Early Autumn in the Japanese Garden

September 23, 2022September 23, 2022 / Terrill Welch / Leave a comment

Sunshine and cooler temperatures are the perfect time for drifting between productive activity and leisurely strolls. I have sorted, cleaned and reclaimed my office space in the loft. I find it so refreshing to have it “in hand” so to speak. Now it is time to go for that stroll.

I go off into the gorgeous early autumn weather with its warm sun and blue skies. One of my stops is our Mayne Island Japanese Memorial Garden.

The bridge is looking more elegant than usual with its orange red boards. I smile to myself remembering bringing students to plein air paint in the garden. This bridge lovingly was referred to as “the dreaded bridge”.

The bridge can be seen from almost anywhere in the circular walk around the garden.

It is a popular prop for photographing family and friends.

The Japanese maples are starting to turn red.

Samaras prepare to twirl off in a gust of wind.

I find myself sitting in the ground beside the path even though there are many comfortable benches tucked into the garden.

I am sitting next to the new bamboo shishi odoshi that translates as “deer frightening” in English. Thankful all the deer are fences out of this beautiful garden.

I head home to prepare supper. Before I feel ready, the day is over. The sun is setting through the trees and creating magical light across the room.

The time on my phone says that it is just seven in the evening. I am not ready yet for the fast shortening of the days in our northern hemisphere. I want to savour the last of our late summer’s warmth, even if it is shaking hands with early autumn before its annual departure.

Meanwhile, Russia has announced a partial mobilization. First it was for 300 reservists. Now I hear possibly one million. Nuclear weapons are mentioned. Is it a bluff? Likely they say while failing to pause before insisting that we should take this threat seriously and prepare. How does one prepare for a Nuclear war? Is an animal really cornered if they very carefully constructed the corner themselves? The analogy doesn’t seem to work somehow. I listen to the UN security talks. I check with trusted YouTube analysts for updates about changes in the Ukrainian frontline. What shall I prepare in the face of possible war? A prayer for peace? A dedicated meditation on love? Possibly. I will go to garden for a powerful potion of fresh peppermint for my tea. I will watch the bright green leaves swirl in the hot water of my favourite mung and I shall breathe. I shall breathe slowly, purposefully and with an open heart, cradled in strength and a unrelenting force.

Such are these days of this early autumn here on the southwest coast of Canada.

What is it like this time of year in your neighbourhood?

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ArtWork Archive original paintings and acrylic sketches currently available

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Website: TerrillWelchArtist.com

Cherry Blossom walk in Mayne Island Japanese Garden

April 15, 2016April 15, 2016 / Terrill Welch / 6 Comments

Clouds of pink blossoms fill the morning sky with petals drifting slowly onto the garden paths. It is Cherry blossom season in Mayne Island’s Japanese Garden. Come with me and we can stroll along together!

Or we can also say: the season of sakura is here! Want to go hanami? Shall we go over the bridge?

We turn around in wonder until our gaze settles, just for a moment.

However, there are so many other supporting actors besides these pastel-crinoline-petticoat-wearing drama queens. Take this dapper Dove Tree blossom for instance. Elegant and handsome as they come.

Or maybe Rhododendron blossoms that are as large as my hand.

Then there are the weeping Crabapple blooms.

But if we are honest with each other, I am sure we would agree that all we really want to see are Cherry blossoms!

Of course, we could sit in the hut and contemplate the question.

We could study the pond for a while as we debate the issue. But my best guess is that all we are likely to notice is the reflections of….. Cherry Blossoms!

So, Cherry blossoms it is!

We close our eyes and what do we see?

Well, I don’t know about you but I see a cheese sandwich with a hot cup of peppermint tea. I am famished after all this walking, looking, composing images and then photo-editing Cherry blossoms!

What do you see if you close your eyes?

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

Mystery of the Ordinary in the Japanese Garden on Mayne Island

November 26, 2015November 26, 2015 / Terrill Welch / 14 Comments

If you know only one aspect of my creative intention, I would like it to be my gift of the ordinary in our everyday. Yes, there are grand moments, brilliant moments and even tragic moments in our lives. But it is the everyday, the ordinary which holds the greatest mystery. On this day, Thanksgiving Day in the United States, I feel compelled to take you with me on a quiet walk of thankfulness in our local Mayne Island Japanese Garden. This garden is a work of volunteer love and healing in recognition of the Japanese Canadians who lost their homes and lands on Mayne Island during their interment during the second world war.

Through the trees in the Japanese Garden on Mayne Island by Terrill Welch 2015_11_26 036

Looking through the trees and standing in between I am thankful for all that is.

Standing in between in the Japanese Garden on Mayne Island by Terrill Welch 2015_11_26 031

Standing still and quiet as the winter birds shuffle the last of the fall colour on the ground, I breathe easy.

Last of the fall colour in the Japanese Garden on Mayne Island by Terrill Welch 2015_11_26 020

Have a seat and we shall stay a while longer.

Have a Seat by Terrill Welch 2015_11_26 012

Then, when you are ready, we shall walk across the bridge and out onto the small inner island of the Japanese garden.

Bridge in Japanese Garden on Mayne Island by Terrill Welch 2015_11_26 022

There is evidence that the seasonal Christmas lights are being strung. Today though, it is just the natural warmth of winter light and the last bits of gold in contrast to a thin layer of ice on the pond.

What is your own most powerful mystery in the ordinary of your everyday today?

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

Second Salish Sea Sunday Savings

October 16, 2011October 17, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 12 Comments

Ladies and gentleman…. Take your seats please! It is time for our second….

Salish Sea Sunday Savings event!

Drum roll. Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tttttta-T!!! Crowd Cheers. The baby seal steps into the ring…

(image may be purchased HERE for 40% off during this event)

Got you! I did have a baby seal up my sleeve! 🙂 This little fellow and I became acquainted earlier in the week. He is kind of shy though so give him lots of room and maybe don’t cheer too loud.

Thank you everyone who participated in the draw for SIXTEEN 4 x 6 greeting cards

from my redbubble storefront.

Your support has been as amazing always. Cyber hugs to all of you who have shared this week’s Thursday Teaser and my photography and paintings with your networks.

The draw will be made at 4:00 pm by someone trustworthy in the near vicinity. The winner will be announced on Monday’s Creative Potager post.

NOW grab your beverage of choice, a means of payment and put your feet up!

For the next hour from 3:00 – 4:00 pm P.D.T. this Sunday, October 16, 2011

Creative Potager is hosting a sale of 40% off on the following items.

ONE original impressionist 10 X 10 inch oil on canvas painting

SUMMER MORNING MIST

Regular price $350.00 and is available until 4:00 pm for only for $210.00 plus shipping.

The painting also comes with an optional floating wood frame.

To purchase email me at tawelch@shaw.ca The purchase will go to the first email received. The best payment and shipping arrangements will be discussed at that time.

The rest of the items are all available at my redbubble online storefront…

TWO painting prints reduced by 40%

Unlimited numbers of prints are available in any format including cards to canvas prints

SALISH SEA FOUR

(Purchased this print HERE)

RISING

(Purchased this print HERE)

THREE photography prints reduced by 40%

Unlimited numbers of prints are available in any format including cards to canvas prints.

I am offering lots of colour today starting with one of your favourites….

Mayne Island Japanese Garden (photograph rendered as an oil painting)

(Purchased this print HERE)

And two new photographs…

autumn window in Japanese Garden

(Purchase this print HERE)

flames of fall Japanese Garden

(Purchased this print HERE)

Plus one BONUS seascape for those that might feel they were missing out on my sea and landscape photography….

Sea Mountains Clouds

(Purchased this print HERE Note: canvas prints only come in small and medium size)

And the Sea, Land & Time MAYNE ISLAND for 2012 reduced by 40%

(Purchased this calendar HERE)

All paintings, prints of paintings, prints of photographs and the Sea, Land & Time MAYNE ISLAND 2012 calendar will be returned to their regular price at 4:00 pm today Sunday October 2, 2011 P.D.T.

You don’t see that special image you were hoping would be included?

Leave a comment here on today’s Second Salish Sea Saving post with the redbubble link in the first 15 minutes of the sale – yes by 3:15 pm PDT – and I will reduce the image by 40% for you and reply to your comment when it is ready for purchase at the reduced price.

I wish you the most pleasant shopping experience and do leave a comment or email me directly at tawelch@shaw.ca if you have any questions. I will be monitoring my email and this post closely for the next hour to offer any assistance you might need.

Thank you again for participating in the second Salish Sea Sunday Savings event. The next event and final event for the year will be in three weeks on Sunday November 6, 2011.

Please subscribe to this blog and if you wish to receive notice of the next event as well as twice weekly posts of new photographs and art work.

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

Second Thursday Teaser (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
First Salish Sea Sunday Savings (creativepotager.wordpress.com)

Waiting to be Invited

January 24, 2011January 22, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 23 Comments

There is a part of creativity that is about showing up prepared. That means setting up your writing station and putting bum-to-chair. Or pulling out a canvas and placing it on the easel. Then putting a brush in your hand at a regularly scheduled time to paint. Or it means putting your camera bag on your shoulder and heading out everyday to take the photograph that is there to be taken. Each of us practicing our creative craft will engage in some form of preparation. If you are a musician or a dancer or a woodcarver you will know exactly what to do to show up prepared.

After doing a few warm up exercises, I find there is a second part to most creative processes. This is waiting to be invited. There is a pause or suspension of expectation or a kind of taut readiness. Mind, body and spirit seem to align and, there it is – the invitation. We know intuitively exactly what we need to do next. We proceed.

This is my intention for the week ahead. I have a half-finished painting and few canvases of various sizes that I picked up last week. I am going to set aside the time each day, be prepared, do my warm up exercises, stilling my mind and wait to be invited.

This is what happened when I took these two photographs at the Japanese garden on Friday morning. As the rain came down, I visited with a friend who is moving away. We were sitting on a sheltered bench. I had taken my camera even though the day was heavily clouded and didn’t show much promise.

First, this invite was extended to me.

And then this one.

I remembered my manners and said “thank you.”

And here are a couple of things you may find inspiring:

Last Tuesday, we slipped into Victoria B.C. and attended the IMAX theatre for the most impressive Van Gogh brush with Genius . Well worth seeing if you ever get the chance. Thank you Sherwin, from Shower Wisdom, for making such a compelling recommendation in your comment to last Monday’s post.

While we were in town we went to a couple of art galleries. At the new Madrona Gallery we saw a 3 X 4 foot acrylic painting by Karel Doruyler of a mature, dense west coast forest. His skill with light is outstanding. The work we saw was Thoughts of Summer. Doruyler has developed a heavily textured approach so that the tree trunks are significantly raised off the surface of the painting. Doruyler has been painting professionally for 40 years and is now 70 years old. His work leaves me with such a sense of possibility for my own continued development as an artist.

All the best in your creative endeavors!

Sprout question: Where are you showing up prepared to be invited?

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

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)

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)

field of daffodils

March 11, 2010June 1, 2022 / Terrill Welch / 14 Comments

Field of daffodils on Mayne Island

During the past few days on Creative Potager we have been talking about shadows and the power of darkness in our creativity. When I saw this field of daffodils, its brilliance was only enhanced by the shadows. In fact, this naturalized field of bright yellow flowers comes from a dark shadow in Mayne Island’s past. I was told that the land was once owned and farmed by a Japanese family who grew the daffodils along with tomatoes that were shipped and sold in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Update Wednesday June 1, 2022: comment clarifies history for us “The picture in this story was not owned by the Japanese farmers. Richard Hall bought this piece of property in1922. He grew daffodils and tomatoes. When he retired he sold his greenhouses to the Japanese farmers who took them to a farm on Campbell Bay Rd, and then grew tomatoes for sale. This particular piece of property is still owned by Richard Halls relatives.” Thank you Linda!

During World War II the Japanese on Mayne Island were gathered up and taken from their land to war camps in the interior of British Columbia for fear of espionage. Their land was later given to soldiers returning from the war. The daffodils stayed and bloom every spring – reminding us.

Mr. Lenard Cohen’s “Anthem” comes to mind with the line “There is a crack in everything… that’s how the light gets in…”

Sprout Question: Do you have a piece of work exists because that is how the light comes in? (links to your work are welcome)

Note: This field of daffodils is private property. No trespassing allowed. These photos were taken from the public roadway. The community has built a Japanese Garden in commemoration of early Japanese settlers.

Addition: After fielding several questions, I am adding the following historical references….

“On Tuesday, April 21, 1942, the CPR steamship Princess Mary came for the fifty Japanese men, women and children who waited on the Miners Bay wharf. Most of the Mayne Island residents were in attendance to shake hands and wish them well. It was a sad time for all… A week after evacuation, the first tomatoes of the season, so optimistically planted by the Japanese, were picked by their Mayne Island friends and sent off to market…. [between 1942 and 1943 growing season] In all, between 150,000 and 200,000 pounds of tomatoes were harvested. The school lost seventeen Japanese school children. Classes limped along until June and then the school closed until September 1944 for lack of pupils.” p.69-70 in Mayne Island & The Outer Gulf Islands A History by Marie Elliott (1984)

A Japanese Canadian Timeline by John Endo Greenaway

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