| Message from VSC President |
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Dear Club Members,
The long days of summer coupled with vivid colours in nature provide such painterly opportunities. I hope you are finding time to settle, paint brush in hand, to enjoy all this rich season has to offer.
Our collective thanks go to Rand Harrison for putting together such an interesting summertime plein air agenda for us all.
Enjoy, enjoy!
Gillian Rhodes |
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VSC Summer 2023 en plein airs |
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VSC's plein air sessions will carry on into the summer with members meeting at pre-determined sites at 10 am Tuesday mornings.
We meet at different localities every Tuesday morning until the end of August, with a possible (weather-dependent) extension into mid-September, for a total of 16 - 18 weeks (post Paint-Out).
July 4: Starling Lane Vineyard
July 11: Island View Beach / Michell's Farm
July 18: Emily Carr House
July 25: Saanich Heritage Acres
Many thanks!
Program coordinator: Rand at randharr@telus.net |
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June 6
Dominion Observatory Hill (a.k.a., the Centre of the Universe) |
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| The observatory opened in 1918 and since then, some pretty significant discoveries have been made using the 1.85-metre reflecting telescope. In its day, this telescope was admired for its precision, which revealed previously unknown details about the size and structure of the Milky Way. VSC members were lucky enough to spend a wonderful few hours up here today! |
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 | VSC members will all miss the peaceful, contemplative music provided by the much-loved Jack Greenwell and his stringed instruments at our summer plein airs.
Our hearts go out to Nirmala and her family. |
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| Today's gathering at the beautiful Lieutenant Governor's grounds was under sunny skies! Originally known as Cary Castle when purchased by the colonial government in 1865, it became home to the province's lieutenant governors once British Columbia entered confederation in 1871. |
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June 20
Songhees Waterfront Area |
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| A day dull and drear... many found it difficult to believe that today's session was on the brink of the summer equinox, given the temperatures in Victoria. Only a few brave and hearty souls made it out to sketch this day. |
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| Today's gathering was well attended, and members mingled with Abkhazi Garden visitors. The Gardens were created in 1946 by Prince and Princess Abkhazi, the year they married and settled in our fair city. They developed their one-acre property over the course of the next 40 years, referring to it as “their child.” After their deaths, the Gardens were purchased by the The Land Conservancy in 2000, to save it from becoming a housing development. |
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History Corner
by John Lover |
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Lindley Crease was a member of a socially prominent family in Victoria which played a significant role in the founding and subsequent development of the Island Arts and Crafts Society. 
He was a “man of parts” and a distinguished citizen in his own right, and although it was Lady Sarah and her daughter Josephine who are best known for their contribution to the local art scene, Lindley did in fact display evidence of the family’s artistic gifts and showed his work in the Society’s annual exhibitions from 1913 to 1935.
Born in New Westminster, BC, in 1867, Lindley Crease followed in the footsteps of his father, Sir Henry, a Justice of the BC Supreme Court. Educated in England, he studied law and was called to the BC bar in 1890, and later founded his own law firm. He was actively involved in Church affairs and in Provincial politics and among other distinctions he was President of the Island branch of the League of Nations.
He was a devoted lover of the arts and is remembered for an impassioned speech before the Victoria Real Estate Board in 1935 in which he advocated the establishment of an art gallery for the City of Victoria to be considered without delay. He suggested that a permanent art gallery would not only foster and stimulate art but would have utilitarian value as an additional major tourist attraction and would give visitors a flattering impression of the city’s aesthetic sense.
Crease’s artistic ability found expression in his hobby of mountaineerin g, drawn by his sense of natural and environmental values. He derived much enjoyment from attending the annual camps of the Alpine Club of Canada in the Canadian Rockies. He was a keen climber and scaled the likes of mount Arrowsmith and Mount Baker in Washington State. However, his main concern was finding vantage points to savor vistas of snow-clad peaks, icefields, and glaciers. This afforded him the chance to exercise his talents in sketch ing and painting.
His drawing ability is demonstrated in two early sketches of the Island’s Maltby Lake (shown here) though to have been done in the 1892-93 period. Apart from being an avid sketcher he was also, as illustrated, a competent landscape artist.
Lindley Crease, K, C., widely respected for his integrity, kindness, and social consciousness, died at the Victoria family home, Pentrelew, in 1940 at the age of seventy-two. |
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Paint Out 2023For those of you considering participating in the September paint out, the week of September 12 - 19 at Beach Acres in Parksville, please book as soon as possible as accommodation is now limited. Quote the group rate number GRP#5.
Beach Acres and surrounding area has multiple great painting spots and the resort itself is a wonderful place to relax and paint with fellow Club members. There is other accommodation in the area of Beach Acres and the possibility of sharing with other members.
Please contact Anne (bowena@shaw.ca) if you need help teaming up with another club member.
You can make reservations by calling 1 800 663-7309 or at www.beachacresresort.com. |
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