Painting

First Salish Sea Sunday Savings

/ Terrill Welch / 11 Comments

Ladies and gentleman…. Take your seats please! It is time for our first ever….

Salish Sea Sunday Savings event!

Drum roll. Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tttttta-T!!! Crowd Cheers. The bear walks into the ring dressed in a tutu…. Just kidding….. there is no bear 🙂

First, thank you everyone who participated in the draw for

PRECIOUS SECONDS – Mayne Island in paintings and photographs.

 

Your support has been amazing! Thank you! Thank you!  

 

The draw will be made at 4:00 pm by someone trustworthy in the near vicinity. The winner will be announced on Monday’s Creative Potager post.

NOW grab your beverage of choice, a means of payment and put your feet up!

For the next hour from 3:00 – 4:00 pm P.D.T. this Sunday, October 2, 2011

Creative Potager is hosting a sale of 40% off on the following items.

ONE original impressionist 8 X 10 inch oil on canvas painting

STORM COMING

Regular price $280.00 and is available until 4:00 pm for only for $168.00 plus shipping.

 

To purchase email me at tawelch@shaw.ca Be quick! It is not likely to last long. The purchase will go to the first email received. The best payment and shipping arrangements will be discussed at that time.

The rest of the items are all available at my redbubble online storefront…

TWO painting prints reduced by 40%

Unlimited numbers of prints are available in any format including cards to canvas prints

WINTER SUN – largest size available is a medium canvas print

(Purchased this print HERE)

SUMMER MORNING MIST – largest size available is a medium canvas print

(Purchased this print HERE)

THREE photography prints reduced by 40%

Unlimited numbers of prints are available in any format including cards to canvas prints

QUIET LEDGE – largest size available is the extra large canvas print

(Purchased this print HERE)

TRAIL ENDS WHILE DESIRE CONTINUES  – largest size available is the extra large canvas print

(Purchase this print HERE)

ARBUTUS TREE IN THE FOG  – largest size available is the extra large canvas print

(Purchased this print HERE)

AND A BONUS IMAGE BECAUSE I COULDN’T DECIDE ON JUST THREE…

AUGUST MIST BUILDING FIELD  – largest size available is the extra large canvas print

(Purchased this print HERE)

And the STUDY OF BLUE calendar for 2012 reduced by 40%

(Purchased this calendar HERE)

All paintings, prints of paintings, prints of photographs and the STUDY OF BLUE 2012 calendar will be returned to their regular price at 4:00 pm today Sunday October 2, 2011 P.D.T.

I wish you the most pleasant shopping experience and do leave a comment or email me directly at tawelch@shaw.ca if you have any questions. I will be monitoring my email and this post closely for the next hour to offer any assistance you might need.

Thank you again for participating in the first ever Salish Sea Sunday Savings event. The next event will be in two weeks as next Sunday is a the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday and I shall be taking time out to be with my family. So if you are not already, please subscribe to this blog and you will receive notice of the event as well as twice weekly posts of new photographs and art work.

© 2011 Terrill Welch, All rights reserved.

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

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

Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

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

First Thursday Teaser

/ Terrill Welch / 13 Comments

Psssst! My first Salish Sea Sunday Savings event is this Sunday.

LINK your chances to win an image-wrapped copy of my new coffee table book

PRECIOUS SECONDS – Mayne Island in paintings and photographs

To qualify you must be subscribed to the Creative Potager blog (sidebar on the right) and share this blog LINK to the First Thursday Teaser for the first Salish Sea Sunday Savings event anytime BEFORE the start of the event at 3:00 P.M. this Sunday, via ANY of these means – email, facebook, twitter, Google+ or on your blog. Each time you share your name will be added to the draw – the more shares, the more chances to win.

Remember, I MUST KNOW that you have shared the link to be able to add your name to the draw. So for whichever sharing means you use, apply the appropriate tool for a cc.

The winner will be announced on next Monday’s regular Creative Potager post.

Are you excited yet?

 Now for the best part….

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

This event will be hosted right here at the Creative Potager blog 

Available at this discount price will be:

One original impressionist 8 X 10 inch oil on canvas painting from my studio – a hint: SPLASH

Two painting prints in any format including cards to canvas prints from my redbubble

Three photography prints in any format including cards to canvas prints from my redbubble

And…the  STUDY OF BLUE 2012 calendar also from my redbubble

Is this fun or what? 🙂

I look forward to receiving those LINK notifications and seeing you on Sunday. I be avail real-time for 3:00 – 4:00 pm P.D.T. So grab your beverage of choice, your slippers, and your credit card and drop on by and see what is posted.

This event is intended to accomplish two things.

First, I wish to show my thanks to established fans and collectors of my work. You have shown amazing support and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. With Christmas just around the corner it is the least I can do.

Second, I want to increase the number of fans and collectors who can say “oh, that is impressionist painter and photographer Terrill Welch’s work.”

Today’s cheeky Sprout Question: Do you have a suggestion for a work to be selected for this first Salish Sea Sunday Savings?

Leave a comment with a link to the work before midnight Saturday, October 1, 2011 and I shall see what I can do.

© 2011 Terrill Welch, All rights reserved.

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

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

Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

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

PRECIOUS SECONDS – Mayne Island in paintings and photographs

/ Terrill Welch / 19 Comments

What is this? You guess it. I am announcing the release of my coffee table book PRECIOUS SECONDS – Mayne Island in paintings and photographs is now available through Blurb self-publishing. You can view the first 15 of the 50 pages of paintings and photographs that you know and love.

You may make your order today. Isn’t that fun?

The material quality of Blurb books is excellent. However, they are a wee bit pricy. Therefore, I will not be carrying this publication as inventory so that I can keep the purchase price as reasonable as possible. Online in the Blurb store is where you shall find this latest addition to my printed work. Enjoy.

Sprout question: What creative surprise do you have to share this week?

Happy September New Year!

I will be sharing more about my fall schedule and offerings on Friday. Best of the week to you 🙂

© 2011 Terrill Welch, All rights reserved.

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

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

Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

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

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Five new plein air oil paintings by Terrill Welch

/ Terrill Welch / 21 Comments

Have you been wondering when I will post my summer paintings? Well here they are!

For more information and purchase price on each painting, click on its title below the painting for the gallery link.

The first you may have seen in an earlier post when it was almost completed.

AT THE BEACH 12 X 12 original oil on canvas.

Next is the last of the three I did together on a summer morning.

A SUMMER DAY 8 x 8 inch original oil on canvas (No longer available).

Then there is the middle one.

SKY CLEARING 10 x 10 inch original oil on canvas.

And here is the first one from that morning.

GRAY ON GRAY IN BLUE 12 X 12 original oil on canvas.

Finally, there is this latest one I painted on Shell Beach at East Point on Saturna Island.

SUMMER MORNING MIST 10 x 10 inch original oil on canvas. (No longer available)

The new series has a working title of “Squared to the Sea” and I am poised to start on a bigger 36 X 36 inch canvas. Working with square dimensions are difficult to keep the composition interesting and I am enjoying the challenge.

Painting on site is mostly a nice weather activity. I might get a few more done before our fall rains but for the most part, this aspect of my creativity is reaching completion for now and I will be working in my studio again until next summer.

I do have another surprise for you that will be completed by the first week of September. I think you are going to like it. A hint – works best if you have a coffee table.

Sprout question: What is reaching completion in your creative world?

© 2011 Terrill Welch, All rights reserved.

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

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

Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

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

http://www.redbubble.com/people/terrillwelch/art/7681425-end-of-summer

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August morning mist at East Point on Saturna Island

/ Terrill Welch / 16 Comments

After two days of hiking and taking photographs on Saturna Island, this morning is our painting day. We had already scouted out where we wanted to be. But when we arrive, morning mist obscured the view.

However, it was gloriously magical. I spotted the old machine storage building behind the staircase which led me to complete a five piece study…

 (image available for purchase here)

 (image available for purchase here)

 (image available for purchase here)

Interestingly enough it is this fourth composition with the field that viewers most appreciate.

 (image available for purchase here)

But for me, it is this last image with the thistles that really inspires my imagination.

 (image available for purchase here)

Caught up in the space of a lone tree on the point I was gently reminded we were here to paint.

Though the fog was still keeping us close

and a few families had joined us on Shell Beach we went ahead and set up.

When I say “we” I really do mean “we” as the French box easel and materials were shared in 15 minute increments for a period of 2.5 hours.

My nine year old traveling companion has no idea I have him in the frame. His attention is on the mist, the stones and the sea. Someone stops to observe and comment. He replies “it is the first time I have painted with professional materials.” His eyes never leave the task at hand.

I will share more over the days ahead from our trip but this gives you a taste and foot hold into our time on Saturna Island.

Sprout question: What creative wonders do you have for us to taste this week?

© 2011 Terrill Welch, All rights reserved.

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

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

Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

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

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Good Morning En Plein Air

/ Terrill Welch / 17 Comments

What does an artist do on the morning after $2.5 trillion evaporates from global stock markets? Paint of course and not just any painting but en plein air by the sea.

It is 8:30 am. The morning is as gray unsettled as the global economy. It really didn’t hold much promise and looked like the bottom was going to fall out of the sky any second.

The only bright spot are these pink roses at the side of the lighthouse building.

The rocks down below me catch my interest but I have come to paint the sea.

Hopeful that the sun will recover its golden glow before noon. I set to work.

I stop infrequently. There will be no process photographs but I do catch a sailboat heading across Georgia Strait.

(this image may be purchased here.)

You can still see it in the distance as I leave aside the first 12 X 12 inch canvas to rest.

(this image may be purchased here.)

The sky starts to clear as I set up for the next 10 X 10 inch canvas. I wonder what time it is? Hum, ten o’clock. Let’s see what we can do.

Again I work steadily as the light and colours change faster than my brush can make a mark on the canvas. The sun is so bright I have a hard time seeing my work and have an even harder time capturing a photograph for you.

It is not finished but it has the energy of the moment and can be completed once this first work has dried.

I am getting tired but I want to do one more painting on my small 8 X 8 inch canvas. It is now just after 11:00 am.

(this image may be purchased here.)

The strokes seem to slip onto the small canvas effortlessly.

Oh my! It is now 12:30 am and I am ravenous! Time to pack up three very wet unfinished oil paintings and head for home.

This past week’s financial upheaval is not a surprise. In fact it has been a long time coming for those of us paying attention. More than ever we need to build on our resiliency, our connection to community and set a course directed by what is essential in our lives at this moment. A morning painting was my perfect answer. This is how I fortify my strength and clarity for whatever may be next.

 

Sprout question: How are you creatively going to weather our global financial storm?

 

© 2011 Terrill Welch, All rights reserved.

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

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

Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

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

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Why I hung a $2,420 original oil painting for sale at our local Farm Gate grocery store.

/ Terrill Welch / 20 Comments

Does it seem odd to you that I would accept an invitation to hang one of my large fine art original oil paintings in a grocery store? Well, let me explain. The Mayne Island Farm Gate store is not just any old place you go to get your fruit, vegetables, dairy meat, eggs and other delicious goods. Farm Gate has the finest of fine of everything that is local or just plain excellent.

Take the frozen meat cooler for instance stocked with local organic grass-fed beef, succulent lamb, decadent chicken and more.

A stew for Farm Gate with its delicate vegetables fresh from the garden is a stew to remember.

But the Farm Gate story is not just about what is good to buy. Farm Gate is about what is good about us. Most places on Mayne Island are friendly and helpful but Farm Gate takes community, friends and family to the very heart of our experience.

A coffee anyone?

Or maybe you would like to take a pound of this micro-roasted organic, fair-trade, shade-grown, bird-friendly black gold home instead?

How many of you actually know the person who makes the hummus in your local grocery store? How many of you would be delighted rather than surprised when that same person saw your vehicle in the parking lot and came in to say ‘hello” complete with an island-size hug?

Since we were both there it was a great photo opportunity. Just in from gardening here is Barbara at her working best.

Barbara McIntyre of Nomadic Routes Inc. is the same Barbara that is showing her photography at the Green House Restaurant with me. By the way, we are hanging a new show this afternoon if you want to drop in, have a bite and say hello. But back to hummus – Barbara’s organic Moroccan Hummus is a reason all by itself to stop by Farm Gate. Or you may prefer one of her kayak-travel-proof-decorated-wax-covered-chocolate-truffles. Delicious! Sssssppttt! There on the left end of the checkout counter – an easy reach. No one will say anything if you buy three.

In fact, some things at Farm Gate are so good they have to be shared with friends far away. On Laurie Buchanan’s Speaking from the Heart blog post today she tells about receiving a package from me in the mail. For those of you that know us both, it is no surprise that we have an equal passion for the precious cargo sent by air mail and arriving in a plain brown package.

When Don and Shanti, the owners of Farm Gate, asked if I would be interested in hanging some of my original oil paintings I hesitated for a second. Not because it was a grocery store but because it was such a fine grocery store. The walls are spacious with high ceiling and already well appointed with their own collection of fine art. So I thought about the work I had available at the close of the STUDY of BLUE solo exhibition which was showing at the Oceanwood Restaurant and Inn. I decided I had two pieces that were large enough and would fit well in the store. There was the painting ONE shown here and KEEPING WATCH a painting of the same size (and same price) – but it sold that same week. So when I brought ONE to hang in the spot we had agreed, even though it is 24 X 36 inches, it looked rather lost in the large space above the door next to the 25 pound bags of floor on the back wall.

Don came by as I was finishing up and said “I think you are going to need a bigger sign than that – something that actually says in big letters FOR SALE. You need to catch people’s attention.”

Don was right. The small gallery sign I had was not going to do it. So off I went to make a new sign. When I came back my painting had been upgraded. Yes, just like in a fine hotel, it now had the premium suite. They had moved one of their own collector pieces to the original location of my painting and placed ONE front and centre in the best light, with the best exposure. I was overwhelmed by the gesture. Imagine someone taking the time and creativity to think through what would work best to show my work.

That is the kind of place Farm Gate is. Besides fine groceries and fine art, the Farm Gate store is about being fine people –where your best interests are their best interests. Friendly and caring does not adequately describe this kind of lived intention. It is with great pleasure and equal honour that my original oil paint ONE hangs for sale at the Farm Gate Store.

I am sure that along with your freshly picked white cucumbers, basket of raspberries and lamb burgers for the BBQ, Erin would be happy to accept a cheque made out to Terrill Welch for the sum of $2,420 and help you package ONE for safe transport to your own fine Mayne Island retreat or other far away destination of equal fine taste. But those two little packages on the bottom far left. You can’t have those. That is David and mine’s lunch – grill zucchini, onion, and red pepper with goat cheese on a freshly baked organic croissant.  Huuuttt! I see you! Okay, you can have a bite.

There is a verse in one of Muriel Rukeyser poem’s “The Speed of Darkness” that comes to mind:

Time comes into it.

Say it.       Say it.

The universe is made of stories,

not of atoms.

I am so pleased to be part of the Farm Gate story.

Sprout question: What stories are you pleased to be part of?

© 2011 Terrill Welch, All rights reserved.

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

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

Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

From Mayne Island ,British Columbia, Canada

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

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Held Over by Popular Demand

/ Terrill Welch / 18 Comments

Thank you everyone for your support. The show has been a whopping success and it is not over yet!

The STUDY of BLUE solo exhibition was extended at the request of the venue until tomorrow August 2, 2011. However, SEVEN of the original fifteen paintings are now SOLD. I have replaced some of paintings at the end of the original close date so that they can be delivered to buyers. The Oceanwood Restaurant & Inn has also asked to hang paintings in their luxury B&B rooms so their customers will get another chance to purchase them. This is a lovely offer particularly for some of the larger paintings.

Here are quick links to my seven original oil paintings from the show that are still available for purchase at the ART OF DAY online gallery:

ONE 24 X 36 inch oil on canvas BUY NOW.

OWL’S VIEW 24 X 18 inch oil on canvas BUY NOW.

SALISH SEA FOUR 24 X 48 inch oil on canvas BUY NOW.

EAST POINT CLIFFS 24 X 18 inch oil on canvas BUY NOW.

BREAKING THROUGH 36 X 48 inch oil on canvas BUY NOW.

WINTER SUN 18 X 24 inch oil on canvas BUY NOW.

And the very last of the smaller paintings still available…

STORM COMING 8 X 10 inch on canvas BUY NOW.

 

Sprout question: What creative accomplishment are you celebrating this week?

 

p.s. I have a surprise that I hope to share by the middle of August… once I review the proof. I think you are going to like it.

 

STUDY OF BLUE  solo exhibition extended to August 2, 2011.

 

© 2011 Terrill Welch, All rights reserved.

 

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

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

Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

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

 

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Mountain Stands Alone

/ Terrill Welch / 16 Comments

It was a good weekend for art sales here at Creative Potager but I will tell you more about that later. Right now I am going to share with you how I use photography as study for future painting. When I tell people I sometimes take up to 150 reference images for one painting and that I use them in place of sketches, I can see the confusion slip into the corners of their eyes as they try and understand what I am talking about. Let’s use my fascination with Mount Baker for an example.

In fact, Mount Baker may be the single most motivating factor for me to buy a 70 – 300 mm lens with an image stabilizer. I do alright with my 17-85 mm lens which also has an image stabilizer for most things. But that mountain is too far away from Mayne Island and I don’t think it is going to get any closer anytime soon – at least I hope not.

A photo study of a subject for a future painting is not about standing fixed in one spot taking one shot after another. It is about getting to know the subject in its context. It is about feeling my way into the frame. It is intuitive observation. This is what I call discovering a realism of subject rather than of object. There is a difference and I will expand on this in a future post.

Most times I go back to the same places at different times of day, during different seasons. Each time these memories and images get stockpiled as internal references for the work that will come later with paint on canvas.

I am finding that these studies seem to offer more in-depth of understanding of my subject  than en plein air painting which I had assumed would be the ultimate in painting my subject in its context. This is a surprise to me. Maybe it is that I haven’t done enough en plein air painting recently. I would love to hear from other painters about what their experience as been.

Of this particular photo engagement with Mount Baker, this is my personal favourite frame.

(image available for purchase here.)

I like the soft focused foreground drawing our attention to Mount Baker yet somehow still reminding us that a pile of rocks – is still just a pile of rocks.

So there you have it. A few images from my latest study of Mount Baker and the mountain stands alone.

Oh I didn’t forget – you want to know about the art sales over the weekend.

The first of the large original oil paintings KEEPING WATCH in the STUDY of BLUE solo exhbition has sold to a collector inVictoriaB.C.Canada. This means six of the fifteen paintings in this show are now sold.

Also, large canvas print of the photograph of GOING, a medium canvas print of FOGGED IN and eight cards of photographs and paintings sold to an unknown buyer on redbubble. Thank you whoever you are. Your support and interest in my work is most appreciated.

And thank you to all of you who are part of my creative journey.

Sprout question: What mountain in your creativity stands alone?

STUDY OF BLUE  solo exhibition open until Wednesday July 27, 2011.

© 2011 Terrill Welch, All rights reserved.

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

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

Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

FromMayne Island,British Columbia,Canada

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

Beyond Blue mixed-media painting

/ Terrill Welch / 14 Comments

While the  STUDY of BLUE family is pulled together in the glare of a summer day and readied for my solo exhibition,  another small painting found its way onto my easel.

It started with a canvas print of “Beyond” as an underpainting.

I then freely added oil paint until it feels done. The work may be the seed for something new or it may be a one-off experiment. It is just too early to tell.

BEYOND BLUE mixed-media 8 X 11.75 inches on canvas $300.00

The painting is showing in the summer group show at the Mayne Island Reading Centre (the Library) but you can contact me directly via email at tawelch@shaw.ca if you are interested in having this piece hanging on your wall.

Sprout Question: What are you finishing and then beginning anew?

STUDY OF BLUE solo exhibition is up until July 27, 2011. At this time, there are still eleven paintings to choose from. Your personal favourite may still be available and can bepurchased today online.

© 2011 Terrill Welch, All rights reserved.

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

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

Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

From Mayne Island British Columbia, Canada

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

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