Greetings Fir Tree and Your Simple Goodness – poem by Terrill Welch

Four o’clock in the afternoon the day before the time change in November 2012 the southern Gulf Islands rolled and heaved the light and mist across sea and land.The Mayne Queen has just left Swartz Bay on Vancouver Island.

When I shared a few of the photographs on Google Plus a fellow artist C.J. Shane asked what music I heard. I replied – with my lungs filled with sea air and the mist leaving intimate jewels on my skin and hair, I heard the sound of the diesel engine of the small ferry and the rolling wake of the water along the occasional cry of the gulls. But if I was to think of music, it would be a classical overture such as maybe the Italian romantic composer Giuseppe Verdi’s 1862 , The Force of Destiny-Overture

Verdi – The Force of Destiny – Overture

There are great spaces of quiet with the seascapes building and building into these surprising moments where even the deepest breath does not seem to provide enough. It is like – breathe in and in and then exhale into such a sense of inner peace a person wants to hold themselves in that place for as long as possible. Then the tension of the landscape will start to build all over again as the mist and fog moves in its mysterious ways across the sky.

Alone in the mist…

in early November.

The sky rolling and heaving as if it is breathing and extended breath of awareness, inviting, demanding that I do same.

The golds of autumn are only hinted at beneath the cloak of November mist.

Mist is threaded across the landscape with such speed we are witness to the seamstress.

Hiding and revealing with equal wonder…

the southern Gulf Islands in November.

A welcomed beacon blinks against the lowering light.

Then land seems to escape from sea and sky – protruding in its deep and dark glory.

We move on to the outer edge of the November mist.

The hour, the moment has passed. Not the memory though. The moment is captured here in this overture in mist so we can breathe it again and yet again.

SPROUT: What music do you imagine would accompany your creativity?
P.S. none of these mist images have been made available for purchase yet. I need to let them sit for awhile before deciding which ones will go.

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 – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

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

Autumn Sliced with a Tear (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
Special Report on B.C. Ferries – Part 2: Gulf Islanders pay a price (nanaimobulletin.com)

Morning walk along the Stuart River – a tribute to my grandfather

September 17, 2012January 9, 2020 / Terrill Welch / 17 Comments

It has been more than ten days since you have heard from me here on Creative Potager. There is a good reason for this. My grandfather passed away and I have again just returned from Vanderhoof. Though this post is a tribute to my grandfather it is really not about him much at all. Sometimes the best way to honour a person’s life is to do what they taught you and what they most loved to do. So this is what we are about to do – take a long walk along the Stuart River on my parents’ farm with my mother leading the way.

It was a gorgeous early fall morning. The sun was just catching the old cabin near the cow pasture that is now used for storage.

Thick fog is still clinging to the river.

The night before it had frozen. We had arrived home to the farm shortly after dark with clear skies and a temperature that was just above freezing. Like a family raccoons we headed to the garden and greenhouse to pick corn, cucumbers, tomatoes and melons. The only difference was we had headlamps and flashlights.

Before it got so warm that the foliage wilted, I wanted to catch a few of the beauties still blooming in the garden. This is one of the prize sunflowers with its face up to the September dawn.

Then there were the smokey rose gladiolus…

And the Joe Pie plant…

To be very honest with you, my grandfather appeared to care less about flowers and I can be fairly certain if he was walking with us he would have headed out without so much as a pause in front of these cultivated beauties. But I like them.

How we got started on this adventure was because I wanted to take some reference images of the tall lean poplar trees for painting when I get back to the studio. My sister asked if it would be okay if she tagged along. Of course it would be and then I asked mom if she wanted to bring her camera too and join us. My daughter looked from one to other of us and slipped into a pair of my mother’s rubber boots and we headed out.

I got my reference shot.

As you can see, it is nothing special. I just wanted the structural bones of the tree. I announced with satisfaction that all I had intended was accomplished and I was happy to follow along with whatever everyone else wanted to do. My mother got that thoughtful look – the one I have seen on her face for all of her almost 75 years. It means she is mulling something over but that it has already been decided.

The morning is stunning. With a slight shrug she turns and heads out across the top of the pasture towards the river on the far side.

I am pretty sure at this point that we are headed out around Sturgeon Point which is about a mile of river frontage on the home place. It is a beautiful walk but on years such as this that the river floods it is unusable during the summer. Also parts of the banks are sometimes washed away and there is a fair bit of brush that will cover the trail. As mom looks up river to see what she can see, I am certain that, if the trail is dry enough we are taking it.

I look down at my waterproof garden clogs sensing their inadequate though comfortable structure. I should have grabbed the other pair of rubber boots – too late. If one is to dawdle it is to find yourself following glimpse of the others through the underbrush.

Several times I pack my camera back into the backpack camera bag as I poke it through the brush in front of me or slide through a mucky spot along the river-bottom land. My sister looks back as if to say – are you coming?

Mom points of things along the trail such as wild mint that we should pick if we want it for tea later. She scans her way along the area keeping an eye out for moose, bear or maybe a beaver or muskrat on the water. She warns us to follow her footsteps so we stay on reasonably solid ground.

As usual I at one point do not heed this warning and end up with my clog stuck in the mud. I step back in my sock foot pick it up then scrape out the mud and wipe my sock foot on the grass, reunite the pair and continue on.

My sister spots some mist rising on the creek across the river.

While she is changing lenses I take this and it is a good thing because the mist is gone by the time she is ready.

I coax my daughter into standing for a moment in the warmth of the morning sun.

“Baby Too” is due in the third week of November.

With my pockets stuffed with wet wild mint leaves we are almost around the point and ready to head back along the old trail. However the water is still a bit high in the draw so mom takes us out to continue along the riverbank trail instead. I get her to hold up while I capture the natural riverbank on the far shore.

And another photograph of Fishing Creek.

We are wet and muddy almost to our knees.

But happy.

We can hear the tractor running as dad sorts cattle. Mom comments that her trail is now well packed for the fall. Above all, we know we have done the most important thing we needed to do this morning.

I take one more photograph of the poplar trees that I had come out to capture.

All is right in the world for another day.

My grandfather, Charlie Baxter Davidson, was born May 29th in 1916 weighing 3.5 pounds. His twin did not survive. During these fragile first days of his life his mother kept him in one of her shoe boxes inside the warming oven of her wood cook stove feeding him with an eye dropper. He was so small that her wedding band fit around his wrist. With such a strong heart and will to live, it is not really surprising that he was 96 years old when he passed away on September 9, 2012.

He arrived on the Stuart River with his parents to homestead when he was five years old. This is where he lived until he was ninety-one years old making a living as a guide to hunters, trapping furs, raising cattle and doing seasonal work such as hand falling trees. His children, step-children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great grandchildren have had the good fortune to inherit through the generations an appreciation and respect for the outdoors. This walk I share with you today may even seem familiar in some ways for those of you who have been taking walks with me in the southern gulf islands over past few years. Walking in the woods or along the water is a strong thread in my life which has its roots with this man and his daughter – my mother.

The photographer for the photograph I share with you of my grandfather is unknown but my aunt, Anne Davidson, has taken the time to scan many of the old photographs in recent years. My thanks go to her for printing me a copy of this one which I have rendered as a black and white digital image.

SPROUT: If you were to give a tribute to a family member who has greatly influenced your life, who would it be?

P.S. I know this post is long but it seems to me necessary. I hope you have enjoyed the adventure…. My mud-soaked garden clog was dried out in front of the wood stove and is as good as new.

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

Embracing Life Happy International Women’s Day

March 8, 2012 / Terrill Welch / 15 Comments

You say – what? no seascape!? Well, not this morning. It is March 8th and International Women’s Day today. This is a photograph of my mother I took a couple of years ago. She is on holidays and we are having a picnic after going on a garden tour with “just the girls” which included her sister, my sister and my sister’s daughter. I love this photograph of my mother because it shows her natural beautiful self. She is about to shake her finger at me and say “don’t you dare!” But I was faster. Being a farmer in rural British Columbia Canada my mother has worked hard and lived close to the land not far from where she grew up. She reads with exuberance checking out armloads of books each week from the public library. She knows most of the Latin names for her plants and studied genetics to be able to improve her breeding stock of Hereford cattle. Her daily walks take her past bears, moose, elk, deer, geese, swans, grouse and the fox sleeps on her doorstep. Her cinnamon buns are still the best in the world and I love her. Her quiet and sometimes not so quiet belief in me is part of why I am who I am today.

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY!

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

It’s International Women’s Day! (thefabgirls.com)
International Women’s Day! Please share! (thecinnamonhollow.com)
International Women’s Day (humanisticpaganism.com)

The Good, The Green and The Ugly

September 16, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 11 Comments

Have you every noticed that things are not usually as they seem but more like what we make them out to be? Such is the story of these three tomatoes shown with the last of our peas and carrots.

The orange tomato on the left fooled me. I was waiting for it to turn red. Finally, slightly puzzled that it was taking so long to ripen, I reached under the plant and found its tag – Hillbilly (heirloom) Plant produces good yields of large orange yellow beefsteak tomatoes with read and pink streaks. Very flavourful. Excellent for salads and sandwiches.

It was ripe after all – just not red. It was also absolutely delicious.

Now the green tomato really is green. It accidentally came off with the other Hillbilly. But look at that big Ugly tomato – what happened to it? I can only guess that it was double pollinated. Let’s have a read of its tag – Carbon (heirloom) Flavour is exceptionally rich yet sweet and the essence of delicious summer tomato flavour. Medium to large, tomatoes are flattened round and smooth, without the cracking or blemishing that seems to plague some black tomatoes. They are dark purplish-brown on the outside with deep brick red interior.

I can tell you it did lived up to its flavour description but was maybe a little off on expected appearance. We had to eat it in three sittings. That was one monster tomato.

Speaking of descriptions our dear Laurie Buchanan received her birthday present copy from Len of PRECIOUS SECONDS – Mayne Island in paintings and photographs. Here is the comment she left on the Blurb publishing site under her penname Paden Plume:

This evening I sat down with a glass of wine to enjoy Terrill Welch’s new book. The description on the wine label said:

“This wine shows a heady nose of chocolate, deep rich blackberries, red fruits, and a creamy mocha finish that is unmistakable in its intensity and length. It’s reminiscent of a blackberry chocolate cupcake with a mocha coulis.”

If that description sounds good to you, let me say that turning and savoring each page of PRECIOUS SECONDS was an even more delicious treat! One that I will indulge in over and over again.

Thank you Laurie and thank you to everyone who purchased a book this week. Some of you I know who you are and others are friends in the universe who I greatly appreciate supporting my work. Thank you, thank you and thank you.

PRECIOUS SECONDS –Mayne Island in paintings and photographs now has its own facebook page HERE. Please feel free to come “like” its page and share your own “precious seconds” adventures.

And speaking of Laurie, she has brought the bubbly out to celebrate a blogging milestone. Speaking from the Heart has received over 50,000 views since February 2010. There isn’t a blogging party over there yet but we could always start one! Congratulations Laurie! I wish you many more views to your rich and engaging blog over the months and years ahead.

The weather has cooled and I have harvested the garden and the rest of the tomatoes are ripening up for dinner over the weeks ahead.

Sprout question: What do you have ripening for your creative dinner?

New: Check out my coffee table book PRECIOUS SECONDS – Mayne Island in paintings and photographs

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 (creativepotager.wordpress.com)

Uninterrupted Day

June 14, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 23 Comments

Uninterrupted Day

Only poets settle the irritable edges of an uninterrupted day:

Rukeyser, Oliver, Whitman.

Questions posed with audacious retorts.

Words liminal.

The mind’s blank titanium whites transcend their dazzling brilliance,

leaving dawn’s uninterruptible, curious, confusion

for the sanctity of coffee, fruit and yogurt.

Sprout question: What might settle an irritable edge on your creative day?

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

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)

Quit Fracking with our Water

April 26, 2011April 26, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 25 Comments

Being a Canadian artist faced with an imminent Federal election on Monday May 2, 2011 and B.C. provincial election not too far off, I like to think of myself as reasonably well-informed. But then I watched GASLAND (2010) directed by Josh Fox. I felt sick and like I had been duped somehow. Not a good a feeling, I assure you. This documentary film is about hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” for natural gas in the United States. From the looks of things, these drilling practices appear to, possibly, place our potable drinking water and health and safety in North America at risk. That’s a rather worrisome possibility and worth a close review.

Don’t be fooled by the occasional discrediting remarks about this Sundance Festival winning film – keep digging and see where they are coming from. Put simply – it’s a mess. I am feeling physically ill from the disheartening circumstances we find ourselves in. In order to come to terms with its content, this film requires broader research. I have settled on these links to get you started.

Gasland: A film by Josh Fox (close the annoying donation popup and read – then, if you want, go back and donate) http://www.gaslandthemovie.com

PBS interview with Josh about Gasland (March 2010)http://video.pbs.org/video/1452296560

Gasland – Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasland as it outlines the film and a few critiques about points of accuracy that Fox addresses in greater detail this link here http://1trickpony.cachefly.net/gas/pdf/Affirming_Gasland_Sept_2010.pdf.

The practice of hydraulic fracturing or “fracking,” using a cocktail of substances lots of water, is impacting or is likely to 34 States in the United States. And, though this is not covered in the film, it is also happening in northeastern British Columbia and has just been suspended in Quebec until the potential health and environmental impacts are better understood. GASLAND holds out one small ray of hope for the possibility of legislation that could prevent this disaster from happening in the Pennsylvania watershed that supplies drinking water New York City and Philadelphia. Who knows. In a link to a related article about Pennsylvania at the end of this post it doesn’t sound very promising. But in British Columbia and in Canada? Without a change in political will, I sense there is little hope for legislative intervention:

According to a report from B.C.’s Oil and Gas Commission, the oil and gas sector was permitted to use (and contaminate) 86 billion litres of surface water in 2009 alone, and would thus not be regulated under the new ground water regulation. Annual groundwater use was not reported, but is a small fraction of the 86 billion litres based lifetime groundwater well production for natural gas (6.6 billion litres).

Source: http://ourwaterbc.ca/find-out-more/oil-gas-considerations-for-bcs-new-water-sustainability-act

How can this be? I feel like I’ve been blindsided. Where are our water and air protections? What is going on? Could MY Canada really be playing a fool’s game and allowing extraction of natural gas using hydraulic fracturing with minimal scrutiny into the potential consequences? It appears so. In fact, The GreenMuze reports:

… the BC government has been pushing drilling for unconventional sources of natural gas since at least 2005, offering $50,000 (€36,500) royalty credits for every well drilled before December 2008, and selling oil and gas “sub-surface rights” at a fever pitch.

Both BC and Saskatchewan have been courting the industry with lax or no environmental regulations and promises of low royalties charged to the companies. The Petroleum Services Association of Canada (PSAC) predicts a 10 percent increase in drilling in BC in 2010, mostly in the Montney shale field of northeastern BC and the Horn River Basin near Fort Nelson.

In 2006, researchers for West Coast Environmental Law published a report noting that the oil and gas industry had identified at least six areas of BC holding coalbed methane (CBM) natural gas potential: Peace country in the north east; Elk Valley in the southeast; Vancouver Island; the south central interior (around Merritt and Princeton); northwestern BC (around Telkwa and Iskut); and the Queen Charlotte Islands.

Nanaimo Daily News (Nov. 7, 2009) reported that Vancouver Island’s CBM gas deposits – stretching from Chemainus to Parksville, and in the Comox-Campbell River area – are currently not of interest to the industry. Nonetheless, a group called Citizens Concerned About Coalbed Methane-Vancouver Island, has for the past year been pushing for development under its action plan, “Building a Safe Future for CBM.”

In 2008, BC took in a record $2.4 billion (€1.75b) from these leases, which is now its biggest source of royalties’ income.

Fracking is also in high demand in the Bakken natural gas field in southern Saskatchewan, where 1,000 wells have been drilled and fracked over the past five years. PSAC is predicting 1,935 new wells will be drilled there in 2010, and 300 new wells in Manitoba. As a result, Alberta has just announced that it is removing environmental and regulatory “hurdles” in order to entice the natural-gas industry back.

Huge shale developments are also planned for Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The Utica shale gas field in Quebec covers an area of 5,000sq.km (1,930sq.m) that runs along the St. Lawrence River from Montreal to Quebec City.

The industry is especially interested in the Utica shale because it is close to the New York City market, with export capacity available on TransCanada Corp.’s pipeline system. If the US curtails natural gas development in the Marcellus shale, the Utica could provide gas to the New York market.

Source: http://www.greenmuze.com/climate/energy/2562-ugly-reality-of-fracking.html

GASLAND and my related research, cited at the end of this post, scare the pants off me. I had no idea this was happening and it has been going on awhile now.

SHORT RANT: I am appalled by our human greed and how we do things knowingly on so many levels to our earth and ourselves that cannot be repaired. Once we contaminate our soil and our oceans, and lose our drinking water it doesn’t really matter how much natural gas we have – the risks are not worth it. As you can tell, I have an opinion about this. If we can’t safely extract natural gas without destroying our water supply we need to be changing our dependency on fossil fuels. And if that needs to be done faster, then let’s do it, before it is too late. I hope you take the time watch and read for yourself. Shared knowledge is power.

ACTION: Feeling a little like a small chicken shouting the sky is falling, I am compelled to take action. What am I going to do?

First ACTION: With mostly environmentally friendly cleaners, scour the house until it shines. DONE! I never start a big project without a clean house. It seems to interfere with a person’s ability to think or at least this person’s ability to think.

Second ACTION: Get my voting decisions sorted out. DONE! If you are Canadian, here are some sites that will help you strategically vote in our next federal election:

You may like this video “I vote for Canada” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jISlelzxKyI I like it because it moves away from party positions and into what it is we want to see.

Vote Compass was a fascinating exercise in clarify where the parties stand on various issue in relation to where I stand http://federal.votecompass.ca/ No real surprises – just nice to see it laid out.

I also have found the Catch 22 approach useful http://catch22campaign.ca/

Then the Swing 33 convinced me to donate $100 to the Liberal riding in Esquimalt http://swing33.ca/

And just in from Avaaz: Canada: Democracy = Majority

http://www.avaaz.org/en/canada_elections/?vl

Third ACTION: Find ways to raise awareness. In progress.

Step one – write blog post. DONE! I include some of my photographs to remind us about our sacred relationship to our planet earth.

Step two – invite. Hum…. how might the Creative Potager community be able to spearhead a creative project to expand our awareness and take strategic action. I wonder? Do you have any ideas? What might we do?

Step three – Ask. I now ask that you help by sharing this post through twitter, facebook and on your own blogs. Because Josh Fox can’t change a thing on his own, neither can I and neither can you. But together we can and will make a difference. With grace, compassion and humility, I pass the next ACTION over to you!

Sprout question: How might fracking and natural gas extraction influence your creativity?

More BC and Canada research:

A Fracking Disaster in the Making: Report by Andrew Nikiforuk http://thetyee.ca/News/2010/10/15/FrackingDisaster

Shale gas decisions in Quebec raise questions about B.C.’s approach http://ourwaterbc.ca/blog/shale-gas-decisions-in-quebec-raise-questions-about-b.c.2019s-approach

No right to water in Canada http://www.vancouverobserver.com/blogs/water/2011/03/10/no-right-water-canada

Our Water Secretly Sucked Away by Shale Gas Industry by Ben Parfitt, March 15, 2011 http://ourwaterbc.ca/our-water-secretly-sucked-away-by-shale-gas-industry

Letter outlining shortcomings of British Columbia’s Water sustainability Act Policy Proposal http://ourwaterbc.ca/find-out-more/oil-gas-considerations-for-bcs-new-water-sustainability-act

Talking Points document that was supposable dropped by an oil and gas representative when leaving a landowners property. There is no source given by Green Environmental Coalition but whether this is true or not – the talking points are well worth reading:

http://www.greenlink.org/uploads/pdfs/OIL_TalkingPoints.pdf

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

Impression of an Artist

March 14, 2011March 13, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 24 Comments

Week after week I visit myself on the canvas of a painting, through the frame of an image or between the words of a paragraph. Do these impressions provide any further insight into my being and my interpretation of my world?

I like to think they do. I like to believe that these creative endeavors cast at least a shadow of truth on what I often think of as my core essence – that part of me that isn’t body or earth-bound in this life time. But is this really a possible truth?

As the paint is chosen, mixed and applied without thought, I like to believe there is a subconscious part of me that knows what it is doing. But maybe it is all accidental fragments of my conscious mind colliding with the paint, the canvas and the movement of my brush.

I am doing a study of blue – a series on the shades of blue. What I am discovering is that blue is more than a colour. Blue is a spiritual void for reflection… as I paint the sea… the shadows of the trees… or the sky. If I had known how wide this void would open up, would I have committed to the series?

Ah, no point in musing about what might have been.

This week I have one 10 X 12 inch cotton canvas underpainting ready for completion. In my imagination the heavy clouds press down with formidable force over the dark seas. May I be able to hold this moment long enough to reach in and pull out something that is the essence of me, of you and of the very world itself.