Antarctica, 2006

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 and a Emperor penguin rookery expedition. These took place 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.
I look forward to uploading new Studio paintings from this trip soon.

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!"

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.