Salt Spring Island Archives
Maud became an avid watercolourist at a young age. Maud’s palette was vibrant, she used every colour to bring her landscapes to life. Her paintings are easily distinguishable by the vibrant strokes of her brush, and her tendency to paint our BC mountains and coastal waters. Occasionally, she painted with tea, if water was not available. Her art captured a wildness of spirit in the land and in herself.
During her months on Salt Spring Island, Maud painted her views from Lyoness Hill and Kingfisher Cove at least 200 times, from every angle, every time of day, and in all of its hues. Overall, Maud painted over 600 scenes of the West Coast in her lifetime.
Maud’s father, Montague William Tyrwhitt-Drake, was a watercolourist as well, and likely one of her influences as a child. Using a limited palette of earthy colours, Montague’s paintings were controlled and realistic, capturing the grandeur of mountain ranges, valleys, and other landscapes. He kept diaries full of paintings and writings of his work and travels through BC.
Maud’s son, Montague “Montie” Arthur Weaver Bridgman , was the most wide-skilled of the family’s artists, primarily a Wedgwood designer and sculptor, as well as an illustrator and painter. Montie went further than his grandfather and mother by choosing the arts as his profession. His subjects included everything from human figures to mapmaking, and eventually his meticulous Wedgwood china designs.
Maud taught her granddaughter Rosemary Weaver-Bridgman (later Penn) how to paint with watercolors. Rosemary went to art school in Victoria, but chose a career in education instead. However, she passed down her love for painting to her daughter Briony Penn, who adds another generation of art to her family’s rich history.
