Nick Bantock shares a top B.C. experience
I had a chance to chat recently with the always-entertaining Nick Bantock at his Saltspring studio/gallery, The Forgetting Room. The creator of the best-selling Griffin & Sabine series of books, whom I profiled in our Spring 2009 “Nick Bantock’s Saltspring” article, was hosting an opening reception for an exhibition of his drawings for a new Penguin edition of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.
While talking to Bantock about our Summer 2009 50th-anniversary editorial, “50 things to do before you die,” I couldn’t resist asking him to share one of his own top B.C. experiences. Here’s his colourful reply:
“I love the island I live on, so it’s hard to choose a favourite B.C. place outside of Saltspring, but I’m going to try. A few years ago, I had my birthday dinner on the restaurant balcony overlooking the Burrowing Owl Estate Winery in Oliver, B.C. At sunset, the shadows chased across the landscape like blue-clad Cossack horsemen. The sky glowed orange and the honeysuckle released its evening scent. With a belly full of fine food, a glass of great wine in hand, and kind love by my side, I knew I had been made Tsar.”
Click here to view the 10 drawings and cover artwork Bantock created for the re-release of The Canterbury Tales.
Visit ShareYourBC.com and tell us your favourite thing to do in B.C. for a chance to win–more than $23,000 in travel adventure prizes! Entry deadline: Sept. 8, 2009.