Retiree McDonald wins state award for painting of farm

By Beth Baumgardner
Herald Staff Intern

Herald File

Dr. Daniel McDonald, a retired Greenville dentist, shows his painting “On Grandpa’s Farm” to Jane Rath, Grove City Senior Center director, during the Mercer County Senior Art Show in March. After winning Best of Show there, McDonald’s painting went on to win the Secretary’s Award at the recent state Senior Arts Festival.

A Greenville man’s artistic talent was recently honored at the 14th annual Senior Arts Festival in Harrisburg.

Daniel McDonald, 76, won the Secretary’s Award on May 25 for his oil painting “On Grandpa’s Farm,” a panoramic image of an older man and his grandson on a country lane bordered by woods and a meadowlike farm.

“I didn’t even want to send it (the painting) in at first because I’m an amateur,” McDonald said. State Department of Aging Secretary Richard Browdie selected McDonald for the Secretary’s Award independent from the three festival judges.

“It (the award) is symbolic in that it doesn’t recognize exclusively skill,” said Browdie, adding that in addition to talent, the painting he chooses must resonate with the state. “I’m choosing not on the basis of art, but by what strikes me.”

What struck Browdie about “On Grandpa’s Farm” was its depiction of rural Pennsylvania features. “It’s like a picture-perfect painting of Pennsylvania,” Department of Aging press secretary Larissa Johnson said. “A lot of people commented on how it reminds them of Pennsylvania.”

Close to 250 seniors entered the contest, many of them artists with no formal artistic training, Ms. Johnson said. Many of the seniors, like McDonald, discovered their hidden talent only in their later years.

McDonald took up painting after he retired from 36 years in dentistry in 1992. He then was very sick for a year and lost the hand coordination necessary for detailing model airplanes, his favorite pastime.

While in the hospital, McDonald began watching art programs on television and reading art books. In 1994, he started painting landscapes and then moved on to portraits and still life paintings. “I got bored,” he said. “I got tired of all those trees.”

McDonald has created more than 30 paintings, 20 of which dot his home. He also won several local awards.

After placing first for the second year in a row in a Mercer County art contest for seniors at the end of March, his painting moved on to the state’s annual Senior Arts Festival. Sponsored by the state Department on Aging and the Pennsylvania Council on Aging, the festival recognizes the positive aspects of aging and seniors’ contributions to society, Ms. Johnson said. McDonald’s medical conditions, including emphysema, prevented him from going to the ceremony in Harrisburg. But he should soon receive a ribbon and a plaque commemorating his win.

Entering contests is nothing new to McDonald. He won several state awards for his scale reproductions of airplanes.

“I like to enter things,” he said. “It gives me incentive to do more.” Despite his accomplishments, McDonald said he never considered himself an artist prior to winning this award. “It’s hard to call yourself an artist,” he said. But he does acknowledge that aspects of his life have always been artistic. McDonald, who was a semi-professional magician for more than 30 years, has always been creative. He also sees dentistry as an art.

“To try to make a person look right — it’s an art,” he said. “On Grandpa’s Farm” and other winning paintings will be displayed in the Capitol in Harrisburg until June 23.

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