGinnis soon found employment as a color consultant for Fiberboard Co. Here she selected interior and exterior color palettes for housing developments. It was during her spare time that she pursued her own artistic aspirations of painting full time. With dedication, McGinnis began selling more and more until soon, her dream of becoming a professional artist became a reality. She currently lives and works in Northern California and maintains a studio in Petaluma.
Her work has been included in several museum shows including the Legion of Honor in San Francisco (which has three pieces in their permanent collection), the Oakland Museum, the Triton Museum of Santa Clara, the Arkansas Art Center, Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento and the Sonoma Museum. Her paintings have also been seen in many university shows such as Stanford and she has participated in the Art in Embassies in the United Arab Emirates. She has received the Marin Arts individual Artist Grant, been nominated for the SECA award at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, awarded the Grumbacher Art Award and Best in Show Award for the Bay Arts. She was a finalist for the Marin Magazine annual cover competition and has done several commissions for hotels such as the Pelican Hill in Newport Beach, The Sherwood Hotel in Taiwan, the Beliagio Hotel in Las Vegas the Hyatt Waikiki in Hawaii along with many hospitals.
McGinnis paints in the landscape and abstract genre. Her works are contemporary and modern in composition. Both styles of painting are developed in the same way. Neither the abstracts or landscapes start with preconceived ideas. With the swirling of brushwork and layering of glazes, McGinnis creates her signature style of softness and a painting that glows from within.
