Highland Cottage

Tom McEwan often depicted scenes of domestic life, influenced by the Scottish genre painting tradition of David Wilkie but also by the 19th century Dutch painters. McEwan was the son of a textile designer and was apprenticed to a pattern designer in Glasgow. He attended evening classes at Glasgow School of Art but also benefited from a 6 month painting trip to the Western Isles with the landscape painter James Docharty who was a friend of his father's. This experience convinced him to make painting his profession. He favoured the medium of watercolour.