Fast Water part 2

February 2, 2010February 2, 2010 / Terrill Welch / 6 Comments

Yesterday, I shared the first part of my weekend hike along the Cowichan River near Skutz Falls. Today’s photo journal entry focuses on building and using stretchers in the wilderness. I hope you enjoy this creative adventure that is also an applied survival skill.

First, let’s take a look up river. While I am taking this photo one of the coaches is explaining that next term if the students choose they will jump in up river (with life jackets and helmets of course) and be rescued just below the bridge we are standing on at the moment. They don’t have to go in but it is a prerequisite for learning to whitewater kayak.

The senior students met us at the bridge and lead us back down the river on the north side to where they had made stretchers by cutting poles and stringing them with coats, backpacks and one with a tarp. There was also stretcher made with webbed rope made and a foam sheet used in kayaking – this showed what could be used when sea kayaking and poles may not be readily available.

Everyone formed teams and the senior students lead the groups through a series of off trail maneuvers as directed by the coaches.

Down the trail they come…

Stopping to check on how the patient is doing (a very vulnerable ride)

It’s getting dark and I have to use my flash as they go through the brush…

And on the home stretch(er)

Creativity is related to much more than the arts. Creativity is the product of our ability to imagine. Our imagination allows us to find connections and ways of doing things that we have never seen or experienced before. I can tell by the smiles of these students, as they take on what is actually a difficult task to carry someone through the brush on a homemade stretcher, they are creative beings and loving it – lucky them and lucky us. I feel very privileged to have been able to share their company for this one afternoon on the Cowichan River.

Sprout Question: Have you ever had to use your creativity to save your life or save someone else?

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Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

Fast Water part 1

February 1, 2010 / Terrill Welch / 13 Comments

Over the weekend I had the most extraordinary opportunity. I was invited to go with a group of 13 to 18 year old students and two coaches for an outdoor pursuit hike along the Cowichan River near Skutz falls on Vancouver Island. These students are amazing and I absolutely enjoyed the pleasure of their company and the opportunity to be their guest.

The Cowichan River is fast and high this time of year.

There is little time to capture its beauty because I am keeping pace with these young bodies as they leap and skip along up the south side of the trail heading west. They are quiet, talking softly in small groups as they walk single file with the river glimpsed through the trees and over the steep edge of the narrow trail. I sense a relaxed intrigue rather than boisterous, frenetic, silliness I might have anticipated. For some, this is their first semester of outdoor pursuits. They may have spent very little time before today walking on the earth’s soft uneven surface. Through the soft steady rain, low cloud coverage and mist we walk together – as if we have been doing it for years.

A smaller group of older students had separated from us before we crossed the first bridge and gone up the north side trail to practice making stretchers. They will lead teams in stretcher exercises when we meet up with them later on our return. I will cover this in more detail tomorrow.

There are protected groves of Gary Oak in the park where we are hiking. My daughter, Ms. Herman, is one of the two coaches. She waits while I grab a couple of quick photos (with no idea that the camera is pointed in her direction).

We move swiftly to catch up to the rest who are gathered for a lesson on the river bank.

I snap a couple of river shots and totally miss what this particular lesson was about. Sorry Mr. Norman.

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Next I see a series of switchbacks in front of us. A hill – this is where the 15 year olds are separated from the 51 year olds. I am thrilled to reach the top still being able to talk and not having had to stop and rest part way up. The view was worth it.

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It is a perfect spot to give a quick lesson on using a compass. The students learn how to gather all the information they already know and begin to locate themselves on a map and learn how to read and set a compass direction.

We continue on. The strength of the trees as they withstand the water flowing around them is amazing.

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Tomorrow, more about how stretchers are can be made from coats, backpacks and tarp as creativity is applied to survival skills.

Sprout Question: When was the last time you got fired up, along with a group of teenagers, on a creative adventure?

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Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

Barefoot

January 29, 2010May 10, 2010 / Terrill Welch / 15 Comments

I wrote the following quote last night for a friend. This morning I realize that is perfect to accompany us on a short stroll we are about to take.

As we “face the winds of the world” stand barefoot on mother earth. If the winds become fierce, go lower and place your belly against hers. In this way we can remain vulnerable, humble and filled with fire-strength to see our vision through.

Our stroll is on a day that it is late morning before enough daylight seeps into the corners of my studio to warrant turning the lamp off. The heavy clouds wrap around me like tangled blankets in a nightmare. We go for an overdue lunch. Our usual walk is only a sultry possibility against pending rain. A drive seems like our best option. Bumping around potholes under the tall trees I have a moment of total defiance. Without comment or signaling (we have met no one on the road in the past fifteen minutes) I dip the old Volvo down a side road to Navy Channel. Once there is it a short slop to the waters edge.

At first there seems to be little to see but gray clouds, flat silvery water and high tides.

Then my attention is drawn to things closer to me – things near my feet.

When was that rock so soft that it squished like that? Or is its smoothness from wave action?

Oh look, there is a rock embedded in that piece of driftwood. How long they have been together? How far have they traveled?

All the while, gentle waves slowly move in and out over the sand, bumping the driftwood and calming my jangled west coast winter nerves.

I become one with the moving water, the stone the wood.

I move closer, crouching. It is here I find my still-point. I find my inner peace within the heavy solitude.

View image in full resolution here.

Okay, we can put our socks and shoes back on now. Yes, that pebble… the one that was caught between your toes – put it in your pocket to remind you.

Sprout Question: When was the last time you were vulnerable and barefoot against the belly of mother earth?

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Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

Good Luck Creativity

January 26, 2010January 18, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 10 Comments

View image and purchase of “Arbutus in the Fog” here.

My partner of many years (and the lovely man who has recently become my husband – December 10, 2009) and I have a banter that goes something like this…

I ask with raised eyebrows and a tone of dismay “how did you ever end up with a wild and crazy woman like me?”

With his eyes snapping, he responds “just lucky I guess.”

The truth is my wildness is not of the usual kind – having mostly to do with my vivid imagination and free spirit. And his “good luck” has mostly to do with acting on his preparedness when the opportunity presented itself. But we shall not be entertaining you with our love story today.

What I want to talk about is good luck and creativity. Some time ago, I read Deepak Chopra’s definition of “good luck” in The Seven Spiritual laws of Success (1994). Every since reading his description, it has embodied much of my perceptual understanding about what constitutes good luck. His exact passage reads:

You can look at every problem you have in your life as an opportunity for some greater benefit. You can stay alert to opportunities by being grounded in the wisdom of uncertainty. When your preparedness meets opportunity, the solution will spontaneously appear. What comes out of that is often called “good luck.” Good luck is nothing but preparedness and opportunity coming together.

So there you have it. Now what does this mean when it comes to our creativity? If we are writing, drawing, painting, taking photographs and enhancing our skills daily we are more likely to be prepared when the opportunity arises. When we have “good luck” by this definition we are overjoyed by the unexpected success that befalls us. This is certainly the case with these two images (one above and one below) that I share with you today. In each of these photos the exact coming together of the elements in the images are not likely to repeat themselves readily. In both cases I was prepared. I had my camera with me on my daily walk. I was watching, searching the beauty and the mundane around me. Then as if by magic the image was there – waiting for me, inviting me to capture it.

View and purchase “Holding the Moon” here.

Sprout Question: What part does “good luck” play in your creativity?

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Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

Reflect

January 24, 2010January 27, 2010 / Terrill Welch / 14 Comments

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To reflect or “cast back from a surface” is a large part of my photography, writing and painting. As a self-proclaimed storyteller, it is the art of reflection that is “the brand” of my creativity. My desire is for you to be with me – seeing what I see. I want you to smell the damp earth as you look at the trees reflected in the pooled water from resent heavy rains. I want you to hear the small winter birds and feel the sun as it finds its way through the forest canopy. I want you to notice how blue the sky is through the trees in the image reflected on this surface.

My desire is to be with you in this sharing. This is what motivates me to post, to have a blog and to specifically have the Creative Potager blog. It is my kitchen garden of creative thoughts and moments for us to enjoy. I am thrilled when you stop by to plant an answer for the Sprout Question or add an idea or appreciation in the comments. I love the easy gathering that happens with each of these posts. I am fed and nourished in ways I find hard to describe by our shared reflections.

For this I thank you.

Sprout Question: What are you casting back to the world from your creative surface?

Note: I am traveling on Monday so posting today, Sunday, before I leave.

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Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

Ordinary

January 21, 2010 / Terrill Welch / 11 Comments

Today, I only have the ordinary to offer – the equivalent of canned moose meat. Yesterday’s walk produced nothing of significance in the way of photos.

There was the sound of the water running out of the pipe.

There was the horse and buggy “slow sign” that made me laugh.

There were the distant mountains to the north through active pass that made me think about how far it was to my parent’s farm in north central British Columbia.

All was rather ordinary. Still, I walked, I looked, and I framed shot after shot on the hopes that something might appear worthwhile of your audience. I feel like the fisherman who came home with no fish. When this happened as a child, well… we had canned moose meat. So today, I share with you ordinary images – my equivalent of canned moose meat. A creative day that is sustaining but not luxurious in its richness.

Sprout Question: Creatively, what do you do when confronted with “the ordinary?”

Note: Tomorrow I am traveling. There will likely be no Creative Potager post – unless I am very lucky find a window of time and an internet connection. If I don’t connect with you before hand, have a wonderful weekend.

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Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

High Winds

January 20, 2010 / Terrill Welch / 6 Comments

I awoke to rattling, banging and snapping at just after 1:30 am on Monday morning. No, it wasn’t a break-n-enter but high wind. Cones, branches and bits of whatever else were being slammed down on our tin roof from winds that were recorded up to 120 km an hour on a near by island. I could hear the roar of the wind high above the trees. The sound was similar to a large jet overhead except it never moved away – it just stayed there and roared. For the next four hours we watched and monitored as a cast iron chair on the deck was knocked over by large broken branch, the upstairs window was blown open even though it opens out and the trees bent and twisted against the force of the wind. Not surprisingly, the electricity went off at around 3:00 am.

When daylight arrived there was an eerie calm as sun danced across the debris, which looked rather mundane compared to the noise it made in its decent during the night. There was no serious damage. Our large fir trees were still standing though their dressing gowns of branches and needles were looking much thinner from the night’s engagement.

I had planned a painting day for Monday but I knew that wasn’t going to happen. We did what people usually do. We wandered down the road to see how our neighbours were making out and catch up on the extent of the damages. When we returned, it was time to fill the oil lamp and start the outdoor wood cook stove for an early dinner before dark.

My creativity was garnered to the task at hand – choosing the right wood for the cooking fire and setting the vent in the right spot at the back of the stove for the oven.

Our house stays warm for better than 24 hours without electricity because of the in-floor hot water heating and the thick strawbale walls. So we had our dinner, lit the lamp, and read some poetry aloud.

Then we crawled under the covers in the silence, broken only by the battery operated clock, to watch the stars in the still night. The storm had passed.

Sprout Question: When was the last time your creativity was needed in an unusual event?

My Cloud Biscuits…

CLOUD BISCUITS

Can easily double this recipe

2 cups flour
1 tblsp white sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter (not shorting)
1 beaten eggs – very well beaten
2/3 – 1 cup milk (I usually use half whipping cream other half water )

Sift dry ingredients. Cut in shortening until coarse. Add egg and some milk to flour; mix all at once. Add enough milk to allow dough to be easily kneaded. Knead the dough a few times (not too much or will be tough – just a lick and a promise!). Flatten to about 1” thick and cut into desired serving size. Bake in 450 degree F. oven (or “HOT” oven in wood cook stove) until lightly browned on top… for 12-15 minutes.
Good luck!

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Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

Time Found

January 15, 2010 / Terrill Welch / 9 Comments

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Today is a sketching and painting day. While I work in the studio, I bring you a poem I wrote in October which may hold the treasure-chest of gray I live today.

Time Found

Run away with me –
I’m leaving now following a warm trail of imagination.
Slipping between – moist vapor swiftly moves,
trees appearing and disappearing – deception a namesake.
Moments pass quickly when noticing the slice of moon
sliding across night’s gateway to tomorrow.

Darkness settles into the corners of the room as lamps are silenced.
Be my imagination not that of Goya’s ghosts –
I seek a warmer, friendlier, more hopeful place.
Lifting evening’s gentle cover close under my chin,
time greets me as familiar as an old friend –
one I have been missing.

On this West Coast, mid-January day … as dawn carries the rain into rivulets down earth’s spine – I shall live each moment of each day to my fullest.

Sprout Question: What creativity might be hidden in your shadow?

Additional reading for the unwilling explorer of darkness: a powerful article by Lissa Rankin – “Owning Darkness: Accepting The Shadow”

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Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

Stand with Haiti

January 14, 2010 / Terrill Welch / 6 Comments

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Yesterday, in a sea of compassion and despair for Haiti, I went for my usual walk with camera in hand. The image Stand with Haiti symbolizes renewal and hope. The rose-hip is the brightest element in our gray, wet, January, West Coast landscape. One can be consumed by the gloom, if it were not for the rose-hip hanging from a leafless branch drawing attention to the new shoots starting to sprout. As the waves washed the sandstone with rhythmic regularity behind me, I discovered the possibility for renewal and hope for Haiti in this rose-hip.

Sprout Question: Is your creativity ever a call to inspire action?

(I have a very special connection to Haiti as my step-daughter, Nikki, volunteered twice for Clean Water for Haiti. But even if I didn’t have familial insight into Haiti, I would want to do something. For those interested in donating, here is the link to AVAAZ Stand with Haiti: http://bit.ly/7t0CN6 )

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Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

Redefining Underpainting

January 12, 2010 / Terrill Welch / 10 Comments

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In focusing on creativity as a main adventure in my day, I am facing an internal struggle with what is “true creativity” in my creative process. Technology allows me to create in new ways I couldn’t have imagined ten years ago. In this process, I want to redefine “underpainting” to include the first selected and chosen photographic image.

This takes me to my passion for the concept of “underpainting” which I tend to use even when painting with watercolours. What has got me musing, and experimenting, is the technological advances that allow me to start with an image I’ve captured in a digital photograph and then begin “overpainting” until it is rendered as an oil painting or ink sketch in further digital applications.

( I’m not a photoshop artist nor have I yet ventured in the direction of actual layering images to gain a photograph that gives me a desired finished product. I may at some point – but it has not come to that yet.)

This is my question to self: “Is the finished work (which I am pleased with) having begun with a photographic “underpainting” and resulting in an oil or ink “overpainting” while never picking up a brush or hand-mixing a colour a legitimate creative process?”

Here is another example where I am equally satisfied with the “overpainting” and the original photographic “underpainting.”