Vancouver Island's Newest Rustic Wood Artist

Rustic wooden burl wall hanging shelf with live edge maple, by Cecil Turner

​As our adventure has continued, time has finally begun to slow for us a little.  At least it has slowed enough that we’ve had the chance to begin to feel more grounded and at home.  Of course, with that comes the challenge of ‘what to do now,' because for the better part of the last year the speed of our pace didn’t allow for that.

For me, it’s easy.  I’ve lived my life with so many different passions of what I ‘love’ to spend time at, that there is never a lag in wondering what comes next.  If it isn’t music filling my moments, it’s writing, or creating, or photography, or ancestry, or …. The list goes on.  I’m lucky for that.  I always have more than enough options to keep me occupied, in fact often too many, so I must rein myself in and pare the menu down.

For my beloved, filling the empty space it is not so easy.  He is a man who has spent his life working, with the goal being survival.  Raising a large family meant doing whatever had to be done to put food on the table, and having started young, that meant farming, truck driving, fixing and repairing.  There never was time for sitting back and thinking about what might be fun.  Fun was what you fit into the brief in-between moments between jobs.  

Rustic outdoor decor shelf created by Cecil Turner. Artistic photography and frozen art by Robbin Turner Photography.

​So, that has made for some challenges for him that I’ve never experienced.  What does an ex-farmer, ex-trucker, ex-welder do when he is offered the gift of time?  He’s always claimed that he didn’t have the gift of creativity.  That he was one to follow directions and get the required ‘thing’ done, but not to be an artistic creator.  Well, I’m not afraid to tell you that he has proven himself to be wrong. 

Having the time and the resources to begin to ‘play’ and create as it were, has brought some remarkable talent through.  He’s had access to wood that another person no longer had a use for.  The old saying is that one man’s garbage is another man’s treasure, and he’s taking those odds and ends and is turning them into his own unique version of art.  He’s creative, something he didn’t even think was possible.

In the last weeks he’s begun creating rustic wood tables, chairs, and wall art.  He’s created shelves and stands that adorn both my house and others.  He’s created a swing, Christmas art, and lawn décor.  And he is having fun at it.  Not only that, he’s proven to be good at it!  Good enough that I think he can offer his creations for sale, and he should!

Rustic Driftwood shelf created by Cecil Turner, Qualicum Beach, BC

​How many of us haven’t had the time to sit back and reflect on what it is we might want to do, having been so busy investing our time in what we have to do?  How many people do you know who don’t even know what their passions are because we’ve not had the luxury of time on our side to discover them?  What if, instead of waiting for time to run out, you invested in yourself now, and made that time to explore and reflect and create?  It’s up to you, now one else can create the stillness to dream or grow, so what is the reason for waiting that you’re telling yourself?  What is your creative gift that you’re not sharing with the world that is waiting because you’ve got no time…the time is now!