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Recent/Blog

News and blog posts about recent works, workshops, events, presentations, expeditions and exhibitions by Canadian artist David McEown.

Filtering by Tag: Antarctic paintings

Antarctica

David McEown

Once again we visited the antarctic peninsula  as part of the team at One Ocean Expeditions. However this time we arrived later in the season and saw lots of seal and whale action including many adolescent  and energenic penguin chicks! Posted here are video journal highlights , and a selection of Antarctic paintings completed on location.

A collection of video impressions from the Antarctic Peninsula , including David painting the dramatic glacier at Neko Harbour.

This short video is shot while painting on Petermann Island, a special place to observe the variations of penguin species nesting and the changes in populations due to climate change. In this case David encounters 2 young adelie penguin chicks walking into the foreground in front of a dramatic backdrop. 

During a voyage in the Antarctic Sound aboard a Russian research vessel , David paints in sub zero temperatures to allow chance effects and interplay of the weather and the mark making process, all the while trying to convey the scale and mood of immense tabular icebergs appearing through the advancing storm. On the way north , the ship surveys the shores of Elephant island and David has a chance to work on a few paintings of "Point Wild", this is were the members of Shackleton's party were rescued.

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categories Antarctica, Elephant Island, en plein air, extreme painting, Landscape painting, Point Wild, Sir Ernest Shackleton, Antarctic Peninsula
tags Antarctic paintings, Antarctica, Elephant island, Penguins, en plein air

Upcoming Expeditions to South Georgia , Antarctica

David McEown

Painting at Gold Harbour, South Georgia.

Painting at Gold Harbour, South Georgia.

We are excited to be joining One Ocean Expeditions for the following  2015 trips and programs to Antarctica/ South Georgia. 

“Painting and Photography in  the sub antarctic island of South Georgia is truly incomparable. Its  stark remoteness and vast glaciated peaks rising out of an unforgiving icy ocean is home to unbelievably  numerous and curious species of  wildlife that makes one  feel like a visitor to a whole new planet. The overwhelming scale, patterns ,color and texture of this place   provides endless  creative inspiration yet can challenge  and “reset” old preconceptions of composition and field work habits while awakening feelings of beauty, reverence and interconnectedness.”

• "SOUTH GEORGIA IN DEPTH" Oct. 17- 30,

 

• "ANTARCTICA OFF THE BEATEN TRACK" NOV. 10- 22

• "FALKLANDS, SOUTH GEORGIA, ANTARCTICA PHOTOGRAPHIC SYMPOSIUM", NOV. 22 to DEC. 10, 
with watercolorist David McEown and photographer Daisy Gilardini


To find out more details on the program, itinerary , and cabin availability  see one ocean expeditions.

This video clip  is from a 2011 expedition to South Georgia.

2 Comments
categories Antarctica, Elephant Island, en plein air, Landscape painting, Point Wild, South Georgia, St-Andrews Bay, Watercolour, watercolor
tags Antarctic paintings, Elephant island, South Georgia, Antarctica, Gold Harbour, watercolour

Antarctica, South Georgia and the Falkland Islands 2013 painting highlights.

David McEown

I am just unpacking paintings and backing up terabytes of reference materialfromthe recent expeditions to South Georgia and the Antarctic Peninsula.  The two videos in thispost share some of the painting highlights and wildlife encounters which Daisy  and I filmed. We were fortunate to go back in February 2013 at the end of the Antarctic summer and visited again this November through December in the austral spring to continue our long-term projectstudying this wilderness area.

The trips were not only successful in the wonders we saw but also for the charity auctions that raised much-needed funds to supportimportant conservation projects such as the South Georgia Heritage Trust and Oceanites. Thank you again to the generous fellow travellers that put forth a bid on my illustrated marine charts and Daisy's books. Also a big thank you again the the One Ocean Team for making it happen!

"Enter the Drake", 6 x 15 inchers, watercolour
"Enter the Drake", 6 x 15 inchers, watercolour
From Petermann Island, 12 x 22 inches, watercolour
From Petermann Island, 12 x 22 inches, watercolour
Painting From Petermann Island.
Painting From Petermann Island.
6 Comments
categories Antarctica, Elephant Island, en plein air, Paradise Bay, Peninsula, Point Wild, South Georgia, South Georgia Heritage Trust, watercolor, Watercolour
tags Antarctic paintings, Antarctica, en plein air, Frank Wild, Icebergs, Sir Ernest Shackleton, South Georgia Island, Watercolor, watercolour

The Far Side of Antarctica and South Georgia

David McEown

The Far Side of Antarctica was a 38 day expedition aboard the icebreaker Kapitan Khlebnikov.  Leaving from the Falkland Islands December 1, 2007, we explored South Georgia and South Sandwich islands and then continued southeast to semi-circumnavigate the eastern side of Antarctica - finally disembarking in Perth Australia.  Now my 3rd season painting in Antarctic, it is still like discovering a new world of unforgiving beauty, giant in scale, with shapes reduced to basic raw elements.  The colors of ice are so subtle, translucent and fragile thus making watercolour appropriate for expressing the soft and crisp edges of the pack ice.  Many thanks to Quark Expeditions who have made it possible to explore these impressive places.

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categories Antarctica, en plein air, Landscape painting, Watercolour, watercolor, East Antarctica
tags Antarctic paintings, Antarctica, Far Side of antarctica, emperor Penguins, Amanda Bay, Auster Emperor penguin rookery

Semi - Circumnavigation of Antarctica

David McEown

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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categories Antarctica, en plein air, extreme painting, Landscape painting, Watercolour, Ross Sea, Dry Valleys, Sir Ernest Shackleton
tags Antarctic paintings, Antarctica, ross sea, dry valleys, Nimrod hut, Sir Ernest Shackleton, quark expeditions, Kapitan Klebnikov, Peter the 1st island

Emperor Penguins, Snow Hill Island

David McEown

Painting with the Emperors on the sea ice near Snow Hill Island

These paintings were inspired by a Expedition to a remote Emperor Penguin rookery near Snow Hill Island on the Weddell Sea.

The trip to visit the emperor penguin rookeries of Snow Hill Island from November 2-14 was a whole new experience in landscape painting for me.  It brought back the experience years of life drawing at Art College.  Penguins are at first very simple and cartoon like to draw and paint, but one soon realizes the individual traits, complex gestures and body language of these hardy creatures.  There is a temptation to anthropomorphize penguins, however paying attention to how they echo the shapes and colours of their habitat can make for a truthful homage on paper. 

The rule for approaching the penguins is 15 feet or 5 meters, but this has to be done in a quiet and gentle manner.  Unlike most other places, wild life here have no fear or experience of humans thus are great models.  If one just stays still, the penguins and chicks will approach you with curiosity since they have no 15-foot rule. 

I will start drawing some of the key penguins before they walk out of the picture, or up to my painting for a critique! 

The chicks are unbelievably cute, yet the harsh reminder of life and death is all around. Some chicks are emaciated waiting to be fed or have lost their parents.  Many of the dead chicks are picked clean to the bone from the giant petrals and skuas. 

Emperors can weigh up to 90lbs and standing 3 feet tall when they stretch.  They are so gentle and non aggressive, to have one look down at you eye to eye while you sit, truly is comparable to being visited by an extraterrestrial being.  However realizing this is our fellow creature just trying to make a go of it on this planet warms the heart and wonder of it all!

For more information on the antarctica project and works from other penguin colonies visit the Antarctica project. 

Comment
categories Antarctica, en plein air, extreme painting, Landscape painting, watercolor, Watercolour, Snow Hill island, Emperor Penguins
tags emperor Penguins, Snow Hill Island, watercolour, extreme Painting, Antarctic paintings, Antarctica, Penguins