Mayne Island

Mayne Island Backyard Bandit Capers

/ Terrill Welch / 8 Comments

 

 

Mayne Island is a quite rather bucolic southern Gulf Island off the west coast of Canada. But this island has also been known to have its share of mischief. There are roving masked bandits during the night that frequently get up to no good. It is worth keeping an eye out for them just to be on the safe side. Let’s see if I can assist you in knowing what you are looking for. Ah yes, here comes one now…

“Who me?” she says.

Yes you! We are talking about you Miss Curious Cat.

“Well how interesting” she softly growls.

But then she thinks “what else could I possibly expect with such frequent trips through their property?”

“Lovely evening isn’t it?” and she almost smiles before looking farther up the tree to make sure the children safe.

Three of these are hers and one is the baby of a good friend of hers who is guarding the bottom of the tree and too hidden by the underbrush to get an identifying mugshot. The tree is like a raccoon hotel at the moment with the guests swinging from the rafters.

I suspect that they stopped at the compost fruit and salad bar before coming up because they sure know how to be entertaining and silly. Raccoon tail hat anyone?

 

If you do see any of this masked bandits do keep your distance. These photographs were taken with a telephoto lens so you can get good look at them. They may look cute but are fierce and can be aggressive if cornered. If you note those powerful back legs it is easy to see why they can spring a good distance to attach if they feel threatened or their young are in danger.

SPROUT: Who have you recently caught roaming around your yard at night?

 

© 2012 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

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Does anyone read blogs and does it matter that you write?

/ Terrill Welch / 29 Comments

Short answer: Yes they do and yes it does!

Sold – photography print on canvas  of  Building with a View #2  in series of five by Terrill Welch

(available for purchase HERE)

There is a wonderful story that goes with this sale. Yesterday, as I was standing on top of a bench-seat in order to hang a small painting in the Green House Bar and Grill here on Mayne Island,  I hear a woman say

“Are you Terrill Welch?”

I turn, raising my eyebrows slightly at the smiling stranger and reply “yes I am”

The woman came bounding forward.

“OMG! I read your blog all the time! I am from Edmonton and whenever it is miserable there I go to your blog. I love your work! It is such a pleasure to meet you!”

Her husband is more nonchalantly and says – before saying hello to me –

“Is this the blog you always send me links to at work and tell me I just have to see it?” and as his wife is nodding he then smiles at me and says hello.

She is laughing and says “oh I send your blog posts everywhere – to my husband, my dad, all my friends”

Teasing she adds “you are famous in Edmonton you know.”

(For those not familiar with Edmonton – population 752,412 in 2007 and it is in Alberta, Canada – right next to British Columbia and about a two-day drive away from Mayne Island. Many make this trip at least once a year and sometimes several times. Anonymity intact!)

Before the couple even get their lunch ordered, this piece is selected and set aside for purchasing when they were ready to leave. She was able to ask for it by name and fortunately it was one of the photography prints I had selected to show this time.

I tell this story because if, as an artist, photographer or writer, you ever doubt the impact of your blogging efforts and all the time you put into posting your work – think again. It does matter. It does make a difference in connecting your work to those who will and do enjoy it.

I had never met this delightful woman before. I did not know this reader as one of my regular readers who comments here on Creative Potager.  And the post with this photograph was made on February 19, 2010

https://creativepotager.wordpress.com/2010/02/19/simplicity

I allow those who have a subscription to my blog to receive the whole post so they can read it and share it – the consequence of this is the views do not show up in my viewing statistics. But none-the-less, she is a regular reader and was able to comment on past and recent posts with great joy.

A fine moment for any artist, photographer or writer.
Thank you, thank you to my dear reader who has quietly enjoyed these posts and shared them with her family and friends. Thank you to all those readers I have yet to meet. And thank you to those readers I know well and who comment and share my work regularly. You are wonderful! You are a joy! You make my heart glad to be alive!

 

SPROUT Question: __________________ (you decide:)

 

P.S. This wasn’t the only sale yesterday as I was putting up the new show – but that is another story! 😉

 

© 2012 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

 

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/ Terrill Welch / 9 Comments

ALWAYS ROSES is a 24 x 36 inch oil on canvas still life painting

Terrill Welch's avatarTerrill Welch

ALWAYS ROSES is a 24 x 36 inch oil on canvas still life painting

Here are a couple of images of details as well.

and the second one…

I will be finishing the edges on this painting in a few days and then it will be available for purchase. I will update this post when the painting is posted. This is a sneak preview for those who follow and love my work. If you are interested in buying this painting and you do not want to wait that long, please feel free to contact me directly.

I haven’t painted flowers in the past few years but I have done so on other occasions. It seems I paint whatever I am involved in during my daily living. For example, this week I painted a scene from the local haying I had been asked to photograph for a client (that painting…

View original post 610 more words

An interview with Terrill Welch by Charles van Heck

/ Terrill Welch / 4 Comments

Every once in a long while someone reaches out and gently grasps your elbow to steer you over to a quiet spot where they can ask evocative questions. Such has been my experience in being interviewed by writer Charles van Heck! When someone is really listening in a deep and meaningful way I often have lots to say – so this in not a short read. However, I hope you will find it an interesting one. Enjoy!

Impression and Perspectives from Mayne Island
An Interview with Terrill Welch

at Whitman Pond Charles van Heck – Woodhull Arts Journal

Whitman Pond is the website of poet and author, Charles van Heck. Welcome to Whitman Pond, a fictional place that has had a long gestation.

I know that for those of you that regularly visit here you will enjoy discovering Charles van Heck’s website and his writings and interviews.

SPROUT: Who recently asked you such good questions that you didn’t realize until afterwards how much you had to say?

 

© 2012 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

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PEARS BY THE SEA original oil painting by Terrill Welch

/ Terrill Welch / 15 Comments

A strange relationship really, pears and the sea. However, it was a joyful occasion on the day they were wedded in my en plein air painting. How did this all come about you might ask?

Well, one day not too long ago I got to thinking how the lovely pear has been painted and photographed for what seems like forever. They are a powerful symbol of abundance, cultivation or agriculture and culture. I want to marry them – at least for a while – with the sea because the sea is, at least for me, a symbol of eternal change and continuity. My desire is to go more deeply into our human relationship to our environment. A study of pears by the sea seems like a good place to start as any.

I set up my easel as the light changed quickly.

It was a grand day by the sea!

As the sea embraces the sky – and my pears of course!

Would you like a peek at the work in progress before I show you the completed painting? Yes? I thought you might…

I may paint another still life of pears by the sea but for now – this 12 x 12 inch oil on canvas is it…

(Updated October 29, 2012: this painting is no longer available)

SPROUT: What is your most favourite unlikely relationship?

© 2012 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

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Mayne Island Early Evening At Georgina Point

/ Terrill Welch / 14 Comments

This is a long story from not too long ago, far off on the southwest coast of Canada. The rain has been raining and we have been having grey days well into what should be summer in middle June. But on this particular evening about 6:30 pm or so the sky clears and the sun shines as if she hasn’t been missed. We look at each other. I grab the camera bag and David his sweater. We scramble into my old blue ford truck, Miss Prissy, which right now gurgles more loudly than usual with a small hole developing in the exhaust. About 10 minutes from our home on Mayne Island, Georgina Point Heritage Part and Lighthouse are our destination.

No this photograph was not taken on this particular evening. It is from late in May at about noon. I just wanted to show you where we are going to be situated for this particular story. You can park yourself on that bench there between the lighthouse and the flag pole beside David or you can wander along the rocky shore with me. Either way, it is a quiet evening with the flapping of the Canadian flag overhead being the loudest sound to be heard.

The grass is getting tall and is in full bloom. For those with allergies you will be glad the wind calm. I notice a rather large cedar stump has been marooned on the shore.

It is oh so still.

The sun is warm on our back and shoulders as the smell of the sea water drifts lazily upwards. It is a time of noticing simple pleasures like the crevices in the sandstone.

David seems to be enjoying his time on bench and blends nicely into our surroundings.

I seem to see a few of you have joined him there on his perch overlooking the Strait of Georgia at the entrance into Active Pass. No pushing now! Shhhh. We seem to be the only ones here. But this might not be entirely so. I decide to go back up by the stairs.

Did you notice them in the first photograph of the lighthouse? No this is not the way I came down. That would have been far too sensible. For those that followed me it is a good thing you had sturdy non-slip shoes on.

The large swinging yellow blooms are gone from the tree now but it is still lovely in the early evening light.

Not much to see really.

The sandstone is as always a constant muse and of pattern and light. We sit awhile picking up small sounds and movement that tell us we are not alone. A couple of seals cough and snort a little to the left.

They always seem to have a cold! A Great Blue Heron glides past…

landing at a favourite fishing hole a little farther off.

A shadow moves overhead as a young eagle sores past in the opposite direction.

It circles around and lands in a tall old fir tree and calls out to another feathered friend hidden in a tree a bit farther over.

The sun is warming the stillness as it seeps into those damp crevices down deep where you thought now weary water could reach. Shall we just sit awhile? Ah yes! So lovely.

Wait! What is that over on there on the rocks. Could it be? Yes, I think it is!

Do you see it? Near the top left! It is about the size of a small house cat but with shorter legs.

We are a pretty far away and these animals are fast and timid so lets use a little paintography to get you a closer look.

It is a mink. We have seen them before but never with a chance to raise the camera up and see what I could capture. They are very red here on the coast rather than the dark chestnut that I am used to seeing in the interior of British Columbia. Now for a little seaweed rub.

Who knows what it has gotten into. These fellows are always up to sneaky mischief. It is a good thing there isn’t a hen house near by! Well, one last look our way before it scoots off across the rocks.

Oh good gravy! Look at what time it is – way past your bedtime. Now off you go and if you are coming with us tomorrow remember to set out your raincoat.

SPROUT: Who last told you a long story just for the pleasure of telling?

© 2012 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

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European Fallow Deer Mayne Island

/ Terrill Welch / 5 Comments

We had a nice surprise visit late yesterday afternoon on the valley floor below our house. These two buck Fallow Deer stood long enough for me to photograph when we whistled at the them. You may wonder what European Fallow Deer are doing on Mayne Island off the southwest coast of Canada and it is a good question. Sometime in the 1990’s they were brought here to farm and eventually a few got away which has led to the foreign immigrants becoming wild inhabitants on the island. Though they are extremely pretty they are not favoured by locals as they compete with the native deer for limited food. They are also much more fearful and wary. This is the best photograph I have been able to get in five years. Enjoy!

SPROUT: If you could see anything you wanted out of your favourite window in your home what would it be?

© 2012 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

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Midday in Navy Channel oil painting by Terrill Welch

/ Terrill Welch / 13 Comments

The day was bright with shifting clouds. I was asked by a student if I would paint something in our private lesson so she could see how one might start and then work a painting through to completion. A visual and tactile learner I felt compelled to honour her request. So we worked through the usual coaching process for her to choose what she was going to paint and her learning goals. Once she was underway I set up by the open door and began to work on this piece. We broke up the session with conversation and observation of the development of each painting which were of different subject matter. I punctuated our conversation with the need to honour and develop ones own painting fingerprint even while learning technique and painting processes. Time drifted at warp speed and this small 5 x 7 inch painting study emerged from the afternoon.

I am pleased with the piece. The questions asked by the student in this interchange influenced steps that I took in its creation. For this I am thankful and appreciative because as a teacher we are also forever a student.

 

SPROUT: What is your best experience of sharing a creative “how to” where you learned something in a new way? 

 

© 2012 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

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Stormy Sky over the Belle Chain

/ Terrill Welch / 9 Comments

I was chasing the supermoon across the Gulf Islands sky on evening. These clouds were in my way as the last light caught the Belle Chain which is a string of small islands at the horizon line where the sea lions gather. I could hear their barking conversation as the sky rolled in its majestic glory.

Now that the two art shows of my work are up, the Farm Gate Store spring series greeting cards have arrived (more on this in the next post) and the garden is planted I really must get some of these up and in an album for you on my smugmug and redbubble storefront. Soon!

SPROUT: What sound recently completed a picture for you?

© 2012 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

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From Moonlight to Nomads Essentials

/ Terrill Welch / 19 Comments

On Mayne Island we are flexible. We can go from shooting the moon to finding natural solutions for smelly feet in one blog post. Not bad eh?

First, allow me to welcome all the new people who have subscribed to Creative Potager as a result of “Mayne Island Super moon on May 5 2012” being Freshly Pressed yesterday.  It is a pleasure to have you join our creative community.

So now back to smelly feet. Well, not really smelly feet but it is one of the many things you might want to discuss with the owner of Nomads Essentials, Barbara McIntyre, here on Mayne Island off the southwest coast of Canada.

Some of you may remember that Barbara has shared the space with me to show our photography at the Green House Bar and Grill for the past 1.5 years. But even if you don’t remember, that is okay because I do. I also remember that it was with her encouragement that put my work up in this venue. Now she is off on a new adventure and I want to be the first to share it with you. Welcome to her new store located on the right side of The Root Seller Inn in downtown Miners Bay.

Isn’t it just gorgeous!?

Nomads Essentials will have its grand opening on Saturday May 12, 2012 between 11:00 am and 4:00 pm

Barbara is the most warm, caring and giving person who I am overjoyed to call my friend. She is often making things upside down right

particularly when it comes to  the “Four Rs” of reduce, reuse, recycle or refuse. This is not always an easy task when providing body and home products designed for the contemporary nomad. But she does it with a creative flare many would envy. She views her new store as she does herself – a work in progress.

Barbara as you might guess is not new to providing us with her artisan products. My first purchase of Barbara’s wares goes back several years and it was a bar of her handmade soap. Sometimes I get one in fancy gift wrapping if it is for a present.

But if it is for me, I get it start up with one small band of recyclable paper identity card.

Out of curiosity, I asked what was her best seller?  I was sure the answer would be her bath salts but I was wrong. It is her Reclined Bed Freshener.

Yes, I did bring home some to try.

But what about sore muscles from hiking or kayaking around the Gulf Islands?

Chapped Lips from the sun and sea breeze?

Moths in the closet where you store your best outdoor wool sweater for watching the sunset over at the lighthouse?

Or chocolate that is delicious but won’t melt in your pocket on a warm day clambering up to the view from Henderson Hill?

Or huh-hum… those smelly feet as they exit your summer sandals?

I promise you that Barbara can fulfill almost any nomads essential needs for body, mind and spirit. Speaking of spirit, I was most amazed at how Barbara’s photography shows up as part of her signature being when displayed in an environment where she has carefully chosen the colours for Nomads Essentials.

Just beautiful!

As you can see,  we are very flexible here on Mayne Island as we go from moonlight to smelly feet to  twinkle toes. Now you will have everything you need to come along with me on my next photo shoot. Oh! Better bring your camera. I didn’t notice any at Nomads Essentials. But then again, I am sure I didn’t notice everything. It is always good to leave a thing or two for others to discover 😉

Thank you Barbara for allowing me to share your new store with Creative Potager and I wish you all the best with this new adventure. Warm hugs as always and we shall see you again on Saturday at the grand opening of Nomads Essentials!

SPROUT: What are your personal nomadic essentials?

© 2012 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

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