David McEwen

"Last Chukka" oil of Polo groom with his obedient Polo horse in Wellington, FL

DAVID McEWEN, Scottish David McEwen has been a professional painter and internationally respected teacher for more years than he cares to remember. 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 renowned painter Victor Pasmore. Although Pasmore was an abstract painter he insisted that his students followed classical training. For the first year of training McEwen drew and drew anything from rocks, found objects, still lives to academy figures. It was from the last 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 students were expected to mix matching colours. Not painting - just learning about painting and colour theory. It was a hard and sometimes tedious apprenticeship. Over the next few years McEwen added formal qualifications to his early training with Bachelors degrees and a Masters degree. He taught Fine Art at schools and colleges until the early nineties when he decided to become a full-time painter. David has 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. Since 1992, David completed nearly 1000 commissions in watercolour, pastel and oil. In 1997, McEwen and his late wife, Sally, moved to a 13th century town in the South of France. With this new inspiration David's work has been included in several magazines. International Artist named him a "Master Painter of the World." His work has been included in a number of prestigious exhibitions, he has been a prize winner in several international competitions, and is a member of a number of painting societies. In 2020 he moved to Ireland closer to his roots.