The Song of Waves

January 13, 2012 / Terrill Welch / 12 Comments

The waves – their energy sings to me as they come to shore. The melodies may change but the music is as recognizable as my favourite band.

Sometimes I just roll with it…

Rock or Sea

Seaweed or Wave

Swish splash!

Sing to me, I say – sing to me!

SPROUT: What sound in nature is as familiar to you as your favourite music?

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

Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

The Coast is Clear (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
Three Mayne Island photography landscapes go to Vancouver (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
Mayne Island Dawn of 2012 (creativepotager.wordpress.com)

The Coast is Clear

January 12, 2012January 13, 2012 / Terrill Welch / 12 Comments

The last few days with stretches of sun have seen for many a photo shoot. Over the next few posts I will share the bounty. Today we shall start with a lovely and way to rare opportunity to focus on the B. C. coastal mountains as seen from across the Strait of Georgia on Mayne Island.

When the coast is clear the Mountains command our attention. It is like a huge surprise and hard to believe they have been their shrouded in clouds all along.

Vancouver high-rise buildings are dwarfed at their feet and compressed in the sliver of space between mountain and sea. If I learned how to “stitch” photographs together I could give you this outstanding string of pearly mountain peaks up and down the coast. But we shall just see it in sections today. Here a Freighter comes into view. This is something that is common for the Strait of Georgia as they head for the Vancouver harbour.

I tried out another black and white for the next image as I find the neutral tones more satisfying in being able to focus on the mountains.

Still, it is a struggle and I am not completely happy with the results yet. More learning is necessary I think. These grand beasts deserve the best I can give them. However, I enjoy this view of Mount Baker. Her soft profile now graces the background on my computer.

SEED: How does a photographer best capture mountains? This is my learning curve question at the moment. It is not as easy as one might think and I have not got what I am seeking in a photograph yet. So I went on a search and found this great article in the Landscape Photography Magazine by Darwin Wiggett “How to Photograph Mountains”

SPROUT: Where is your inner soft mountain grandness showing up today?

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

Abstract Sensing (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
Mayne Island Dawn of 2012 (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
West Coast Shore Photo-study (creativepotager.wordpress.com)

Abstract Sensing

January 6, 2012 / Terrill Welch / 10 Comments

Sometimes nature delivers the finest abstract compositions such as yesterday late in the afternoon at Georgina Point on Mayne Island. We only had a few moments of sun but they were a nice reprieve from the gray and rain of west coast winter. I was glad I was there, camera-at-the-ready, to take this photograph.

Good morning, happy Friday and the best of the weekend to you!

SPROUT: What natural abstract composition has recently caught your attention?

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)
Mayne Island Dawn of 2012 (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
THE SEA TO ME original oil painting by Terrill Welch (creativepotager.wordpress.com)

Three Mayne Island photography landscapes go to Vancouver

January 2, 2012January 3, 2012 / Terrill Welch / 2 Comments

The year of 2012 has started out on a high note here at la casa de inspiracion. A new collector of my work will shortly be receiving three extra-large approximately 20 X 28 inch photography canvas prints to complete the remodeling of her home in Vancouver. Shall we have a look to see what she has chosen for her walls? Yes? I though you might say that.

MIST

(image is available for purchase Here)

ARBUTUS STRAIT OF GEORGIA

(image is available for purchase Here)

and the ever popular…

TRAVELING INTO THE MIST

(image is available for purchase Here)

SPROUT: If you could collect anything you wanted what would it be?

SEED: Have you ever wondered how I define “a collector of my work?” It is someone who has three or more pieces of my Fine Art. It could be three or more photography prints or three or more original paintings or a combination of both. Here is a link that I recently wrote for my Google Plus – Terrill Welch Fine Art page about buying an original painting https://plus.google.com/115927302973552189234/posts/aVAcdo661WE The same advice holds to be equally true for photography Fine Art. In addition, I would like to suggest this fantastic article by art consultant, advisor, author, and independent appraiser, Alan Bamberger, “How to Collect Art Like a Pro – Building a Collection.” It is like an advance course in learning how to buy what you love.

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

Studio Tour Tomorrow (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
PRECIOUS SECONDS – Mayne Island in paintings and photographs (creativepotager.wordpress.com)

Mayne Island Dawn of 2012

January 1, 2012January 3, 2012 / Terrill Welch / 32 Comments

My first photograph of 2012 is taken before daylight as I scramble out over slippery rocks to the edge of the surf at Reef Bay on Mayne Island.

Unlike other favourite photography location in the world. I am the only one there. Not even a dog barking in the distance – just me and sea waiting to greet the day.

Sometimes a person must search for signs of dawn in order to be sure of the specific point of its arrival. It is not time yet but soon.

The lights of Vancouver are starting to fade in the distance from where it hunches below the cloud-covered coastal mountains. A softness surrounds the breath of this new day.

With each rolling wave the moments pass through my camera shutter. The sun has not quiet risen but with fingers stiff from the cold I press down to capture the first light on the sandstone shore.

Is this it? Could this be the moment we are waiting for – the dawn of 2012?

Possibly but let’s just wait a little longer.

Ah yes, there is a soft light starting to soak into the heavy clouds over the mountains.

A full dawn has come to Mayne Island.

Only twenty minutes have passed from the first rock we admired and we are now enjoying the richness of our first dawn in 2012 here on Mayne Island.

As we watch the brightness recedes into the soft reality of an overcast day January 1, 2012 here on Mayne Island off the southwest coast of British Columbia Canada.

SPROUT: What is the first thing you noticed about your first day in 2012?

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)

Begin 2012 with what you have – oil painting in progress

January 1, 2012 / Terrill Welch / 8 Comments

I am hoping to get down to the seashore for dawn but the rain has arrived first. So, refusing to be left empty-handed on the first morning of the year, I have decided to share a detail from a painting in progress.

The over all painting is still not settled on the canvas yet but I like this part of it.

SPROUT: Do you find this sometimes too – where a detail may even become the finished work?

In this case, I think the complete 12 X 12 inch canvas will come together but we shall have to wait and see.

Wishing us all the most inspiring, imaginative, creative and successful 2012!

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

Studio Tour Tomorrow (creativepotager.wordpress.com)

Twice Around

December 27, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 12 Comments

Today is twice around the calendar year for Creative Potager. As part of my seasonal rest period, I have not posted for 25 days. It has been almost a month since I entertained a sprout question or gathered together my thoughts for a submission to all you wonderful creative beings. Yet, I have been thinking about Creative Potager – about its purpose and how it provides a sustaining sense of direction and community for me and maybe even for you.

The year of 2011 has seen many paintings completed and photographs captured. There have been interviews and guest post on other blogs. We have entertained special Salish Sea Saving days, home studio tours and seen publications of work in brochures, newspapers and on the glossy front page of a regional magazine Island Gals.

There has been the release of my new book Precious Seconds – Mayne Island in painting and photographs which many of you now have in your possession.

There has been the successful STUDY OF BLUE solo exhibition with more than half of my original oil paintings sold and finding their way to new homes.

I have received recognition for my photography and won several website features. Paintings, books and photography and painting prints, calendars and cards have been sold to buyers around the world. The introduction of Google Plus has offered a whole new community of more than 10,000 artists, photographers and art lovers have “circled” my profile.

I have been invited by a new online Gallery ArtsyHome to show my paintings and my latest original paintings are now easily available for purchase by international buyers.

On all fronts, it has been a creatively successful fine art year for me, one where Creative Potager has been a central connection for sharing my adventures.

However, a question seems to be presenting itself without a satisfying or conclusive answer:

What is next for Creative Potager?

My Google plus has scooped up much of my Twitter community and its micro blogging with gorgeous image capacity makes separate blog posting less of a necessity and in many ways less of a hub for connecting with my much larger Google Plus community. My Facebook has always been about family and closer friends for but it is not really a place of deeper contemplation and creative connection. I link these readers to Creative Potager for this even if they reply on Facebook. Some of you are part of all of my various social platforms. Others connect only here on Creative Potager or in only one or two other networks. So there is always the risk of repeating posts for some of you and of missing out on opportunities for others. Each platform comes with its own time commitment which is starting to take away from, rather than enhance, my actual creative process. I know I must shift and change something.

What should I do?

Some ideas are taking root but nothing has grown large enough to be a distinguishable pattern of lines and shapes. So, though it is the second anniversary of our creative connection here in the blogosphere, we must be patient until such time as the flip-flopping musings inside my head settle into a discernible direction. In the meantime, I shall post more frequently in a micro blogging fashion that is dispersed across my various social networking platforms. As my readers, you can choose your favourite means of connection to engage in our conversations. It matters not really though I do like to see the comments directly on the blog post because they are more lasting here and it is easier to skip through to your own posts.

The “sprout question” will become more sparsely presented as simply “Sprout.”

I shall also add a “Seed” which is a seed for creativity, learning and discover. It is a study element that I am introducing into my upcoming year. I thought you might like to be privy to this “seed planting” as well. “Seeds” shall generally have links and will only share a snippet to entice further exploration.

Possibly, not all posts will have a “seed” or “sprout.” Some may only have a photograph, a paragraph or painting. We shall just have to wait and see. Posts will have no prescribed time of day or days of the week. By now I trust that I shall post regularly. I desire maximum flexibility to create and to connect with a spontaneity that keeps both fresh and engaging and exciting. This is built on my belief and trust that both shall happen without prescription because they do.

Intention: For me, according to the answer to my I Ching question, this is anticipated to be a year of modesty and moderation. It appears to be a time of balancing extremes and harmonizing interests and requires a modest and sincere attitude and the limiting of obvious excesses while exposing myself to new areas of experience. This is also a time of conflict, external or internal, and one of spiritual maturing. It may lead to reconsidering my original premise. My intention is to be open, curious and unattached to what I know to be true so I can explore and honour what is yet unknown to me. Oh where might this take us? It promises to be a grand adventure.

As the sun comes close to setting on 2011, thank you so much for being and continuing to be part of my creative journey.

(image may be purchased HERE)

As we shoot for the moon…

(image may be purchased HERE)

with our arms full of flowers…

(image may be purchased HERE)

Sprout: What is currently soft and undefined in your creativity?

Seed: What new might we learn about composition? Has it changed through time? Are their histories of creativity that have handled composition with different views? These are the questions I am musing about as I begin my next painting. Let’s start with a good grounding in the basics of composition that are available on wikipedia.

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

Life and the Bounty Hunter (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
Studio Tour Tomorrow (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
Third Thursday Teaser (creativepotager.wordpress.com)

Not Much to See

November 28, 2011November 28, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 10 Comments

Sometimes when there is not much to see it still feels just right, particularly on Monday morning. I like to ease into the week still blinking away the coziness of the weekend.

It is an ordinary sort of morning down by the water and there is not much to see.

I like it anyway, the quiet, unimpressive business of ordinary life. The studio is about the same. I finished one painting but I still need to take a photograph. Then I started on another. As I have been saying, not much to see yet. But would you like to peek over my shoulder? Alright, but no comments about my painting apron only partially covering my nightgown. No complaining that it isn’t quite daylight yet, nor that I didn’t make everything pretty. It is a reference snapshot. It is also going to be a bit crowded but I think we can all squeeze in. Okay, okay I will show you….

Sam, can I get you to move to right so Leanne can see as well. Laurie I know you are excited but there isn’t enough room for you jump up and down right now. Maureen, you can come a little closer and squeeze in there on the left. Jeff if you come over by me I think you can see over top of Patricia. Shakeira, Sue and Josie… hum! Oh no! Here comes… we are just going to have to have another viewing when the painting is finished.

Sprout Question: What is your favourite not-much-to-see view or moment?

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

Flying Through Home Studio Gallery Day (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
The Quiet (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
Sitting on My Ordinary (creativepotager.wordpress.com)

28 tries 2 finalists and a tie for 1st

November 25, 2011November 28, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 16 Comments

Are you wondering what I might be talking about? Photography. Yes photography. More precisely I am talking about what goes into getting a composition that has that special zing!

I recently complimented someone on what I felt was an excellent capture.

The reply was – yes but do you know how hard I worked to get that one shot? I took tons of photographs and only this one turned out.

Have you had this experience too? I know I sure have! For some reason when a person is a “professional” photographer, loosely defined as a person with a camera that sells her work or is commissioned to take photographs, it is assumed that this person just picks up her equipment and goes out to take great photographs. Not so.

Let’s look at some round numbers. I usually photograph something every day. Most days I take between 50 and 200 images. On a full shooting day I might take 500. These are small numbers for a full-time photographer. But none-the-less these are my numbers. If I take an average of 100 photographs a day times 365 days a year that would be 36,500 photographs. In the past two years on my redbubble site, how many images do you think I have posted for sale? 10,000? A 1,000? 500? Lower still. I have 335 including today’s two winners. Yes I have some keepers that are not for sale. But still – you get the idea. To take good photographs a person must take photographs and a lot of them. Not in a shot-gun style hoping that you get something. But with purpose and intention, building on our learning as we go.

How about we get more specific? In my humble opinion, the most critical decision photographers and artists make is the composition of their subject. For example, after 28 tries at photographing the fog drifting through the trees across the valley, I came up with four compositions I wanted to work through the editing process. I am going to share with you my personal critique so you can see how I chose the two winners. This doesn’t necessarily make my decisions right. In fact, you might have made different decisions. We each have our own eye and our own intention when capturing an image. However, humour me for a moment and if you like, argue later in the comments.

The first image – A Time to Wonder.

Yes this first image is okay. I like it but the overall square composition is indecisive about whether the darkest tree is the subject or the fog. There is too much room over the top of the trees and my eye keeps wandering around in the fog in the middle wondering what to look at. I will keep it though because if someone wanted to put words at the top as in an advertisement, it would work well. But it is not strong enough to stand on its own.

The second image – Fog Sun Trees

(image is available for purchase HERE)

It is much like the first but with a landscape composition rather than square as in the other. These are typically easier dimensions to work but I have been enjoying exploring the square. The darker tree is dominant with the fog providing a supporting role. With the space on the right it provides visual room for the fog to drift which is underpinned by the tree branches that have been shaped by the predominant winds. The image breathes. The sunlight is catching nicely here and there like frosting on a cake. The frame is tight and dramatic. It is a winner. Off to my redbubble TREES portfolio it goes!

The third image – Where Our Dreams Go

Yeah, well what can I say? The composition places the significant tree to the right. The front trees take up two-thirds of the image. The fog is nicely dispersed in the background. It is a “nice” image and it should have worked but it doesn’t. There is no “zing.” The image remains flat, dead and uninteresting to my eye. So what is wrong? Huh-uh! There are too many trees the same size and value as the tree I want to stand out. There is the one in front on the right, part of one on the left and two overlapping on the same plane of the photograph on the left as the tree I want to hold our attention. My tree of most interest is lost in a crowd of trees. Trash bin here we come. But I am going to keep the title. I like that!

The fourth image – Lifting

(image is available for purchase HERE)

This is my other finalist. It was one of the last images I shot and was an after thought. I had been at the farthest reach of my new lens. I was loving being able to get up close and kiss the trees in the mist across the valley. But I pulled back and took a couple more shots. One of which is this image. So why is it a winner? My special tree stands out amongst its cousins because now there are many more shapes surrounding it – building towards its uniqueness instead of competing with it. The fog is even more dramatic in this frame because of the heavy mass in the background on left accentuating the steepness and mystery of the hill in the background to the right. The little trees in the foreground left, though not a star attraction, keeping my eye moving back into the frame and towards the tree with the most personality. There is enough context in this frame that the eye lingers and muses on the scene. To put it bluntly, it can’t be eaten in one bite. I like that about it. A way to my redbubble TREES portfolio it goes!

So next time you take a hundred or five hundred photographs to get the one you want, remember – that is what photographers do. They take photographs – a lot of them. Everyday. For years. As we take each photograph we keep learning, studying, critiquing and deciding which ones are keepers. Overtime, our photographs improve and keep improving for as long as we keep taking them. There really are no experts just willing learners.

Well, what do you think?

Sprout Question: What are you willing to do a lot of to get the results you want?

News Flash: Our good friend Patricia from Patricia’s Wisdom has a special Thanksgiving guest post with yours truly and she is giving away a copy of Precious Seconds to one of the people who comment on For Such Beauty is Mine ~ A Guest Post. Might as well take a moment and get your name in the draw.

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

Early November afternoon by the sea (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
A Wisp of Winter (creativepotager.wordpress.com)
The Quiet (creativepotager.wordpress.com)

A Wisp of Winter

November 21, 2011November 19, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 22 Comments

It is a painting day for me. It is an ordinary west coast November day with frequent weather changes from sun to rain. But as I looked up from the canvas, nothing seemed to warn me about what I was going to see in the valley.