Ed Araquel is a short man with a winning smile, an irrepressible laugh and a firm handshake. I made my way up the driveway of his home, past his well-equipped fishing boat and into his studio, which I found it bristling with hundreds of antique golf clubs. In his retirement, Araquel divides his time between fishing on the Strait of Juan de Fuca and playing golf at Highland Pacific Golf Club, which adjoins his backyard. Fairways and waterways make up a considerable part of his subject matter as a painter.
At the moment, two of Araquel’s paintings are included in the Federation of Canadian Artists exhibition at the Coast Collective on the waterfront in Colwood — a place well worth a visit no matter what the reason — and his studio is richly hung with paintings bearing ribbons and rosettes attesting to his talent. He’s been a prize winner at the Sidney Fine Art Show, the Sooke Fine Art Show and in numerous FCA exhibitions since he arrived on the West Coast in 2000.
Many of the paintings gracing his home reflect Araquel’s proud Filipino heritage, so I asked him about his background. Born in Luzon province, he told me that as a child he loved to watch artists at work. His family couldn’t easily afford to send him to high school, so at the age of 12 he apprenticed himself in a local art studio. Soon he was lettering signs, painting portraits from photographs and creating dazzling posters for the cinema. His terrific skill at sign-writing landed him work with the top local advertising agency and before he was out of his teens he was working for Shell Oil and then Kodak as its in-house designer in Manila. Advertising art, window displays and trade-fair exhibitions were all in a day’s work. Young people today may find it hard to believe that such art was entirely done by hand not many years ago.
His chance introduction to the Canadian ambassador led to some exploratory letters of application, and Araquel was surprised to receive three job offers from a country he had never visited. Uprooting his wife, a dentist in the Philippines, he moved to Toronto in 1965 and with his skills at lettering — before the days of photocopiers, computers or stick-on letters — he moved up through the ranks quickly. General Motors and Sears were his constant clients and, later, Johnson’s Wax. The packaging of Glade Air Freshener carries his lettering to this day.
A “golden handshake” freed him from the daily grind and he opened a gallery in Haliburton, Ont. — with a terrific lake for fishing across the road and a fine golf course nearby. Soon the golf industry was sending him around the world to paint their courses. A visit with his wife to her relatives here suddenly opened his eyes to the coast. The first time out on the water at Ogden Point he landed some impressive salmon and was surprised to find he could golf in November. “It was just right for me,” he laughed. It was 2000 and he bought a house in Sooke immediately.
To keep himself busy, Araquel teaches art — Saturday in Sooke, Tuesday at the Juan de Fuca Rec Centre and Thursday in Saanich at Commonwealth Place. Students in his small classes learn watercolour, portraiture or pastels, and sometimes he lets them in on the secrets of calligraphy. Araquel is considered one of the finest calligraphers in Canada, and he has written a book revealing the secrets of the craft. Unfortunately, hand-lettering has almost disappeared in this modern age and no one wanted to publish the book.
That doesn’t slow down Araquel a bit. He is an inventor and is always coming up with techniques for picture-framing or tools to make watercolour painting more efficient. He’s an artist of consummate ability who can turn his hand to any subject.
For those who dismiss the Federation of Canadian Artists as a group of amateurs who consider painting as a hobby, please note: Among the top tier of artists in this truly useful art association are some of the most successful and well-respected painters in this province. Their intentions may be more populist than rigorously intellectual, but what’s wrong with that?
Spring Show of the Federation of Canadian Artists at the Coast Collective, 3221 Heatherbell Rd., until Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. www.coastcollective.ca.