DAVID McEOWN artist journeys

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Semi - Circumnavigation of Antarctica

Painting at the Dry Valleys , Antarctica

Antarctica is a painters dream. 
It's like discovering a new world of unforgiving beauty, a giant in scale, with shapes reduced to basic raw elements.  Colours of ice so subtle, translucent and fragile inhabited by innocent curious creatures that have no fear of us. 
The recent works on this page are inspired by a Semi-Circumnavigation Expedition by Icebreaker around Antarctica from November 2, (spring time down south) to December 12, and departed from the Cape Horn of South America and ending in New Zealand.  This spectacular and remote journey was made only possible by a polar class icebreaker, the Kapitan Klebnikov for Quark Expeditions. 
The visit to the historic huts of the Ross Sea is one of the highlights of our journey.  These were the expedition bases of the heroic age of Antarctic exploration.  In the morning we arrived at Cape Royds by helicopter from the ship parked 5 miles out on the ice edge.  This is where Shackleton's hut was built during his Nimrod Expedition of 1907-09, which included an attempt to reach the South Pole. See the Antarctica Project for more paintings!

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