August Sunrise in Twelve Captures

August 22, 2013August 22, 2013 / Terrill Welch / 16 Comments

The alarm went off at 5:00 am. I looked out and saw that the moon was still shining a path of light through the valley. I almost rolled over and went back to sleep. But I had made a promise to myself so got up and put the kettle on instead. Packing a small breakfast, iPad, thermos of coffee and my camera I slipped quietly out of the house. This is my first shot at sunrise on Reef Bay, Mayne Island in British Columbia, Canada.

JUST BEFORE SIX

EARLY START

A BOLD START

AUGUST SUNRISE REEF BAY MAYNE ISLAND

WAKING IN AUGUST

MORNING

EARLY ARRIVALS

HOPEFUL MORNING

GULLS AT SUNRISE

AUGUST SUNRISE

JOINING

SUN IS UP

Digital photography lends itself well to doing a quick series of photography sketches such as I have done with this morning’s sunrise. I liken it to gesture sketches with charcoal. These handheld frames are not the tripod fineness that is associated with material for grand-size photography prints. Instead are the reference images that capture the sensory information for some later painting. These twelve images plus one short video..

If you were going to meet me at sunrise in August what would you bring?

P.S. Today is the last day for the early bird special price on my new calendar with twelve painting images. Please remember to set the start date you would like before ordering the calendar.

The “Wish of a Moment” Calender is available HERE.

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

Seaside Mayne Island oil painting study by Terrill Welch (terrillwelchartist.com)
Sold – End of Day with Arbutus – Contemporary Canadian Landscape Painting (terrillwelchartist.com)

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)

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

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)
Peninsula’s Fifth Annual Plein Air Competition (peninsulaartacademy.wordpress.com)
West Coast Blues in photography and painting (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
More Canadian Landscape paintings by Terrill Welch SOLD! (terrillwelchartist.com)

Wabi Sabi Feng Shui Nature and Photography

February 27, 2013 / Terrill Welch / 19 Comments

Sometimes the grand seascapes of the west coast winter are just too gray and flat to hold my attention.

When this happens I look elsewhere to see what I can feel and see by the sea. This is when I am most often consciously drawn to beauty that is “imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete” or the wabi-sabi nature of our natural environment.

Characteristics of the wabi-sabi aesthetic include asymmetry, asperity (roughness or irregularity), simplicity, economy, austerity, modesty, intimacy and appreciation of the ingenuous integrity of natural objects and processes. Andrew Juniper in Wabi Sabi: The Japanese Art of Impermanence describes wabi-sabi this way: “if an object or expression can bring about, within us, a sense of serene melancholy and a spiritual longing, then that object could be said to be wabi-sabi.” Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabi-sabi

Feng Shui on the other hand comes from the discipline of Kan Yu or the Tao of heaven and earth. The term feng shui literally translates as “wind-water” in English. Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng_shui

In both wabi-sabi and feng shui there is an element of human use or organization to replicate and appreciate our natural world. So, when the view on the horizon is less than inspiring, I sometimes seek to photograph these natural relationships between feng shui elements with their full embodiment of characteristics of wabi-sabi at sources – without human use or organization.

These wabi-sabi, feng shui nature photographs seldom make it to my blogs or my online galleries for purchase. They are a meditation or spiritual practice rather than an end result. However, today I am going to share a few of these images with you.

In the trees…

Arbutus Splendor

Looking into the deep woods on Henderson Hill gives way to the splendor of the the arbutus trees. Their tangle of light-seeking branches reach elegantly under and around in search of the sky.

A new conversation

Though it is just the end of February there are many signs that a new spring season is beginning here on Mayne Island. One of these is the shedding of the bark on the arbutus trees and the revealing of the fresh new skin on of these sensual trees. It is such a tactile sensory visual experience that I walk along running my hands over their smooth exposed trunks.

Arbutus Bark Natural Design

The pealing and curling captures natural the movement of time in its everyday way of being.

Out on a limb

Trees seem to have invented the strength of the spiral. In our occasional high winds I am often amazed that so few trees are blown to the ground. This spiraling is I believe part of the mystery.

On the forest floor…

While, when the big landscapes fail to impress on a heavy overcast west coast afternoon, the little things sometimes become more beautiful than ever. This is fresh new moss growing on the rocks. So very soft and lovely on the eyes and to the touch.

By the Sea…

A Dance through Time

Over and over they tango the sea and the shore until they are shaped as one. I am squished between the land and sea begging the sky to intervene. Have you been there?

Shell Sand Sea – a love story

The tide is going out. As the water leaves in a wave of salty tears, the shell of a varnish clam remains, embracing the sand.

Butter Clam 1

The round butter clam brings vitality to the gray and the stones by the sea.

Mussels and Seaweed

The connected and passage of relationships crush and sweep away any sense of isolation. Yet, the inner scream of longing cries out to be heard, noticed and cherished.

Plump Oyster

What belly can grumble with such nourishing abundance for the taking?

Another Layer

There is yet another layer of temporary impermanence. We know in this continuation we are but a moment of moments lost to infinity.

Drifting

Our live bits drifting with the dead, the dying and such shall we become.

Such is the nature of wab-sabi feng shui in my natural world of photography. May this imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete Tao of heaven and earth bring you a sense of serene melancholy and a spiritual longing.

What wabi-sabi feng shui nature influences your life?

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

Feng Shui Basics (navarrahong.com)
Wabi Sabi Writing (deborahbrasket.wordpress.com)
Wabi-Sabi – Beauty in Impermanence (everydaygurus.com)
Photographing and Painting seams in time with John Daido Loori (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
Stop feeding the WOW-smacked dragon! (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
Reef Bay Morning Experienced – west coast seascape oil painting (terrillwelchartist.com)

Evening And The Arbutus Tree – large Canadian landscape painting

January 7, 2013January 7, 2013 / Terrill Welch / 6 Comments

As, mentioned I will write more about this painting and the creative process later. For now, we have the painting.

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Terrill Welch

The sun is going down fast in the late afternoon of November out on Georgina Point, Mayne Island . I marvel at the orange glow and the hues of the heavy mist in the distance of our west coast landscape. I knew then that this most-loved tree was once again going to grace one of my canvases – a large one this time. There is the coolness of a winter sea with soft waves barely evident on the shore. There is a quiet and a peace that often accompanies the end of a day. There is a sense of being alive without separation between land, sea and sky. It is often such with the Canadian landscape but so hard to portray in away that someone who has never been, never stood where I am standing will know what it is I speak about. Yet, this tree knows and seems to…

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When Resting is more than Sleeping

December 29, 2012December 29, 2012 / Terrill Welch / 7 Comments

Do you have nights when sleep comes lightly and yet your day unfolds as a time of rest and renewal? I often have these kinds of days around the full moon. Sleep time is short and yet I do not feel particularly tired. I like to putter and poke at things during these time. This morning I use this hushed time to edit photographs such as this one taken the late afternoon a few days ago on the east side of the Mayne Island.

As you likely know, I covet my time in the open space of sea and sky. Its simplicity in the soft light pleases me. While I am editing I take another look at this one…

There is a quiet here as well that draws me in and keeps me close.

So as the rain fumbles its way to the ground in the early morning gray, I feel at ease. Inside there is a peace and stillness that is reflected in the soft light of my studio lamp and in these photographs.

It is at about this time three years ago that I started our Creative Potager blog. Time has changed its purpose and intent slightly but it is still the place of creative sharing between you and me. It remains a place to visit and connect.

In the coming year I will continue to take you behind the scenes of my photography and painting. Sometimes I may have question or two for you. Others times a post might be more of a show and tell. Either way, a good visit will commence with each reading and a grand conversations will be had by all. Do drop in unannounced. Do stay as long as you like. And do feel free to jump into the conversation at any hour of the day or night.

So as we rest, I was wondering what are YOUR dreams and plans for the year ahead?

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