photography

Nothing Heavier and calling on van Gogh

/ Terrill Welch / 12 Comments

There is nothing heavier than west coast winter clouds that reach down and touch the toes of the earth for days. It is a never-ending dull dawn that is late coming and then softly sinks back into night sometime after lunch. A person can lose perspective and become disoriented as she waits and waits for the sun to make an appearance. But for now the curtain is down. Slightly disgruntled and a little restless, she slowly turns the pages in her book.

Good morning… I think 🙂

Sprout: When was the last time you saw the sun? Tell me, how is she doing?

Seed: Perspective is so much more than the relationship between the things on the canvas. I want to paint but the thought of all that gray showing up is enough to leave the paint brushes in the jar for just a wee bit longer. Maybe I will go hang out in Vincent van Gogh’s “Olive Trees with Yellow Sky and Sun” painted in 1889. Just look at those brushstrokes!

Reference: http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/gogh

© 2011 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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Twice Around

/ 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.

 

 

© 2011 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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Not Much to See

/ 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?

 

 

© 2011 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.

FromMayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

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

 

 

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28 tries 2 finalists and a tie for 1st

/ 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.

© 2011 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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A Wisp of Winter

/ 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.

(image may be purchased HERE)

A tree in snow – natural pointillism.

I wonder what tomorrow morning will bring?

Slipping out our door into the crisp air I pause. The tree dressed in a skiff of snow is decorated with morning light.

(image may be purchased HERE)

 

Now isn’t that lovely?

 

These photographs are from Friday and Saturday. But I think they still look  fresh, even as late as this Monday morning.

 

Sprout Question: What is crispy and fresh in your creative day?

 

Happy Thanksgiving to our U.S. friends!

 

P.S. The 12 X 12 oil painting is coming along too but is “resting.” I hope to be able to share it with you on Friday.

 

© 2011 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

 

 

I Wonder What She Wants?

/ Terrill Welch / 19 Comments

I can almost see the thought bubble over their heads – such mild curiosity and indifference expressed in their body language.

“I wonder what she wants?”

How can I tell them that, though interesting they might be, I am really looking at the sun coming across the water on Mill Bay?

I can’t. So with a flip, the seals flop into the sea.

Sprout Question: Who have you felt unable to communicate with this week?

NOTE: I fully realize this might be a loaded question. Please remember this is a public blog. If your answer is sensitive, I suggest answering in your private journal, on a napkin in a restaurant or in the sand at low tide. Let good judgment be your guide. Of course, you can still leave a comment stating that your answer is sensitive cargo and has been safely stored…. or destroyed 🙂

Best of the weekend to you!

© 2011 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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Flying Through Home Studio Gallery Day

/ Terrill Welch / 21 Comments

The Studio Tour was a great success with one original oil painting HENDERSON HILL sold to a collector of my work in Victoria B.C. Canada. You may remember that this painting was recently featured on the front of the regional magazine Island Gals. I will miss this piece but know it is going to a good home where it will be most appreciated.

Also large numbers greeting cards were clutched into admiring hands and are now ready for postage as an occasion presents itself. Notices were taken away to order my new book Precious Seconds along with information to follow my blog for new work and to order specific prints online at my redbubble storefront.

 

Mostly though, it was a great day meeting interesting people and talking about the wonders of the southern gulf islands. Considering it poured rain most of the day and was dark and dreary the sun shone brilliant with all the company at la casa de inspiracion.

 

Here are a couple of photographs from a few minutes before the first visitors arrived. I took them from above. Hence, this inspires the title of today’s post.

And if you look down into the sunroom….

There are more photographs and paintings than you can see here but one painting just outside of our view is part of a special project and I am not sharing it online yet. So you have to wait.

Best of the week to you and may you be inspired to create!

 

 

Sprout Question: What are you flying through this week?

 

 

© 2011 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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Studio Tour Tomorrow

/ Terrill Welch / 16 Comments

I am almost ready! Tomorrow, being Saturday November 12, 2011, it is the annual Artisan Christmas Studio Tour on Mayne Island. There are eight Studios, two craft fairs and six shops participating. A few places are even going to be open on the Sunday as well as Saturday. Look for the red brochures at the Mayne Mall or drop by my Studio in the morning after 10:00 am. I can give you a brochure to get you started on a day of creative delights.

Here is a photo showing from last year’s Creative Potager studio opening to warm you up to the idea…

To find la casa de inspiracion, our home and studio, pick up the Mayne Island Community Chamber Brochure on ferry or at one of the local shops. Creative Potager is number 35 in the white square near the centre of the island. There are yellow signs to guide your right from where you turn on toWood Dale Road which is just as you come off the ferry. Just follow along until you get to 428 Bowsprite Crescent. I am looking forward to seeing you between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm.

There will be several new original oil paintings, photography prints and greeting cards showcasing our lovely west coast and Mayne Island.

For those of you that are too far away to drop in, please feel free to browse my online gallery at http://terrillwelchartist.com It is almost the same as coming by except you have to get your own cup of tea.

Sprout Question: What are you preparing for?

© 2011 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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Third Salish Sea Sunday Savings

/ Terrill Welch / 6 Comments

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

Salish Sea Sunday Savings event!

Drum roll. Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tttttta-T!!! Crowd Cheers. A NEW seascape calendar SEEMS TO BE splashes into the ring and waves to the audience…

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

Now wasn’t that a nice surprise?

Thank you everyone who participated in the draw for a small 7.5 x 12 inch canvas print of  AMAZEMENT

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.S.T. this Sunday, November 6, 2011

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

ONE original impressionist 24 X 48 inch oil on canvas painting 

SALISH SEA FOUR

Regular price $3225.00 and is available until 4:00 pm for only for $1,935.00 plus shipping. 

(If you have been interest in this painting, now is your chance to get it for a substantial savings of $1,290.00)

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

EAST POINT CLIFFS

(Purchased prints  HERE)

ONE

(Purchased printsHERE)

THREE photography prints reduced by 40%

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

(Purchased this print HERE)

(Purchase this print HERE)


(Purchased this print HERE)

And as promised on Thursday, the Mayne Island Tree Spirit calendar for 2012 reduced by 40%

(Purchased this calendar HERE)

All selected paintings, prints of paintings, prints of photographs and 2012 calendar will be returned to their regular price at 4:00 pm today Sunday November 6, 2011 P.S.T.

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 all three of the Salish Sea Sunday Savings event.

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.

© 2011 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

Early November afternoon by the sea

/ Terrill Welch / 26 Comments

I wasn’t going to take a photograph. I was just going to sit and enjoy the fine November light on the water, the call of the seagulls on the rocks and an eagle sitting overhead in a tree. I rolled down the window of my old ford pickup inhaling deeply. Saltwater, damp seaweed and snow someplace in the distant mountains obscured by cloud cover.

Then I said, “Well maybe I will just wander a bit on the shore. Oh I guess I might as well take the camera.”

As I gently closed the door of “Miss Prissy” I must admit to still denying I was going to take a photograph.

“I have so many photographs of this beach” I told myself.

But none are exactly like this one.

(image may be purchased HERE)

Sprout Question: What resent resistance has led to a win for your creative desire?

Remember this Sunday is the third and final Salish Sea Sunday Savings event for this year. Have a read of the Third Thursday Teaser posted yesterday for the details.

And second reminder…. If it applies to you – it is also the week we go back to Standard Time.

Best of the weekend everyone!

© 2011 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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