Deep into the painting process of West Coast Blues rolling waves Oyster Bay

August 3, 2013March 10, 2018 / Terrill Welch / 9 Comments

Dear readers, I know you are used to regular posts about my work-in-progress and I admittedly have been more than a little tardy in supplying them.

However, I am hoping that this rather vulnerable, revealing exposure of the painting process for my latest large 36 x 72 inch oil on canvas WEST COAST BLUES ROLLING WAVES OYSTER BAY will make up for this.

I find it hard to define where a painting really begins as each work is usually in the middle of a longer artistic exploration and painterly discussion. But for the sake of starting somewhere let us start with March 3, 2013.

The waves are rolling midnight blue on one of those rare days when the winter sky is just right and the west coast mountains remain visible across the Strait of Georgia.

(Quality prints of this photograph in various formats are available HERE.)

Not long after this day a small 12 x 16 inch painting WEST COAST BLUES STUDY is completed.

(Quality unlimited prints of this painting study are available in various formats HERE.)

The painting SOLD still wet and “resting’ in less than 24 hours after it is completed. Fortunately, I am able to make arrangements to keep the painting in the studio as I prepare to work on the larger canvas. Sadly though, my external hard drive fails at this point and all but one other reference image of this scene are lost. I usually work with about 20 – 150 captures of a scene I want to paint but must now settle for two which includes this one…

Driven by the movement of the sea which is far greater than the camera can capture, I choose a primary composition to guide the large painting…

Several months after painting the small study, I begin to work up the underpainting and with modern technology I am going to take you with me.

Oh to get that energy on the canvas from the very beginning! We now must leave the underpainting to dry for a few days before, with bare feet and all, I am ready to start building the whole canvas up at once – mostly working wet-on-wet or alla prima.

I paint for several hours at a time as the canvas is mammoth to cover, even with using large brushes.

I am always happiest at this stage of any painting because the possibilities feel limitless and exhilarating. There are often smiling moments of gems like this detail that will eventually disappear as the painting progresses.

As always I am conscious of the light direction, the season and also the movement and energy resistances within a landscape. My desire is to have the viewer inside the painting rather than sitting comfortably as an observer of the scene. This next video clip hints at how I go about accomplishing this.

At this point I want to caution that what I am sharing here is how I paint and my painting process. It is not “the right way” or “the only way” but rather it is my way. Other artists have their own well-developed approaches and techniques that works for them just fine. So this sharing of my process is NOT a “how to” sharing but rather an intimate personal sharing of my own painting process. I am allowing you into my artist’s head and heart as I work.

I am now to the point where the painting is at risk of the painting tightening up more than I want…

I keep working adding some studio lighting to try to even out the light hitting the canvas.

I continue and time passes until my physical ability becomes fatigued and yet I am reluctant to quit.

I must eventually leave it and walk away until the next day when, with some help, I get the painting down the stairs of the loft studio and outside for a good look.

Now is as good a time as any to tell you that between the first painting study that I did as part of the reference work for this large painting I also painted fifteen other smaller works and of these seven or almost half are already in private collections.

In a moment, I will share two of these smaller paintings that I feel are most relevant to this specific work and that are still available for purchase. But first let’s set up the iPad again for one last video clip…

A nifty new use for my French Box easel 😉

My disappointment is almost overwhelming. The painting is not measuring up and I am unsure as to what to do about it. This is the hardest part of the process for me both in experience and to share. All the hours, days, weeks and months have left me with what I feel at this stage is an unsatisfactory result. This moment is not new to me as I mention in the video. It is a common experience I have at or near the end of a painting. What to do? I wait it out by placing the painting where I look at it while working on other paintings.

This leaves me with one of the two other significant small studies that I mentioned early.

END OF STORM GEORGINA POINT MAYNE ISLAND 8 x 10 inch oil on canvas was painted midway through.

Update July 16, 2017: This painting is now SOLD and is in a private collection in Norway.

THE MT. BAKER REACH 8 x 10 inch oil on canvas was painted during that difficult resting period of uncertainty.

Update October 8, 2013: This painting is now SOLD to a private art collector in California U.S. A.

Somehow, unknown to even me I was able to determine what I needed to do on the larger canvas because of the work on particularly the second of these two small landscapes of the sea. After several days of letting the painting “rest” I went back in and did another day’s work and came away much more satisfied with the final results. The relationship between these smaller works and the large painting is best observed in these details from the larger work.

Detail one and each of the following details are about 15 X 20 inch portions of the overall 36 x 72 inch canvas.

Detail 2 with a good slice of the land, sea, sky relationship.

Detail 3 with an up close view of the water movement.

Detail 4 showing the largest rolling wave.

Recently a studio visitor asked how had I learned to paint water. I gave my best effort to explain that in order to paint something with its energy and with conviction I become that element and I feel the tension that surrounds it in relation to other aspects of its environment. This is a process of painting the light and space between the forms evident in a painting rather than painting the forms themselves.

Detail 5 showing a small piece of the sky.

Now I must leave for 10 days. I will not look at the painting and with a wee bit of luck I won’t even think about it.

Okay, here we are. It is August 3, 2013, five months after I began formulating the reference material for this painting and a total of sixteen smaller paintings and two larger paintings have been completed besides this largest of the large work. I have walked around the painting and allowed it to surprise me. I have had more than a handful of individuals through my home studio and I have seen the impact the work has as its presence reaches them.

Finally, though I may privately wish the painting was more, I am ready to say it is complete. Done. Ready to stand on its own.

Please allow me to introduce you to WEST COAST BLUES ROLLING WAVES OYSTER BAY 36 x 72 inch oil on canvas

Update January 16, 2014: This painting has now been release on my website Terrill Welch Artist post “Sea Tree and Fruit – new paintings by Terrill Welch”

What creative process has held your attention over the past five months?

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)
Underpainting With Love and Kindess (intothebardo.wordpress.com)
Sold – BLUE LAST small Canadian Landscape painting (terrillwelchartist.com)
Alla Prima – The Perfect “In The Moment” Technique (longdensarronart.wordpress.com)

Capturing the Emotion of the Canadian Landscape is No Easy Task

June 23, 2013June 25, 2013 / Terrill Welch / 23 Comments

Share Your Love of Art! Share Your Love of Canada!

ARABELLA invites you to become a part of our Great Canadian Landscape Painting contest! Register and cast your vote for your favourite artists and their works!

A while back, I was invited to consider competing in the Arabella Canadian Landscape Contest. The six year old Arabella magazine had made an audacious proposal to tell Canada’s story through contemporary art by creating an outstanding collection of current works that examine the emotional power of landscape art in shaping Canadian identity with a full sense of past, present and future. Though I do not usually bother with art competition, with a proposal like this how could I refuse?

The contest is now at a point where I need your help. The Exhibit of over 100 participating artists and 300 paintings is now open for voting and commenting in the People’s Choice Award. I would greatly appreciate it if you could take the time to register, vote and comment on my three paintings that are part of this Canadian landscape art competition. Also, if you could share this blog post in your networks I will be ever-so-grateful. The direct link to my three paintings in the competition is at http://aclcontest.arabelladesign.com/photos/index.php?/category/62

The paintings that I submitted will be familiar to most of you. They are:

SLICED WITH A TEAR – 36 X 60 inch oil on canvas

RHYTHM OF THE SEA EDITH POINT – 20 x 40 inch oil on canvas

And EVENING AND THE ARBUTUS TREE 36 x 60 inch oil on canvas

To register to vote and comment on these paintings in this Canadian landscape art competition, go to the Login details on the upper left on my competition page HERE. I know registering, voting and commenting in an art competition is a lot to ask. However, a comrade on Google Plus has helped me to reframe this request with his comment as follows:

It is hard to ask of others for some people – I’m one and you are as well. But you are really not asking for anything..You are giving it! If you did not post this I would never have known or suspected that I could make a difference in your world other [than] by comments. You are giving me a way to thank you that I never had. Your paintings and musings make me feel good and take me away from concrete and glass. For this I am grateful and am in your debt–not vice versa.. Someday I’m going to see you in the McMichael*….You deserve to be there!

By Dennis Rogers

* Renowned for collecting only Canadian art, the McMichael Gallery permanent collection consists of almost 6,000 artworks by Tom Thomson, the Group of Seven, Emily Carr, their contemporaries, and First Nations, Métis, Inuit and other artists who have made a contribution to the development of Canadian art.

Isn’t this a nice way to look at my asking you to drop by register, vote and comment on my paintings that are in the competition? Since so many of you are regular readers and often comment here on the blog I decided to be brave and ask for your support. So thank you and special thanks to those of you who have already dropped in voted and commented. I deeply appreciate the effort.

Your votes will count in determining the winner of the People’s Choice Award, just one of the great prizes being offered in this contest. All prizes will be awarded in August 2013 at the conclusion of the jurying process. Please note that in order to vote you must register an account. Email data requested is only used for the contest and will not be used for any other purpose.

Now I am going to do something that may seem odd for a participant in a nation-wide art competition. I am going to share with you a few favourite works by other artists. I feel that these works collectively do a brilliant job of fulfilling the task of expressing the emotional impact of the Canadian Landscape. I have hyperlinked each artist’s name so that you can go directly to their competition profile and see any additional work they may have contributed. Possibly you may even take the time to vote and comment too.

Holly Friesen – an artist I have introduced to you in the past.

Holly’s connection between our inner world and the landscape moves me deeply as the painting stretches, encircles and holds my emotions.

Maryanne Jespersen

Maryanne has a lovely colour harmony and loose expression in this painting leaving lots of room for the viewer’s imagination.

Michael O’Toole – with just this one painting in the contest Michael has captured so much about the west coast of Canada.

There are six artists whose first name is Peter in this competition. I am not sure if this says something about the popularity of the name Peter in Canada or not. But you are excused if you have a hard time keeping them straight and instead resort to just using their last names. I am going to share four of these six “Peter” artists next – with both their first and last names 🙂

Peter Adams

There is strength in less when we dare to be bold and vulnerable as is so aptly demonstrated by Peter Adams here.

Peter McConville – again with only one work in contest it is worth going to his profile and following the link to see others of his pointillism style paintings.

Not often is so much movement captured in such detailed work as in Peter’s landscapes.

Peter Rotter

Slipping into to the woods is easy in Peter’s painting. Yes there is an opening beyond but my viewer’s eye is in no rush, allowing the trees to fold me into their peace, their stillness.

Peter Stuhlmann

The gorgeous use of design and colour by Peter allows me to pull away from the specifics of the scene and appreciate the whole and then be drawn back into the landscape – again and again.

Rich Bond – a fellow British Columbia artist with six paintings in the contest making it hard to choose just one to share with you.

Patches of colour, harmonious and pleasant, seeking the trust of the viewer’s eye to find and accentuate the landscape elements independent of the painter. It is a rare gift to paint with such strength and conviction that any ego remnants of the painter are submissive to the landscape and its relationship to the viewer.

Well, this gives you a small taste of eleven of the over 300 paintings in the Arabella Canadian Landscape Contest. There are many more to browse and enjoy on the contest Exhibition website – which collectively really do capture the beauty and emotional spirit of Canada.

Yes, I am fully aware that this kind of sharing of the other participants art is not actually conducive to winning a People’s Choice Award for this competition. However, this is not my motivation for sharing the work of these fellow artists. Five years from now the People’s Choice award will likely be lost in the litter of our everyday lives. We will have moved on (artists and viewers alike) – we will have forgotten about the registering, voting and commenting. But just possibly the Canadian landscape itself will be strong and present to you through the work of these artists and through my own paintings. This chance to have a lasting impact on your experience of the land I love and the country I love is why I share these additional works by my fellow contemporary Canadian landscape artists. I hope you enjoyed the experience.

Now wish me luck and I look forward to reading your comments on my paintings in the Arabella Canadian Landscape Contest for the People’s Choice Award.

What emotions most aptly capture the Canadian Landscape for 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

Remember Untold Mystery – Canadian Landscape Painting (terrillwelchartist.com)
New Growth West Coast in late May – Canadian landscape oil painting (terrillwelchartist.com)
Discovering the Canadian Wilderness Through Art (pierreajsabourin.wordpress.com)
NO REASON Canadian west coast oil painting by Terrill Welch (terrillwelchartist.com)
Plein Air Painting From Felix Jack Road Mayne Island (terrillwelchartist.com)
End of Storm Georgina Point Mayne Island – oil painting (terrillwelchartist.com)
Winter Sun II west coast Canada Landscape Painting (terrillwelchartist.com)

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)

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)

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)

Finding the Rhythm of the Sea in oil on canvas in the art studio

March 25, 2013March 25, 2013 / Terrill Welch / 14 Comments

Painting en plein air is wonderful and the easiest way to feel your landscape through the paintbrush and onto the canvas. However, weather and the size of the a work does not always make this the most practical approach. So I photograph my subjects from various perspectives. Then using sometimes years of memory about a subject along with a series of reference images, I am then prepared to work on a specific landscape in my small studio. This canvas is a good size at 20 x 40 inches. Finished paintings and blank canvases are going to have to squeeze in their edges and squish together to make room for this fellow.

While I am getting the set up and the painting roughed in I thought I would answer a question for you. I am often asked about how I get my ideas for my photographs and paintings. The most honest answer is that the ideas find me as I observe my everyday life. I capture and paint what I notice, what I see, feel, smell and hear. I am influenced by events that are happening in my life. If I am mournful, excited or weary it will show up in what I notice. What is most relevant is my daily practice of noticing. The ideas are always there. My primary task is to notice and to act on what I notice. Today’s work comes from a moment in September a few years ago when the sea rolled itself with eloquent expression onto the shore at Edith Point. Let’s rough it in and see what we have.

You may notice that I do not sketch my work onto the canvas. This is something I have never done as I prefer to make some basic marks with paint and then paint up an underpainting to guide me. Sometimes this underpainting is a complementary colour. Other times, such as this one, I stay close to the palette that will become the finished painting.

Much of the scene is in a late afternoon shadow, and the haze is heavy from the smoke of forest fires. The rhythm of the sea and the simplicity of the moment is so strong that my brush seems to know the path by heart. Hours pass with nothing but my humming and the sound of the palette knife mixing paint and the brush applying it to the canvas. The light is past its prime in the studio. I need some distance. Shall we carefully take the wet thing outside and have a look?

It is coming I think, but will have to sit until tomorrow now. My body is stiff and a bit tired from standing and reaching most of the day, but it feels good. I have intimately noticed the rhythm of the sea.

I want to continue to work wet-on-wet or alla prima on this canvas so I begin again the next afternoon and work with the studio lights until very late into the evening. Finally, the painting comes to rest.

Resting is an observable and intuitive state of a painting’s development. It is when the elements of the painting have found their place on the canvas in relationship to each other. Yet, they are still alive with energy and vitality. In this case, the sea is still rolling forward onto the shore. The trees are still tingling from the days sun. The rocks are releasing their summer heat as the water charges across their surface. I am there. You are there. The salt spray is moist on our skin and the rhythm of the sea matches our breath, our heartbeat, and answers a call to all that is knowable.

The resting period is also a time to critically view the painting with fresh eyes. Is there anything odd or irritating that can be corrected? Is there anything that can strengthen the expression of the piece? Does the painting work? Is it finished? This process of evaluation can happen in a minute or it may take weeks. For this painting I left it for seven days while I was away. I came home and looked at it and decided it is done, finished. A final photograph is required and then it will be released over at Terrill Welch Artist later in the week.

First, I must get a new show ready to hang at the Green House Restaurant here on Mayne Island. Here is a short video from my home studio sharing sneak preview of the 18 paintings that will be shown…