Eat This! Drink That!

In the 2000s while attending Royal Roads I got the opportunity to reconnect with Bob Bateman.  He was giving a series billed as "Sketchbook Talks" and would show up on campus every few months to describe trips, travels and adventures.  While on location he would compile a series of impressions into pages and pages of detailed images with words and sometimes arrows highlighting features or unique attributes of birds or other animals. These often formed the basis for large canvases on his return to his studio. Now in his 9th decade he kindly took my call. We talked about his beginning years as a geography teacher, his love of encouraging people (especial young people) to experience the natural world, and the emergence of ecological awareness.