Summer Crossing

July 18, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 15 Comments

I know I said I was only going to post as I chose this summer but it seems as if I choose to post frequently. Maybe it is the good sales of my work last week. In addition to the medium size canvas photography print, I also sold another original oil painting from the STUDY of BLUE solo exhibition. The 8 x 10 inch painting of SALISH SEA THREE is going to buyers from Vancouver B. C., Canada. This means there are only 10 paintings left to choose from so if you have been mooning and musing over a particular piece, now is the time to act.

In the meanwhile, let’s do a summer crossing starting at Tsawwassen across Georgia Strait.

When I look back towards the ferry terminal I realize that it is no wonder I have done a study of blue.

I often feel that I am wrapped in time when at sea.

There is an openness

and a containment when traveling across the straight on a small vessel like the Bowen Queen.

Ah yes. One more stop at Galiano Island while I admire the Mayne Island lighthouse with Mount Baker looming in the background.

I shall be home soon.

Sprout Question: What creative crossing might you traverse this week?

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

Be Patient (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
Rainy Summer Day in Navy Channel (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
Beyond Blue mixed-media painting (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
Port of call – Mayne Island (creativepotager.wordpress.com)

Rainy Summer Day in Navy Channel

July 15, 2011July 16, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 15 Comments

Another medium size canvas print of “Witness in Georgia Strait” has sold from the Green House Restaurant where I share wall space with another Mayne Island creative being Barbara McIntyre. It is the second of this image I have sold. Summer is the time when our island doubles in size and we share this beautiful island with weekenders and tourists.

But in all honesty it has been a rather wet and dreary summer so far. Yet, it is the wettest and mistiest days that often find me leaving the house with my camera. It is like I must connect, I must be close to the earth’s surfaces taking in her breath as if we are one.

The day is hot and humid. My bare arms feel the moisture in the air and I leave my raincoat draped haphazardly around my waist. With the tide out, I scramble along the small beach and over the rocks in Navy Channel.

While noticing a straggly molting heron feeds in the shallows

I almost step on the most magnificent huge purple starfish.

(this image may be purchased here)

Looking west it is hard to make out Salt Spring Island in the distance.

But it is two large boulders to the east that have captured my attention. Huddled, as if braving the grayness of the day alone, they squat on the shore.

As I draw closer I can see that they are now separate and each holding a space of its own.

However, I opt for an image that has a stronger connection to their oneness, my oneness and our oneness as we experience being separate.

(this image may be purchased here)

The magic of summer rains and mist defies our capacity to mistakenly dwell on our separateness.

Sprout Question: What clarity comes from your today?

Terrill Welch’s 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 be purchased today online.

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

Port of call – Mayne Island (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
An invitation to buy a painting (creativepotager.wordpress.com)

Grandness when faced with our need for resilience

July 12, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 14 Comments

The year has been filled with moments of extreme and unusual weather in North America and around the world. There has been lots of rain, cooler than usual temperatures and high winds. Privately, we have been tentatively blaming it on the tipping of the earth from major earthquakes. But I have done no research to see if weather scientists feel the same. Maybe it is global warming and maybe it is just part of a normal cycle of change. But whatever it is, the results have been unpredictable and destructive.

Yesterday my friend Laurie Buchanan’s community of Crystal Lake, Illinois was hit by 75 mile an hour winds which snapped and up root full grown oak, hickory, and maple trees. At the same time, Alison Elliot in North Carolina reported that the torrential rains had caused a slide filling her house with mud and water. Then there is Daisy Hickman in South Dakota who has been keeping us current on the Missouri river flooding. Another friend reported that my former home community of Prince George, British Columbia was also on flood warnings due to heavy rains and late snow cap melting because of cooler temperatures this summer.

With this kind of a situation, I find it important to focus on renewal and the resilience of ourselves and nature. Therefore, I am posting this grand maple tree as a focal point for our intentions, as trees are cleared and mud is cleared out and we go about creating a new normal during trying times. If you look near the bottom right you will notice another young maple coming up beside it – a grand tree in waiting.

Sprout Question: Do you have a special symbol or item that you use to set an intention for resilience?

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

Poppy Opening

June 21, 2011June 21, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 23 Comments

Poppy Opening

Poppy petals unfold,

their crinkly wrinkles.

Laundry on a summer line.

Sun-kissed and fresh.

Moving gently with the breeze,

these frocks of orange.

(image is available for purchase here.)

Happy Summer Solstice.

Sprout question: How might you celebrate summer solstice?

STUDY OF BLUE solo exhibition opens Thursday June 30, 2011.

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

Promise of Summer (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
Port of call – Mayne Island (creativepotager.wordpress.com)

Have a Seat

June 10, 2011June 10, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 16 Comments

The sun slips low against the horizon as I stroll to the ferry docks on our neighbouring island – Galiano. Ambling into the Sturdies Bay waiting area in the softening light, with it windows squared to meet the sea, I sigh. It is a most lovely evening.

(image may be purchased here.) p.s. I particularly like this as a card.

Have the most wonderfully delightful weekend!

Sprout question: What might you be squaring up to meet?

STUDY OF BLUE solo exhibition opens Thursday June 30, 2011.

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

Sunday Morning (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
Seasoned Drama Queen (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
Promise of Summer (creativepotager.wordpress.com)

Seasoned Drama Queen

June 6, 2011June 10, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 10 Comments

Enjoying one of life’s great mysteries as no two days at the beach are ever the same.

(image is available for purchase here.)

Seasoned Drama Queen

Old sandstones baked on the reef until lustfully sultry,

while awaiting the sea’s caress.

Together with the sky’s blue,

these three perform like a seasoned drama queen,

making so much out of so little.

Sprout question: What sensory experience has your creative juices flowing?

STUDY OF BLUE solo exhibition opens Thursday June 30, 2011.

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

Sunday Morning (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
Promise of Summer (creativepotager.wordpress.com)

Sunday Morning

June 5, 2011June 10, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 9 Comments

Inspired by Dashin’s post SUNDAY THOUGHT and last evening’s walk.

Sunday Morning

A raven speaks of valley news while small birds warble their fragments of gossip.

Sweet, warm air rides the sun in through the studio window.

My coffee cools.

Best of Sunday too you!

Sprout question: What is your Sunday Thought?

STUDY OF BLUE solo exhibition opens Thursday June 30, 2011.

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

Promise of Summer (creativepotager.wordpress.com)

Port of call – Mayne Island

June 3, 2011June 22, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 14 Comments

Near Mayne Island while traversing the inside passage from either direction, the Gulf Islands B.C. Ferry vessel loudspeaker will crackle. The captain then announces variations of “We are approaching Villiage-Bay-Mayne-sland. This is also the transfer point for passengers going to…..” This last part of the announcement changes depending on what ferry you are traveling.

It is pretty hard to miss your stop. But knowing if you even want to come or how to get this far in your trip can be a little tricky. Fortunately, our Mayne Island Community Chamber of Commerce makes it easier.

Regular Creative Potager readers may recognize the photographs on the front panel and the inside of this four-fold brochure. Yes, they are mine.

Earlier this year I was asked by a chamber member if I would consider submitting some photographs for use in the brochure. There had been a community-wide call for submission. I hummed and hawed feeling that my images are not really marketing sunshine and fun. They are often quiet, subdued, reflective and moodily dramatic. Since most of my photographs are taken in low-light during fall/winter or during the bookends of a spring or summer day, I wasn’t sure what I had to offer. But I agreed to let the committee have a look at my redbubble portfolio. To my delight they chose these two images. This is the second time this year that my images have been requested for promotional purposes – a pleasant addition to my artistically aimed photography.

But you might be saying “where is Mayne Island anyway?” The Chamber brochure has a pictorial answer on the back panel. Off the west coast of North America, snuggled into a cluster of Canadian Gulf Islands and the United States San Juan Islands, that darkly coloured island is home.

Now I bet you want to know exactly where Creative Potager is on Mayne Island – right? If you open up the brochure there is a map of the island. I love the crunchy tactile unfolding of maps. This brochure has a particularly satisfying soft and earthy feeling to the touch.

Creative Potager is marked by a white-squared number 35. See it there, just below the Mt Parke Park signage near the centre of the island.

The white-squared number 35 Creative Potager home studio is open by appointment.

The best way to get a home studio tour of our timberframed strawbale la casa de inspiracion is to email me at tawelch@shaw.ca .

You will need a brochure, or wait for the chamber website to be updated, to know exactly what else is marked on the map. I can tell you that yellow-squared numbers are accommodation, green are farms, orange real estate, red services, and white shops and galleries. If you would like your own brochure it will be on the ferry or drop me a line and I can mail you one.

My STUDY OF BLUE solo exhibition of 15 original oil paintings, opening Thursday June 30, 2011, will be held at the yellow-squared number 9 and blue-squared number 17 which is the two listings for the Oceanwood. One is for accommodation and one for the restaurant.

Fly into Vancouver or Victoria in British Columbia, Canada, rent a car, catch a ferry and you are here. It is just that easy. During the busy summer season it is recommended to make reservations for the ferry from Vancouver to Mayne Island and for accommodation while you are here. I look forward to seeing you sometime soon.

Best of the weekend to you!

Sprout question: What is your creative port of call?

STUDY OF BLUE solo exhibition opens Thursday June 30, 2011.

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

Another Weekend, Another Island (myonepreciouslife.wordpress.com)
A Friendly Farm Gate Chat (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
KEEPING WATCH original oil painting by Terrill Welch (creativepotager.wordpress.com)

Promise of Summer

May 30, 2011June 10, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 31 Comments

As the grasses begin to head, even the cool weather can’t deny the promise of summer.

The first fawn of the year moves in the shadows.

We take to the beach for an afternoon weekend read.

There is a heron fishing in the shallows.

Finally it catches a dinner.

We promise ourselves many more days like this – it is the promise of summer.

Sprout question: What is your promise of summer?

STUDY OF BLUE solo exhibition opens Thursday June 30, 2011.

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

KEEPING WATCH original oil painting by Terrill Welch (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
Three in One Post (creativepotager.wordpress.com)

Pure Joy

May 27, 2011May 31, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 14 Comments

Well, it has been more than a week since I posted. I am thinking about what to post. I want it to be good! It could be my newest photo of wild sunflowers but no, that is just not quite right.

Or it could a photo of our large extended family walk while we wait for the grandparents and great aunt to arrive (or great grandparents and great-great aunt depending on who was doing the referencing). Which is okay but probably only significant to me.

However, what I most want to post is about a moment of pure joy simply because I keep thinking about this moment over and over again.

You see, my sister and her family have a pool with house.

Actually, the house was there first and the pool was built last fall. It has a filtration pond and the swimming pool has no chemicals. Here I am dipping in my toes with the youngest family member.

You can see the filtration pond behind me. It will be filled with water plants in mid June.

Looking very natural and as if it had been there all along, the swimming pool has a great admirer – one nine year old boy. The water is about 17 degrees Celsius or 62 degrees Fahrenheit. But this doesn’t seem to be a problem.