Contact David Mceown

Many thanks for visiting my web site. We are often on assignment  or on a painting trip but will try to reply to your messages as soon as possible!

Studio visits also  may be arranged in Vancouver and Richmond Hill - Ontario,  Canada through out the year. I  look forward to hear from you.

 

 

         

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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 Category: Antarctica

Remembrance, a journey outward and within.

David McEown

David McEown, cspwc flag, Auster Emperor penguin Rookery , Antarctica
David McEown, cspwc flag, Auster Emperor penguin Rookery , Antarctica

I am currently in Toronto preparing and warming up my brushes for upcoming Antarctica trips.  It is the time of year to look back and pay homage to many who have inspired and opened paths for a creative life.  Just a few days ago we heard of the passing of the great teacher, artist and friend, Doris McCarthy at the age of 100 years old. She was one of few living links to a time when Canadian art was defining itself. The first time I met her,  I was a starving artist having a solo show in some obscure medical building with many flights of stairs that she just flew up (in her eighties) eager to stay in tune with what was new , she was just so encouraging of my crazy over sized watercolours yet being so humble about her own art. Over the years I would see her at several Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour events. She was the CSPWC’s president twice decades ago and was a champion of the medium, one that she used to paint on site to the far reaches of the planet. Last time I saw her, was during an invite for dinner and wine at her home a few years ago. We sat on her couch surrounded by a treasure of artwork and a nice fire in the fireplace. We looked at a recent slide show I had from Antarctica on the laptop, and joked about those smelly penguins. The images just took us back to the place of huge icebergs and fantastic abstractions evoked by the pack ice. She also noticed a few “bad” paintings and let me know when my colour was a bit garish! I could get a sense of sadness that she still longed to go back but the body was not willing. Many will miss her.

Doris McCarthy and David McEown at cspwc AGM 2003
Doris McCarthy and David McEown at cspwc AGM 2003

On November 11 the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour celebrated its birthday in the Historic Arts and Letters Club. Eighty five years ago to that date several prominent artists including members of the group of seven came together in this building and proposed the idea of a society celebrating the watercolour medium. Some of Canada’s best artists were a member at one time or another and now the C.S.P.W.C   has grown as a truly national society, not a small feat in a country the size of Canada. I am not a club guy,  but what I like is that I have driven from Newfoundland to the Yukon and have met and visited artists studios and there is always a common humbleness created by that ever challenging medium, maybe also a shared interest in transparency and “light from within”.  A few years ago, the now current president Peter Marsh and I were talking about my crazy upcoming painting trips , and that it would be fun to make a flagand take it to the North Pole. Now it’s been with several artists and several places around the globe. Lots of  fun!

David McEown with CSPWC flag at the North Pole via Russian Nuclear Icebreaker, Yamal, 2007
David McEown with CSPWC flag at the North Pole via Russian Nuclear Icebreaker, Yamal, 2007

Painting can be a journey to the ends of the earth or deep within ones consciousness. That is true with one of my teachers John Inglis who was chairman of fine arts at the Ontario College of Art and Design and continues to produce wonderful work. It was a delight to receive a copy of his new book this month, “In Quest for Countenance, a search for meaning in a world in transition”. I love his visionary watercolours that illustrate a transpersonal quest for meaning in a world of radical change. A wonderful weave of inner, outer, and body, mind and spirit. Thanks for the inspiration John!

Boreal Memory
Boreal Memory

Speaking of weaving, today I honour my mother who passed away 2 years ago today after a difficult illness at a all to young age of 62. Priscilla was an adventurer, traveler and super talented artist who loved to work in fabric. As a professional dietician she worked hard at her quilts after work and continued to find liberation in them during illness. I have so many fine pieces of hers and hope arrange a show someday. I am always open to suggestions on how to best honour that body of work. Her mantra was to do things while you can and never pass up a chance to go for a hike in the woods or in the mountains.

“The works of humanity cannot compare to the works of nature.  As a self-taught quilt artist, one of my goals has been to pay homage to the natural environment in which we dwell.  As I walk the forest trails or contemplate the reflections in a mountain stream there is a powerful sense of being connected to something greater than ourselves.  I hope to instill in each piece of work my own emotional reactions, my sense of awe and wonderment, of excitement or peacefulness and, not least, of unity with this habitat.  I remain open to new ways of seeing and expressing and have recently experimented with a degree of abstraction in some of my landscape work. Priscilla”

Summer Flow
Summer Flow
7 Comments
categories Antarctica, Arctic, cspws, en plein air, Landscape painting, North Pole, Watercolour
tags Antarctica, Arts and letters club, Auster Emperor penguin rookery, cspwc, cspwc flag, Doris McCarthy, en plein air, Fabric Art, Group of Seven, John Inglis, north pole, ocad, Priscilla McEown, Quilts, Watercolor, watercolour, yamal

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. 

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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

Welcome to the Art and Journeys blog of David McEown

David McEown

Painting the emperor chicks
Painting the emperor chicks

It has been wonderful to show paintings and adventures on the world wide web. This blog hopes to complement my website and  continue the journey through paintings, muti-media presentations and hopefully some shared thoughts! A work of art is not complete until it is shared.

Antarctic Shoreline
Antarctic Shoreline
4 Comments
categories Antarctica, Art Workshops, en plein air, Landscape painting, Watercolour
tags Paintings, Journeys, arctic artist, polar artist, Watercolor, en plein air