Oak Bay council normally hears from me when I am complaining about something, and I thought for once, especially now, they should receive some praise and good news.
On one of my many walks along the water (10,000 steps a day and counting, one COVID year later) I saw the recent installation in Queen Elizabeth Park to commemorate the Oak Bay wildlife painter Fenwick Lansdowne. It is delightful in every way. Tucked behind some conifers, as in a bird blind, are the three panels that make up the installation with examples of Fenwick’s detailed watercolour paintings of birds we know and love: oyster catchers, buffleheads, Brant geese, etc.
Beside photos of Fen at work in his studio, charming bird cutouts silhouette the site. My thanks to the council, Jacque Sirois and his team, the Community Association of Oak Bay and the Kiwanis Club as well as Fenwick’s loving family for making this outdoor display possible. It is a wonderful destination on our walks and it makes me smile whenever I see the kingfisher popping his spikey-feathered head above the panel.
Now about that Oak Bay Marina project… the less said the better.
Lynne Milnes
Oak Bay
