Impression of an Artist

March 14, 2011March 13, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 24 Comments

Week after week I visit myself on the canvas of a painting, through the frame of an image or between the words of a paragraph. Do these impressions provide any further insight into my being and my interpretation of my world?

I like to think they do. I like to believe that these creative endeavors cast at least a shadow of truth on what I often think of as my core essence – that part of me that isn’t body or earth-bound in this life time. But is this really a possible truth?

As the paint is chosen, mixed and applied without thought, I like to believe there is a subconscious part of me that knows what it is doing. But maybe it is all accidental fragments of my conscious mind colliding with the paint, the canvas and the movement of my brush.

I am doing a study of blue – a series on the shades of blue. What I am discovering is that blue is more than a colour. Blue is a spiritual void for reflection… as I paint the sea… the shadows of the trees… or the sky. If I had known how wide this void would open up, would I have committed to the series?

Ah, no point in musing about what might have been.

This week I have one 10 X 12 inch cotton canvas underpainting ready for completion. In my imagination the heavy clouds press down with formidable force over the dark seas. May I be able to hold this moment long enough to reach in and pull out something that is the essence of me, of you and of the very world itself.

Sprout question: What impression best describes your creative self?

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Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

slow start but rolling

March 7, 2011March 7, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 18 Comments

Ah, to sleep in on a Monday morning after a full weekend.

Oh my gosh.

Does it ever get any better than this?

We even caught some sun on a 5 km stroll along the sea.

Life is good.

Now it is time to get back to work.

This week I must get my books and paper work to the accountant so the taxes can be done. While I am in town, Miss Prissy (my 1991 Ford F150 4X4 pick up) will be scheduled for a check up.

There are also some unrelated-to-art projects in a crucial stage that require my full attention.

So with this in mind, my intention for the week is to finish one small painting I started last week, do the underpaintings for a couple of tiny canvases and pick up some large canvases when I am in town. We shall see. Friday will tell the story.

Sprout question: What are you glad you set aside this week so you could play at life?

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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

Say SPRING

February 28, 2011February 28, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 27 Comments

Seeing that it is the last day of February and it has been unusually cold with snow and wind and rain here on the southwest coast of Canada, maybe if we say “SPRING” all at the same time it will come true. What do you think? Shall we give it a try? Here is a photograph of a couple of tulips to help get us into the mood.

(image may be purchased here.)

Ready? SPRING!…. Hum, let’s try again SPRING!!!! There! That should do it!

This week is a painting week. It is the first painting week in about a month. I have these two 8 X 10 inch canvas underpaintings ready to start working.

And this 24 X 36 inch canvas underpainting ready as well. I am about to begin what may possibly be a series of paintings in a study of blue using seascapes as my contextual reference.

You might ask why I am doing my underpaintings in lemon cadmium yellow and it is a fair question. First I am not fond of a white canvas. Second, I like to create layers of depth through hints of underpainting colours coming through. However, to work for blues, the underpainting must be well set. Otherwise it just becomes a muddy mess. It does seem take longer to complete a painting using underpaintings but I like the end results.

Note: I am likely going to work on these three paintings and begin at least two more this week. I do NOT anticipate having much for process images but we shall see. I provide this warning in advance so that you are not too disappointed on Friday.

Sprout question: Can you tell us about a creative series you want to do in the future?

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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

Enchanted Bouldering Forest

February 18, 2011February 19, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 22 Comments

I should have known when I saw the two shamans in full ceremonial garb, who turned away from me as I passed, that something special was going to happen soon. But nothing could have prepared me for the enchanted bouldering forest.

It was the second day of my visit with my daughter Josie, who is due to have her baby at the beginning of March. We had been for a short hour-long hike the day before. This was after we went to her ultrasound appointment and I got to see baby O through the wonders of technology. We didn’t have anything planned for this second day. It was like drawing a free card. We could choose anything we wanted.

After a bit of thought Josie ventured “well, we could go to an enchanted forest where there is a tunnel, and large boulders? I found them once and have been wanting to go back when I had more time.”

How could I resist? She packed up some snacks, grabbed the full first aid kit and water bottles. I stuffed my pockets with some tissues, tied up my hiking boots and picked up my camera. We were off.

Finding the trail head was easy enough and the trail looked well used near the beginning.

Josie tells me that it took her a year-and-a-half and more than three trips using hand-drawn maps acquired from word of mouth to find this bouldering spot. So the specific location of our adventure shall remain classified for the protection of mystery and wonder.

It is not long before we come to what looks suspiciously like a mountain bike jump.

Then the first moss-covered boulders seem to rise up as if they fell from the sky. Which they probably did.

The rains have been heavy over the winter. Water runs down through the moss and off the bottom of the rocks.

I look back after we have passed. In awe, I pause.

Josie smiles and says “what is next gives me shivers even though it is amazing.”

This is when the strangest thing happened. I took a few photographs and could see orbs in my photographs. The tunnel walls were dripping on the outside. So I thought it might be that. I took a couple more photographs. Still there were these strange glowing blurs in my photographs. Then I looked at my feet. There were clamshells layered in the dirt. I looked in the tunnel. There were old clamshells washed clean by rain dripping through the cracks between the large stones onto the floor of the tunnel. I thought for a moment. We were a good 30 minute hike into the woods from the ocean. Then I said “no wonder you get the shivers, there are spirits here. See these shells. This is an old midden.”

If you look over to the bottom right you will see a faded area. I am pretty certain that a spirit being was sitting there watching our passage as we went further into the forest.

I look back again. It is a habit from years of walking in the woods. If you look back you know what the return trail looks like. It gives a person a chance to create mental markers so you can find your way.

Steps away from the tunnel and it is hidden from view and the curious eye. We walk along for awhile through the trees. Coming to a power line we start to climb in altitude. There are trails leading off in all directions. Josie recounts her directions. The second outcrop or rock bluff we must turn off. Going deep into the woods we climb in and out of a creek bed. The ground is saturated and we must be careful to find firm footing. We keep walking through small openings of gary oaks and back into the big firs and cedars. We are still climbing and going deeper into the forest. We muse about whether the bears are out of their dens yet and could there be a cougar in the area. Coming onto a ridge there is a recent deer carcass almost picked clean. But no sign of anything else.

Finally, we find the first pink ribbons. It is the beginning of the loop trail to the boulders. We keep left. We keep climbing. Slowly. We are both getting tired but we know we are almost there. Then through the trees we spot something. Could it be?

Our first bouldering boulders are in view.

There are more.

And more.

I am not going to show you them all because some of the mystery must be left for each person who comes into an enchanted forest.

We take a break and have a snack while we look around.

I see Josie thinking “I could climb that one.”

I am thinking “Yes, but maybe not today.”

Bouldering is done without ropes and these sandstone rocks must be swept free of moss before climbing.

Safety mats are stuffed away in the rocks along with cleaning brooms.

We do not linger long. It has been two hours and we still need to hike out. We estimate it should take us about an hour.

The trail has had little traffic at this end. At first we can’t find the next pink ribbon to give us direction. We wander back and forth having lost the trail. Neither of us want to back track so we keep looking. Ah, there it is. Though the trail is well ribboned, the deer trails are more prominent. We pay close attention. Finding one ribbon after another we complete the loop. From there the way back is familiar and easier going.

Three hours later in total we are back at the car, a little tired but invigorated by our enchanted bouldering forest adventure.

For a week of doing nothing, I must say, I really did find more time to do what counts.

Sprout question: What did you do that mattered the most this week?

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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

At Dusk

February 11, 2011February 11, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 27 Comments

Some weeks just seem to have a life of their own. I am going fess up first thing and let you know – not one print or painting was properly cataloged into my inventory. There. I have said.

What I did do was get an awesome chance to go “Hunting Waves” which, if you haven’t seen the photographs yet, you may enjoy. I picked up a couple of tubes of paint for my study of blues and two new brushes.

I took some shots at dusk that I am happy with. I fear they may too personal to have wide appeal but I thought I would share them with you anyway.

Mountains above the clouds.

Ferry Wake at Dusk.

Going Home.

(image may be purchased here)

Homeward Bound

(image may be purchased here)

Sailing Home

Passing Pender Island

These images are the exact tone and feel I have been working to get through my new learning with Kat Sloma in her photography e-course “Finding Your Eye.” I wanted to capture just the right amount of light to feel the dusk and still be able to make out some of the detail. I wanted the viewer to feel that lull – the hush before darkness overtakes the day.

I didn’t paint this week but it was still amazingly creative.

Sprout question: What new learning did you apply to your creativity this week?

Best of the weekend to you! Oh, just in case you didn’t notice we went over 30,000 views here on Creative Potager. Thank you for the pleasure of your visits.

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

Hunting Waves

February 8, 2011February 8, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 33 Comments

Every once in a long while, on the inside passage of the southwest coast, high winds and sunshine meet, bring in high waves to our sandstone shores. Yesterday was one of those ideal days. About 2:30 in the afternoon I went hunting for waves. Enjoy!

The warmth of the sandstone against the blue of the sea with the waves rolling in. I took another photograph.

And then another…

Until I got this…

(image may be purchased here)

Draped in sun, the sea spray settles as the water rolls over the edge of the rocks.

For my study of blues, the day couldn’t have been better.

The seagulls were plentiful hovering over the churning waters.

(image may be purchased here)

My heart soared and sang to the rhythm of the sea. This is an image of Active Pass looking from Mayne Island to Galiano Island at the lighthouse.

But it is this next image I went hunting for. It happened early on in my shoot. As you know, Reef Bay is incredible most days. I crossed my fingers that it would be even more so today. The tides are low. Long stretches of the reef are bare. I need to leave shore to get the shot I want. I walk out on the reef with waves thundering beside me. It was safe but loud when the breakers hit. My heart pounds.

I get my shot.

(image may be purchased here)

And so did you.

Sprout question: What are the ideal conditions for one of your creative inspirations?

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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

Dance with Me

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

Dance with me calls the blue, blue sea.

(image may be purchased here)

Invitation accepted.

(image may be purchased here)

Caught in the arms of the blue sea I am swept across the shoreline – stepping, reaching, giving….

I have an idea for a series of smaller paintings exploring the many shades of the blue sea. These two images keep coming to mind but there are others.

However, my intention this week is to take care of art business. There are new phtography prints and paintings to inventory, a new portfolio page to develop and such things. I may start on some new paintings but that is not my intention. We shall see. Friday’s post will tell the story.

Sprout question: How do you keep your balance when the creativity waters are running fast?

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

Double-Bubble to Switzerland

February 3, 2011February 3, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 9 Comments

Do you remember my oil painting “Rising” that was in the international Art of Day 2010 Holiday Show and Sale?

Well it SOLD.

Earlier this week, I double-bubble wrapped this 8 X 10 inch on gessobord, cradled on a 2 inch birch frame, original and sent it to a buyer in Switzerland.

I can’t say enough about James Day from Art of Day who brokered the sale. He is amazing to work with. (To view more of my oil paintings for sale at ART of DAY, go directly to the ART of DAY store.)

I get such a thrill each time a piece of my work finds a new home whether it is an original oil painting, a print of one of my photographs or a gift card. It is kind of like when your children come home with stars on their school work and your in-laws are visiting. You try to be cool but you just can’t help wearing a grin so big that it wipes out the pretend furrow on your brow. I tell myself – now don’t you go getting a big head over this! “Rising” is only one small oil painting. That is the furrowed brow. But I SOLD it – to a buyer in Switzerland! That is the great big grin.

I go through this exercise each time. Like when Annie from New York City bought “Only the Sea.”

Or like a couple of weeks ago when a large poster of “Arbutus in the Fog” was purchased by a buyer in England.

Or like when someone came bouncing up to me here on Mayne Island because she had got one of my art cards for her birthday from a friend.

No matter how humble and how chilled I know I am supposed to be, I can’t help shouting Yaaaaaaa hoooooo! Then I do a little ta, ta, ta, ta-da dance before regaining my composure and going back to creating. Does this happen to you too?

Sprout question: What is wiping out the furrow on your brow with a big grin?

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

Gracing the Green House

February 2, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 15 Comments

Announcement: Creative Potager host, Terrill Welch, has a new venue displaying her photography in collaboration with fellow photographer Barbara McIntyre at the Green House Restaurant on Mayne Island.

We are very excited. Our shows of Gulf Island framed prints and canvas prints photography will change every one to two months. Please drop in if you are in our neighbourhood. You can’t miss it. The Green House Restaurant is on the right hand side just before you crest the last rise into Miner’s Bay.

The menu is diverse and delicious. In winter, there is all the cozy charm of home. You might even find me sitting at the closest table to the small fireplace sipping a glass of wine waiting for my dinner to be served.

In summer there are large decks that catch the late afternoon and evening sun. This is a great place to enjoy a quiet meal or visit with friends and take a long deep breath of Mayne Island relaxation. Make sure you slip inside to see what new we have on show.

Gerry always has a smile for you.

Owners Doug and Gerry decided to call the new restaurant the “Green House” because it was once the site of several green houses operated by the Japanese family before the Second World War. The house dates from about 1910, builder unknown. Kumazo Nagata bought it in 1921, and enlarged it in 1937. [Source: Ovanin, Thomas K. Island Heritage Buildings. Islands Trust, c. 1980.]

We are thrilled to have our photography on show in this historic building.

Of course for those readers from far away, you don’t have to come all the way to Mayne Island to view and purchase our photography.

Barbara McIntyre has a new redbubble account so feel free to drop on over and have a look there as well.

As many of you know, my work can be found here on redbubble where this new image “Shades of Blue” is available.

So glad you stopped in. Come on back anytime.

Sprout question: Where is your creativity showing this week?

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

Meet Street Photographer Vivian Maier

January 31, 2011January 31, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 14 Comments

First, my intention for this week is to brush my way into an oil painting using one of my charcoal figure sketches as a guide. It will be difficult as I have only the one sketch to work with and I have a particular setting in mind that has been inspired from a passage from The Underpainter (1997) by Jane Urquhart. Regrettably, I am reluctant to share more than this with you at the moment. It is an image that is perfectly clear in my mind’s eye with shifting tones and composition every time the painting whispers for me to begin the process to stillness on canvas. I will honour last week’s principle of waiting to be invited… but act immediately when asked. This way, with luck, the image won’t slip away like mist in the afternoon sun.

Now, allow me to introduce the most extraordinary Street Photographer Vivian Maier with the most unusual passage into notoriety. Her work was discovered in 2007 by a 26 year old, real estate agent/entrepreneur/historian – John Maloof – after he purchased a box of her negatives at an auction for $400. According to this brief excerpt about Vivian Maier in Wikipedia:

In 1951, at 25 years old, Vivian Maier moved from France to New York, where she worked for some time in a sweatshop. She made her way to the Chicago area’s North Shore in 1956 and became a nanny on and off for about 40 years, staying with one family for 14 of them. She was, in the accounts of the families for whom she worked, very private, spending her days off walking the streets of Chicago and taking photographs, most often with a Rolleiflex camera.

John Maloof, curator of Maier’s collection of photographs, summarizes the way the children she nannied would later describe her:

She was a Socialist, a Feminist, a movie critic, and a tell-it-like-it-is type of person. She learned English by going to theaters, which she loved. She wore a men’s jacket, men’s shoes and a large hat most of the time. She was constantly taking pictures, which she didn’t show anyone.

Between 1959 and 1960, Maier traveled to Los Angeles, Manila, Bangkok, Beijing, Egypt, Italy, and the American Southwest, taking pictures in each location. The trip was probably financed by the sale of a family farm in Alsace. For a brief period in the 1970s, Maier worked as a nanny for Phil Donahue’s children. As she got older, she collected more boxes of belongings, bringing them with her to each new post. At one employer’s house she stored 200 boxes of materials. Most were photographs or negatives, but Maier collected other objects, such as newspapers,and sometimes recorded audiotapes of conversations she had with the people she photographed.

Towards the end of her life, Maier may have been homeless for some time. She lived on Social Security checks and may have had another source of income, but the children she had taken care of in the early 1950s bought her an apartment and paid her bills. In 2008, she slipped on ice and hit her head. She did not fully recover and died in 2009 at the age of 83.

This video provides an excellent overview…

Also, here are the Vivian Maier blog and the Vivian Maier Photography website. I am trusting that you may be as intrigued and inspired by her work as I am. Enjoy!

A new photograph “Tomorrow’s Dawn” seems like the most fitting image to share this Monday.