Sunday roses in June at la casa de inspiracion

June 9, 2013 / Terrill Welch / 13 Comments

I woke this morning with a full day to fill as I choose. No commitments that can’t wait until tomorrow. No restlessness I feel driven to address. Today is for June roses, quiet cups of tea, twittering birds, long strolls and simple meals. Today is for being charmed by the delicate strengths of a moment. At the gate is a pavement rose puffed with blossoms with petals on her toes.

I linger over a fine red bud.

Then swoon down to a singular red beauty.

Dipping even closer, her fragrance tingles my sense of mystery and wonder.

This pink pavement rose is not the only hearty soul in the garden though. There is of course “The Grandma Rose,” a most resilient Scottish Brier rose. Her small white buds are determined to drag our focus from the neighbouring greenery.

She is resourceful in her attention-getting ways. The fragrance from these two-inch white balls comes no finer. Let’s see… oh, here is one. Now smell.

Perfect! Right?

The roses this morning remind me of the delicate balance of my week – a painting passing its final test of suitability for a new home. A new small painting resting on the easel.

End of Storm Georgina Point Mayne Island resting 8 x 10 oil on canvas

Two paintings released for sale over at Terrill Welch Artist…

New Growth West Coast in late May 8 x 8 inch oil on gessobord

From Felix Jack Road Mayne Island 14 x 11 oil on canvas

(For the curious and serious fans and collectors alike, links to detailed views and purchase information for these two paintings are posted over at Terrill Welch Artist. )

Equally important to this delicately balanced week, my husband is happily spade-deep in a project and my Saturday was spent with a good friend.

This pretty much wraps up what is blooming in my corner of the world. I am contemplating taking a wee bit of time off but this will not be until July. In the meantime, for my everyday, I wish it to be much like this week.

What is blooming in your creative corner of the world?

Liberal usage granted with written permission. See “About” for details.

Creative Potager – Visit with painter and photographer Terrill Welch

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

For gallery and purchase information about Terrill’s photographs and paintings go to http://terrillwelchartist.com

Remember Untold Mystery – Canadian Landscape Painting (terrillwelchartist.com)
Sister oil paintings of Tulips on the Springwater Deck Mayne Island (terrillwelchartist.com)
New Growth West Coast in late May – Canadian landscape oil painting (terrillwelchartist.com)
Winter Sun II west coast Canada Landscape Painting (terrillwelchartist.com)

Remembered Untold Mystery for World Environment Day

June 5, 2013 / Terrill Welch / 7 Comments

The beauty of trees, rocks and the angle of the sun have their untold stories we are forever wanting to tell. These stories are some of the eyes and ears for World Environment Day.

Remembered Untold Mystery – 10 x 10 inch oil on canvas

Detailed viewing and purchase information is available HERE.

We need to tell these stories over and over until not a decision is made without our understanding the fragile interconnectedness between ourselves and the world as a whole. How do we do this? By feeling our way into our natural environment until the very cells of this exchange is expressed through our camera lens, our paintings, our writings, our songs, our dance, and our prayers.

This painting reminds me of a very strong memory I have from grade three when a boy in the next row looked at my drawing of “the bush” with a fawn next to it looking longingly at a garden and said with absolute disgust “What a mess! You didn’t draw anything. It is all just scribbles!” So I took him and my hurt feelings farther down the row of desks from where all the drawings were pinned on the classroom wall. Then I said “look again.” He did and though still not terribly impressed he could see how all those lines gave the impressions of trees, grasses, the fawn and the garden.

I am sure if this, now 55-year-old, man was to see this work today he might say the same thing. This is the difference between suggesting the essence of a scene or subject by light and shadow and representing a form with paint or lines. It is far easier as a painter to get caught up in the details than it is to skip happily across the canvas suggesting the breath of the light and relationships between the elements in a landscape. This second approach is an invitation to the viewer to complete the painting using their own visual mapping abilities. Some viewers like to do this and others do not. My classmate did not. It was all just scribbles to him until he stood far enough back that the forms became more visible. There is nothing right or wrong about this painting approach nor in the liking or not liking of the painting. It is just one way of having a conversation with painting.

The reference for this paintings comes from a powerful experience when I found an intriguing visual path along the top of a cliff. I had to lay on my side and schooch out onto a rock ledge to capture the reference image. The amazing thing was that the scene had always been there but I hadn’t noticed it before this particular walk when its beauty was revealed in the angle of the evening light.

Prints of this image are available on redbubble HERE.

But just as trees, rocks and the angle of the sun have untold mysteries so does ice. In fact, ice may be able to tell the story of our world better than any other element. Last evening we watched CHASING ICE – a documentary film directed and produced by JEFF ORLOWSKI about the incredible work of National Geographic photographer James Balog and his team. The story of our world and its demise is in the ice or rather in what is left of the ice. I am including the film’s trailer and also wanted to let you know that it is available on Netflix.

After watching this film I was overwhelmed and close to feeling totally distraught. So, as I told Laurie Buchanan over at her Speaking from the Heart yesterday, I take my worries to the sea. It was a gorgeous warm early June evening with still seas that still a troubled heart.

I did nothing much but sit and scowl about the mess we are in for two hours. I listened to the sea, the breeze in the grass. I notice the warmth of the sandstone and how everything was doing what it must. The sandstone cliff was strong in its presence.

And so must I be in mine. I must continue my work of photographing and painting the stories of our natural world so that we believe and know our connectedness – like in Chasing Ice and the Extreme Ice Survey. Maybe just maybe we will reach a tipping point of understanding before it is too late. I can work with that. I must.

What creative ice are you chasing on today’s World Environment day?

Liberal usage granted with written permission. See “About” for details.

Creative Potager – Visit with painter and photographer Terrill Welch

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

For gallery and purchase information about Terrill’s photographs and paintings go to http://terrillwelchartist.com

Chasing Ice (ecomediastudies.org)
Oil landscape paintings – three new releases and three to ship (terrillwelchartist.com)
The Edge and At The Beach Another Time – Canadian landscape paintings (terrillwelchartist.com)

private studio visit and art sales at la ca de inspiracion on Mayne Island

June 3, 2013June 3, 2013 / Terrill Welch / 8 Comments

Artists often do open studio days but the real gem for art collectors and artists is the private and personalized studio visit. I do a few of these each year and I treasure every one. How it works is an interested art buyer or small group of collectors emails or phones me to set up a private studio visit to our home and my studio space. I ask a few questions about what they are interested in viewing and set up our space to accentuate these interests. This weekend my visitor was interested in my paintings and in particular in finding one for a new art space that was created as part of a recent renovation of her home.

In a moment of clarity I thought that readers and collectors from afar may also enjoy coming by as part of this private and personalized studio visit. So after everything was ready I took the time to do this home-style youtube art studio visit with my iPad. Here it is if you care to join me…

As a result of this visit, a painting that was released just last week will be going to live with this new collector in British Columbia, Canada.

WINTER SUN II – 18 x 24 inch oil on canvas

This painting is going to go to a place where it will be loved and appreciated for many years into the future. The new owner tells me how she can see already how much this painting will change as the light changes. She is imagining how her family will watch the painting and notice different aspects at different times of day – a practice that is not really any different that watching the sea itself.

Feeling a sense of peace and being in alignment with my purpose in the world, my husband and I went out for a late lunch to celebrate at the Bennett Bay Bistro. The deck overlooking the bay is divine mid-afternoon.

Upon returning home the phone rang. A breathless request zipped through the lines from a collector in Alberta, Canada. She wanting to know if the painting ISLAND WITH THE LIGHTHOUSE was still available and if so, could she to buy it. I had just posted the painting for sale the previous day in the Artsy Home gallery and I hadn’t even had a chance to put it up on my Terrill Welch Artist website.

ISLAND WITH THE LIGHTHOUSE 8 x 10 inch oil on canvas.

I said it was and yes she could buy it. Full of emotion she explains how every Sunday she goes to the Artsy Home online gallery to see what new work I have posted. When she saw this small painting of the Mayne Island lighthouse as it is seen from the ferry, the experience brought tears to her eyes. Her husband noticing her reaction and said he would buy the painting for her for her birthday. At this point I had a lump in MY throat and tears in my eyes. To think that such a small painting could have such a significant impact on others!

My inspiration for this painting comes from describing where we live to others. The southern gulf islands are not always easy to name individually if you are unfamiliar with how they relate to one another. Mayne Island is often described as the island with the lighthouse as it is viewed from the ferry traveling from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay on Vancouver Island. This small window to the sea is what you might view on a fine day from that ferry as you near the entrance to Active Pass.

What is YOUR most treasured way to share your creative results with others?

Thank you dear readers as always for your ongoing support and comments here on Creative Potager. It is an honour and a pleasure to visit with you from my art studio and home on Mayne Island on the southwest coast of Canada.

Liberal usage granted with written permission. See “About” for details.

Creative Potager – Visit with painter and photographer Terrill Welch

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

For gallery and purchase information about Terrill’s photographs and paintings go to http://terrillwelchartist.com

Oil landscape paintings – three new releases and three to ship (terrillwelchartist.com)
Mayne Island (marinemila.wordpress.com)
Active Pass, British Columbia (archangeltravel.org)

Oven-Baked Mild Chicken Curry and Rice

May 26, 2013 / Terrill Welch / 20 Comments

You may not believe this but there is more to my life than photography and paintings. Some of my days in fact are swaddled in domesticity. Today is one of those days. Now that I have the half-dry sheets from the third load of laundry in off the line to finish up in the dryer, let’s see what we have to offer…

Sunday dinner at la casa de inspiracion simmered in a late May drizzle is an Oven-Baked mild chicken curry and rice served with a side of seasonal asparagus and dark rustic bread.

Ingredients are all are local organic whenever possible. Thank you Mayne Island Farm Gate Store. The ingredients are in bold for ease of identifying what is needed.

Step One:

Two chicken legs with thighs (cut at the joint)

1 chicken bouillon cube (optional but add salt if don’t use)

¼ cup chopped onion (will need one large chopped onion in all)

¼ cup chopped celery

½ teaspoon ground ginger (could use fresh if you have it)

½ teaspoon smoked paprika

¼ – ½ teaspoon chili powder

Place chicken in saucepan with chicken bouillon, chopped onion and celery, ginger, smoked paprika, chili powder and cover generously with boiling water. Simmer for 30 minutes while you proceed with Step two and step three.

Step two:

Two medium Yukon Gold potatoes

Three small carrots

½ red or green pepper

½ cinnamon stick

½ cup uncooked Forbidden Rice (a pearl black rice – of course any rice will do)

Wash and chop potatoes, carrots and pepper in large stew size chunks. Put chopped potatoes, carrots, piece of cinnamon stick and rice into pottery roasting pot. Set aside.

Step three:

½ cup ghee or butter

½ cup chopped onion

½ teaspoon coriander seeds

½ teaspoon cumin seeds

¼ teaspoon fenugreek

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

Chop onion. Grind spices with mortar and pastel – okay electric grinder if you must! Melt butter on medium heat in medium size cast iron frying pan. Add spices followed by chopped onion. Brown onions and pluck chicken thighs out of broth placing in frying pan. Set broth aside for later. Brown the chicken lightly on all sides.

Step four:

¼ cup raisins (not too many and can leave out but then don’t add cinnamon stick)

3 tablespoons slivered blanched almonds (or pistachios and cashews)

¼ teaspoon of saffron

Add raisins, nuts and saffron to pottery pot with raw potatoes, carrots and half of a cinnamon stick. Pour browned chicken with onions and spices over the potatoes and carrots, raisins and such in the pottery pot. Now cover it all with chicken stock that was set aside. Give it all a bit of a stir. Cover. Place pottery pot in oven and bake for about 1.5 hours at 300 F.

Oh shoot! Can someone pour the wine please?

What are you simmering at the moment?

By the way, the 12 x 10 inch oil on canvas painting NO REASON released last week has sold and will be on its way to California shortly.

All the best of the last week in the Month of May to you!

Liberal usage granted with written permission. See “About” for details.

Creative Potager – Visit with painter and photographer Terrill Welch

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

For gallery and purchase information about Terrill’s photographs and paintings go to http://terrillwelchartist.com

Ceylonese Style Chicken Curry (janaisblogging.wordpress.com)
Tulips on the deck of the Springwater lodge en plein air (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
Active Pass Breaking Cloud Cover – a morning shadow photograph (terrillwelchartist.com)

By the sea for no reason inspires west coast oil painting

May 21, 2013May 24, 2013 / Terrill Welch / 16 Comments

Sometimes we go down by the sea for no reason. There is no intention of capturing the perfect photograph. There is no intention of a meditative walk. There is nothing planned at all. We just go down by the sea at Reef Bay on Mayne Island for no reason at all…

I mean, if you had a choice to join us on a day like this, even or maybe especially for no reason, wouldn’t you?

As we watch, the sea seems to fold into the seagull-decorated landscape.

I sit for a long while just enjoying. Then there is this portrait view that eventually surfaces in my conscious awareness. I know it will be translated into a painting even before I pick up the camera to frame the scene. I debated with myself about whether to show you the photograph that became my main painting reference as it is just that – a reference which anchored my experience long enough to get to my paints, brushes and canvas. But I know how much you like to see these glimpses of inspiration, so here it is…

The painting has been released over on Terrill Welch Artist in today’s post

“NO REASON Canadian west coast oil painting by Terrill Welch“

However, here it is again for your viewing pleasure: Canadian west coast 12 x 10 inch oil on canvas oil painting study – NO REASON.

UPDATE May 24, 2013: This painting has SOLD.

What have you done lately for no reason?

Liberal usage granted with written permission. See “About” for details.

Creative Potager – Visit with painter and photographer Terrill Welch

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

For gallery and purchase information about Terrill’s photographs and paintings go to http://terrillwelchartist.com

Oil landscape paintings – three new releases and three to ship (terrillwelchartist.com)
More Canadian Landscape paintings by Terrill Welch SOLD! (terrillwelchartist.com)
The Edge and At The Beach Another Time – Canadian landscape paintings (terrillwelchartist.com)

Working on THE EDGE can offer some interesting possibilities

May 14, 2013September 25, 2016 / Terrill Welch / 10 Comments

There is a sandstone bluff, battered by the wind and sea but also hosts a familiar arbutus tree on its top most tip. THE EDGE, a rare large, long-lean 48 X 24 inch oil on canvas painting to out of my studio. In fact, I almost couldn’t reach the top when it was on the easel and had to squat yoga style to paint the bottom quarter of the canvas. Further more, it was not possible to paint it upstairs on my French Box easel. This canvas called for taking over the great room with my large portable easel which I have had since graduating from high school. Shall we have look at how it all came about?

As usual I am not all that keen on sketching in my compositions and prefer either a loose underpainting or just a few paint lines to guide me. In this case, I chose a few paint lines to get started before starting to added in some blues for the sky and other patches on the canvas.

It most certainly doesn’t look like much yet. But I am hopeful and the day is young.

The deliberate addition of red in these specific areas of the canvas will serve two purposes. The first is to pull out the red pigment that is already part of the stones and the bottom of the trunk of the arbutus tree. The second is to gradual in a very subtle way bring in the warmth of the evening light over the whole of the scene. It is now time to start building up some colour blocks and just get that paint on the canvas!

This particular stage in any painting is the most demanding. The paint catches on the dry canvas and seems to drag the paint off the brush. On a canvas this size it seems to take forever to build up the bulk of the painting so it can be completed alla prima or wet-in-wet.

My body starts to physically tire from the long stretches of painting and reaching to move across the whole canvas as I work. The day moves on hour after hour. I break for lunch. I move the canvas around a bit to keep it out of the direct sun coming through the skylight. I then keep going until finally – it comes alive. Shiny and wet I can now leave it to rest.

In the morning I make a few more adjustments and remove it from the great room downstairs and place it on a chair to lean against the wall in the loft studio.

I look at it for a few more days and decide it is done!

One of the hard things about a painting this size is to give it enough context that a viewer can imagine what kind of space it will take up once it is hung. So I took one last photograph before calling the work-in-progess on THE EDGE painting complete.

(Updated December 13, 2015 following a reworking of this painting)

After my confidence that this work was completed, done, finished, I came back to it for another painting session. Here it is in the great room following its most recent transformation.

The Edge still on the easel in the studio of Canadian Artist Terrill Welch

The final image along with links to a detailed view and purchase information are available at Terrill Welch Artist in the post “The Edge and At The Beach Another Time – Canadian landscape paintings”

The post includes the release of a second painting and a quick nod to two more that are now safely in their new homes.

What Edges have you contemplated recently?

Liberal usage granted with written permission. See “About” for details.

Creative Potager – Visit with painter and photographer Terrill Welch

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

For gallery and purchase information about Terrill’s photographs and paintings go to http://terrillwelchartist.com

The Edge and At The Beach Another Time – Canadian landscape paintings (terrillwelchartist.com)
Oil landscape paintings – three new releases and three to ship (terrillwelchartist.com)
More Canadian Landscape paintings by Terrill Welch SOLD! (terrillwelchartist.com)

Sister oil paintings of Tulips on the Springwater Deck Mayne Island

May 5, 2013 / Terrill Welch / 11 Comments

Sister paintings of Tulips on the Springwater Deck. What about you? Do you have a preference for one painting over the other? If so which one and what is it that has it being your favourite?

Terrill Welch

Two new bright 20 x 16 oil on canvas sister paintings of the luscious tulips on the Springwater Deck are ready for your perusal.

The first is a plein air painting which had a few minor edits back in the studio to bring it to completion.

TULIPS SPRINGWATER DECK MAYNE ISLAND

This Painting is now SOLD and is going to a private collector in British Columbia Canada.

There is more about the plein air work-in-progress including a short video on my Creative Potager blog post “Tulips on the deck of the Springwater lodge en plein air” Though a fine representation of the subject and a painting I am happy with I had this deep desire to experiment further with this great subject.

The second is a studio work of the same subject on the same size canvas. My intention with the second painting was to explore the relationships between…

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Tulips on the deck of the Springwater lodge en plein air

April 29, 2013November 2, 2013 / Terrill Welch / 20 Comments

Oh! Just look at them! All sassy with their scarlet, tangerine, and soft pink skirts on. These particular tulips are a season favourite here on Mayne Island. I just HAD to paint them. I asked permission to bring easel and paints right to the deck for a painting session. Let’s have a 22 second look and get a good feel for the situation…

So with paint on my cheeks and my tea left to get cold I give it my best.

After about an hour and half, it is definitely there! Doing a little en plein air dance around the deck. Oops! There are people here. I hadn’t noticed. A few adjustment are going to be needed but this is it for this day.

Back in the studio I work away until I feel it has come together. You see, I really do not get a lot of opportunity to paint with red. I like it but it kind of needs to be approached with respect. I suppose most colours do but red is my stand-back-and give-it-some-room colour. Shall we see what we have?

Tulips Springwater Deck Mayne Island – 20 x 16 inch oil on canvas

Update August 10, 2013: This painting is SOLD to an art collector in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

Now I am going to let you in on a little secret. I am working on a much looser more textured experimental version of this same painting in the studio. It is too early to share and it may never be shared but I thought you just might like to know anyway. Red, lots of red and orange. Yum!…. Shhhh! Don’t tell anyone.

What is your stand-back-and give-it-some-room colour?

Liberal usage granted with written permission. See “About” for details.

Creative Potager – Visit with painter and photographer Terrill Welch

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

For gallery and purchase information about Terrill’s photographs and paintings go to http://terrillwelchartist.com

Oil landscape paintings – three new releases and three to ship (terrillwelchartist.com)
Finding the Rhythm of the Sea in oil on canvas in the art studio (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
Contemporary Canadian Landscape paintings by Terrill Welch SOLD! (terrillwelchartist.com)
Active Pass Breaking Cloud Cover – a morning shadow photograph (terrillwelchartist.com)
More Canadian Landscape paintings by Terrill Welch SOLD! (terrillwelchartist.com)
Why Artists Should Try Painting En Plein Air At Least Once (longdensarronart.wordpress.com)

The treasured Pacific Dogwood or Cornus nuttallii

April 21, 2013April 21, 2013 / Terrill Welch / 10 Comments

The Pacific Dogwood or Cornus nuttallii small tree or shrub is protected in British Columbia. It is actually not all that common except in the lower western corner of the Province but has the distinction of being the Provincial flower. I have been admiring one such specimen on Mayne Island for a few years now.

Isn’t it just grand? The flower or leaf petals are a stunning greenish cream-white. With some rather tame bushwhacking I was able to get up a wee closer so we can have a good study of these beauties.

The actual flower of this plant is the greenish ball in the center. I understand it is suppose to flower spring AND fall but I only seem to notice in the spring. Though the dark red berries are bitter they are the culinary delight of pigeons, quail, grosbeaks, hermit thrushes, and waxwings. Bears and beavers enjoy the fruit and foliage, and deer eat the twigs.

Some aboriginal people used the wood, which is fine-grained, hard and heavy, for bows and arrows. More recently, the Cowichan people on Vancouver Island made knitting needles from it.

The Straits Salish made a tanning agent from the bark. The Thompson people made dyes – deep brown from the bark, black when mixed with grand fir, and red from the roots.

The wood has been used for piano keys. Pacific dogwood varieties are attractive ornamental plant in coastal gardens.

But remember if you see one – British Columbia Legislation protects the Pacific dogwood from being dug up or cut down.

Reference and more about this plant: http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/library/documents/treebook/pacificdogwood.htm

Also, it has been a week of finding more homes for paintings and releasing some new ones for sale. Find out more on Terrill Welch Artist at “Oil landscape paintings – three new releases and three to ship”

Can you share with us the flower emblem of your Province or State?

Wishing a wonderful week ahead with many creative adventures!

Liberal usage granted with written permission. See “About” for details.

Creative Potager – Visit with painter and photographer Terrill Welch

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

For gallery and purchase information about Terrill’s photographs and paintings go to http://terrillwelchartist.com

The Story of the Swamp Lantern (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
More Canadian Landscape paintings by Terrill Welch SOLD! (terrillwelchartist.com)
Wabi Sabi Feng Shui Nature and Photography (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
West Coast Blues in photography and painting (creativepotager.wordpress.com)

Springwater Lodge en Plein Air

April 14, 2013April 19, 2013 / Terrill Welch / 10 Comments

There is a seductive pleasure about painting out in the open or en plein air. The weather forecast is rather a mixed bag of cloud and sun. I wonder if we should chance it? What it doesn’t say is that it is heavy breaking cloud which is delicious light.

Oh, why not. The worst that will happen is we get a little wet. I trundle my French Box easel, camera bag which also has my iPad inside and another bag of painting gear down to the beach in Miners Bay. Let’s see if we can get a wee bit of a shared experience here…

At least there is sun on the far shore of Galiano Island.

But I am still leaning towards painting the Springwater Lodge as my subject.

It is only about 6 degrees Celsius . or 42.8 degrees Fahrenheit. My fingers and the paint are both stiff. As the birds sing and the waves keep me company that brush starts to work its magic.

This is it for images of works-in-progress on site for this painting. Darn if that big old cloud behind me didn’t get stuck on the cliff as it came over. Big fat drops have me running with the painting, my camera and iPad for cover. Good thing the painting was mostly done! Here is a shot of the more-or-less finished painting taken back at the studio.

SPRING AT THE SPRINGWATER LODGE MAYNE ISLAND 11 x 14 inch oil on canvas plein air

Update April 19, 2013: This painting has SOLD to an art collector in Alberta, Canada.

Established in 1892 the Springwater Lodge is situated above Miners Bay in Active Pass, on Mayne Island. The Springwater Lodge is the oldest continuously operated hotel in British Columbia. During the Fraser River and the Caribou gold rush, the lodge was a favourite stopover for miners.

reference: http://www.springwaterlodge.com/history.htm

Keeping your responses family-friendly, what is your favourite Sunday seductive creative pleasure?

Liberal usage granted with written permission. See “About” for details.

Creative Potager – Visit with painter and photographer Terrill Welch

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

For gallery and purchase information about Terrill’s photographs and paintings go to http://terrillwelchartist.com