| August 11, 2005
Del Mar's Pat Welsh Delights Children of
All Ages With New Book to Benefit Branch Library
By Lee Schoenbart
For 49 years, this master gardener, author and
watercolorist has drawn inspiration from her ocean-view home atop
old Del Mar.
During that time, Pat Welsh published four gardening
books, wrote more than 100 columns on the subject and appeared
on more than 500 network
and cable broadcasts as she shared her expert opinions and doled
out decades of advice. She also was the first garden editor of
San
Diego Home/Garden Magazine and "resident gardener" for
KNSD Channel 7/39.
She was awarded a local Emmy, honored by the San
Diego Press Club and, most recently, was named Horticulturist of
the Year 2003 by the San Diego Horticultural Society.
For Welsh, it's always been about inspiration.
At a meeting of the Del Mar Garden Club in May
2002, Welsh overheard Thania Griffith say, "I wish someone
would do something about that ugly concrete-block wall in front
of the library."
That was all the inspiration Welsh and fellow
artist Betsy Schulz needed to launch into what became known as The
Del Mar Library Wall Mixed-Media Mural throughout the rest of that
year and into 2003.
"Basically, what happened was, Betsy Schulz
and I teamed up after I had built a mixed-media mural in my garden,"
she said.
Welsh said it was a "miracle that it all
happened in one year."
The mural inspired Welsh's fifth and latest book,
The Magic Mural and How It Got Built, A Fable for Children of All Ages, which was not
originally intended as a children's book.
"In the middle of creating the mural, I got
the idea we better write a book about it," Welsh said.
The book, she said, "was the fulfillment
of a life-long dream."
When it came time to write the book, the ugly
wall comment was reduced to more of a catalyst to create the mural,
not the tale. Welsh said the Santa Ana winds, and not a Pacific
sea breeze, would be the inspiration for The mural in the story.
"The Santa Ana wind plays a part in the story
since it personifies the way artists get their ideas," she
said.
"Many artists know the feeling of having
an idea drop into the top of their mind and don't know quite where
it comes from. In this story," said Welsh, "the Santa
Ana plays the role of inspiration."
A year after writing the first draft, Welsh said
the finished project tells the story of the mural in the form of
a fable for children with a few well-placed morals. Parents, when
they read the story aloud to children, will discover how to build
a mural - an activity the entire family can do together.
Of the morals in the story, Welsh said, "The
obvious one is you can accomplish a great deal by working with other
people in a community."
Perhaps it was through Divine Inspiration that
Welsh and Schulz were introduced to each other, conceived the mural,
fostered a friendship and worked on the book together.
Schulz, a graphic and landscape artist designed
the format of the book and supplied photographs to complement Welsh's text and original
artwork.
Another moral deals with opposition.
"You don't want to fold up at that moment
if you have a good idea. Having a little opposition only creates
greater strength," she said.
But the most compelling of the morals is about
inspiration.
"By picturing your dreams," she said,
"you can have your dreams come true."
Welsh said she expects the book to be available
at Earth Song Books in Del Mar, The Book Works in Flower Hill Mall and at her appearances
and book signings throughout Southern California. It also will be
sold at the Del Mar branch library and, eventually, libraries throughout
the state and southwest.
"From the beginning, the book was conceived
as a fund-raiser for the Friends of the Del Mar Library and as a
way that the library could explain the story of the mural to the
many visitors who ask about it," she said.
Other books by Welsh include: Pat Welsh's Southern
California Gardening: A Month-by Month Guide (1991 and revised in
2000), All My Edens; A Gardener's Memoir (1996) and American Horticultural
Society Southwest Smart Garden Regional Guide (2004).
To learn more about the author and the wall, visit
www.patwelsh.com/gallery.html.
On Sept. 24, Welsh is tentatively scheduled to
present "Pruning Secrets for All Seasons" as part of the
San Diego Master Gardener Fall Seminar of events at a local junior
high or middle school to be determined. For updated information,
as it becomes available, visit www.mastergardenerssandiego.org.
Lee Schoenbart is the former North Coast community
news editor with the San Diego Union-Tribune. The above article
published in the Rancho Santa Fe Review, Del Mar Village Voice and
Carmel Valley News where Lee occasionally freelances. Lee is a realtor
with Prudential California Realty in Mission Hills.
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