oil painting

Sunday roses in June at la casa de inspiracion

/ Terrill Welch / 13 Comments

I woke this morning with a full day to fill as I choose. No commitments that can’t wait until tomorrow. No restlessness I feel driven to address. Today is for June roses, quiet cups of tea, twittering birds, long strolls and simple meals. Today is for being charmed by the delicate strengths of a moment.  At the gate is a pavement rose puffed with blossoms with petals on her toes.

Sunday roses in June at la casa de inspiracion by Terrill Welch 2013_06_09 007

I linger over a fine red bud.

rose bud by Terrill Welch 2013_06_09 012

Then swoon down to a singular red beauty.

single pink pavement rose by Terrill Welch 2013_06_09 009

Dipping even closer, her fragrance tingles my sense of mystery and wonder.

try by Terrill Welch 2013_06_09 016

This pink pavement rose is not the only hearty soul in the garden though. There is of course “The Grandma Rose,” a most resilient Scottish Brier rose. Her small white buds are determined to drag our focus from the neighbouring greenery.

Grandma Rose in full bloom by Terrill Welch 2013_06_09 029

She is resourceful in her attention-getting ways. The fragrance from these two-inch white balls comes no finer. Let’s see… oh, here is one. Now smell.

single fragrant Scottish Brier Rose by Terrill Welch 2013_06_09 030

Perfect! Right?

The roses this morning remind me of the delicate balance of my week – a painting passing its final test of suitability for a new home. A new small painting resting on the easel.

End of Storm Georgina Point Mayne Island resting 8 x 10 oil on canvas

End of Storm Georgina Point Mayne Island resting 8 x 10 oil on canvas by Terrill Welch 2013_06_06 024

Two paintings released for sale over at Terrill Welch Artist…

New Growth West Coast in late May 8 x 8 inch oil on gessobord

New Growth West Coast in late May 8 x 8 inch oil on gessobord by Terrill Welch 2013_06_01 024

From Felix Jack Road Mayne Island 14 x 11 oil on canvas

From Felix Jack Road Mayne Island 14 x 11 oil on canvas by Terrill Welch 2013_05_28 267

(For the curious and serious fans and collectors alike, links to detailed views and purchase information for these two paintings are posted over at  Terrill Welch Artist. )

Equally important to this delicately balanced week,  my husband is happily spade-deep in a project and my Saturday was spent with a good friend.

This pretty much wraps up what is blooming in my corner of the world. I am contemplating taking a wee bit of time off but this will not be until July. In the meantime, for my everyday, I wish it to be much like this week.

What is blooming in your creative corner of the world?

 

© 2013 Terrill Welch, All rights reserved.

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

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Working on THE EDGE can offer some interesting possibilities

/ Terrill Welch / 10 Comments

There is a sandstone bluff, battered by the wind and sea but also hosts a familiar arbutus tree on its top most tip. THE EDGE, a rare large, long-lean 48 X 24 inch oil on canvas painting to out of my studio. In fact, I almost couldn’t reach the top when it was on the easel and had to squat yoga style to paint the bottom quarter of the canvas. Further more, it was not possible to paint it upstairs on my French Box easel. This canvas called for taking over the great room with my large portable easel which I have had since graduating from high school.  Shall we have look at how it all came about?

The Edge work in progress 1

As usual I am not all that keen on sketching in my compositions and prefer either a loose underpainting or just a few paint lines to guide me. In this case, I chose a few paint lines to get started before starting to added in some blues for the sky and other patches on the canvas.

The Edge work in progress 2

It most certainly doesn’t look like much yet. But I am hopeful and the day is young.

The Edge work in progress 3

The deliberate addition of red in these specific areas of the canvas will serve two purposes. The first is to pull out the red pigment that is already part of the stones and the bottom of the trunk of the arbutus tree. The second is to gradual in a very subtle way bring in the warmth of the evening light over the whole of the scene. It is now time to start building up some colour blocks and just get that paint on the canvas!

The Edge work in progress 4

This particular stage in any painting is the most demanding. The paint catches on the dry canvas and seems to drag the paint off the brush. On a canvas this size it seems to take forever to build up the bulk of the painting so it can be completed alla prima or wet-in-wet.

The Edge work in progress 5

My body starts to physically tire from the long stretches of painting and reaching to move across the whole canvas as I work. The day moves on hour after hour. I break for lunch. I move the canvas around a bit to keep it out of the direct sun coming through the skylight. I then keep going until finally – it comes alive. Shiny and wet I can now leave it to rest.

The Edge work in progress 6

In the morning I make a few more adjustments and remove it from the great room downstairs and place it on a chair to lean against the wall in the loft studio.

The Edge 48 x 24 chilling back in loft studio E7C16EC0-1691-4E3C-82E0-32502C2CD411

I look at it for a few more days and decide it is done!

One of the hard things about a painting this size is to give it enough context that a viewer can imagine what kind of space it will take up once it is hung. So I took one last photograph before calling the work-in-progess on THE EDGE painting complete.

The Edge in the cob courtyard by Terrill Welch 2013_05_08 006

(Updated December 13, 2015 following a reworking of this painting)

After my confidence that this work was completed, done, finished, I came back to it for another painting session. Here it is in the great room following its most recent transformation.

The Edge still on the easel in the studio of Canadian Artist Ter

The Edge still on the easel in the studio of Canadian Artist Terrill Welch

The final image along with links to a detailed view and purchase information are available at Terrill Welch Artist in the post “The Edge and At The Beach Another Time – Canadian landscape paintings”

The post includes the release of a second painting and a quick nod to two more that are now safely in their new homes.

 

What Edges have you contemplated recently?

 

© 2013 Terrill Welch, All rights reserved.

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

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/ Terrill Welch / 5 Comments

New west coast winter Canadian landscape painting FOG INSIDE PASSAGE released today…

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Terrill Welch's avatarTerrill Welch

Winter fog in the southern gulf islands is often dense and close to the sea. Islands appear and disappear as the ferries take passengers through the inside passage. The mysterious landscape has a beauty that is hard to know unless one lives with it for the long winter months of off-season quiet. This 12 x 24 inch oil on canvas is my rendering of this tactile west coast Canadian landscape experience.

FOG INSIDE PASSAGE

Fog inside passage 12 x 24 inch oil on canvas by Terrill Welch 2013_02_03 064

ONLINE GALLERIES include –

ArtWork Archive original paintings and acrylic sketches

Redbubble photography and painting prints and merchandise

Work in progress BLOG –

Creative Potager – first place new work is unveiled. Subscribe to stay current.

CONTACT THE ARTIST DIRECTLY

If desired, original work  can often be purchased directly from Terrill Welch. Please contact Terrill for personalized service.

© 2013 Terrill Welch, All rights reserved.

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Doing a Henri Matisse in three new paintings

/ Terrill Welch / 23 Comments

There is some much pressure on artists to be consistent in their body of work. Galleries like it as it is easy to show. Patrons like it because it is familiar with other work by the artist that they love. But artists, at least this artist, do not necessarily  like it. There is something awkward and unfamiliar with limiting palette and stylistic expression to such a narrow range that the work is immediately recognized as coming from the same creative process. Somehow the painting process often unfolds in quite a different manner.

Today, I did what I refer to as “doing a Henri Matisse” which is the process of digging as deeply as possible in a variety of directions to find what best way to interpret my subject, my desire and my intention.

It started with a reworking of “At The Beach” a plein air painting that had fallen out of my favour.

At The Beach 12 x12 inch oil on canvas by Terrill Welch IMG_1121

There wasn’t anything particularly wrong with this painting but again, there wasn’t anything particularly right either. So I used it a foundation for today’s warm up which was no small task since I had taken a lengthy painting break during the seasonal holidays. Here is the resting results of my efforts.

“At the Beach another Time” 12 x 12 inch oil on canvas resting.

At the Beach another time resting 12 x 12 inch oil on canvas by Terrill Welch 2013_01_02 050

I now am much happier with how the light bounces across the canvas. I like the deep contrasts and the mystery the painting evokes as the sun rests off to my right shoulder on this August day.

Next, I took on a late December sunrise. I wanted to use bold decisive strokes that would give the sense of a colours woven together by sea, sky and the morning sun.

“Late December West Coast Sunrise” resting 6 x 6 inch oil on gessobord resting.

Late December Westcoast Sunrise resting 6 x 6 inch oil on gessobord by Terrill Welch 2013_01_02 059

The change in palette and foundation from canvas to gessobord  gives me the freedom to devour the winter sky with my brush. It is not about getting it right but rather about getting it live.

Then the final painting of the day came with yet another change in how I use my tools. The palette knife edged and sculptured my subject while the brush smoothed it back into its environment.

“Pear Trees in Winter First Light” 8 x 10 inch oil on canvas resting.

Pear Trees in winter first light resting 8 x 10 inch oil o canvas by Terrill Welch 2013_01_02 040

So there you have it. Today’s work in all its alla prima glory. Are they finished paintings? Maybe or maybe not. It matters not. This artist’s curiosity has been has been satisfied, at least for today.

Henri Matisse would be pleased I think.  Matisse’s vast oeuvre encompassed painting, drawing, sculpture, graphic arts (as diverse as etchings, linocuts, lithographs, and aquatints), paper cutouts, and book illustration. His varied subjects comprised landscape, still life, portraiture, domestic and studio interiors, and particularly focused on the female figure. In fact, it might be easier to show the range and diversity of his work than to lump it together into a gallery and patron series. This is not to say he did not do several paintings of the same subject. Indeed he did paint the same subject sometimes several times. But each time he handled it with sometimes significant differences in his search of “true painting.”

Matisse’s career can be divided into several periods that changed stylistically, but his underlying aim always remained the same: to discover “the essential character of things” and to produce an art “of balance, purity, and serenity,” as he himself put it in his “Notes of a Painter” in 1908.

Reverence: The Metropolitan Museum of Art – Henri Matisse (1869 – 1954).

I can resonate with this underlying aim and if a painter is to discover “the essential character of things” it stands to reason that the approach, the palette of pigments and the tools will vary. It would also make sense I would think that the subject of inquiry would not be rendered at the same time of day or year and that a viewer might possibly be able to intuit the specifics of light and season if they were familiar with such subtleties.  Therefore, at no time in the near future are you likely to see 20 or 30 of my paintings that look like they were spawn by the same in-bred tribe of pigments, canvases and brushstrokes.

Henri Matisse’s paintings are now showing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This exhibition, which curator Rebecca Rabinow has 49 paintings that Matisse made in pairs or trios between 1899-1948. As mentioned, he often painted and repainted the same theme in multiple styles, sometimes halting work on one painting only to continue on another, and preserving much of his own process along the way.

When was the last time that you did a Henri Matisse?

© 2013 Terrill Welch, All rights reserved.

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

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Reef Bay Mayne Island observation to painted experience

/ Terrill Welch / 8 Comments

When do observations transform into renderings of full experiences? This is the question I ask myself while I am gathering references for my next painting. I observe. I take a total of 57 photographs. Though all are important, one later becomes my primary painting reference.

Reef Bay morning observed Dec 7 2012 by Terrill Welch 2012_12_07

What pixels actually hold the smell of the sea and cry of the gulls?

I capture a video just over a minute in length. Later I choose a piece of music to go with it.

At what point in this process of creating a video reference did I move from observing to experiencing?

I return to the studio and rummage through my blank canvases. Eventually, I  choose an 11 x 14 inch and set it upon the easel. I squeeze out the oil paint onto the palette. I listen to the video. I glance at the photograph. I pick up my brush.

Quickly and without hesitation the landscape is blocked in. Swiftly my body engages in the visceral process of painting wet-on-wet. Swish, swish and swish. I move back and forth across the studio to peer at the forms sliding off my brush onto the canvas. I remember the gray dawn with its slimness of colour.  I remember the sea, and the soft rush of water as it comes ashore. I remember the heaviness of the rocks and the salty dampness of winter seaweed. I feel the coolness of the air and the cry of the gulls. Which strokes will hold the promise of a this day? Which strokes carry the sounds and the material weight of substance? Which strokes follow the soft light across the seascape. Oh, how I wonder!

Then it is done.

Too soon my logic bullies. There must be more!

But, two days have passed. I have not touched the canvas, not because technical correction would not lead to a more accurate rendering of the physical setting. Rather I do not alter the painting because nothing more is needed to render the fulness of my experience. It is done.

Reef Bay morning experienced Dec 7 2012 11 x 14 inch oil on canvas by Terrill Welch 2012_12_09 069

REEF BAY MORNING EXPERIENCED December 7, 2012 – 14 x 18 inch oil on canvas

Oh, I will photograph it again once it is completely dry and on a brighter day. But the painting of the painting is done. If I want to do more it shall be on another canvas.

What observations are you currently rendering into the fulness of your experience?

It is December 9th today and the great room is in disarray with packages to be wrapped and shipped. It is the time for this artist to begin her holiday break. I shall be back in the New Year to share more painting and photography adventured.

For now, the best of the holiday season to you and yours – one and all!

ONLINE GALLERIES with Terrill Welch paintings and photography include-

Xanadu Studio Gallery for large original paintings

Artsy Home for most original oil paintings currently available

Redbubble for photography prints, greeting cards and posters

Current Local Mayne Island VENUES –

Green House Restaurant – small original oil paintings and photography prints

Farm Gate Store – one large painting

And by appointment at Terrill Welch’s home studio

© 2012 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 – Visit with painter and photographer Terrill Welch

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

Terrill Welch Artist website at http://terrillwelchartist.com

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Storm Clouds over Strait of Georgia – postcard oil painting by Terrill Welch

/ Terrill Welch / 6 Comments

The oil on paper painting “Storm Clouds over Strait of Georgia” is such a small surface at 12 x 16 cm it ends up feeling abstract when viewed this close. I have smoothed down some of the meringue type edges since taking this photograph but this is basically it and it is now drying in preparation to be be shipped to the #twitterartexhibit   in L.A.

Storm Clouds over Strait of Georgia postcard size oil on paper by Terrill Welch 2012_11_29 008

To learn more about this event that was started a few years by David Sandum go to the Twitter Art Exhibit website:  http://twitterartexhibit.org

Also…. PRECIOUS SECONDS – Mayne Island in Paintings and Photographs

To help make your holiday season merrier – here is a code that gives you $10 off my book: GIVE10 at:

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/2457715

Note: Offer valid through December 12, 2012 (11:59 p.m. local time). Valid for printed books only. A $10 discount is applied to your product total with a minimum purchase of $50. This offer is good for one-time use, and cannot be combined with volume discounts, other promotional codes, gift cards, or used for adjustments on previous orders.

Or you can just drop by and enjoy a browse through the full book for free… however, the browse won’t spark conversation like the hard copy given as a gift or resting on your coffee table. Do enjoy either way! 🙂

Plus… this weekend and every weekend until Christmas I am participating in Weekend Art Market Place on G+. What this means is I will be highlighting a painting on each day in the Artsy Home online Gallery with such incentives as free shipping over the weekend. You can check out the posts by circling me on G+ or having a browse through the comment section here each day.

Not sure how to begin purchasing original painting? Here is my personal collection of seven tips to making collection original art an easy and fun decision that you execute with confidence.

 

If you could wave a magic wand, what particular Terrill Welch painting or photograph would you like to add to your collection this season?

 

Have a most wonderful weekend!

 

ONLINE GALLERIES with Terrill Welch paintings and photography include-

Xanadu Studio Gallery for large original paintings

Artsy Home for most original oil paintings currently available

Redbubble for photography prints, greeting cards and posters

Current Local Mayne Island VENUES –

Green House Restaurant – small original oil paintings and photography prints

Farm Gate Store – one large painting

And by appointment at Terrill Welch’s home studio

© 2012 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 – Visit with painter and photographer Terrill Welch

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

Terrill Welch Artist website at http://terrillwelchartist.com

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Wait and See

/ Terrill Welch / 14 Comments

My last 2 weeks have been an emotional soup of events. Hence, you have not seen a new post on this Creative Potager blog. The story goes something like this….

Wednesday, November 7th – fell down the thirteen steps of the stairs from the loft and had to go to Victoria to get x-ray of arm to make sure it was not broken. Badly bruised on right side but fine.

Will my right shoulder freeze again from the trauma? I hope not and it feels pretty good right now but we will have to wait and see.

Saturday, November 10th – hung a new  show of small oil paintings and photographs at the Green House Bar and Grill. There are seventeen works up one of which is this one…

(Navy Channel early November – 9 x 12 inch oil on canvas is now SOLD! updated January 18, 2013. Other paintings that are currently available can be viewed in detail and purchased HERE)

Will work find its way to new homes over the holidays? Maybe. We will have to wait and see.

Sunday, November 11th – received phone call at 5:45 am from son-in-law that new grand baby was on its way. Caught the first ferry at 8:45 am, arrived at the Duncan hospital at 10:50 am. Grandson born at 11:36 am. Ivor Lewis is 7.7 lb. Everyone healthy and well. I was there for the birth.

He meets is brother before going home the next day barely 24 hours old.

Will they be close to each other? We will have to wait and see.

Thursday, November 15th – Return home to Mayne Island arriving shortly after noon. A short time later receive call that life-long friend is gravely ill and in hospital. The next couple of days extremely intense as we wait and see if his condition will stabilize.

Saturday, November 17th – I write a poem.

Wait and See

Not all mornings begin with bright glorious light,
that soars across the sky,
offering a colourful welcome to a new day.

Some mornings seem to uncover the dawn,
with the quiet heaviness of damp wool blankets.

There is no immediate pleasure or drawing up of the spirit.

It is the kind of dawn that says  – we will have to wait and see.
Sunday, November 18th – I complete the underpainting for a large 3 x 5 foot canvas.

What will the painting be like? We shall have to wait and see.

In all of this, I am thankful for the support and love of my husband David, my children and my step-children and their partners and my extended family. They are an amazing lot…  full of strength, compassion with just the right amount of  humour. My love goes out to those that are close to me as they face the challenges ahead. And just as I write this I received a phone call that my very close life-long friend is on the mend. Yippee!

Sprout: What might you be waiting to see?

ONLINE GALLERIES with Terrill Welch paintings and photography include-

Xanadu Studio Gallery for large original paintings

Artsy Home for most original oil paintings currently available

Redbubble for photography prints, greeting cards and posters

Current Local Mayne Island VENUES –

Green House Restaurant – small original oil paintings and photography prints

Farm Gate Store – one large painting

And by appointment at Terrill Welch’s home studio

© 2012 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

Terrill Welch Artist website at http://terrillwelchartist.com

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Salish Sea Sunday Savings event Oct 2012

/ Terrill Welch / 10 Comments

It is here 🙂  The time has come for our annual Salish Sea Sunday Savings Event for Sunday October 28, 2012. There are Oil Paintings; Photography greeting cards, prints and posters; 2013 Calendars and a Book available as part of this special event.

The Event starts now at 9:00 am Pacific Time today and ends 24 hours later at 9:00 am Pacific Time on Monday October 29, 2012.

All work in this event is by painter and photographer Terrill Welch – which is little old me. This event is in appreciation of all you admirers and collectors of my work. The savings event is one of my ways of  to say THANK YOU!  Last year, I was able to do a few of these events in the late fall. But for this year – this is it.  I have another grand-baby due shortly and well, I am sure you understand.  But since it is the ONLY Salish Sea Sunday Savings event this year I have added in extra of everything so that you have, lots and lots of choices. In fact if you don’t see what you hoped to see and it is something you have been pining for just ask. Together we might be able to figure something out.

So here we go….

Lets start with the oil paintings which are all available for viewing and purchase in the Artsy Home online gallery. Oh! All special prices for these paintings during the event include free shipping within North America.

“One” 26 x 36 inch oil on canvas

(End of special event update: now available at regular price HERE)

“Early November Sea” 14 x 18 inch oil on canvas

(End of special event update: now available at regular price price HERE)

“Navy Channel Early October” 9 x 12 inch oil on canvas

(End of special event update: now available at regular  price HERE)

“Rocks at Sunrise” 8 x 8 inch oil on gessobord with 2 inch deep wood cradle.

(End of special event update: now available at regular price  HERE)

“Fruits of Labour” 12 x 12 inch oil on gessobord with 2 inch deep wood cradle.

(End of special event update: This painting is no longer available)

Then there are these two small postcard size paintings that I have never made available for direct purchase in my online gallery. So I am not sure they will stay after today but for now, here they are.

“In the Pinks Flowers” 5 x 7 inch oil on canvas with optional wood floating frame.

(End of special event update: This painting is no longer available )

“Apple Blossom Flowers” 5 x 7 inch oil on canvas with optional wood floating frame.

(End of special event update: This Painting is no longer available)

Now for the Photography – greeting cards, prints and posters which are all available in my Redbubble Storefront.

End of special event update:  Images have returned to the regular price.

Just click on the image for a closer look and to purchase your product choice.

“Untold Mystery”

“Mayne Island Japanese Garden” note: this is a paintography image or a photograph rendered digitally as a painting.

“Autumn Sliced with a Tear”

“Dawn in the Field”

“Arbutus Strait of Georgia”

“Window”

“Traveling into the Mist”

“Orange Sun on the Sea” (this is also a paintography image)

“Precious Seconds”

“Crossing in last light- Strait of Georgia from Mayne Island”

and by special request “Quince Still Life”

Finally, there are the 2013 Painting and Photography Calendars – four to choose from. The Calendars have their own post here on Creative Potager which came out earlier this week in order to get us all warmed up to the Salish Sea Sunday Savings event for this year. Here is the link long hand so you are sure find it:

https://creativepotager.wordpress.com/2012/10/25/terrill-welch-painting-and-photography-calendars

Oh what the heck! We might as well throw my book Precious Seconds – Mayne Island in paintings and photographs in here as well.

(End of special event update: This book has returned to its regular price. However, the full book will remain open to viewing indefinitely. )

That is it my friends. Now, I turn it over to you for the next 24 hours to explore and stuff goodies into your online shopping cart at the various locations to your hearts content.

If you have any questions, do feel free to leave a comment on this blog post or email me directly at tawelch@shaw.ca as I won’t be far away and I am most happy to help where I can.
Enjoy! Have fun! And share as you please.

Thank you kindly, as always, for your patronage.    Terrill 🙂

Due to the nature of this special event there will be no SPROUT Question today but we will return to our regular programing with the next post.

ONLINE GALLERIES with Terrill Welch paintings include –

Xanadu Studio Gallery for large original paintings

Artsy Home for most original oil paintings currently available

Current Local Mayne Island VENUES –

Green House Restaurant – small original oil paintings

Farm Gate Store – one large painting

And by appointment at Terrill Welch’s home studio

© 2012 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

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

Related articles

What do original paintings of Emily Carr, A.Y. Jackson, Lawren Harris and Terrill Welch have in common?

/ Terrill Welch / 19 Comments

What do original paintings of Emily Carr, A.Y. Jackson, Lawren Harris and Terrill Welch have in common? The answer is almost beyond belief – paintings by these Canadian artists are owned by the same art collectors! There I have said it out loud. I am guessing you might want to hear more about this story, yes? I thought so….

The buyers who recently purchased my large 36 x 36 inch oil on canvas seascape, “Sea and Clouds,” had mentioned in our email exchanges that they trusted I would be impressed about the company my painting would be keeping. I made a mental note from this comment that they were art collectors. I have been selling my work to art collectors of contemporary art since I was fourteen years old. Often, my paintings sell before they are even eligible for varnishing and sometimes even before the painting is dry to the touch. So this is not something new for me. But I never suspected that my painting would be rubbing corners with other such valuable collectable paintings in Canadian art as mentioned above.  The thought never even crossed my mind. I wouldn’t even have been able to imagine it. Never! I paint. I muse and have imaginary conversations with these historic painters about painting problems, life as a Canadian artist and so on. But that is about it. It is all imaginary. Their paintings themselves seem very distant from my daily work as an artist.

When I arrive at the buyer’s home we go through the usual pleasantries and meeting of the dogs and so on. I give them a portfolio for their records with a signed copy of my art book, the receipt and a copy of the blog post where I shared the painting’s development. I then bring in the wrapped painting. I focused on meeting the new owners and getting my bearings. I am always a little nervous meeting new people and new buyers of my work. I have decided it is a perfectly normal human response. Though admittedly, the nervousness could have something to do with the days and weeks I spend working alone in my studio on an island and seeing few others in person beyond my husband.

The new owner of “Sea and Clouds” helped to take the coverings off the large painting.

“Ah!” he said, never taking his eyes off the canvas “It is just as I remembered it when we first saw it!”

Though the painting was back in my studio when the couple contacted me, it had been shown over the summer at the Bennett Bay Bistro in the Mayne Inn. This is where they had first seen and admired the work.

Sold! Sea and Clouds 36 x 36 inch oil on canvas

Then the art collector walks across the living room with the painting and leans it safely against a cabinet on the far wall.

At this point, he turns to me, loosely waves his arm around the room and says “so these are a few of the paintings in our collection. This one here, as you will know, is an Emily Carr and these….”

I didn’t hear the rest of what he said. I am stunned. I look up to the painting above where he had set my painting and there was a large Emily Carr Painting – Emily Carr! The same Emily Carr who is my personal muse and mentor. The same Emily Carr who is the painter whose art journal I read regularly whenever I feel isolated and doubtful about my work. It is the same Emily Carr who is a prominent part of Canadian Art history. It is the Emily Carr whose painting sold at auction last year for an unmentionable number of dollars. It is that Emily Carr – the same one. Emily Carr my kindred spirit. Her painting is now hanging just above my painting that is leaning against the cabinet in the art collectors’ home.

It took me several moments to gather my wits about me as the art buyers showed me other Canadian works by painters from the same period. I finally seemed to be able to engage my stunned brain by the time the buyer handed me a small A.Y. Jackson study to have a look at. At this point, we talked about painting studies, process and brushstrokes. The couple told me about the Lawren Harris painting they have and how it didn’t look like much until a person stood back from the painting. It looked like just paint up close. They tell me it is an artist’s vision not the number of brushstrokes that makes a quality painting. I could have reached out and hugged them both for that comment. I knew my painting was going to be in a good home with this lovely, warm and generous couple.

As a Canadian landscape and seascape painter, there is nothing I ever want for one of my paintings than to be bought because the buyers love it – such as it is with this painting. It is an unexpected and pleasant bonus to have one of my paintings collected by those who also love and enjoy the most prominent historical Canadian art work that also has influenced my own painting, not so much in style but as in preferred choice of subject matter – the Canadian landscape. It was a good day for this artist. A very good day indeed.

I am taking a bow for the love of Art and the Canadian Landscape. Will you join me?

Now I am back to painting and preparing the underpainting for a new 4 x 5 foot canvas. More on this in the near future.

Thank you to all of you who continue join me on my painting and photographic journey here at Creative Potager and elsewhere. You are the best and a big part of what adds value and connection to my everyday life as an artist living on a small island off the southwest coast of Canada. May your today bring with it creative abundance.

If your creative work could enjoy the company of other historical prominent mentors, in your wildest dreams, who would it be?

Update April 2015: These collectors have now added a second “Terrill Welch” original oil painting to their art collection shown below…

Sold! Point No Point Mid-storm 16 x 20 inch walnut oil on canvas

Point No Point Mid-storm 16 x 20 inch walnut oil on canvas by Terrill Welch 2015_04_25 137

© 2012 – 2015 Terrill Welch, All rights reserved.

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

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The Nurse’s Place Clinton B.C. – Plein Air painting

/ Terrill Welch / 7 Comments

There is something extremely companionable about a painter with all her gear packed in the car, a partner who likes to sleep in and an overnight stop in the small village of 740 residents in Clinton, British Columbia.  As the darkness gathered tightly around a warm late-August evening, I scouted my morning plein air location. I wanted some place a little off the beaten path but not so far I couldn’t carry my french box easel and camera. This is what I found. I was standing here ready to set up to paint at just after 8:30 in the morning…

With a blank canvas on the easel

I had about an hour to capture all I was going to capture.

What was most important? What shall I leave out? How shall I begin? With a large brush, I start to answer these questions as I rough in the view.

Notice the top of the painting and how the clip is not holding the painting in place. When plein air painting the light and the weather often change quickly. About 45 minutes into my painting session this oversight of that loose top clip becomes a grave error.

Yes, you guessed it. A large gust of wind came tearing down the valley and, to my horror, flipped this small painting off the easel and smack on its face in the gravel bits on the road. Disappointed, I pick it up and secure things a little better for next time.

While I was still assessing the damage and deciding what – if anything – I could do next, the neighbour from the place on the other side of the road behind me came up and asked if I minded if he had a look. This is when I learned that I was painting “The Nurse’s Place.” With a promise to give him a call when the painting was completed, I conceded that my time was up. I started to pack my gear and with the painting tightly secured to the easel headed back to the Cariboo Lodge where my dear sweet husband proclaimed that he loved the painting, gravel and all. I gave a grim half smile while silently saying a small prayer to the gods that look after plein air painters and their paintings to allow the gravel bits to roll off the canvas once it had dried.  Then we went for a late breakfast and I refused to look at the painting again until today.

To my delight, the small bits of gravel rolled off the canvas and I was able to finish up the painting in the studio.

THE NURSE’S PLACE CLINTON B.C. 9 x 12 inch oil on canvas by Terrill Welch

Update June 2023: This painting is now SOLD

Well, at least most of the gravel is gone. If a person looks very closely there is still a little Cariboo grit on that canvas. But I think that is only as it should be. I am calling it DONE! My next task is to place a call to the wonderful neighbour who dropped by to see how the painting was coming along.

SPROUT: When was the last time you courted disaster only to have it give you a good hard flip?

© 2012 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

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

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