Mayne Island Japanese Garden Dressed in Winter

November 22, 2010November 22, 2010 / Terrill Welch / 12 Comments

This morning is -4 Celsius or 24.8 degrees Fahrenheit here on Mayne Island. On the west coast this is chilly. We have a damp cold that seeps right into your bones without stopping to slow down much even for your woolies. There are still a couple of inches of snow left in the yard and the winter birds are thankful for the full bird feeder. Our hot water in-floor heating has a hard time keeping up when it gets below freezing outside. The Floors are beautifully warm but not much heat is rising to the loft. I have turned on the oven with the door open for a bit to circulate some heat up to the studio. A few more flakes of white stuff are expected over the next couple of days.

Now that we have dispensed with the weather report let’s have a look at some of the photographs of the Japanese Garden dressed in winter.

You may remember this image from “A Search for Colour…”

Winter has its grace with this beauty caught still dressed in her fall finery.

View and purchase full resolution image here.

The garden pond is partly frozen obscuring some to the reflections.

There is a peace which settles deeply when we drink in this snow-covered garden’s quiet.

The bridge seems to beautiful to disturb by walking across its whiteness.

Now stepping back and having a gaze at the whole picture… I hope you are smiling.

View and purchase full resolution image here.

May you be warm.

Sprout question: What makes you feel warmest when you get really cold?

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

Visions of Paradise – The Japanese Garden in the UK (punjapit.wordpress.com)

Mayne Island in November Snow

November 20, 2010 / Terrill Welch / 17 Comments

Here I am with a Creative Potager bonus post today. I am blaming it on the snow. Big flakes started rolling past our large picture window looking out over the valley at dusk. We don’t get much snow on Mayne Island and seldom in November. I was up before blue dawn like a kid on Christmas morning.

The far side of the valley was a bit warmer and did not get the same three inches of wonder as we did half way up the cliff.

David’s gate that he built a year and a half ago looks extra special in the snow.

And the prayer flags.

Then there are these red begonias.

And this is all I can see of the yellow calendulas shown in Thurday’s post.

But this is my favourite image of the morning. It is a photo I took as I was sitting down to upload and edit this morning’s photo shoot.

La casa de inspiracion has never felt better.

Sprout question: What are your favourite moments of winter?

Special Notice: I have made a decision. Two Fridays from now on December 3, 2010 I am going to place three of my larger 18 by 24 inch original oil paintings on sale for $950 Canadian over three days. The regular price is $1,200. I am going to introduce the first painting on Friday, the second on Saturday and the third on Sunday. All three will be shown together on Monday December 6, 2010. The sale will end at midnight PST on Monday. Here is where you come in dear readers. You may want to buy a painting. Or you can tell others about the paintings. If a buyer identifies you as the source of the referral you will receive a $45.00 value gift in cards or a calendar of your choice. (Psst! The referral can even be to your spouse.) The referral gift is for the first referral identified by the buyer and there is only one referral gift per painting sale. The specific three paintings that will go on sale will remain a mystery until the day it is released. However, you are welcome to try to guess by browse some of this year’s paintings HERE. Look carefully though because some paintings are sold and/or are a different size or medium. Terrill-size cyber hugs will be given out for any right guesses.

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

As the Lights Flickered

November 19, 2010November 19, 2010 / Terrill Welch / 16 Comments

It is an ordinary charcoal and conte quick sketch that I stretched from 10 minutes into 20 by ignoring the next pose. It wasn’t well placed as the head is at the edge of the paper with the whole figure clustered into the upper left of the page. But over the week I have thought about this sketch several times, remembering the beauty of our model’s pregnant body. The lights flickered as the winds battered the small church house and we drew. Alert to the storm, to life.

Sprout question: What moment this week keeps coming back to you?

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

Lawren Harris painting bought for $5 heads to block in N.Z. (canada.com)
£100 painting in £185,000 sale (lv.com)

A Search for Colour ends in the Japanese Garden

November 18, 2010November 18, 2010 / Terrill Welch / 24 Comments

With the slate gray of winter loping around cavorting with my finer spirits, tempting them into the gloom, I went in search of colour.

There is this leaf amongst the twigs with the sun soaking through it.

An orange calendula is there to greet me in its last rain-soaked days before predicted weekend frost will pluck its brilliance.

These yellow calendulas will fair no better.

Then I go to the Japanese Garden. At last I feel satisfied. I take this image home and render it in a painterly fashion.

View and purchase full resolution image here.

I prefer the simplicity of this version rather than just a photograph… but I do have that way as well.

Sprout question: What keeps your spirits up when the sun fails to find you?

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

Photographers feast on fall colors at special Japanese Garden shoots (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
Celebrating its 25th Anniversary, Osmosis Day Spa Sanctuary in Northern California Named “America’s Most Spiritual Spa” (prweb.com)
5 Incredible Gardens of France (hotelclub.com)
Visions of Paradise – The Japanese Garden in the UK (punjapit.wordpress.com)

Washed Smooth

November 17, 2010November 17, 2010 / Terrill Welch / 15 Comments

The heaviness of the cloud pushes down until I hunch under its dreary weight. West coast winter has arrived. Last nights winds were an early warning of what is yet to come. Today is smoldering quiet. Only small birds twitter in the trees as we walk.

I cast my eyes south,

then north along the shore,

stopping my roving gaze only when I look west and settle upon the smooth sandstone washed clean by years of waves.

I notice one small leaf also sitting in deviance.

Sprout question: What might you like to wash smooth?

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

Discovering the Joy of Winter Games… (prweb.com)
Unscheduled Down Time (timesunion.com)
Night Lights (christineredmond.wordpress.com)

Snow Clouds

November 16, 2010November 16, 2010 / Terrill Welch / 20 Comments

It doesn’t snow very often on Mayne Island but it does all around us. Some days I can smell snow and people frown when I say so. Raising one eyebrow, they will say “I didn’t hear of a snowfall warning.” Then I have to explain that I can smell it from where it is snowing on the mountains around us… 30 or 40 miles away.

Sometimes I look up and say “those are snow clouds.” It is not just the look of them. It is how they feel… and smell.

Sprout question: What smells in your neighbourhood?

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

Stories in Mist

November 15, 2010November 15, 2010 / Terrill Welch / 14 Comments

Dawn creeps through the mist, stealing night’s solitude.

Mist settling in between notes of soft music drifts through the room and out into the valley.

Between now and then is the shadow of self… wavering slightly in our imagination.

Sprout question: What stories are your soft edges telling?

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

Back in the mists of time (search.japantimes.co.jp)

Home becomes Gallery

November 12, 2010November 12, 2010 / Terrill Welch / 24 Comments

The transition is just about complete. For Saturday November 13^th and Sunday November 14^th our home will become a studio gallery for my:

* oil paintings

*large photography canvas prints

*2011 Sea, Land and Time Mayne Island calendars

*and, lots and lots of cards.

Would you like to tip toe through and have a wee peek? I thought you might. Leave your shoes at the door. The floors are heated and so cozy to walk on. Go on down the curved hall into the great room.

Feel free to stop and look on your way.

The sunroom area is not quite finished yet. The bed will be covered in cards by tonight, with a large canvas print resting on the headboard after I remove the pillows.

Now come up into “the private area” which is where we will have our breakfast…

and opposite of where my working studio is located.

Let’s look over the loft railing.

Well this is it. The cards are not out yet and there are still a few more pieces to hang but this gives you the general idea.

For those of you that are too far away to get any closer than this blog to these open studio days, you don’t need to miss out. Remember? Redbubble has a 15% sale on all my work in their online storefront. You can only get this deal if you order online. So there you go. Something for everyone.

Sprout question: When are you next presenting your creative work?

Have a wonderful weekend.

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

An Artist

November 11, 2010November 11, 2010 / Terrill Welch / 22 Comments

My daughter, Josie Olszewski, took these photographs of me last weekend. I am collecting a couple of images of me to accompany a new youtube video of my recent work which I hope to finish in the next few months with the help of a musician in Europe.

I sometimes ask myself “what makes me an artist?”

It seems to be a simple enough question. However, I never find a satisfactory answer as I am taking the insides out of the squash in preparation for dinner or stripping the bed of its sheets for the laundry.

These photos should make Wulan at Lemon Zest very happy.

Sprout question: What makes you an artist, writer, musician, photographer?

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

Hurry, Hungry Seattleites! There’s Still Time to Be a Part of Sprout #2 (seattlest.com)

Visiting Baby O

November 10, 2010 / Terrill Welch / 24 Comments

Sunday at 8:15 am I was on the ferry to Swartz Bay. By 10:30 am I greeted my daughter and her husband at their home in Mill Bay. I was just in time for a waffle brunch.

My mom and dad, each of my children and me each have one of these cast iron antique stovetop waffle irons. They were designed for using on top of a wood cook stove but we use them on any heat source.

They make the best waffles.

Afterwards we went on a hike in Maple Bay.

Baby O has had quite the adventures before entering the world from long hikes, rock climbing, cycling, kayaking and snorkeling in the Gulf of Mexico. I will laugh very hard if once here, we are introduced to a couch potato who says… “Oh, been there done that!” to all outdoor activity.