Witch Black and Pumpkin Orange

For the last day of October and Halloween it seems appropriate to feature black and orange.

Witch Black with a split-rail fence.

Pumpkin Orange with maple trees glowing in the morning dew beside a farmer’s field.

At the bottom of a rock bluff at the intersection.

Or looking across to Curlew Island.

Sprout Question: What do you associate with witch black and pumpkin orange?

Happy Halloween!

 

© 2011 Terrill Welch, All rights reserved.

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

Purchase photography at http://www.redbubble.com/people/terrillwelch

Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

FromMayne Island,British Columbia,Canada

Terrill Welch online Gallery at http://terrillwelchartist.com

Savouring the Blues

Yesterday was a fantastic Sunday for a stroll and to a poke about at the light house on Mayne Island. What really grabbed my attention was a clump of maples against the blues of the water and sky.

I also like this perspective and can’t decide which I like best. Because they are so similar I should probably only post one on my redbubble storefront.

Do you have a preference?

However, it is almost always the sea that pulls me into sublime bliss. This Sunday was no exception.

This brings me to some Monday morning news from Creative Potager. Do you remember the small 8 X 8 inch oil on canvas painting A SUMMER DAY that was the third I did during a plein air session this summer?

Well, it SOLD this weekend and is going to a lovely home here on Mayne island where it will be treasured.

 

The second good piece of news is that PRECIOUS SECONDS – Mayne Island in paintings and photographs

 

is now available as an ibook for $9.99 for those who have ipads or iphones. Isn’t this exciting? It can be purchased at the same place as the hardcopy on BLURB HERE.

Since I do not have an iphone or ipad I put in a request to a tweet-friend and iphone artist Sandra Lock in Liverpool England. Sandra reviewed the ibook for me and left the following comment on BLURB…

“I can wholeheartedly recommend the iBook. It looks fabulous on my iPad, there’s nothing quite like a backlit screen for making images really pop…” 

If you get a chance, I suggest you check out Sandra’s COLOUR YOUR WORLD Art Blog. And thank you Sandra for taking the time to review my first ibook 🙂

 

I have one more piece of news but I am going to wait until Friday to share it. I will give you a hint though – I made the cover or rather my painting did.

 

 

Sprout Question: Where are you finding sublime bless today?

 

 

© 2011 Terrill Welch, All rights reserved.

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

Purchase photography at http://www.redbubble.com/people/terrillwelch

Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

Terrill Welch online Gallery at http://terrillwelchartist.com

 

 

 

Sitting on My Ordinary

It is an ordinary quiet week here at la casa de inspiracion. In fact it has been quieter and more ordinary than usual. With only a few outside commitments, I have even been sitting on my ordinary – well, backside. Shhhhhhh! Don’t tell anyone.

 

Oh I did dive in and order new print stock, clean the studio and get a few other household chores out of the way… but only worked at these pesky necessaries for a short while each day. Mostly it was a week of relaxing and the easiest route to an end goal. Do you ever take a few days to do this?

 

Sitting on my ordinary is about being with the everyday in an unhurried fashion.

 

It is about quietly observing and nurturing and replenishing my inner strength and resilience.

(image may be purchased HERE)

It is about honouring and reflecting on – exactly where am I anyway and what is it I really want to be doing?

(image may be purchased HERE)

Most often it means time in nature feeding my soul.

(image may be purchased HERE)

These four images are a result of  “sitting on my ordinary” this week. So as you can see, it doesn’t mean doing nothing but rather doing what you love in a way that gives back.

 

Best of the weekend everyone!

 

 

Sprout Question: How do you sit on your ordinary?

 

 

© 2011 Terrill Welch, All rights reserved.

 

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

Purchase photography at http://www.redbubble.com/people/terrillwelch

Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

Terrill Welch online Gallery at http://terrillwelchartist.com

 

Life and the Bounty Hunter

What I was intending to do this morning, more than an hour and half ago, was to let you know who won yesterday’s draw for sixteen 4 X 6 greeting cards from the second Salish Sea Sunday event. Instead, I have been captured by life’s bounty hunter. I am being held hostage and know I will only be released upon death. The thing is the walls of this prison are non-existent and there are no fences and there is always something to do, to smell, to hear, to feel and to discover. I stay willingly with gratitude and remain forever in the clutches of life’s bounty hunter – curiosity.

If you are still roaming free of curiosity, children are often our best example of how to get caught…

My curious mission this morning came about because Patricia is looking for an oven and Jannie had a roaster in her coffee, only to find Melody was farting with her nephews and Laurie is listening while Leanne is covering her head but Sam is still looking – only to return to Creative Potager to find that Jeff is accepting demands from anger.

So who was the winner of yesterday’s draw? Envelope please….. Laurie Buchanan from Speaking from the Heart!!!!!

Those of us who know Laurie – which is most as she has not missed commenting on a Creative Potager post in almost two years – know that she never does anything in halves. Not only did she liberally share the second Thursday Teaser and get her name in the draw three times but yesterday, as the second Salish Sea Sunday Savings event went live, she gave it another generous sprinkle throughout cyberspace on twitter, facebook and G+ for no other reason than – she could.  I am sure that she was single-handedly responsible for half of the visitors who dropped in.

This kind of simple-abundance sharing and support is part of the life-sustaining income stream for a sole-entrepreneur photographer and artist such as me. It takes a wee bit of time of course and I am ever grateful to have been dialed into Laurie’s Sunday. Laurie’s support goes far beyond enjoying and recommending my free offerings through these blog posts. She has put her carefully managed dollars and non-consumer habit into investing in my Mayne Island Tree Spirit calendar and in this year’s new book Precious Seconds – Mayne Island in paintings and photographs. She is a serious fan and collector of my work and it gives me great pleasure to package up sixteen 4 x 6 greeting cards that I know will be put to good use by someone who appreciates them.

If you are not already subscribed to Laurie’s blog Speaking from the Heart, a friend on facebook, following her on twitter and have her circled on Google plus do it now! In the more than five years I have been visiting and keeping company with this delightful, talented and spirited writer and healer I now call Laurie my friend – though we have never met face-to-face or even talked on the phone. Laurie, you make life’s bounty hunter – curiosity – dance naked in the moonlight while you blow it kisses of possibility. Thank you for being you and for all that you do.

Thank you too to all of you who participated by sharing and purchasing goods from yesterday’s event. The next and final Salish Sea Sunday Savings event of the year will be three weeks from now on Sunday, November 6, 2011. Watch for the Thursday Teaser and hope to see you there!

Sprout Question: Be honest, when was the last time you were bound, gagged and carted off by curiosity? Or were you one of those jumping up and down waving in the crowd shouting “pick me! PICK ME!?”

 

 

© 2011 Terrill Welch, All rights reserved.

 

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

Purchase photography at http://www.redbubble.com/people/terrillwelch

Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

Terrill Welch online Gallery at http://terrillwelchartist.com

 

 

SEA AND CLOUDS original oil painting by Terrill Welch

About a month ago I set a day aside to paint a new work SEA AND CLOUDS. I had completed the underpainting already and it was simply sitting there in its 36 X 36 inch glory tempting me to pick up the brushes.

It was a big canvas and the day was pleasant so I decided to work on the side deck. I have a rather odd approach I guess to setting up my palette. I start fresh each time and choose all the colours I am going to use before I start painting. In this case I used one of my photographs as a reference point. From there it is a matter of mixing which I often do on the canvas as much as I do on my palette.  So here is what the paints look like as I start painting.

Next it is a matter of getting some paint on the canvas.

And a bit more I think…

and some more paint!

Three hours later I start to build up the image.

I work without thinking – breath after breath I move the paint with brush and palette knife over the canvas. I move the canvas to avoid shadows. But at last I must stop. I am out of light.

I move the wet canvas to another deck and capture a late-in-the-day image of the painting in progress.

For the past month I have mused and walked by this painting almost everyday. What is it that I need to do? What will pull these pieces together into a completed work? Oh I grumbled and I worked on photographs. I thought and then one day it came to me. I knew exactly what had to happen. I set aside the morning and finished the painting.

SEA AND CLOUDS 36 X 36 inch oil on canvas by Terrill Welch 

Update October 6, 2012 : This painting is now SOLD.  Other paintings currently available can be viewed in the Artwork Archives online Gallery HERE.

Sprout Question: How long have you waited for the right combination of information to finish a creative work?

 

© 2011 Terrill Welch, All rights reserved.

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

Purchase photography at http://www.redbubble.com/people/terrillwelch

Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

Terrill Welch online Gallery at http://terrillwelchartist.com

With Colour

The grayness of our west coast year is already upon us. I have an interesting photo of some seals from our Saturday outing. But they are awfully dull for how I am feeling right now. So I’m digging through my massive tickle trunk of photo folders looking for some colour. Aha! June 4, 2011.

I’m resisting the rain-soaked weather with splashes of vibrant sun feelings. The seals shall be the postage stamp at the end of this post. We are celebrating!

We have a winner of the image-wrapped copy of a little coffee table book

 

PRECIOUS SECONDS – Mayne Island in paintings and photographs

 

Drum roll please Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tttttta-T!!!…… I know you were expecting the bear from yesterday, right? No, not today either….

 

The winner is….. Artist Uma Sharma from Gurgaon, India. Congratulations Uma! Your book is on its way and is expected to arrive well before the end of October. Enjoy!

A little more colour? Well, why not….

Thank you everyone who participated in Creative Potager’s first Salish Sea Sunday Savings event. Your support is always deeply appreciated whether it is to purchase an original painting, photography print, calendar or card. Or to share my work with others. It all makes a difference in the life of a full-time creative being.

Also, welcome to new subscribers! Creative Potager posts generally come out on Mondays and Fridays with the odd extra post like the Salish Sea Sunday Savings event – which I have promised readers there will be three. The next one will be Sunday October 16th as next Sunday is Canadian Thanksgiving.  Welcome to our lively creative community. Please join in as you wish.

And now, here are those seals…

Did you notice the one on the left?  Every time a wave would come it would push its body down on the rock so as to not float off.

 

Sprout Question: What is the most interesting place you have ever mailed your creative work?

 

© 2011 Terrill Welch, All rights reserved.

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

Purchase photography at http://www.redbubble.com/people/terrillwelch

Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

Be Still

Chunks of forests uninterrupted by human travel are not always easy to come by. Most often even the woods in national parks look something like this…

However, every once in a long while I am sitting quietly off a beaten path and image – what if I was deer or a bear? Or maybe I am moose or a lynx? Maybe I am a wolverine, mink, marten or mouse? Of these animals only the deer, mink and mouse call Mayne Island home. But I once lived where I walked with the bear, moose, wolverine, marten and lynx. Sometimes I would be lucky enough to see these animals too. But a certain practice was required. I had to move through the brush quietly and at times BE STILL – wait without expectation.

 

Often the forest history is evident.

The eyes unexpectedly see through a sliver of clarity.

Burrowed holes from ants or other bugs are noticed in the big cedar.

While musing on a crumbling log a person might even look up and see ferns waving out of reach of the deer. Their long leaves still beautifully uneaten and curling towards the sky.

 

Remember: It is Salish Seas Sunday Savings this Sunday!

 

LINK your chances to win an image-wrapped copy of a little coffee table book

PRECIOUS SECONDS – Mayne Island in paintings and photographs

To qualify you must be subscribed to the Creative Potager blog and share this blog LINK to the First Thursday Teaser for the first Salish Sea Sunday Savings event anytime BEFORE the start of the event at 3:00 P.M. this Sunday, via any of these means – email, facebook, twitter, Google+ or on your blog.

Selected paintings and photographs of my work will be reduced 40% for ONE hour ONLY from 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm P.D.T. Sunday October 2, 2011.

To learn more read yesterday’s THURSDAY TEASER post.

Also, my good friend Leanne Dyck has asked me some intriguing questions and is posting the first part of her interview with me this Saturday at The Sweater Curse. If you have a chance come on over. And if you slip by today Leanne has another local author Amber Harvey as her guest.

Sprout Question: How do you incorporate a creative enhancing  practice to BE STILL?

© 2011 Terrill Welch, All rights reserved.

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

Purchase photography at http://www.redbubble.com/people/terrillwelch

Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

Terrill Welch online Gallery at http://terrillwelchartist.com

The Good, The Green and The Ugly

Have you every noticed that things are not usually as they seem but more like what we make them out to be? Such is the story of these three tomatoes shown with the last of our peas and carrots.

The orange tomato on the left fooled me. I was waiting for it to turn red. Finally, slightly puzzled that it was taking so long to ripen, I reached under the plant and found its tag – Hillbilly (heirloom) Plant produces good yields of large orange yellow beefsteak tomatoes with read and pink streaks. Very flavourful. Excellent for salads and sandwiches.

It was ripe after all – just not red. It was also absolutely delicious.

Now the green tomato really is green. It accidentally came off with the other Hillbilly. But look at that big Ugly tomato – what happened to it? I can only guess that it was double pollinated. Let’s have a read of its tag – Carbon (heirloom) Flavour is exceptionally rich yet sweet and the essence of delicious summer tomato flavour. Medium to large, tomatoes are flattened round and smooth, without the cracking or blemishing that seems to plague some black tomatoes. They are dark purplish-brown on the outside with deep brick red interior.

I can tell you it did lived up to its flavour description but was maybe a little off on expected appearance. We had to eat it in three sittings. That was one monster tomato.

Speaking of descriptions our dear Laurie Buchanan received her birthday present copy from Len of PRECIOUS SECONDS – Mayne Island in paintings and photographs. Here is the comment she left on the Blurb publishing site under her penname Paden Plume:

This evening I sat down with a glass of wine to enjoy Terrill Welch’s new book. The description on the wine label said:

“This wine shows a heady nose of chocolate, deep rich blackberries, red fruits, and a creamy mocha finish that is unmistakable in its intensity and length. It’s reminiscent of a blackberry chocolate cupcake with a mocha coulis.”

If that description sounds good to you, let me say that turning and savoring each page of PRECIOUS SECONDS was an even more delicious treat! One that I will indulge in over and over again.

Thank you Laurie and thank you to everyone who purchased a book this week. Some of you I know who you are and others are friends in the universe who I greatly appreciate supporting my work. Thank you, thank you and thank you.

PRECIOUS SECONDS –Mayne Island in paintings and photographs now has its own facebook page HERE. Please feel free to come “like” its page and share your own “precious seconds” adventures.

And speaking of Laurie, she has brought the bubbly out to celebrate a blogging milestone. Speaking from the Heart has received over 50,000 views since February 2010. There isn’t a blogging party over there yet but we could always start one! Congratulations Laurie! I wish you many more views to your rich and engaging blog over the months and years ahead.

The weather has cooled and I have harvested the garden and the rest of the tomatoes are ripening up for dinner over the weeks ahead.

 

Sprout question: What do you have ripening for your creative dinner?

 

New: Check out my coffee table book PRECIOUS SECONDS – Mayne Island in paintings and photographs

© 2011 Terrill Welch, All rights reserved.

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

Purchase photography at http://www.redbubble.com/people/terrillwelch

Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

Terrill Welch online Gallery at http://terrillwelchartist.com

Early September Walk

How about a long walk? We haven’t been on one together for awhile. It is a warm afternoon and getting close to dinner time so it should be peaceful out on the point. Doesn’t that sound like a great idea?

I knew you would be game. Shall we?

(This image is available for purchase here.)

The arbutus trees are particularly intriguing this time of year….

as their bark splits and peels back to another layer of beauty underneath.

Then there are David’s trees.

“Oh look at this. Have you taken a photo of these yet?”

I hadn’t. So I did.

A quiet ledge. Now this seems to be perfectly designed for a Creative Potager moment. Ahhhhh.

(This image is available for purchase here.)

Then there is this particular arbutus tree! I don’t know how many times I have tried to get it just right in a photograph. Maybe this time. What do you think?

(This image is available for purchase here.)

Well that is it for the sunny west side of our late afternoon September walk. Time to cross over to the dark side. Can you hear the surf through the trees? It won’t take long.

  (This image is available for purchase here.)

The air is still humid and warm with hardly a whisper of relief off the water. The sky is clear. Yet the sea is dark and hugs the shadows along the shore.

(This image is available for purchase here.)

A bit of a puzzle isn’t it?

Time to head for home. We have been over an hour and a half. It is a good thing we brought our water bottles.

———–

As long fingers of fog are blown into our open windows this morning, I shiver and begin closing out the cool dampness. Then I remembered the sea from our walk on the weekend.

(This image is available for purchase here.)

Remember that the late afternoon was warm and humid with hardly a wisp of breeze off the water? Yet, the sea frothed and boiled as it slammed up against the sandstone shore? Now we know why. Fall is here.

Sprout question: What signs of fall are blowing in your direction?

New: Check out my coffee table book PRECIOUS SECONDS – Mayne Island in paintings and photographs

© 2011 Terrill Welch, All rights reserved.

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

Purchase photography at http://www.redbubble.com/people/terrillwelch

Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

Terrill Welch online Gallery at http://terrillwelchartist.com

Moon path and other wonders

I am awake early for no other reason than the moon has finally gone to bed. She shines in the big windows keeping me company on her passage across the sky. For some reason when she is near full, glowing brightly for hours and then slips over the hill leaving the room in pre-dawn darkness, I wake.

It is Friday, September 9th and my interview with Fiona Robyn of “Writing Our Way Home” in Malvern Worcestershire is up. You may want to stay awhile and browse through other posts as well. Take your time and enjoy. A special thank you to our very own Daisy A. Hickman from Sunny Room Studio for referring Fiona to me.

Now, getting back to wonders and mysteries the of nature, what about this moment I captured earlier in the week?

Can you guess the mystery?

Maybe this photograph taken the night before will help…

Yes, the first image is a reflection that I have turned right-side up.

The Pacific Ocean in a small bay on the Strait of Georgia was unusually calm.

It is not something we get to see very often.

Sprout question: What natural wonders are you noticing?

Oh! I promised to tell you about my fall Creative Potager intentions. Posts shall be Monday and Friday except on holidays. Plus, for the first three weeks of October I will be hosting Salish Sea Sunday Studio Savings. This will be a special Sunday post at 3:00 pm PST which will include redbubble photographic print specials on featured images, and an original painting either reduced or by auction (I still have to see what it takes to set up an account on eBay so this may or may not work). The event with savings will only last for one hour. Yes, one hour only for three Sundays in a row. What do you think? Does it sound like fun?

Best of the weekend everyone!

New: coffee table book PRECIOUS SECONDS – Mayne Island in paintings and photographs.

© 2011 Terrill Welch, All rights reserved.

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

Purchase photography at http://www.redbubble.com/people/terrillwelch

Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

From Mayne Island,British Columbia,Canada

Terrill Welch online Gallery at http://terrillwelchartist.com