He planned to become an architect but the Canadian Navy changed that. This prairie boy, born in Alberta and raised in Saskatchewan, never got to sea nor did he become an architect.
While stationed in Saskatoon in 1943, Win's portraits caught the eye of the officer in charge. The officer, in civilian life writer Max Braithwaite, commissioned portraits of himself and his family.
On the strength of these, Win was transferred to the naval art section in Ottawa.
Working with official war artist and mentor Grant MacDonald, he was assigned to paint portraits of decorated naval heroes. At war's end, the young man who started out with no formal artistic training was accepted into third year at the Ontario College of Art.
In 1947, the newly graduated artist was visiting his parents in Jasper, Alta., and taking on portrait commissions. One was of local girl Phyllis Windh.
"My parents wanted me to marry a railroad man," she says, "but that was not to be."
Two years later, on July 4, 1949, Win and Phyl were married.
The newly wedded couple worked and saved so they could camp and travel in their Hillman Minx. On one trip to Mexico, all their possessions were stolen from the little car.
An artist friend told them not to worry as they'd be able to buy everything back the following day at the thieves' market.
"We could have if we had money, which we did not," recalls Phyl. "Our family wired $40 to get us back to Canada. I don't know how we did it, but we made it."
The experience was one of those that in hindsight they wonder how they ever made it through. For Win and Phyl, raising a family on an artist's income, these experiences were frequent. Happily, blessings came along just as often.
When Win's parents decided to retire in British Columbia, they purchased a house in West Vancouver, allowing the family, which included daughters Kris and Stacy, to live there while they built their own home across the street.
"We'd do anything to save money while we built our house," says Phyl. "Win was handy and a very good carpenter. He decided he would stain the ceiling beams. There he'd be, suspended two stories in the air, painting away, with me on the ground keeping him awake. I'll never forget the night we watched through the beams as Sputnik made its way across the sky."
Win carpooled to downtown Vancouver where he worked as a commercial artist known for his technical mastery in a variety of mediums.
Projects included architectural drawings, advertising illustrations for household products and housing developments, posters for the NHL and logos for Canadian Airlines and the CFL.
Phyl remembers shopping at Woodward's at Park Royal, "walking down Taylor Way and back up again, with Stacy in her stroller and Kris determined to carry as much of the groceries as she could manage."
When the girls were old enough, Phyl went to work. She started at the Royal Bank in Ambleside and moved on to the District of West Vancouver where she headed the tax department.
Phyl was still working for the municipality in 1989 when she and daughter Kris launched their business. "We knew we wanted a colour and an animal in the name," said Kris. "We came up with Red Horses and Win designed the logo." Within a couple of years, two retail carts at City Square had grown into the shop in Dundarave where Phyl was a familiar face until her recent retirement.
Win continued to accept portrait commissions of children and families, Canadian senators and university chancellors, working in watercolour, oil and graphite. Landscapes with western themes, boating scenes and his family were frequent subjects and can be found in collections across Canada. In 2007, the West Vancouver Museum and Archives mounted a retrospective of Win's work.
Recently, Win has set aside his paints and brushes for an exacto knife, a ruler and a glue stick. He is creating maquettes, scale models of the buildings he imagines. With each one, unique and beautifully designed, the artist and the architect are becoming one and the same.
Laura Anderson works with and for seniors on the North Shore. Contact her at 778-279-2275 or email her at lander1@shaw.ca.
WHAT'S GOING ON FOR SENIORS
Book Club: The first Wednesday of the month, 1-2 p.m. Cost: $1/$2, coffee, tea and cookies provided, at Mollie Nye House, 940 Lynn Valley Rd., North Vancouver. Info: 604-987-5820.
Computer Classes: Various days and times for all levels, including: Computers For Grandparents, Email and Internet Basics, Word Processing, Digital Photography and more at Silver Harbour Centre, 144 East 22nd St., North Vancouver. Info: 604-980-2474 or www. silverharbourcentre.com.
