Landscape painter Charles Meanwell works in a manner where realism morphs into abstraction. Born in Windsor, Ontario, the self-taught artist has been painting for most of his life. An encounter in the 1970s with the work of Barker Fairley, who also had little formal training, convinced him to pursue a career as an artist. Often working en plein air, Meanwell paints with confidence and intuition, creating poetry in a landscape that would otherwise seem mundane. His innate connection to nature has drawn comparisons to the late Canadian painter David Milne.
Meanwell has exhibited his work throughout Ontario, including a retrospective exhibition at the Art Gallery of Windsor in 2008 and a show at the Thames Art Gallery in 2010. His work can be found in several museum collections including the MacLaren Art Centre, Barrie; Tom Thomson Art Gallery, Owen Sound; Thames Art Gallery, Chatham; and the Art Gallery of Windsor. His most recent show took place at Metivier Gallery in Toronto in 2017, where he is represented.