Returning to Calgary in the late 70’s, McKee began to paint full time and to exhibit in both Toronto and Calgary.
A consummate landscape painter, Russell Bingham, curator of the 1985 Edmonton Art Gallery Exhibition of McKee’s work stated: “The personality that shows through McKee’s work is of a restrained thoughtfulness and a unique kind of visual intelligence. This is perhaps most apparent in the wonderful way he depicts deep space, the way he orders it with a logic that never becomes pedantic.”
McKee’s subject matter touches on all of Western Canada’s strengths ranging from the deep Prairies to the Foothills of Alberta and the Rocky Mountains to the West Coast. To capture the staggering panorama of western space in all its seasons, John developed a technique of richly shadowed transparencies and detailed expressive brushwork.
McKee is collected throughout Canada and the US in numerous public, private and corporate collections.
