inspire

Turning Pages

/ Terrill Welch / 14 Comments

March is for Mona’s Work


Leah’s  Creative Every Day theme for March is stories. If there is a fit for me, I like to participate in her themes because she has an outstanding blog to support creative efforts along with an outstanding readership who comment regularly on her posts. For creative people it is like having a coffee shop with a talented host and an open mike just for them.

I’m committed to working on my book Mona’s Work which has an introduction on my Gaia blog and an entry here on Creative Potager in “Potatoes to Potato Salad.”

My challenge: how much or how little do I share with you as I go? The writing will be “hot” and like most writing, it is better when it has cooled, been reviewed, and is then served to you after editing several times. I am leaning towards providing snippets of writing and mostly blogging about the writing process and my behind-the-scene challenges and decisions as I work through the source material, my memories and the developing of the structure of this book.

I’m sure this challenge will work itself as I set down to prepare the blog post each day. However, I would be delighted to hear what aspects of Mona’s Work YOU most want to find when you click to open your Creative Potager post, Monday through Friday for the month of March.

Sprout Question: How do YOU decide when it is right to share your creative efforts?

© 2010 Terrill Welch, All rights reserved.

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

East

/ Terrill Welch / 8 Comments

Quietly I close the door behind me and step out onto the sandstone walk. Dawn requests softness as my body, stiff from sleep, stretches into the morning.

East is the direction of the door I’ve just closed. East is the direction my head faces when I sleep. East is the first direction I seek when I rise. Where am I? I look east. East is the direction my studio window faces. When I work, I mostly keep east in front of me or to my left shoulder. I write, take photographs and paint mostly during the first few hours of a day. I edit in the afternoon and late evening. Sunsets, the gloaming and dinner are for enjoying and chats – not working.

I admire the sparse early garden as I head out for a walk.

View and purchase full resolution image (photograph rendered in oils) here.

If we are able to follow the natural rhythms of our body, they are often different from each other. Not everyone has the same orientation to the various times of day.

Sprout Question: Following your natural body rhythms, what part of the day is yours?

© 2010 Terrill Welch, All rights reserved.

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

Naked

/ Terrill Welch / 12 Comments

With my nightgown hung on the line, I’m reminded that there is nakedness when I am home. Nakedness that usually has little to do with bare skin. Home is actually where we rarely entertain and seldom share the space with others. I think of it as the freedom to allow my energies to easily flow in the space around me. Home is sacred space… when we invite others in to our home – it is to share that sacred space with us.

On Saturday, I cleaned and cleared the cooking and eating utensils. I asked myself – how many people are we really going to have visit at one time? How much cutlery do we need? How many wooden spoons do we use?

The answer was: “far less than was actually in our stash.”

Hence, a great lovely bundle of goods are ready for the thrift store.

Then, the next afternoon, we went for a long walk in a Valentine’s Day Sunday sun. I realized that this too is part of what I considered “our home.” “Home” extended beyond our property. “Home” is Mayne Island a place where my energy flows easily within sacred space.

View and purchase full resolution image here.


View and purchase full resolution image here.


And, in honour of Valentine’s Day, the arbutus tango…

View and purchase full resolution image here.

Welcome to our home.

Sprout Question: Does your creative self have or need sacred space beyond your studio or writing desk?

© 2010 Terrill Welch, All rights reserved.

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.

Possible

/ Terrill Welch / 14 Comments

Creative possibility comes from getting it wrong.

Studio mess – my home – time to de-clutter. 8’X11″ charcoal quick sketch.

“Oh, I could never draw or paint like that.”

“I’m not a writer like you.”

“My photographs don’t compare to yours.”

If I had a dime for each time I heard these comments or others like them, all of my creative work could be used for charity fundraising because I would be independently wealthy. The sad thing is these statements are not true. They are lies we come to believe because we compare our attempts with finished products rather than the process that lead to their creation.

Here is a best kept secret: creative excellence comes from getting things wrong. Yes, wrong. As I commented on Coffee Messiah’s blog this morning, one of my drawing teachers, Glenn Howarth, was fond of saying things like: “It is the shoulder or wrist you struggle to draw that teaches you the anatomy of an arm.”

This is why I have committed to showing you my first morning “awakener” sketch. These first sketches are to engage me in the creative process. My sleepy eyes begin to frame, compose and dig at the relationship between elements I am about to sketch. My stiff arm and hand begin to respond to these relationships. In these first sketches, few mental barriers about “getting it right” have been erected. My judgment is left aside – these are not “keepers” they are “awakeners.”

In a three-hour drawing class, I often do 30 quick sketches that progressively increase in length until it is time to settle into the last hour-long sketch. When I am doing a photo shoot, I may take 150 images with maybe three becoming “keepers.”

Hours and days of exploring “that which is not yet quite right” leads to the creative possibility for success. This is where we discover our unique creative expression. This is where we learn our craft. We learn what is possible by getting it wrong.

My first quick sketch of the day is to inspire you to say to yourself – “hey, I can do that!” And you can.

Here is the last of my chosen three out of 150 shots of mist…

View and purchase full resolution image here.

Sprout Question: What do you do to strengthen your creative possibility?

p.s. Glenn Howarth was the most outstanding art instructor I have had the pleasure of working under. I am forever grateful for the few short years I was in his figure drawing classes. Glenn Howarth died last year at the age of 62. Very little of his thinking and work is on-line but here is an article he wrote that was published in  Canadian Art and Art Resource Directory: “Pictophile – Plein Air Painting”


© 2010 Terrill Welch, All rights reserved.

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.

Garbage

/ Terrill Welch / 16 Comments

As I open the window a crack to hear this mornings song birds, I can imagine you are wondering why garbage would be part of a blog about creativity that is focusing on the theme of “home” for the month of February. I’d say that is a reasonable query. When I returned our rented movies to the gas station yesterday I paid cash (as the money is put in a separate envelope for the garbage collector) for a $7.00 tag to be placed on one, not too big and not too heavy bag of garbage.

This morning I tied off our one bag of garbage that we accumulate every three to four weeks and carried up to the main intersection to be picked up and then hauled off our island.

We live down the hill and around the corner of the road on the right.

It is a ritual I love. Being good islanders, we compost, regift, recycle, reuse, reduce and refuse with gusto. But there is always that little bit left that no one wants or can seem to find a use. This remaining refuge becomes our bag of garbage. Our creating, cleaning and clearing of our home has us frequently contemplating environmental practices which then brings us to examining what decisions we make earlier the acquiring and creating process.

My digital camera is a step in the direction of “reduce” by only printing the best while also being able to make these images available for viewing by many. Most recently, my creativity has been influenced by the “refuse” part of the environmental practices equation. I purchased a set of water miscible oil paints because I could use my same brushes and canvases but didn’t need to use any toxic solvents nor would there be the same use of materials in framing as with my watercolour paintings. In my creative process, I’m refusing to use as many toxic materials as possible and limiting the use of materials needed to create my finished products.

A frequent responder to sprout questions and full-time artist Tobin Eckian from Newburyport, MA takes the creative environmental practice even a step further into an area she calls “upcycle” in her use of cardboard in her art. Tobin’s blog and Etsy shop delight and inspire me with her creative “upcycle” art.

And just so you don’t think my weekend was all about garbage, here is an image from Sunday afternoon’s photo shoot…

View and purchase full resolution image here.

Sprout Question: How do environmental practices influence your creativity?

p.s. thank you for reading, participating and sharing Creative Potager. This is the 31st post since December 27, 2009 and because of you, there has been 246 comments and over 2000 views.

© 2010 Terrill Welch, All rights reserved.

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.

Attachment

/ Terrill Welch / 10 Comments

A house full of stuff is not just about my reluctance to spend my time cleaning and clearing. It is about letting go of attachments. This doll and cradle are a perfect example. The cradle was made with hand tools by my great grandfather for my mother as a birthday gift when she was a little girl. My mother is now 72 years old. My grandmother gave me the cradle when I was young to “take care of.”

today’s sketch 11″x14″ artist colour pencils “Doll and Cradle”

I wasn’t a doll girl so didn’t have a doll to put in the cradle until I received a Katie, with her gorgeous ceramic hand-painted face and beanbag weighted body. She feels real when you pick her up.

I was 35 years old when Katie came into my life. I had wanted another baby but that was neither possible nor practical. My partner at the time presented me with Katie. A large, rough and burly logger, he had gone to a doll show and had a couple of elderly women help him pick out Katie and choose a set of cloths for her.

The doll and cradle has always had room my home because of these attachments. Someday I may need to find a new home for them – but not today.

Sprout Question: How does attachment influence your creativity? (your home, your subject choice)

p.s. I have lots of children in my life. I have two birth children and six step-children plus two grandchildren. The burly logger is now working in the oil fields and is a life-long friend from my childhood.

© 2010 Terrill Welch, All rights reserved.

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.

Winter Studio

/ Terrill Welch / 20 Comments

Quick sketch of trees as seen from studio window.

For the month of February, the Creative Every Day challenge theme is “home.” Leah does an outstanding job of hosting creative development. I decided for this month the theme was perfect for Creative Potager and I’m going to play along. The reason it is perfect is because I have too much stuff. My home is ruling me with its perpetual care and clutter. Yet, if I wait to draw, or paint or take photographs until it is the slim Zen-like space I desire my creativity will come to a standstill for far too long.

Here is my plan:  The theme will be “home” in some form or another while I create, clean and clear everyday for the month of February.

During the winter, I have my studio in the main house as the studio building is not insulated. This year in particular it has been important that I was in the house. I may not even move my working studio back to the other building in the spring but keeping it as a display store instead.

As you can see, my winter studio space is small but with a good-sized east facing window which I like because I am a morning person. However, even at 8:00am this morning I needed to use back lighting to be able to show you this space.

I like that I can see down into the rest of the house from my desk.

I am doing a morning sketch every morning Monday to Friday for February. These are not keepers they are awakeners (my made up word).

These quick sketches are to awaken my creative brain to thinking about light, space, and composition.

There will be no excuses – if a morning sketch means putting my art apron over my nightgown and slipper clad feet – so be it!

May your home be a space that inspires your creativity.

Sprout Question: Have you noticed if the physical space of your home impacts your creativity?

© 2010 Terrill Welch, All rights reserved.

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.

Fast Water part 2

/ Terrill Welch / 6 Comments

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

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

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

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

Down the trail they come…

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

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

And on the home stretch(er)

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

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

© 2010 Terrill Welch, All rights reserved.

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.

Fast Water part 1

/ Terrill Welch / 13 Comments

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

View image in full resolution and purchase here.

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

View image in full resolution and purchase  here.

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

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

View image in full resolution and purchase  here.

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

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

© 2010 Terrill Welch, All rights reserved.

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.

Unstuck

/ Terrill Welch / 10 Comments

Unstuck is so much better than being stuck. Thank you Tobin, Laurie Sue, Robert, Ryan and Sam for answering yesterday’s Sprout Question: Has there ever been a time when you were stuck and finding it difficult to finished a creative piece? What did you do?

Here are the results of yesterday’s work where I tried a number of the suggestions offered in the comments on the previous post “Stuck.”

But here is how it will be cropped when framed.

View image in full resolution here.

Yes, I think this is my  last edit to take out all that isn’t adding value to the final image. It is the photographer in my that likes to trim.

Arbutus driftwood and Sandstone may never be in the category of “one of my very best paintings” but I have a huge sense of satisfaction in having it “done!” Besides, I have long ago stopped deciding what is best or worst in my work because I have seen people overlook my favourites and purchase something that I was reluctant to keep (my mother has saved a few pieces from my compost pile that I am now glad she did).

Best of all, I can now move on to other work – like using my new water miscible oil paints. I haven’t painted with oils for 30 years. I am so excited to get started – after laundry and other chores of course… or maybe painting first then chores. How does that sound?  Like celebrating right? Shall we?

Sprout Question: How do you celebrate when you have a creative break through?

© 2010 Terrill Welch, All rights reserved.

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.