Here Ashley, age 3, uses the kitchen sieve to hunt Polliwogs. Ashley, her twin sister Lauren and the rest of the family are
holidaying with our family on the west coast of Vancouver Island, just outside Tofino, BC, Canada. It’s late August 2009.
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On our first day there we all make our way out to Frank Island. A small island accessible from the beach only at low tide.
There are a series of pools in the craggy, weather beaten rock. All filled with rapidly stagnating rainwater. Shangri La for
any self respecting frog. We all took turns catching and bottling what must have been close to 100 Pollies... also known
as Tadpoles. We took them back to the cottage for a few days and watched them transform, sprouting legs and turning
into tiny froglets. We even gave a few names.”Gumph” was the favorite, I can’t recall the rest. We spent the rest of the
week on the beach and in the surf exploring and playing
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Despite cries of protest we convinced the kids that the baby frogs “missed their mommies”... how would you feel? is a sure
fire winner. So they were returned to their home pond before we left. It was a great lesson on the value of life and the
environment.
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Chesterman Beach and I have been associated for many years. I spent a 6 months here, 18 years ago, testing out the 
ife of a full time gallery artist. I chose to paint figures in oil. Both new to me and the greatest challenge I could imagine.
I eventually got a number together for a family show that also featured my sister Caren, my father and myself. It was a
great experience. The show was warmly accepted sold well to boot.
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I went back to illustration work, out of necessity, but I never forgot the experience of my time there. When I made the
decision to return to gallery painting, some 15 years later, I chose figure painting, using oils. Something must have stuck
with me.   Mark Heine