The Story of three Sunday to Sunday Oil Painting Sales

August 11, 2013 / Terrill Welch / 4 Comments

A long, long time ago on April 14th in the year 2013 and far, far away on an Island off the southwest coast of Canada lived an artist. This wasn’t just any island. It was the most beautiful Mayne Island with its own Ferries that were so big they could carry people, cars, and trucks from other far away and not so far away places. The artist who lives on this island is no more and no less eccentric than artists anywhere else in the world. She often paints out in the open air or “en plein air” – very French! She paints painterly paintings mostly wet-on-wet or “alla prima” – more French! And though she is often referred to as “the Monet of Mayne Island” she is not even a tiny bit French and has never been to France. Her two children did do their primary schooling in French and this is about a close to anything French as this artist has ever experiences. But this would be another tale from even longer ago. So let’s get back to the story of the three Sunday to Sunday painting sales that began so long ago.

The morning of April 14, 2013 begins with rolling low clouds and a slight promise of breaking sun. The artist has risen from her bed next to the tall fir trees and the stars. She drinks her coffee and packs her French Box easel, paints, jars, linseed oil and brushes into Red Rosie her almost, sort of, still very new Outback Subaru. Then, humming one of her mostly tuneless tunes, she heads off down a slightly bumpy road to Miner’s Bay and the Mayne Island shore next to Active Pass. She had a plan. Today she was going to paint the Springwater Lodge.

While she works the light across Active Pass is dancing shadows onto Galiano Island. The artist knew she didn’t have time to paint the scene and she also didn’t want to stop working on the plein air painting of the Springwater Lodge. So she quickly photographed some reference images for later.

(Detailed view and quality photography prints of this image available HERE)

Still glancing over her left shoulder now and again, the artist continues to paint in her painterly fashion the painting of the Springwater Lodge on an 11 x 14 inch canvas.

The plein air painting sold almost immediately and it has long since been keeping an art collector in Alberta company.

But the rolling clouds across Active Pass and magical light of that morning kept poking and prodding the artist when she was back in her small loft studio. So, like most inspired artists, she takes up the task of painting the scenes generous gift of a very fine moment. Five days later the second painting inspired by the Springwater Lodge plein air session is completed.

Active Pass Spring morning 2013 – 16 x 20 inch oil on canvas

But spring is not over and the greens of new leaves and new growth also held the wonder of Tulips. Red tulips. Red tulips that are a signature presence every spring on the deck of the Springwater Lodge. The red Tulips beg and plead with the artist to be captured on canvas So the artist asks and the owner of the lodge says yes. A few days later, the artist picks a perfect day and she sets up her French Box easel on the Springwater Lodge deck and she paints.

She is so inspired that she goes back to the studio and over the next couple of days she paints a second painting. The paintings are obviously sisters but so very different from each other.

The artist is satisfied with both paintings even though the sister paintings are so very awkwardly obviously related but yet so equally obviously unique. After some thought the artist decides to release both paintings together with the questions:

What about you? Do you have a preference for one painting over the other? If so which one and what is it that has it being your favourite?

The answers came from far and wide through Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and the artist’s Creative Potager Blog. Most art lovers, art collectors and”fans of the artist’s paintings” like the first painting best as they appreciated the clear colours and freshness of the work. However, there are more than just a few who like the second studio painting as they see strength in its more weathered feeling. One collector who saw the two sister paintings even liked both and was considering purchasing the pair for a wall in her bedroom. But then she made possibly an unfortunate mistake. She told the artist that she wanted to wait for awhile before purchasing the two sister paintings. The art collector told the artist to leave the paintings on the market and if the artist sold them before she was ready to make her purchase then this would be fine – she would just choose something else.

The artist looks at the two sister paintings and she looks at the list price of $1,280 for each painting and says something she will never say again.

“Oh, I don’t think they are going anywhere very fast,” she says with confidence.

The artist should have known better. She should not have tempted fate with such a comment because she knew her paintings were selling quickly. They were selling while still in progress. They were selling wet. They were selling when they were first release. They were selling when studio visitors came to her home studio. To put it simply, the artist’s paintings were selling, selling, selling. But… she thought, maybe not the tulip paintings. They were a little larger then those that were flying out of studio before the artist’s brush came to rest. Besides, $1,280 each is a lot of money for a painting, no matter how much a buyer might like them. The artist never thought anymore about it. Spring gave way to summer. The grass eventually lost its green to the soft glow of August sun-kissed golds.

During this time, unbeknownst to the artist, a buyer had been thinking about the second painting every since it was first posted and the artist had asked viewers which painting they preferred. At the time the buyer’s father was dying. She loved her father and she couldn’t help but connect the weathered beauty and strength of the second sister painting to her love for her father. She preferred the second for its weathered and not so pristine feel of strength – like her father and like his and also her life on the prairies.

Over the months since the painting was released for purchase the buyer returned many times to look at both paintings. Her preference never changed – it was and is the second of the two sister paintings.

After months of consideration, the buyer contacts the artist and the second 20 x 16 inch oil on canvas sister red Tulip painting is destined for a new home in Saskatchewan, Canada.

So feeling a little teary-eyed about the emotional connection this painting will have for its new owner the artist agrees to frame the painting as requested and prepare it to be collected a little later in the fall when the buyer comes west for a visit.

Now the artist did have one more task she had to do. Can you guess what it was? The artist must now contact the other buyer who was interested in buying both sister paintings but had hesitated. The artist must now tell her that only one of the sister red Tulip paintings is left.

The art collector responded, “What!? How am I going to fly with only one wing?”

The artist knew that the art collector was mostly teasing and that she really did understand. The art collector said she was happy for the other buyer and for the artist alike because it was a beautiful painting and deserved a good home. But the artist knows that the collector is disappointed. Worse yet, the art collector is bringing a friend and coming for a home studio visit on the following Saturday. Even though she knew she had no reason to, the artist is feeling rather out of sorts about the whole situation. What can she possibly do?

Well, the first thing artist did was nothing but sleep on problem. When she wakes the next morning she has an idea. While she is still thinking about her idea, she has to go to the “little city” for a couple of days. She buys two matching frames and one more for the second of the two sister paintings that had already sold the Sunday before.

When the artist returns home it is Friday evening and the studio guests are coming the next day. The artist sets the two paintings she is considering presenting as a possible pair into the matching frames. She looks at them and she muses. She leaves them like this until the next morning and then looks at them again. She smiles and secures the two paintings into the matching frames. Here is what the art collector who had wanted both sister paintings saw when she arrived at the artist’s home studio on Saturday…

The artist explains that these two paintings were painted in the same season only days apart and that if the painting on the left was hung so that the waterline was level and a bit of space was left between the two paintings it would be like looking out two windows into Active Pass from the Springwater Lodge deck.

The artist apologies for having a wall in her home studio to properly demonstrate as she hold the painting on the left at the appropriate height for the buyer to see what the artist is describing.

There is a long pause.

The buyer frowns slightly.

The artist put the painting down.

The visitors and the artist moved on. The visitors go up stairs with the artist to see the very large grand paintings in the loft studio. These are huge paintings. Two paintings 36 x 60 inches and one is 36 x 72 inches of oil on canvas. The visitors admire and discuss where if one had the money and room one might put one of these big paintings.

As they are all about ready to return downstairs again, the art collector looks back down the stairs of the loft to the window where the artist had previously shown her the possible pairing the two of paintings.

The collector pause one of those long pauses.

Then she looks at the artist and comments, “I see what you mean. They ARE like two windows on the same scene.”

The artist smiles, nods and says “would either of you like something to drink? Coffee or tea?”

The studio guests decided on water as they are descending the stairs from the loft studio. The art collector goes back to the two paintings. The other guest goes off to use the facilities. This time the art collector did not hesitate when considering her purchase. A mutually agreeable price for the two paintings was quickly reached by the art collector and the artist. Before the other studio guest returned to the room the two paintings are purchased by the art collector and a plan is made for the artist to personally deliver the two paintings to the collectors home before the end of August.

The artist has learned a valuable lesson. The artist will never, ever again say “Oh, I don’t think the paintings will be selling anytime soon.”

This is the story of the sale of three 16 x 20 inch oil on canvas paintings by the artist Terrill Welch from one Sunday to the next Sunday on the small Mayne Island off the southwest coast of Canada. Most of the artist’s current work that is available can be viewed and purchased in the Artsy Home online gallery HERE.

What spring to summer story do you have to tell from maybe or maybe not so long ago?

WARNING: Due to the high volume of sales in recent months, the price of current and new art work is anticipated to increase for a second time this year on or near October 1, 2013. If you are seriously considering buying one or more of this artist’s paintings, it is strongly recommended that you do not hesitate – though, you will never ever here the artist say that she does not expect a painting to sell anytime soon – ever again. If necessary, ask the artist about making special arrangements such as her lay-away plan.

Born in the village of Vanderhoof in north-central British Columbia, Terrill Welch’s art training came at an early age and continued more in the European style of mentoring and tutoring. Terrill Welch’s work, in water mixable oil paints and photographic prints, showcases the beautiful, mysterious and rugged southwest coast of Canada. Though locally appreciated, Terrill Welch is internationally recognized.Her paintings and photographs are sold to art collectors throughout Canada and the United States as well as in Australia, England, Norway and Switzerland.

Terrill Welch’s work is in collections that also include such renowned Canadian landscape painters as Emily Carr, A.Y. Jackson and Lawren Harris. A complete artist’s biography is located on Terrill’s popular Creative Potager blog at https://creativepotager.wordpress.com/artist-biography

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)
Sold – BLUE LAST small Canadian Landscape painting (terrillwelchartist.com)
The Mt. Baker Reach – west coast seascape study (terrillwelchartist.com)
Reaching for the Sea II west coast landscape painting (terrillwelchartist.com)

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)

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)

Magnolias and the Galloping Art Work

April 8, 2013 / Terrill Welch / 20 Comments

Magnolias how varied and lovely are your blooms. Some as white as white

and others so pink as to be purple.

Small shrubs or large trees and star or plump petals you are always special to me.

Magnolias, may you give me courage to share the predicament of the art work which is galloping out of the studio as shown in today’s Terrill Welch Artist website post “More Canadian Landscape Paintings by Terrill Welch SOLD!” Four more oil paintings and a medium-size fine art photography print to be exact. This brings the total to eight paintings and three photography prints sold since the middle of January. It may not sound like much but it represents several thousands of dollars of art work going off to new homes.

I was asked by a dinner guest on the weekend how it felt to have my work meet with such success. I replied with a raised eyebrow and a soft shrug. You see, it is really not particularly comfortable to be in the lime light of my selling art work. Rather than being a comfort, I instead, feel a sense of panic and almost anxiety. Over the years, I haven’t been able to nail what this is about but definitely recognized the repeating result of the experience. I finally replied to my guest that it must be like other artistic expressions. Once a song is released or a book published or a painting sold it often feels like an ending rather than a beginning for the creator. There is an irrational fear that it is the last “good” one and that there will be no more. Silly I know. However, I can attest to the actuality of this emotion. Since I have been selling my art work from the time I was fourteen years old, I wish I could say it is getting easier over time but this is not so. Thankfully, the feeling only lasts until the next painting is off the easel or the next photography print is made available for purchase. Balance and clarity is then restored until the next sale. Odd isn’t it?

Well, let’s get started with balance…

Study in White Star Magnolia

(Image available for detailed viewing and purchase HERE)

If you are comfortable sharing, what quirky anxiety accompanies your creative success?

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)
West Coast Blues in photography and painting (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
The Story of the Swamp Lantern (creativepotager.wordpress.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…

Well, that is it for a week in the life of this artist.

What does a week in the life of your creativity include?

I so much look forward to hearing from 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

Contemporary Canadian Landscape paintings by Terrill Welch SOLD! (terrillwelchartist.com)
West Coast Blues in photography and painting (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
Artist Studio in real time (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
Sliced with a Tear – a large autumn Canadian landscape painting (terrillwelchartist.com)
Wanted alive not perfect – still life painting with Paul Cézanne (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
Plein Air Affair honors longtime Hofwyl-Broadfield trustee (jacksonville.com)

Wanted alive not perfect – still life painting with Paul Cézanne

February 10, 2013February 11, 2013 / Terrill Welch / 22 Comments

There is an immediacy to painting still life that is even more evident than when painting landscapes. The subjects are closer to the painter and therefore the light moves even quicker when painting alla prima or wet-on-wet then when painting the sea or the forest using the same method. But it is my favourite way to paint and with the west coast being so perpetually grey this winter, I wanted some colour. So colour we shall have!

I grab some available subjects and pulled them together on the kitchen counter and then I snug my old easel up to it. After roughing it a view lines with paint, I am ready to begin.

The newsprint is intended to help keep the subject close to us and to provide additional reflected light and lightness to the composition. In the end, as you will see, I let go of some of this in favor of more depth and warmth. With an afternoon of painting large loose brush strokes of delicate colour, we come to about here.

There is something about a still life for the impressionist painter that brings home the need to render it alive rather than perfect. If in doubt follow the light and colour. This is what I tell myself anyway – render the light and get it alive. It is not my idea but the wise perspective of Paul Cézanne. I set it aside to “rest” and at bedtime it looked something like this.

I mean “something like “because every time I looked at the painting I made an adjustment. While the painting was “resting” I cleanup the still life set up, eat one of the pears and set a blood orange aside for morning. I am not completely happy with the painting yet. There is a lost space on the left that leaves the composition more centered than I would like. I wonder what would Paul Cézanne have to say?

Let’s ask the Web Museum in Paris:

Paul Cézanne, one of the creators of modern art, was called the “solidifier of Impressionism”. And indeed he does not draw his picture before painting it: instead, he creates space and depth of perspective by means of planes of color, which are freely associated and at the same time contrasted and compared. The facets which are thus produced create not just one but many perspectives, and in this way volume comes once again to dominate the composition, no longer a product of the line but rather of the color itself. His still-lifes, in their simplicity and delicate tonal harmony, are a typical work and thus ideal for an understanding of Cézanne’s art.

Most of his pictures are still lifes. These were done in the studio, with simple props; a cloth, some apples, a vase or bowl and, later in his career, plaster sculptures. Cézanne’s still lifes are both traditional and modern. The fruits and objects are readily identifiable, but they have no aroma, no sensual or tactile appeal and no other function other than as passive decorative objects coexisting in the same flat space. They bear no relation to the colorful vegetables of Provence — gorgeous red tomatoes, purple aubergines, and bright green courgettes. In his pursuit of the essence of art, Cézanne had to suppress earthly delights.

(reference: Web Museum Paris at http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/cezanne/sl which includes several images of his still life paintings)

Well, I am not sure I agree that his paintings “have no aroma, sensual or tactile appeal and no other function other than as passive decorative objects coexisting on the same flat space.” However, he did focus on using planes of colour and small brushstrokes that build up to form complex fields of viewer recognition. This is what I am after in this painting. But I want to be sure the viewer experiences the life and sustenance of the subject. These bosc pears, sweet lemons and blood oranges are ready for eating. Delicious in fact. How do I get past the idea of decorative? How do I create more weight on the left side of the composition? Ah yes, questions to sleep on.

It is morning. I cut up the blood orange. I look at it. My mind goes into a long pause. I pick up the cutting board with the orange slices still on it and climb the stairs to the studio.

Rightly or wrongly, there are now slices of blood orange slid in beside the rest of the fruit in the painting. Of course, as always, when one things changes in a painting there is the need to change a dozen others. So here it is. Finished. Not perfect but still alive I think.

WINE VASE, PEARS, LEMONS AND BLOOD ORANGES 12 x 16 inch oil on canvas

The still live painting’s softness and colour harmony in this morning’s light pleases me. And do have a slice of blood orange. They are delicious! The painting will be released over at Terrill Welch Artist at some point in the future.

What might you be wanting to render alive not perfect?

All the best of Sunday to you and wishing you a marvelous week ahead!

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

Paul Cézanne: founding father of modern art (guardian.co.uk)

Artist Studio in real time

February 3, 2013February 3, 2013 / Terrill Welch / 10 Comments

Today my art studio is feeling and looking like a real mess.

I can see I have paint that has now dried onto my enamel table top. Not very pleasing at all. Nor is the unfinished applications for our expired passport renewals and neither are the stacks of receipts to be sorted for my 2012 tax returns either. However, there are ten completed paintings in my 2013 folder with six still to release. Three paintings have sold already this year and there are enough supplies in the studio to keep going for another few months.

But darn! Every time I think about those pesky administrative tasks, well I just squeeze more paint onto the palette, put another canvas on the easel and turn my back on it for another day. So this week I have made myself a promise. I either do passport applications, sort receipts for the bookkeeper or paint the edges on my big paintings. It is a toss-up which of these three tasks I dislike the most. The outcome is sure to be the ideal result because completing any three of these tasks this week will be a win.

Now, how might I set up the last of my large 60 x 36 inch canvases to do that fir tree painting I have been thinking about? Oh! Yeah. Hum. Must wait until edges, passport and tax files are completed….

The artist’s slumps a few inches closer to the studio floor her face longer than the gray winter day outside the window. Then, squaring her shoulders, she begins cleaning the studio. It is Sunday after all. No one does paper work or painting of edges on Sunday. Do they?

What is your least favourite “must do” task and how do you get it done?

And an ever so slightly more cheerful note, here is one of the newest paintings that is yet to be released.

AT DUSK 10 x 12 inch oil on canvas will be released over at Terrill Welch Artist later this week along with at least a couple more that are also in the completed folder. All paintings that are currently available can be viewed in the Artsy Home online gallery HERE.

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

Greetings Fir Tree and Your Simple Goodness – poem by Terrill Welch (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
What happens in an art studio if the painter catches a cold? (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
Reef Bay Mayne Island observation to painted experience (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
Evening and the Arbutus Tree – a large west coast oil painting (terrillwelchartist.com)
Selling Art (pmontezchronicles.wordpress.com)

What happens in an art studio if the painter catches a cold?

January 23, 2013January 23, 2013 / Terrill Welch / 12 Comments

What a silly question you might be thinking. Of course, not much at all would happen if the painter was down with cold and flu – bedridden for most of three and a half days to be exact. But this is not so. A painting is sold and carefully wrapped and then shipped to its destination in Michigan, U.S. A. on the first day of partial recovery.

NAVY CHANNEL EARLY OCTOBER should have left with the Canada Post boat yesterday on its journey to a new home where I am already convinced it will be well loved and appreciated.

It is the first original painting for 2013 to set off to new lands and I wish it well and trust it will bring great joy to its new owners.

Then there is the musing between long fevered naps as to which of three completed paintings to release next. The paintings could be released all at once but what is the fun in that? It is so nice to give them each a chance to walk out on stage solo and take their first bow to the audience without feeling they are being edged along by the painting coming behind or tripping over the one that is ahead. So it is decided. On the first day of feeling better EVENING THUNDERCLOUDS OVER THE STRAIT OF GEORGIA is released with flurry of dramatic sentiments.

The hyperlink will take you to the full story over at http://terrillwelchartist.com.

But more than all of this – what happens in the art studio if the painter catches a cold is pondering and reflection, musing and mulling and ultimately evaluating and in this case setting a direct course to more painting. You see, if the next ten years are this artist’s best painting years and this artist paints about 40 paintings a year that is a total of only four hundred paintings. If this artist did not sell one of these paintings would the artist’s spouse be willing to live with the carefully stacked, well-organized and cataloged collection of these works in their living space? You can see where this is going I am sure.

Spouse replies as expected “Of course Darling, we have plenty of walls space left.”

Now the artist, the spouse and you readers know that there has never been much for wall space in this timber-framed house of glass but it is just the answer the artist wants to hear. Paintings will continue to be sold and they will continue to find new homes but it is not an equal priority with the work of painting in this artist’s independent studio. The process of marketing and selling will be bounced just a little farther down the list – not off the list, just down.

What does this mean for the weeks ahead as this artist begins to feel better and again settles into her regular studio schedule? Well, it means first priority is to paint. Second priority is to inventory and organize finished work. Third priority is to assess effectiveness of current online and physical venues for showing work and consolidate where appropriate. Fourth priority is to seek new venues and opportunities to sell paintings. And so, the 2013 artist strategic planning session comes to a close as the blankets are thrown back and the coughing subsides.

The lesson – never underestimate the effectiveness of a cold in an artist’s studio.

What positive outcomes were the result of the last cold that you caught?

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

Evening Thunderclouds over the Strait of Georgia – dramatic seascape sky painting (terrillwelchartist.com)
Doing a Henri Matisse in three new paintings (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
Evening and the Arbutus Tree – a large west coast oil painting (terrillwelchartist.com)

Reef Bay Mayne Island observation to painted experience

December 9, 2012March 26, 2013 / Terrill Welch / 8 Comments

When do observations transform into renderings of full experiences? This is the question I ask myself while I am gathering references for my next painting. I observe. I take a total of 57 photographs. Though all are important, one later becomes my primary painting reference.

What pixels actually hold the smell of the sea and cry of the gulls?

I capture a video just over a minute in length. Later I choose a piece of music to go with it.

At what point in this process of creating a video reference did I move from observing to experiencing?

I return to the studio and rummage through my blank canvases. Eventually, I choose an 11 x 14 inch and set it upon the easel. I squeeze out the oil paint onto the palette. I listen to the video. I glance at the photograph. I pick up my brush.

Quickly and without hesitation the landscape is blocked in. Swiftly my body engages in the visceral process of painting wet-on-wet. Swish, swish and swish. I move back and forth across the studio to peer at the forms sliding off my brush onto the canvas. I remember the gray dawn with its slimness of colour. I remember the sea, and the soft rush of water as it comes ashore. I remember the heaviness of the rocks and the salty dampness of winter seaweed. I feel the coolness of the air and the cry of the gulls. Which strokes will hold the promise of a this day? Which strokes carry the sounds and the material weight of substance? Which strokes follow the soft light across the seascape. Oh, how I wonder!

Then it is done.

Too soon my logic bullies. There must be more!

But, two days have passed. I have not touched the canvas, not because technical correction would not lead to a more accurate rendering of the physical setting. Rather I do not alter the painting because nothing more is needed to render the fulness of my experience. It is done.

REEF BAY MORNING EXPERIENCED December 7, 2012 – 14 x 18 inch oil on canvas

Oh, I will photograph it again once it is completely dry and on a brighter day. But the painting of the painting is done. If I want to do more it shall be on another canvas.

What observations are you currently rendering into the fulness of your experience?

It is December 9th today and the great room is in disarray with packages to be wrapped and shipped. It is the time for this artist to begin her holiday break. I shall be back in the New Year to share more painting and photography adventured.

For now, the best of the holiday season to you and yours – one and all!

ONLINE GALLERIES with Terrill Welch paintings and photography include-

Xanadu Studio Gallery for large original paintings

Artsy Home for most original oil paintings currently available

Redbubble for photography prints, greeting cards and posters

Current Local Mayne Island VENUES –

Green House Restaurant – small original oil paintings and photography prints

Farm Gate Store – one large painting

And by appointment at Terrill Welch’s home studio

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

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

Creative Potager – Visit with painter and photographer Terrill Welch

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

Terrill Welch Artist website at http://terrillwelchartist.com

SLICED WITH A TEAR autumn oil painting and process by Terrill Welch (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
What do original paintings of Emily Carr, A.Y. Jackson, Lawren Harris and Terrill Welch have in common? (creativepotager.wordpress.com)

SLICED WITH A TEAR autumn oil painting and process by Terrill Welch

November 24, 2012February 25, 2014 / Terrill Welch / 14 Comments

There is something about autumn by the sea with the gray melancholy wrapped in fall colours.

Do you remember my recent post called “Autumn Sliced with a Tear” and the photograph of the maple trees by the sea?

Do you remember me saying – “today is one of those slow-baked, melancholy west coast Sundays, so moist and tender you can slice it with a tear?”

For about a month I painted and repainted this scene in my mind – maybe a thousand times. I adjusted and readjusted my approach solving one painting problem and then another.

Finally, I pull out an extra-large 36 x 60 inch canvas (that is 3 x 5 feet or just plain BIG) and begin with the underpainting.

They never look like much at this stage but I find it an extremely useful step particularly when working on large paintings. I can now start working up the painting…

The canvas is shiny with wet paint but I can already feel the bruised coolness of fall in the sky and on the water. I keep working and building up the paint.

Days have now past with my dreams waking me up early to paint for many of my waking hours. I am consumed with the transitions between light and shadow and form.

The details show the looseness of easy strokes with two and one inch brushes.

There is the leaves against the sky on the far top right. Nothing but swathes of golden colour added to the sky with a hint of branches to hold them in place.

Then there is the clatter of colour near one of the main tree trunks a the top near the left side of the painting, colours that must roll over and under each other bringing the leaves forward in the painting towards the viewer.

Up close, we see nothing but wild and loose, meandering brushstrokes across the canvas. I like to paint wet-on-wet or ala prima and work a whole canvas up at once. This is no small task on a canvas of this size. But it can be done though it is often not the only painting approached used just because of the grand scale of the canvas. For example, even using this approach it took more than one sitting or painting session to complete this painting.

Finally, my brush and the painting comes to rest. Let’s stand back and have a good look at the whole canvas and see what we find.

I think it is complete, finished, done. Now it must rest and I reserve the right to make any changes that come begging to me during this time. So it is not for sale yet. However, I will let you know when it is. In the meantime feel free to browse through current work that is available at the links below.

UPDATE February 7, 2013

Well, I thought it was done but over the past but over the last couple of months I have made a few changes. Here is the now completed painting…

It is not going to be released anytime soon for sale as I am keeping it in my Artist’s collection for now.
Sprout: If you could be anywhere under a fall sky where would you want to be?

P.S. This is an early warning that Creative Potager will be making some changes in the New Year. They are not big changes but ones that I hope you will welcome as I re-purpose the intent of this blog to reflect the changes in my own focus of providing an online studio experience of work for readers. More on this soon.

ONLINE GALLERIES with Terrill Welch paintings and photography include-

Artsy Home for most original oil paintings currently available

Redbubble for photography prints, greeting cards and posters

Current Local Mayne Island VENUES –

Green House Restaurant – small original oil paintings and photography prints

Farm Gate Store – one large painting

And by appointment at Terrill Welch’s home studio

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

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

Creative Potager – Visit with painter and photographer Terrill Welch

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

Terrill Welch Artist website at http://terrillwelchartist.com