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 Monday, September 10, 2007
Along the Davis Strait
The Davis Strait extends from western Greenland around the southern tip, then heads north following the mountainous east coast. Fog and light rain announce our morning; it is a fine time to unpack and get ready for the first watercolor demonstration. Winsor&Newton, celebrating the company’s 175th anniversary, generously provided wonderful art kits for us to try. Today I want to write about the materials and methods artists can use as we encounter the many unpredictable conditions of painting in the Polar Regions—as well as painting in the comfortable lounge setting of our great studio aboard the Kapitan Khlebnikov. For the half-sheet watercolor demo introducing the art program, I used a composition inspired by a thumbnail sketch from the previous evening. Having the full moon as my subject allowed me to demonstrate a radial gradation in watercolor, as well as employ my trusted utility paint scraper (called a “5 in one” at most hardware stores in Canada) to lift out the still wet, dark blue greens and mauves to reveal the icecap and moonlit peaks.
 David McEown is at the easel; passengers are at work in the art lounge of the Kapitan Khebnikov.
(Photo by Daisy Gilardino)
Eastern Greenland, Atlantic Ocean (watercolor, 8x22) by David McEown David McEown drawing at Ammassalik, Eastern Greenland
 Ammassalik, Eastern Greenland (watercolor, 11x15) by David McEown
Greenland - Week 1
9/10/2007 3:33:26 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00) 
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Painting as Adventure
We arrive at Kangerlussuaq (also called Sondre Stromfiord) Airport via a charter flight from Ottawa, Canada. The sunny, warm inland fjord welcomes our group of 85 international passengers who have boarded an icebreaker in order to experience an expedition to Greenland’s remote east coast in an attempt to reach the northernmost land in the world. The warm wind stirs the seedpods of the low lying wildflowers that are now turning gold and alizarin crimson. The not-knowing-where-the-seeds-will-land is similar to our adventure, which is about discovery. The excitement of new lands found or the unexpected, formidable ice encountered is like flooding a full watercolor sheet before painting! I will be conducting painting workshops and sharing my own work methods with the group—hoping to enhance my fellow travelers' way of seeing. Tonight is clear, and the full moon casts spotlights along the open ocean, as we head out of this fjord and into the unknown. More information:Greenland, the world's largest island not a continent, is lodged between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans. The Greenland Sea lies east; Baffin Bay lies west. Greenland is a province of Denmark with close ties to Norway.The coastland of Greenland is 39,330 kilometers (24,430 miles) long, approximately the same length as the earth's circumference at the equator. An ice sheet covers 81 percent of Greenland; so heavy is that Greenland ice sheet that its weight has formed a basin that lies 300 meters (984 feet) below the surrounding ocean. The occupants of Greenland speak both Greenlandic and Danish; people live on the coasts, because the coasts are free of ice. Eric the Red, hero of the Icelandic sagas, discovered Greenland when he was exiled from Iceland for commiting murder; Eric named the land "Greenland" to attract compatriots as settlers. In spite of the vast ice sheet, Greenland has a variety of flora derived from European species. Especially in the summer and the end of summer, Greenland from the air is verdant with mosses and wildflowers. Today the Kapitan Khlebnikov is journeying through a fiord, a long, narrow estuary with steep sides; a fiord forms when a glacial valley is flooded by the sea. Polar ice is always meltiing, but is it being replaced? To see photos of glaciers in retreat and to read National Geographic's commentary on global warming in Greenland, visit http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/adventure-travel/greenland/global-warming.html
 David McEown painting on the bow. Prins Christian Sund, Greenland #2 (watercolor, 11x15) by David McEown
Greenland - Week 1
9/10/2007 11:28:38 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Wednesday, September 05, 2007
A Journey to the North Pole
"Going up north" has taken on new meaning since I’ve returned from a month long expedition to the North Pole and Franz Josef Land. There were times while painting on the trembling bow of a northbound atomic icebreaker, The Yamal, that I was the farthest north a human being can be on the planet! Truly on top of the world! The quality of seeing is often more important than the object; however, the power of a place can awaken the senses and erase preconceptions. The Arctic, this formidable yet fragile wilderness of endless ice and great white bears, was so inspirational that I knew then that I would have to go back. I painted the following paintings after setting up my easel on the drifting ice within the vicinity of the North Pole or on deck while moving through pack ice.  Painting melt water pools at the North Pole, 2007 (Photo by Emily Schindler)
 Easel set up at the North Pole
The North Pole #1 (watercolor, 7x22) by David McEown
Toward the North Pole #2 (watercolor, 10x13) by David McEown
Painting at the North Pole with profile of the nuclear icebreaker, The Yamal
(photo by Sue Flood)
 Flying the Canadaian Society of Painters in Watercolour flag at the North Pole
July 15th 2007 (photo by Marketa Jirouskova)
More information:
"The North Pole" conjures the image of Santa Claus and elves, but it's an actual designation, the northernmost point on Earth; The Geographic or Terrestrial North Pole, defines latitude 90 degrees North, the point in the northern hemisphere where the Earth’s axis of rotation meets the Earth’s surface. In contrast to the South Pole, located on land, the North Pole is located in the middle of the Arctic Ocean; it is covered with sea ice that continually shifts; hence, it has been impossible to build a research station there.
Franz Joseph Land is an archipelago of 91 ice-covered islands in the far north of Russia. The islands are composed of basalt from the Tertiary and Jurassic periods; the northeastern part of the archipelago is locked in pack ice, which retreats around the southern islands in summer.
American engineer Robert Edwin Peary claimed to have reached the North Pole on April 6, 1909. Aboard the airship Norge, the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen sighted the North Pole on May 12, 1926. (Two years later a search-and-rescue plane Amundsen was aboard crashed; he and the crew disappeared without a trace.)
Indeed, the history of Arctic exploration is cloaked in mystery and intrigue. The first men to set foot on the North Pole may have been a party from the Soviet Union, who landed a plane there on April 23, 1948. Ten years later a Navy submarine, USS Nautilus (SSN-571) crossed the North Pole on August 3, 1958; on March 17, 1959, another Navy submarine, USS Skate (SSN-578), surfaced at the Pole. The first men to reach the North Pole on foot, with dog teams, were part of a 1968 British expedition led by Sir Wally Herbert whose team traveled for sixteen months along the Arctic Ocean’s longest axis, Barrow, from Alaska to Svalbard. (Herbert died just a few months ago at the age of 72; to read his obituary, go to www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1927969.ece
Like David McEown, Sir Wally Herbert was a painter as well as a writer. Herbert's first book, The Noose of Laurels, is a biography of fellow explorer Robert Edwin Peary.
A Soviet nuclear powered icebreaker Arkitka completed a surface journey to the North Pole on August 17, 1977. Given the rigors of Arctic and Antarctic travel, nuclear power is ideal for icebreakers, since the ships can be out at sea, far from fueling stations, for years. David McEown's trip to the Arctic in July was aboard a nuclear powered icebreaker, The Yamal. To read more about nuclear powered icebreakers, go to http://www.geo.umass.edu/climate/franzjo/fjlhome.html.
For the current, September trip, David McEown is on board Kapitan Khelbnikov, a diesel-powered an icebreaker in the Quark Expeditions fleet.
Click here to read David’s blog entries written during his trip to Antarctica in 2006.
Greenland - Introduction to the Journey
9/5/2007 4:22:46 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Friday, December 15, 2006
Last Entry for Journey to Antarctica 2006
Today we anchor off Enderby Island, part of the Auckland Island chain. All of the five islands comprising New Zealand's Sub Antarctic Islands are National Nature Reserves and therefore strictly protected. We surf our zodiacs into the rolling swells to a landing beach where there is a small research station and view one of the few major Hooker's sea lion colonies in the world. Hooker's sea lions are aggressive animals; they can charge very fast, as a few of our photographers found out. Because of this and the extremely strong winds on the plateau, I chose to paint in an intimate, tangled rata forest near the beach.
Painting the Rata Forest of Enderby Island 11:00 am. (photo by Daisy Gilardini)
Rata Forest, Enderby Island (watercolor, 10 x15)
I hope to catch a glimpse of the very shy yellow-eyed penguin, a solitary nester that is considered to be the world's most endangered penguin. It breeds on Enderby. We'd already seen 2 yellow-eyed penguins as we landed.
Yellow-eyed Penguins (photo by Daisy Gilardini)
The canopy of the rata forest acts as a shelter from the constant fine rain, although some does fall in the wet paint, creating the feel and texture of moss. One has to be careful of the songbirds, as they have dropped more than just rain on my painting! I left an empty spot in the composition just in case a yellow eyed penguin walks through the forest.
Drawing the limbs and mosses of this wind sculpted oasis takes me back full circle to 20 years ago when I first studied watercolor at the Ontario College of Art and Design with the master Chin Kok Tan. I was looking for a medium that was light and transparent and would help me interpret the light or force that animates this beautiful planet.
The Polar Regions are the last great wilderness and have many secrets to reveal. The regions are a place of immense space. If one is fortunate enough to experience that space, he can witness the movements of his own mind.
More information
To see more pictures of Enderby Island, including views of the rata forest and megaherbs, visit http://www.livingtravel.com/antarctica/enderby/enderby_01.htm
Hooker's sea lion, phocarcto hookeri, is rare and endangered. New Zealand's Sub Antarctic islands were granted UNESCO "World Heritage" status in 1998, when a calamitous number (53 percent of the year's pups) of Hooker's sea lions died from an unknown cause. To learn more visit http://marinebio.org/species.asp?id=305.
The yellow-eyed penguin is the third largest penguin, after the emperor and the king. Its eyes are yellow-orange, and a yellow band of feathers circles its eyes and head. In contrast to other penguins, the yellow-eyed is solitary, nesting in tall grasses. Because its habitat has been curtailed and non-endemic predators like cats, dogs, and ferrets have decimated the population, the yellow-eyed penguin is considered rare. Visit http://www.siec.k12.in.us/~west/proj/penguins/yellow.html
To read another traveler's account of yellow-eyed penguins in the rata forest, visit http://www.communigate.co.uk/ne/penguins/page12.phtml.
To see more photos and to learn about a trust that is working to restore natural habitats and increase the population of yellow-eyed penguins, visit http://www.yellow-eyedpenguin.org.nz/.
Antarctica Week 3
12/15/2006 2:27:34 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Sub-Antarctic Islands - Campbell Island
Give me a wilderness whose glance no civilization can endure. Life consists with wilderness. The most alive is the wildest."
Henry David ThoreauIt was a pleasant visual shock to wake to the green volcanic hills of Perseverance Harbor on Campbell Island after so long around the ice of Antarctica. The smell of soil intoxicates, as we climb a boardwalk up the side of this drowned out volcanic caldera. Our hope is to observe the hilltop nests of the royal albatross. These huge seabirds reach a wingspan of 9.5 to 11.5 feet, and almost 15,000 nest among clusters of brightly colored Megaherbs. These islands contain many endemic species of plants. Since being discovered in 1810 by Captain Frederick Hasselburg, the island is undergoing a longrunning conservation strategy to eradicate many undesirable vegetation and fauna introduced by ships in the past. Weather was great for painting as it normally can rain 335 days a year, and gusts of 50 knots on more than 100 days of the year are the norm. The wind is helpful for the birds to take off; however, I can imagine my easel also doing so! I find a large bush of tussock grass to work behind while studying a nesting couple. In this case I often use zoom photography to study the behavior and shapes of the birds, while working on a watercolor of the landscape. On these slopes, the vegetation takes on yellow and violet hues; the scene will change rapidly in values because of clouds' shadows. I work with a dry brush to suggest texture. It's refreshing to use these colors and experience relief from the blinding, reflecting glare off sea ice. However the complexity of information is overwhelming, and there's a tendency to overpaint details while the world of ice reduces forms to basic elements. 
"Painting a Royal Albatross' nest on Campbell Island." 10:00 am (photo by Daisy Gilardini)
Royal Albatross Nest of Campbell Island (watercolor, 10 x 15)
Royal Albatross nest on Campbell Island 10:30 am
--David
More Information
To see a gorgeous photograph of Perseverance Harbor, click on http://nightskypictures.com/Antarctica/Pers_Harbor.htm
A caldera, from the Latin caldaria, cauldron, is a volcanic crater that has a diameter many times that of the vent; a caldera is formed by the collapse of the central part of a volcano or by explosions of extraordinary force.
Composed of both volcanic and glaciated rock, the subantarctic islands are home to over half the world's seabirds. Campbell Island lies at 52 degrees 33'south and 169 degrees 09'east. To see pictures of all the subantarctic islands, visit http://www.subantarcticislands.com/. To learn more about Campbell Island, which has the world's largest population of royal albatross, go to http://www.subantarcticislands.com/campbell_island.html.
Joseph Hooker, the botanist on board Captain James Ross's ships, Erebus and Terror, was the first to describe colorful plants that thrive in the acidic soil of these islands. To learn more about these strange plants and to read the story behind efforts to eradicate non-indigenous plant and animal life, visit http://www.plantexplorers.com/explorers/biographies/hooker/megaherbs.htm.
Antarctica Week 3
12/15/2006 2:04:40 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Monday, December 11, 2006
Cape Adare
Cape Adare is the northeastern extremity of Victoria Land in Antarctica. It's our last stop on the continent before navigating a 600-nautical-miles ice pack towards the sub Antarctic Islands. James Clark Ross discovered the steep mountainside of Cape Adare in 1841. Today it's a protected heritage site, as it was here where the first over-wintering on the Antarctic Continent took place, when Carston Borchgrevink's 1898-1900 Southern Cross expedition built a hut and survived the winter. During breeding season almost 250,000 pairs of Adelie penguins can be found here.
Ice Shards, Cape Adare, Antarctica, 9:30 a.m. (photo by David McEown)
Wake up call was 4:00 a.m. so we could take advantage of the outgoing tide that drew ice away from the shore, allowing us to land the zodiacs. There was a welcome committee of lovable, curious penguins that seemed oblivious to the harshness of last year's winter, though several starved chicks lay dead in the thawing ice.
We slowly make our way through the renewal--adelie penguins on fresh eggs--toward one of the first huts on Antarctica, Borchgrevink's construction, which was still unopened this year, blocked by ice. The hut was interesting, but what caught my painter's eye was a huge bay of ice shards, not unlike the classic polar landscape painting from 1824, Casper David Friedrich's Polar Sea. The exposed shards look threatening yet are fragile, as they could break like glass.
I like to wonder what other painters of the past would have done with this huge, macro landscape with tiny, awkward highways of penguins dotting the landscape. My favorite painters from the past I'd like to invite are William Turner, Fredrick Church and any ancient Chinese master landscape painter!  From Cape Adare #1, Antarctica (watercolor, 10x15) (photo by David McEown)
Today I really am able to indulge in the scraper. It's just above freezing, so I soak the paper and apply the broad washes of tone. Then the lifting out process--with the heavy stainless steal knife--begins. I imagine the sounds and the powerful forces at play--using the blade on its edge and cutting and bruising the sizing on the paper to create dark marks. Thus, the soft pastel colors of cool ice are contrasted with visceral mark-making. That is the seduction of Antarctica; it's beautiful on the outside but dangerous and mysterious.
Painting the Ice covered shoreline at Cape Adare, Antarctica. 9:00 am (photo by Daisy Gilardini)
I paint as many pictures as possible, with no sleep, before it's time to go towards the sub-Antarctic islands and the nesting sites of the royal albatross.
-- David
Weddel Seal, adelie Penguins and our ship. (photo by David McEown)
More information
James Clark Ross discovered Victoria Land, claiming it for Her Majesty and His Royal Highness Prince Albert in 1839. Onboard the ship Erebus for four years and five months, James Clark Ross and his crew discovered the Ross Sea, the Ross Ice Shelf, as well as the volcanoes Mt. Erebus and Mt. Terror. To read the fascinating story, go to http://www.south-pole.com/p0000081.htm.
Norwegian Carston Borchgrevink first visited the Antarctic continent in 1895. On the ship Southern Cross he and his crew arrived at Cape Adare in February 1899. Cape Adare today is the largest adelie penguin rookery in the world. To read about the expedition that proved that humans could withstand an Antarctic winter, go to http://www.heritage-antarctica.org/index.cfm/Human/Borchgrevink0.
Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) was a German Romantic landscape painter whose landscapes can be characterized as both symbolic and sublime. Visit http://www.artchive.com/artchive/F/friedrich.html to see examples of his work. To see his Polar Sea of 1824, which David mentions, visit http://www.mystudios.com/art/ncar/friedrich/friedrich-polar-sea.html.
British painter Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851)'s early work consists of linear renderings of landscapes; his late work, characterized by a highly chromatic palette, evokes a scene while only fitfully alluding to it. To see early and late work, visit http://www.artchive.com/artchive/T/turner.html.
American Frederick Church (1826-1900), of the Hudson River School, studied with Thomas Cole (1801-1848) and painted luminous landscapes inspired by his farm, Olana. To see and read more, visit www.artchive.com/artchive/C/church.html.
The symbol of the Southern Ocean, the royal albatross, Diomedea epomophora, is the largest seabird in the world; it spends 85 percent of its life at sea and can live to 62 years of age. To learn more, visit www.australianstamp.com/coin-web/feature/nature/royalalb.htm.
Weddell seals live farther south than any other mammal. To see photographs of Weddell seals and to hear their undersea cry, visit www.antarcticconnection.com/antarctic/wildlife/seals/weddell.shtml.
Antarctica Week 3
12/11/2006 12:08:44 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Friday, December 08, 2006
Historic Huts of Shackleton and Scott
"Indeed the stark polar lands grip the hearts of men who have lived on them in a manner that can hardly be understood by people who have never got outside the pale of civilization."
Sir Ernest Shackleton
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 Shackelton's hut was built during his Nimrod Expedition of 1907-09, which included an attempt to reach the South Pole. We were greeted by an international team of conservation experts commissioned by the Antarctic Heritage Trust fund to restore the roof in order to protect the contents of the huts. The setting is quite surreal, as the artifacts because of the dry, cold environment are so well-preserved. It is such a treat to return to the familiarity of painting manmade objects in such a vast and stark landscape.
Painting Shackelton's hut at Cape Royds, Antarctica (photo by David McEown)
Shackelton's Hut at Cape Royds (watercolor, 10x15)
I chose a view up the hill to place the hut against a dominant landscape. The temperature was right on the freezing mark, so I took a chance on not adding any medium to my paints and letting the sky and mountain washes in the background freeze, thus creating a one- of-a-kind ice crystal formation, so suitable to illustrating this place. I rendered the cabin in a traditional representational method. Paint does not freeze in the small strokes of the details, as my hand warms the paint on the hand-held palette. Also because the air is so dry, the wash dries as soon as it hits the paper. Just next to me are many thousands of adelie penguins in the world's southernmost penguin rookery.
Scott's Hut at Cape Evans (photo by David McEown)
Interior of the Terra Nova Hut at Cape Evans, Edward Wilson's bunk on right. (photo by Daisy Gilardini)
In the afternoon we fly to Cape Evans, where Robert Falcon Scott established his famous Terra Nova Hut in 1911. Since it's early in the year, this large hut is hidden by, yet sheltered under, the snowdrift. The stables still smell of hay, and the seal blubber Scott used for heating still looks fresh. Inside the artifacts, clothing and scientific instruments, are all on display, as if the men had just left. As an artist in residence on this current expedition, I was greatly moved to see Edward Wilson's bunk and supplies on the shelf, as well as Herbert Ponting's darkroom. Wilson was not only a great watercolorist, but also was the head of biological studies and a medical officer on this fateful expedition. Many men, including Scott, did not come back from the South Pole. This place is truly an inspiring place of adventure, discovery, and endurance.
The wind chill was just too much for painting on the site of the hut. So as Wilson so wisely did, I just drew a pencil drawing; I hope to complete the painting in comfort later on the ship. This is an afternoon of reflection and for paying respect.
-- David
More information
To read about Edward Wilson, the artist who accompanied Robert Falcon Scott to the South Pole and died with him on the return trip in 1912, visit http://www.edwardawilson.com/life.
The following year, a search party recovered Edward Wilson's drawings, paintings, and notes. Reardon Publishing reprinted Edward Wilson's Nature Notebooks in 2004. Reardon has published an array of books on Antarctica, visit http://www.antarcticbookshop.com/index1.htm to see the list.
Herbert Ponting, a member of Scott's British Antarctic Expedition (1910-1913), left startlingly beautiful photographs of icebergs and other aspects of the terrain. To see some of them, visit http://www.spri.cam.ac.uk/events/exhibitions/ponting/.
From one blog to another: David McEown and his party are mentioned in another blog that records their visit to Shackleton's hut on Cape Royds. Click on http://piclib.nhm.ac.uk/antarctica/?cat=6.
Antarctica Week 1 | Antarctica Week 2
12/8/2006 5:17:06 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Mt. Erebus
Sleep is difficult, as I don't want to miss the 24-hour light. I'm also aware that we have only a few more days left before we head north to the sub- Antarctic islands. The urgency is amplified, because I know we're in the heart of Antarctica and yet the weather is uncommonly clear and tolerable for working. E-mail updates to this blog are difficult, as the radio room is often closed when our full day landings are over.
Painting in the Dry Valleys, Antarctica, with the Canada Glacier in the background. (photo by Daisy Gilardini)
It is 5:30 a.m. and our expedition leader demonstrated the F word. It is called flexibility. We were all set to go to McMurdo Station and Scott base, but due to the high winds and immense sea ice we switched to plan B, in which we are to head to the remote and rarely visited Dry Valleys. (Since the expedition leader and I are from Canada, a visit to the Canada Glacier put a lump in our throats!) The captain parked the ship in the ice and while waiting for our 21 mile helicopter ride about 50 emperor penguins appeared on the ice edge, diving in and out of the water, feeding on the up swell of food from the ship.
The Dry Valleys, Antarctica, #1 (watercolor, 10x15)
Mt. Erebus, Antarctica, #2 (watercolor, 10 x 15)
The Dry Valleys are some of the driest in the world. There are seals literally freeze-dried after making a wrong turn ages ago. The rock is welcome to stand on after so long at sea and on ice.
 Today I as a painter realized the "flexible" word. I needed a different mark-making for this place that is much more vast and not as picturesque as the Antarctic Peninsula. Instead of trying to fight the freezing of the water, or using it for frosting effects, I just let the washes freeze, then scraped the colored ice back out. I'm sending a picture with this entry that shows me working on the ice with the scraper tool. Tomorrow I will send an entry showing the work my students and I did of the historic huts of Scott and Shackleton, emblems of the Age of the Explorers.
--David
More information
Mt. Erebus on Ross Island is the most active volcano in Antarctica. To see stunning photos and to learn more, visit www.ees.nmt.edu/Geop/mevo/mevo.html.
McMurdo Station, built on bare volcanic rock, is Antarctica's largest community. To take a virtual tour, visit http://astro.uchicago.edu/cara/vtour/mcmurdo.
Located 838 miles (1353 kilometers) from the South Pole, Scott Base is a research station run by New Zealand. Click here to learn more.
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To read about the Dry Valleys and the mystery of the mummified Weddell seals whose carcasses are between 2,500 and 3,500 years old, visit
http://quest.nasa.gov/antarctica/background/NSF/valleys.html.
Especially for students: To read about the geology, glaciology, and wildlife of the region, visit http://www.rosssea.info and click on whatever topic interests you. There are photographs of penguins, explanations of the various types of ice, descriptions of glaciers and landforms, and more.
Antarctica Week 2
12/5/2006 10:22:24 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Monday, December 04, 2006
The Ross Ice Shelf
We have met the giant! Finally, after 6 days battling ice, we have come face to face with the largest ice wonder on the planet, the Ross Ice Shelf. With a face 30 meters high and up to 200 meters below the water, this massive block of ice extends from the Antarctic continent with an area the size of France. As we sail parallel to this immense barrier that gives birth to enormous tabular icebergs, I am humbled to try to find the right language of marks and composition to express the immensity and scale. Thanks to our helicopter team, we had all 100 passengers on top of the ice field. They stared down the steep cliffs and raised a toast of champagne in memory of the explorers that came before us.
Painting from the Bow of the Icebreaker Kapitan Khlebnikov", 11:30 pm (photo by Daisy Gilardini)
Over the next few days, we hope to visit the historical huts of Shackelton and Scott. Having artifacts to work from will be a welcome treat for the collection of about a dozen artists that have joined me in daily 2:15p.m. workshops over the past few weeks. Part of my duties as Artist in Residence for Quark Expeditions is to facilitate an atmosphere of creativity so as to inspire anybody from professional to beginner artisan. We have supplies in the art box and a cozy lounge as our studio, in addition to a coffee station. The comfort is a welcome break from the harsh reality of the unforgiving icescape outside. Hope to upload pictures from our workshops soon; there’s some incredible work! Now we rest and save energy for the busy days ahead.
"Painting from the fly deck," (photo by David McEown)
"Towards the Ross Sea." 15in. x 10in. watercolour
--David
More information:
Robert Falcon Scott of the British Navy was the first person to explore Antarctica by land. Because he made countless ill-advised decisions (for instance, that his men rather than dogs should pull the sleds), his 1912 expedition to Antarctica was marked by calamity. In the race to the South Pole, Scott lost to Roald Amundsen, who reached the Pole 30 days before Scott’s party and claimed the South Pole for Norway. Scott, dispirited, attempted the journey back, but froze to death, along with two of his colleagues. David Crane’s new book, reviewed in the December 3rd Sunday New York Times’s Book Review, Scott of the Antarctic: A Life of Courage and Tragedy (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006) explains the context for Scott’s choices and argues for his heroism. It’s available here.
To read another account of Scott’s two exhibitions to Antarctica, visit http://www.nmm.ac.uk/server/show/com.
Sir Ernest Shackleton turned back from the first of Scott’s expeditions, but took his own crew to the Antarctic in 1914. Endurance became trapped in sea ice, and the crew was forced to abandon ship. Withstanding untold privation in a spirit of shared suffering, Shackleton and his men camped on the ice for five months. After he made two open boat journeys to seek help, Shackleton and his crew found refuge; all survived. To read about an exhibition devoted to Shackleton’s historic expedition, visit http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/shackleton.
 "Approaching the Ross Ice Shelf" (photo by David McEown)
 "Stairs and the Edge of the Ross Ice Shelf " (photo by David McEown)
Antarctica Week 2
12/4/2006 9:27:39 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Friday, December 01, 2006
Looking for new paths and painting emperor penguin chicks
The endless light blurs the days into one. The midnight sun last night finally broke through the days of overcast. At midnight, it lit the ice on fire, while the spray of a minke whale's breath breaks the stillness. The painter's spark is awakened, but the wind chill makes it unbearable to paint. I can only take photographs and let this experience penetrate the body and soul.
We are at day 4 of breaking ice in the Amundsen Sea, continuing west on our semi- circumnavigation of Antarctica to the Ross Ice Shelf. It is early in the year and we have experienced formidable ice thus slowing us, and forcing us to backtrack--looking for breaks in the ice.
The creative artist also has to look for new paths and often has to backtrack--looking for new inspiration to avoid the repetition and boredom of the familiar.
The trip to visit the emperor penguin rookeries of Snow Hill Island (from November 2-14; see early entries in this blog) was a whole new experience in landscape painting for me. It brought back the experience of years of life drawing at Art College. Penguins seem at first very simple and cartoon like to draw and paint, but the painter 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.
"Painting Emperor Chicks." November 11, 2006. (photo by passenger)
The rule for approaching penguins is stay within 15 feet or 5 meters, but an approach has to be done in a quiet and gentle manner. Unlike most other places, the wildlife in Antarctica has no fear or experience of humans; thus, they are great models! If I just stay still the penguins and chicks will approach me 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 petrels and skuas.
"Emperor Penguins gather in curiosity." November 10, 2006. (photo by David McEown)
I paint in the bird shapes first, often finding a theme of light to unify the picture. Wet-in-wet within each chick shape is appropriate for capturing the fuzzy soft feathers. I have two water bottles, one for the clean water; the dirty water is brought back to the ship in the other.
"Emperors of Snow Hill Island #3" 10in. x 15in. watercolour, November 10, 2006
Emperor penguins can weigh up to 90 lbs., standing 3 feet tall when they stretch. They are so gentle and non-aggressive. To have one look down at me eye to eye while I sit truly is comparable to being visited by an extraterrestrial being. Realizing that this is our fellow creature just trying to make a go of it on this planet warms the heart and wonder of it all.
--David
"Courting on Snow Hill Island" 10in. x 15in. watercolour, November , 2006.
More information
The minke (pronounced mink-ey) whale, Balaenoptera acutorostrata, is a small whale, not easily seen, who rarely surfaces, so David was lucky to have heard and seen the minke breathe. To learn more about the minke whale, visit www.acsonline.org/factpack/MinkeWhale.htm.
Antarctica Week 2
12/1/2006 2:04:00 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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