Carol MacLeod

I am a native of Maine and have worked in the field of psychiatry and nursing education. Now, in my retirement, I happily devote my time and energy to the creative processes of photography and painting.
Photography: I have been involved with photography for over 30 years, beginning with black and white film and printing in the dark room. After digital arrived, I produced, edited, printed and incorporated color images into my body of work. Themes of my work include moods of Maine, the environment in which we live, abstractions, the human figure and face, and minimalism. My most recent project with photography is dolls that I have found in flea markets, some disturbing, some just old and well used and, most certainly, loved in the past. If feel these old and falling apart dolls and their fate to be indicative our culture’s view and treatment of aging women. In all of my photographs, I integrate my instinct, inspiration and ability to ‘see’.
Painting: I discovered the joy of painting with oils after many classes at Maine College of Art. My body of work consists of the figure, landscapes, abstracts, and portraits, both people and animals. My most recent project is portraits of birds, capturing especially the facial gesture and the eyes. I have found in my portraits of birds, there is a bit of an unintentional self portrait depicting my mood and sense of humor. My painting technique is to use both brush and palette knife, often in the same painting where I enjoy the juxtaposition of softness of the brush and boldness of the palette knife.