David McEwen has been a professional painter and internationally respected teacher for many years. His formal training began when, at the age of 13 he was accepted into a special group, formed at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, by the internationally renowned painter; Victor Pasmore. Although Pasmore was an abstract painter, he insisted that his students learned to draw and paint in the traditional and classical way .
For the first year of his training, David McEwen drew and drew, anything from rocks, found objects, still lives to academy figures. It was from this latter subject that his love for portraiture was born.
During the second year the students were allowed to paint – in a way. Pasmore gave them paints, brushes and paper and then indicated a huge list from which the students were expected to mix matching colours. Not painting – just learning about painting and colour theory. It was a hard and sometime tedious apprenticeship.
Over ten years ago, McEwen decided to become a full-time painter. He and his wife, Sally, had many contacts in the world of equestrian sports and commissions began to come in from international and Olympic riders for paintings of themselves and their horses. Between 1992 and 1997 David completed over 700 commissions in watercolour, oil and pastel and was involved in a number of prestigious exhibitions.
Since coming to live in Lodève his work has been included in several magazines and The International Artist named him as a “master painter of the world”. He has been a prize winner in several international competitions and is a member of a number of painting societies.
Following an invitation to visit and paint by the Government of the Falkland Islands he produced paintings of landscapes, wildlife, portraits and marine paintings for a major solo exhibition in London.
Although he has a waiting list for commissioned work, David still finds time to teach and paint his favorite subjects and quietly exhibits them in Montpellier and Orleans in France; Madrid, Marbella and Jerez in Spain and San Diego in the United States of America.
Although David likes some abstract paintings, he prefers classical painting and sculpture. He has absolutely no time for “Installation Art” and regards much of contemporary art as a joke which hides the lack of talent of the so called artist. But he also thinks that the most wonderful thing about art is that it is totally personal so if you like a painting, put it on your wall and enjoy it.
Other than telling you that he is very proud of living in Lodève, is a hopeless romantic, and believes in Hogwarts and Narnia, has a dry, even sarcastic sense of humor and is giftedly clumsy, there is not much left to say.
David can be contacted on 04 67 44 41 70
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