Make the Most of It

October 7, 2011October 7, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 16 Comments

The morning had got off to a bad start. I went to put luggage in the truck parked on Arbutus Way after staying over night in Victoria. On the windshield was a $75.00 parking ticket because of… Alleged infraction 220. No Person May Park Or Leave A Veh in A Park Except For The Bona Fide Purpose of Visiting The Park.

The street sign did not say I couldn’t park in that spot overnight which was a through street from downtown at the edge of the park. The signage said nothing about park use parking only. The sign said I could park for 3.5 hours between 7:00 am and 6:00 pm. Like the other streets around it, I assumed the limit ended at 6:00 pm and night parking with no time limit until 7:00 am began. I was $75.00 worth of wrong. I felt like I had been unfairly tricked. I could likely argue the ticket but it just seems such a waste of my time. I decided I will pay and tag the City of Victoria in my post instead. After all, my arguing, even if I win, won’t help someone else from making the same mistake. But my blog post might.

Adding to this minor insult the day was heavy with cloud and gloom.

(image may be purchased here.)

But we didn’t let any of it get to us and spoil our fun. We made faces and laughed as we walked and took a break on the park bench for the baby to nurse.

You got it! We were visiting the newest grandson Isaac who is now 7 weeks old.

Now isn’t that a happy grandpa for you?

Giving him lots love.

Looking into this face who wouldn’t feel like the sun was shining and they didn’t have a care in the world?

Who cares about the City of Victoria and their silly old parking tickets or the heavy clouds over our head? Not us. It matters not one smidgen! We are making the most of it!

Sprout Question: When was the last time you made to most of it?

SPECIAL NOTICE: There will be no Creative Potager post on Monday. It is Canadian Thanksgiving and I shall be away visiting the other two grandsons while David keeps the home fires burning.

But we shall have an extra special post on Tuesday with a guest interview appearance with Jeff Stroud. Please do stop by then and say hello.

AND the second part of Leanne Dyck’s interview with me will be up tomorrow morning at THE SWEATER CURSE.

Best of the weekend everyone and happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian readers.

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

September 6, 2011September 8, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 19 Comments

What is this? You guess it. I am announcing the release of my coffee table book PRECIOUS SECONDS – Mayne Island in paintings and photographs is now available through Blurb self-publishing. You can view the first 15 of the 50 pages of paintings and photographs that you know and love.

You may make your order today. Isn’t that fun?

The material quality of Blurb books is excellent. However, they are a wee bit pricy. Therefore, I will not be carrying this publication as inventory so that I can keep the purchase price as reasonable as possible. Online in the Blurb store is where you shall find this latest addition to my printed work. Enjoy.

Sprout question: What creative surprise do you have to share this week?

Happy September New Year!

I will be sharing more about my fall schedule and offerings on Friday. Best of the week 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

Terrill Welch online Gallery at http://terrillwelchartist.com

Interview with Terrill Welch by Bill Maylone (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
Why I hung a $2,420 original oil painting for sale at our local Farm Gate grocery store. (creativepotager.wordpress.com)

Creative Island Retreat Home for you?

August 12, 2011August 13, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 17 Comments

Every once in a long while I spy a home for sale and think “I could live there!” So when I ran into Annette at the Farm Gate Store and she told me her retreat house was for sale. I took her up on an offer to come have a look.

Off we went to an address within easy stroll to the lighthouse where I was painting en plein air last week. Or you could meander down to Reef Bay at David Cove where so many of my photographs and paintings have been inspired.

It is not the usual”for sale” sign we park beside. Annette’s young children have painted all the signs and posters that have been posted around the island. It has been one of their contribution to this creative family restoration project.

Doesn’t it look lovely.

Wood is so inviting. The new siding and much of the decking was milled from trees that were taken right from the property.

The yard is bright with a tropical feel. It can be low maintenance or a full-on garden – your choice.

There are lavish environmentally treated cedar decks to enjoy.

I particularly like the frames within frames at this vantage point.

Oh and there is the studio building with one room up and one down, completely separate and connected with a breezeway to the main home.

Don’t you just love it? It would be a great place to write, paint, make jewelry, or have a little home store for your wares.

It even has its own woodpile guard. It is not a very strenuous post (pun intended) on Mayne Island but the carving is great company just the same. There is a story here but you will need to ask Annette to tell you about it.

From the loft studio balcony you can even look down and see if your sweetie has dinner ready. In my case, I would be looking until breakfast the next morning but you never know…. This is a kitchen that will inspire gourmet delights.

As we climb the stairs to the spacious loft I admire the windows. What a nice glimpse of outside.

But that is it for my part of the tour. Now I am going to turn you over to Annette to see the loft and other photographs on the most incredible website she has set up for this property.

If you like, give her a call and chat further about this creative gem of a retreat. I know she would be delighted. And be sure to say “hello” from me.

Best of the weekend everyone… and you will not be seeing me around next week. I will be in Mill Bay and on Saturna Island while David minds the peas and carrots in the garden on the home front. After that things will pretty much get back to normal as I start to ramp up for the fall and more time with all of you. Until then!

Sprout question: If you are seeking a creative retreat what must it include?

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

Good Morning En Plein Air (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
Why I hung a $2,420 original oil painting for sale at our local Farm Gate grocery store. (creativepotager.wordpress.com)

Held Over by Popular Demand

August 1, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 18 Comments

Thank you everyone for your support. The show has been a whopping success and it is not over yet!

The STUDY of BLUE solo exhibition was extended at the request of the venue until tomorrow August 2, 2011. However, SEVEN of the original fifteen paintings are now SOLD. I have replaced some of paintings at the end of the original close date so that they can be delivered to buyers. The Oceanwood Restaurant & Inn has also asked to hang paintings in their luxury B&B rooms so their customers will get another chance to purchase them. This is a lovely offer particularly for some of the larger paintings.

Here are quick links to my seven original oil paintings from the show that are still available for purchase at the ART OF DAY online gallery:

ONE 24 X 36 inch oil on canvas BUY NOW.

OWL’S VIEW 24 X 18 inch oil on canvas BUY NOW.

SALISH SEA FOUR 24 X 48 inch oil on canvas BUY NOW.

EAST POINT CLIFFS 24 X 18 inch oil on canvas BUY NOW.

BREAKING THROUGH 36 X 48 inch oil on canvas BUY NOW.

WINTER SUN 18 X 24 inch oil on canvas BUY NOW.

And the very last of the smaller paintings still available…

STORM COMING 8 X 10 inch on canvas BUY NOW.

Sprout question: What creative accomplishment are you celebrating this week?

p.s. I have a surprise that I hope to share by the middle of August… once I review the proof. I think you are going to like it.

STUDY OF BLUE solo exhibition extended to August 2, 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

Art Opening (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
Interview with Terrill Welch by Bill Maylone (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
An invitation to buy a painting (creativepotager.wordpress.com)

Being With What Is

July 21, 2011July 21, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 18 Comments

Waking quickly, I glance out through the big window next to the bed. I can see the sun streaming its warmth across the valley floor. After being up until two hours past midnight, I have slept in. It is 8:00 am. Feeling panic, I do a head-rushing leap onto the cool tiles. It is summer. We have the heat off. I had wanted to water the garden. Then I remembered it was raining hard when I went to bed. That job is done. I can relax and be with what is rather than what I had planned. This is my summer so far. I had planned to do a lot of plein air painting. It is not yet happening. Either it is raining or I have another commitment to take care of. So today I am going to share with you a few images that have come about because I have just been with what is – and mostly I have been out and about on Mayne Island with David and my camera.

It stormed all day but the evening was grand….

(this image is available for purchase here.)

with the sandstone shore turning to gold.

(this image is available for purchase here.)

A sailboat sailing a sacred sail as the light catches the surface of the water.

(this image is available for purchase here.)

Just for a moment Georgeson Island is caught in the evening sun’s brilliance and we happened to be there… being with what is.

(this image is available here. There is also a beautiful new poem that poet Bat-Ami Gordin is inspired to write about this image posted in the description.)

Night is coming. The tide is high… a boat house with mist rising.

(this image is available for purchase here.)

Sailboats anchor in the soft edges.

(this image is available for purchase here.)

Night settles in.

Only to have another day begin in a tangle of Arbutus and sun.

The trail ends but my desire continues… off across the sea, over the hills and into the distance.

(this image is available for purchase here.)

Then, without complaint or longing, I am squarely back to the summer grasses beneath my feet, being with what is.

Sprout question: How are you being with what is?

STUDY OF BLUE solo exhibition open until Wednesday July 27, 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

Art Opening (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
Interview with Terrill Welch by Bill Maylone (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
Rainy Summer Day in Navy Channel (creativepotager.wordpress.com)

Rainy Summer Day in Navy Channel

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

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

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

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

While noticing a straggly molting heron feeds in the shallows

I almost step on the most magnificent huge purple starfish.

(this image may be purchased here)

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

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

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

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

(this image may be purchased here)

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

Sprout Question: What clarity comes from your today?

Terrill Welch’s STUDY OF BLUE solo exhibition is up until July 27, 2011. At this time, there are still eleven paintings to choose from. Your personal favourite may still be available and can be purchased today online.

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

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

Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

Terrill Welch online Gallery at http://terrillwelchartist.com

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

Beyond Blue mixed-media painting

July 14, 2011July 14, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 14 Comments

While the STUDY of BLUE family is pulled together in the glare of a summer day and readied for my solo exhibition, another small painting found its way onto my easel.

It started with a canvas print of “Beyond” as an underpainting.

I then freely added oil paint until it feels done. The work may be the seed for something new or it may be a one-off experiment. It is just too early to tell.

BEYOND BLUE mixed-media 8 X 11.75 inches on canvas $300.00

The painting is showing in the summer group show at the Mayne Island Reading Centre (the Library) but you can contact me directly via email at tawelch@shaw.ca if you are interested in having this piece hanging on your wall.

Sprout Question: What are you finishing and then beginning anew?

STUDY OF BLUE solo exhibition is up until July 27, 2011. At this time, there are still eleven paintings to choose from. Your personal favourite may still be available and can bepurchased today online.

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

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

Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

From Mayne Island British Columbia, Canada

Terrill Welch online Gallery at http://terrillwelchartist.com

Art Opening (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
Interview with Terrill Welch by Bill Maylone (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
Port of call – Mayne Island (creativepotager.wordpress.com)

Grandness when faced with our need for resilience

July 12, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 14 Comments

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

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

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

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

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

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

Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

Terrill Welch online Gallery at http://terrillwelchartist.com

Art Opening

July 11, 2011July 15, 2021 / Terrill Welch / 14 Comments

The large canvases are wrapped in sheets and plastic and stacked with even larger pieces of cardboard lying in between. We ceremonially carry each painting and place them into the back of my rather tired old ford pick up. The plywood dry box is already carefully stuffed with smaller canvas oil paintings. Now ready to drive the short distance to the exhibition venue I realize Miss Prissy’s cargo is worth many times more than she. But as usual, she doesn’t seem to mind. I am sure there isn’t a snobbish piece of metal in her paint-chipped body. Tomorrow, STUDY of BLUE will open.

The Oceanwood Restaurant and Inn has done a fantastic job of creating gallery space.

We take our time, deciding on the best location for each piece of work.

The next evening, with toes sparkling new polish, finger nails buffed and decked out in a very fun balloon dress I open the show.

I handed my camera to my daughter Josie who did her best to capture the evening. However, she said people kept looking like deer in the headlights so she stopped taking photos after a while.

We do have a few though.

The food was extra delicious, delicately flavoured and served with elegance.

And there is nothing quite like seeing a painting through a grand piano.

Somewhere between 40 and 50 art-loving individuals wandered around looking at each painting. Stepping forward. Then back. Then on occasion bringing a friend over to have a look as well. Sometimes eyes would snap with excitement and an intrigued viewer would say: “That one! That one is my favourite.”

My favourite comment of the evening was from a long-time resident who came by near the end of the evening to thank me for putting on the exhibition.

“It is good, very good. We now have culture right here on Mayne Island.”

I don’t think there was ever any doubt but it was a pleasure to be a spark for such sentiments. I would like to thank the Oceanwood Restaurant and Inn because they are ultimately responsible for orchestrating such a classy event which then garnered this comment.

At the end of the evening FIR TREE SKY sold to a lovely couple from Michigan, bringing the total sales so far for this exhibition to four original oil paintings. Considering our economic climate, I am pleased with these early results.

What is next? I have an offer to show at a venue on Salt Spring Island. I have an invitation to hang a piece or two in another local venue. There is a restaurant in Vancouver that is accepting original art work. I have also been asked to provide a cover image and feature interview for a regional magazine’s September issue. But I am wondering, is it time to seek gallery representation? If so, where might be a good place to start? Or do I put my focus into building my direct relationships with buyers? Or is it both? Possibly both but I am still thinking. While I think I shall paint.

Thank you for your special part in the STUDY of BLUE journey with me here on Creative Potager, and on twitter and facebook.

Sprout question: What is creatively next for you?

STUDY OF BLUE solo exhibition is up until July 27, 2011.

Note: Current paintings available can be viewed and purchased at TerrillWelchArtist.com

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