"The other teacher totally destroyed me," she said. "I have never heard Jane ever do that to anybody else. She is constructive and points out how you can fix a painting. She's just a really inspiring person."
For the last two years, her work has been juried into Brand Library's annual national show. Last year, her piece, "Lost Legacy," was in the show and featured an 1820s-era pair of all-metal skates. The painting recognizes the former practice of skating figure-eights and the antiquated skates, she said.
The painting combines her two passions.
McDonald started ice skating at 13, which was late by the standards of the sport, she said.
"So, I really had to work hard to start competing," she said.
She competed until she was 18 and then joined the Ice Follies, touring for two and a half years.
When Pickwick Ice Arena was about to open, she applied for a job and was the center's first skating instructor. She taught there for about four years until she retired to raise a family, she said.
After her children were raised, she joined Pickwick's precision team in 1990 and started competing in the singles category. She has amassed great success, this second time around, she said. At 50, she won the Southwest Regional Championship in singles in 1990. She earned the title U.S. Adult National Champion in 1997 and 2000.
"I went to Oberstdorf, Germany, in 2005, the year the first adult international competition was ever held, and I placed third in singles in my age category," she said.
At 65, McDonald was the oldest competitor in the contest, and the woman who won was 45. Undaunted by not finishing higher than third place, she is returning to the competition next year.
Competition is what drives McDonald, said her coach and choreographer Denise Moore of Burbank.
