Alberta-based artist Terrie Shaw, garden sketch book spanning over a decade

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“I think I’ve always done it, all my life,” said Terrie Shaw about creating art. 

Her beautiful and informative book Garden Journey is set to release in July of this year, comprising four journals by Shaw that started 12 years ago. 

Filled with gardening advice, recipes, seasonal seed planting, and garden setup ideas, each page displays Shaw’s artistic talent with pen-and-ink and watercolour drawings. 

She shows countless examples of her own garden. Personal memories and people in her life make appearances as well, her work encompassing both advice for gardening and relatable inspirations for artwork. 

She grew up in Nova Scotia and moved to Edmonton 20 years ago. “Nova Scotia is a very quaint place. I loved it. I go back every year to see family and friends. I just loved growing up there.”

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“All my life, I’ve done something creative and did a lot of sketching and drawing. I was 20 when I graduated with a commercial art degree in Nova Scotia, and then carried on and learned from many different people, special artists throughout the years, while I was raising five children, married, and working. When I retired, I really started to blossom and got very involved, turning my dining room into a wonderful studio.”

She’s always wanted to publish a book, and has plans for more. She’s currently working on children’s paintings, as well as paintings of the 22 houses she’s lived in throughout her life. 

Shaw landed on publishing company Wild Skies Press, and founder Alexis Marie Chute helped her through the publishing process. She had been hunting for a publisher, but initially found a bit of trouble since each page is a sketch, and most of the writing is hand written. 

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Alexis has been wonderful, she added, and has guided her all the way.

Her garden is filled with individual rooms and ideas, all laid out in Garden Journey. “Every time I’m out in my garden, I think of something, an idea pops into my head, and I have to fulfill that. One idea leads to another, and now I’ve got the room ‘Two for Tea’.” 

Shaw was a novice gardener at first, and learned through trial and error. When she first started journaling in 2013, she never thought this would have turned into a book. 

Garden Journey is filled with easy to follow advice, especially for anyone who enjoys visual examples along with written work. She draws everyday, and usually paints the next day. Daily work is a good, habitual practice to get into, Shaw added. 

Artist Cindy Revell gave a speech at Shaw’s art society that really resonated with her. Revell had said ‘paint what you really love’. “I thought yes, that’s what I’m missing. I’m going to just paint in my journal. That’s all I want to do.”

Shaw gave advice for those who don’t know where to start out in gardening: join a society. There’s loads to learn there. On the art side, just carry on, and keep at it. 

Check out her website at https://www.terrieshaw.com/ for information on her work, commissions, workshop dates, and a mailing list. 

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