A Path of His Own (1979)

David Milne was born in the southwestern Ontario in 1882. In New York, he spent two years studying at the Art Students League. He had five paintings exhibited in the Armory Show of 1913, and he was also represented by the N. E. Montross Gallery. In 1912, he married Frances May and later they moved to Boston Corners, a small hamlet where Milne painted with oils and watercolors. Milne left Boston Corners in 1917 for basic training in Toronto for World War I. He was stationed in Quebec and then quarantined in England for a month, during which time World War I ended. Because of his background as an artist, he was asked to complete paintings and drawings as a war artist. Milne produced artworks of battlefields in France and Belgium as well as of soldiers in Kinmel Park Camp in England. In 1929, Milne returned to Canada to paint in Temagami, Weston and Palgrave. In the late 1930s, Milne settled down in Uxbridge, Ontario. During the later years of his life, Milne worked again in watercolors, and changed his subject matter to more whimsical, fantasy and childlike inspirations. On November 14, 1952, Milne had a stroke. Over the next year he continued to suffer from small strokes and died on December 26, 1953.