THE TREETOPS STUDIOS - SAANICHTON

Visual Arts at The Treetops Studios

Hi! I'm John, that 'older gentleman' you met when you started the Tour. Around the yarn shops on southern Vancouver Island, it's: "Oh. Elaine's husband. Have you come for her order?"

Let me take up where Elaine left off. The Visual Arts portion of our 'studio program' was a late starter. Over the past three generations many men and women in the family have drawn and painted. My father was an excellent technical draughtsman but it was his woodwork and precision metalwork that I watched as a boy.

I had taught myself to sketch at a very amateurish level by the time I left home. The little sketch below was done at seventeen. A group of us did the design and graphics for our high school dances and year books. But composition, life drawing, colour theory, and any medium beyond pencil and poster paint remained a mystery.    Top

Casemakeing and carving became the hobbies of choice. It was with them in mind that I reorganized my father's workshop when we moved west. After the first carvings I realized that I was having trouble getting the image on the workpiece to reflect the concept in my mind. Even with some months in Nicolaides I could not bridge that gap.

The problem came up in a conversation with Vic Bosson during a carving demonstration at an Island Illustrators Society show in Victoria. Vic often works in a Japanese graphic style. He suggested that, since my interests as a casemaker and carver seemed to be decorative or aimed at telling a story, I might speak to a prominent local Chinese artist, Andy Lou. That led to a five year apprenticeship with Andy in Chinese techniques in ink and watermedia and, since then, to intensive sessions in oils with Victor Arcega.    Top

The visual arts work areas are the smallest space in the Treetops Studios. The painting nook you can see above is complete in about 40 square feet. There is no direct outside view so illumination is provided by daylight corrected fluorescent and incandescent lamps. The design workstation has another corner, but upstairs in the sunroom. It has the best view in the Studio: east into the village, west down into Graham Creek and north over the head of Hagan Creek valley and up Mount Newton.

The sophistication and power of the design suite at the Studios has grown over the years. A large, studio built, light table, an old projector, and a well-stocked media chest simplify hand production. Digital design has stabilized on Hewlett Packard scanning and digital photography, Canon copying, and a Minolta 35mm with a set of close-up and telephoto lenses for film photography. For design software we use CorelDRAW and Photo-Paint, both version 8 with some work in Paint Shop Pro 7 and Plant Studio 2. Our image database is maintained in ACDSee 3. We translate images to fabric motifs, write new fabric patterns and, where possible, run the knitting process through DesignaKnit6. And, finally, a tip of the Studio hat to Paradon Computers, our local 'box shop', who assembled and maintain our PC's: 'Roller', 'Knitter' and 'Traveler'.    Top

Contact Us

Elaine Dendy e-laine@shaw.ca
John Oliver Dendy dendy@islandnet.com
URL: http://www.treetops-studios.com/index.htm

Copyrights for the entire site
(unless otherwise stated in the page source code):
Text and Photography - © 2001-7 John Oliver Dendy
Design and Art - © 2001-7 John & Elaine Dendy
Web Layout - © 2001-7 John Oliver Dendy
Revised 22 June, 2007