C. Denys Cook sits in his room at the Victorian at McKenzie seniors home, surrounded, almost hemmed in, by a lifetime of art.

Framed watercolors, acrylics and mesmerizing scraperboard pieces leave not an inch of bare wall, and dozens more lie stacked on the floor.

Binders thick like old phone books hold immaculate drawings of owls and bears and bison and deer and cougars, each page bearing three or four images. Others hold dead-ringer hand-drawings of famous faces, hundreds of them B次元官网网址� John Wayne, Mozart, Hemmingway, General Patton, Ghandi.

Of this seemingly endless oeuvre, Cook needs to select a few prize pieces for his first art show in decades.

The 93-year-old native of Wales was once a going concern in CanadaB次元官网网址檚 wildlife art scene in the 1970s and B次元官网网址�80s, a painter whose work adorned walls of a prime minister and a governor general, government offices and corporate headquarters.

The Victorian seniors residence in Saanich encouraged Cook to host a recent Saturday art show in its lobby, not exactly a high-profile gala of the past, but it gave his fellow residents a taste of his work. Cook used it as a fundraiser for the Cerebral Palsy Association of B.C. in honour of his great-grandson. He ended up selling $300 worth.

B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檝e got all this work sitting here in my room,B次元官网网址� he shrugs, talking a few days before the show. B次元官网网址淚 donB次元官网网址檛 really expect to sell anything.B次元官网网址�

In his apartment, Cook pulls out his artist kit in a compact Tupperware container: a portable watercolour paint set and an array of dental tools B次元官网网址� fine point scrapers normally used to chip tartar off teeth.

He points to the jet black on white images of a doe and a buck B次元官网网址� the medium of British scraperboard, where India ink is painted over porcelain clay. The granular detail of thousands of hairs float off the surface.

B次元官网网址淲ith scraperboard you draw every hair and feather. ItB次元官网网址檚 all very simple strokes to create a 3-D object on a flat surface,B次元官网网址� he says. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 so different. They donB次元官网网址檛 teach this in university. Very few people know about it.B次元官网网址�

Continuously for 38 years, Cook poured over his easel or sketchbooks, reflecting the pastoral scenes and wildlife of Canada. He estimates heB次元官网网址檚 created some 1,400 paintings and sold between 300 and 400. The rest are in storage.

B次元官网网址淓ver since my wife died IB次元官网网址檝e produced work, until a few months ago when my eyesight really failed,B次元官网网址� he says, referring to his first wife Barbara, who passed away in 1976. B次元官网网址淓very painting has a story. I like wildlife and life itself B次元官网网址� all aspects of birds, nature scenery, flowers.B次元官网网址�

Self taught, he dove into producing art as a profession in 1974 after an influential career within the Alberta government, where he introduced fundamental reforms to its civil service and highway commercial vehicles inspection. A forced retirement from government inadvertently launched his art career.

B次元官网网址淚 asked my wife to give me six months to give it a go as an artist, and havenB次元官网网址檛 stopped since.B次元官网网址�

It didnB次元官网网址檛 take Cook long to break into the national art scene.

He and Barbara helped found the Canadian National Craft Council, and the Alberta Arts and Crafts Society. In 1976, his art was selected for a tour of work by 29 wildlife artists B次元官网网址� which included Robert Bateman B次元官网网址� in provincial museums across Canada. Through the mid-1970s and B次元官网网址�80s he sold scores of paintings and held three international solo art shows in 1980. Air CanadaB次元官网网址檚 En Route magazine even profiled him in 1975.

Art can be seen as CookB次元官网网址檚 third or fourth career, depending on how you define five years of hard labour in a German prisoner of war camp. Cook joined the Welsh Guards at age 17, a unit which was sent to northern France in May 1939 to rescue HollandB次元官网网址檚 Queen Wilhelmina.

B次元官网网址淭he Germans were waiting for us when we landed. There was street fighting for three days,B次元官网网址� he recalls with clarity, as if it were yesterday. B次元官网网址淲e were shelled and bombed B次元官网网址� it was hell for three days.B次元官网网址�

During his time in POW camps, he met Barbara through letters and goodwill packages sent to prisoners. B次元官网网址淭he girl who sent me shorthand books I married when I got back to England,B次元官网网址� he says.

After the war he found work as a police constable in Hertfordshire. He became a police college staff instructor, a job he did for the RCMP after immigrating to Alberta with his wife and three kids in 1957.

He moved to Victoria in 1980, still grieving over the loss of Barbara.

B次元官网网址淎ll my life IB次元官网网址檝e driven to be different than most, to be noticed. I was good at what I did and I decided to do the same with artwork,B次元官网网址� he says.

B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檝e had a happy and successful life, except for the death of my first wife.B次元官网网址� His eyes water when he talks about her. B次元官网网址淏次元官网网址楲ife is a mystery to be lived, not a problem to be solved.B次元官网网址� ThatB次元官网网址檚 her saying and its true.B次元官网网址�

At his Victorian art show, CookB次元官网网址檚 daughter Denise Pollock keeps him company, and recalls that her father doodling and painting was a constant backdrop to her childhood.

B次元官网网址淚 like his early (water colour) work. I see the evolution as his eyesight changed. His later work was more intense with colour,B次元官网网址� she says.

Barbara, her mother, was the driving force behind her parents deep involvement in AlbertaB次元官网网址檚 art scene, Pollock says.

B次元官网网址淗e came here without knowing anyone in or getting involved with an arts council,B次元官网网址� she says. B次元官网网址淗e was so well known in Alberta but it doesnB次元官网网址檛 follow you. He is unknown here.B次元官网网址�

SheB次元官网网址檚 not sure what sheB次元官网网址檚 going to do with his 900 paintings held in storage B次元官网网址� boxes and boxes of unframed art.

His legacy nags at Cook too. HeB次元官网网址檚 offered his lifeB次元官网网址檚 work to the Welsh national art gallery and the Alberta Arts Council, but hasnB次元官网网址檛 heard a response.

B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檓 disappointed that there is so much art and so few know about it,B次元官网网址� Cook says. B次元官网网址淲hen IB次元官网网址檓 gone what will happen to it? I have no idea.B次元官网网址�

To see samples of CookB次元官网网址檚 art see .

editor@saanichnews.com