STEVE McALLISTER
STUDIO

ABOUT THE ARTIST

I'm a wildlife artist living in Essex, in the extreme southwest portion of Ontario. We moved here in 2018 after living in the Toronto area since my childhood. Having visited friends and family in the Essex area for the past 30 years, and having grown tired of the ever-worsening Toronto traffic, crowds and noise, my wife and I felt it was the best place to move after our kids went off to university. Not being a huge fan of winter, the much milder climate and less snow here is just a bonus! Being an avid birder it was a huge plus to move away from the birding wasteland that is the York region of Ontario and now live minutes away from some of the best birding spots in North America; places like Point Pelee National Park, Hillman Marsh and Holiday Beach (hawk watching) are just a short drive from our house. Since I spend a lot of time outdoors birding and gathering reference materials for my photos, I can't think of a better place to call home.

I usually work in acrylics, painted on board or occasionally on canvas. The subject matter of my paintings focuses mainly on birds, mammals and their environment. Ontario provides me with an endless variety of landscapes to inspire my work and I also travel frequently, giving me plenty of opportunity to collect painting reference for wildlife in other countries.

WORK WITH CHARITIES

I am fortunate to be among a group of Canadian artists invited to participate in Wildlife Habitat Canada’s annual Conservation Stamp and Print competition the past number of years. I've also successfully competed in other competitions; Ducks Unlimited National Art Portfolio, Oregon Game Stamp and the Kingsville Fine Art Competition among others.

ART COMPETITIONS

I often donate selected originals or prints to organized charitable foundations and groups in order to raise funds for wilderness preserves/parks, endangered wildlife or for families in need. If you have a charity you think I would be interested in, please do contact me.

MY STUDIO

When we moved to Essex in late 2018, my studio conditions went through a major upgrade; from a very small, always cluttered section of our basement with no windows (first photo below) to a large room above the garage, with plenty of natural light. The second photo is how I imagine my studio should always look, while the third picture is more the day-to-day reality!

We were also extremely lucky to find a home with a nice solid outbuilding on the property, which will be the home of my future permanent studio! Once the transformation of this building from garden tool and bike storage to art studio begins, I will document it here on my website.

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