~ DON CAVIN ~

1934 - 2020

Don Cavin was born and raised in Port Credit, Ontario, and was an Ontario secondary school teacher until his retirement. Since then, Don developed his unique style which garnered rewards of merit and a growing following of avid collectors, in addition to a well deserved reputation as an instructor. A firm believer in painting on location, he developed his larger paintings in the studio after a careful study of the design potential in many of his on-location colour sketches.

An artist of renown, Mr Cavin passed on February 8th 2020.

Don painted in the tradition of the Group of Seven. That is, the method of going into the field to paint, to get down a relatively quick sketch of what lay before him. The small plein air acrylic sketches were the seeds for the large paintings that came about as result of his field sketches.

Fittingly, Dons passing in 2020 parallels this year’s centennial of the Group of Seven formation in 1920. Dons admiration for the Groups’ work and
philosophy was unbounded. His choice of landscape to paint included the vast north country, villages, lake ports and other habitat were key to his success as a painter.

Barbara Cavin, Don's wife of 61 years (passed in 2018), would accompany Don on many of his painting trips throughout Ontario and other provinces and countries. His calm approach to life included a love of history and mathematics, which he also taught in his early teaching years. Much later Don taught art to eager disciples.

A great love of birds led them to visit areas across Canada, the USA and abroad. Don knew the local birds and could tell by their songs what species they were. He could expertly duplicate many of their songs, which enabled their discovery amongst foliage.

Don and Barbara were both musically talented, getting together with other musicians to play for pleasure and occasional celebrations.

Don’s interest in the cosmos gave him a knowledgeable view of what a night sky offers in its impossible vastness. He took interest in the celestial events seasonally and its surprises. A truly gifted individual who stood for excellence in all that he did, he will indeed be deeply missed.

When it is all boiled down, Don was a painter. His work was eagerly collected across Canada, and into the States primarily through Buckingham Fine Art Gallery; which held fourteen sell out shows over as many years. He painted up to the end of 2019. He was 86 years in January 2020. A credit to Canada, as an expressive painter his work articulated his love of Canada as a patriot son.

Last December, I approached Don over lunch about working with him to select paintings and acrylic sketches from his last decade or so of accumulated works. This selection chosen by Don, would be presented to our collectors and mailing list as the Don Cavin 2020 Collection. We worked on this 2020 Collection in the latter part of December and into January.

In mid January, Don went into hospital for a scheduled operation to remove a small tumour. By the third week of January he was back home, I sent a draft of this blog to him for his review, and he loved it.
Three days later Don died suddenly of heart complications...

Very sad, we miss him a great deal as a friend and a great painter. We held fifteen one-man shows: each show sold out.

The onslaught of the Corona virus has delayed the release of this article until now. During the quarantine we worked with Don’s family towards expanding the original 2020 Collection, as they felt his body of works should be offered to his fans and collectors.

We will be releasing groups of his works over time; the first block of twenty-five paintings accessible on www.buckinghamfineart.com with its original collection chosen by Don. Additional acrylic plein air sketches will also be released soon with the groups of additional paintings.

Those interested in purchasing his work can contact Buckingham Gallery via enquiry links under each painting to arrange a viewing and purchase of a desired work. The Final Chapter, is the paintings and sketches Don Cavin left to his admirers and collectors, and to those who discover the treasure of his work.