Last evening I was wondering what I might possibly have to say this morning. But ten – yes ten full hours of sleep has created a bubbling pot of thoughts and ideas. So much for yesterday’s slug appearance
I did spend an hour on Facetime with the “O” boys which likely did some good as well. Yes, I spent part of that time making faces as well. When you are one and almost three years old, making faces is a lot of fun.
So what is it that I have cooking you might ask? Well, I have an idea for a solo exhibition in the spring for one. It is tentatively called “Mostly Off The Wall” and that is all I can share at the moment. I think it shall be a LOT of fun though – maybe even one you would like to travel all the way to Mayne Island to see. March or early April are the tentative dates. This will be just before our planned two to three-month trip to Europe where I shall paint my way in leisurely around a very few selected locations. These are the plans if all goes well that is. But a person has to put a mark in the sand if anything is ever going to move from a dream to reality. These are my marks on the horizon of 2014.
There are also two new photographs from our resent close-to-home vacation time in and near Victoria, British Columbia. These were taken in East Sooke Park and you may appreciate the difference of the stone compared to that which is mostly found on Mayne Island. Getting very close to facing the open seas on the southwest coast Vancouver Island this harder stone is much more prevalent.
CREYKE POINT: Braced against the Pacific’s unrelenting chastising, proud and strong they resist. The hard stones may have their misgivings but their closeness to the sea is not one of them.
November and December and even sometimes the first two weeks of January are my quiet time of year in my art studio. Part of this is that after the Open Studio event I kind of turn off my marketing and sales efforts. Yes there is still the new 2014 Calendar available (click on the image to check it out further)
and new photographs and paintings continue to be released. But it is more a time of enjoying friends and family. It is a time of gathering and having a good visit. I love this time of year. These are Monday morning blessing in the largest grandest sense.
It is also a time of year when I reflect on what has worked and not worked and plan for the year ahead. These include my donations of both work and money because this is how the energy of receiving and giving is revitalized – at least for me. This weekend I received two requests I am happy to consider. One is for a commissioned work for auction to a wood recycling association and the other is for a donation to a private school fundraising auction. These are the touch-stones of balance in a material world that has gone somewhat mad in its need for acquisition of property – original art included. As much as I live a life of simple abundance, just by the sheer reality of being a painter and photographer, I create stuff that is purchased and contributes to this global material addition plaguing the current human condition. My only defense seems to be to ensure that the work is expensive enough that it will be well-cared-for once purchased. Odd isn’t it? But it is the only a few strategies I have come up with so far. Another is to donate my time, work and sometimes cash to others that are seeking and need support. Sometimes, I find this tension between materialism and simple abundance excruciating, particularly if there is a run of sales on my paintings where they are selling as fast as I can paint them. I think – oh know! Now what!? So, these quieter times in November and December of sales and my ongoing practice of giving provide a balance and resilience to this inner panic. These are my acknowledgements when considering my blessings this Monday morning.
There is also a new smaller painting that I did last week while the studio assistant was painting edges and putting work into the inventory program. I am waiting for it to dry in order to get a proper photograph but here is a sneak-peek and I will let you know when it is released over at Terrill Welch Artist (where there is currently a new post about another painting I released last week).
ARBUTUS BY THE TRAIL 8 x 10 inch oil on canvas
The Art of Terrill Welch facebook Page continues to grow and is now has over 200 “likes” as you can see there on your right. The Art Review comments by writers that are posted every Wednesday seems to be going well. This week is a review of the painting EARLY NOVEMBER SEA by Sandi White. I know she would be most delighted if you had a moment to drop in and leave a few words.
As you can see, though the surface of my studio life seems quiet and it feels this way to me as well, there is an undercurrent of activity that somehow is happening with little energy or attention on my part. I am in a time of dormancy and rest but the roots of my work are still being well nourished. Thank you universe for these ongoing blessing during a time in the world that seems to be in warp-speed chaos.
Have no fear your online Studio Open Event is here!
Saturday (November 9, 2013) Painting Shipping Special: There are just over 50 original paintings in the Artsy Home online gallery and for today only I will ship any painting purchased of any size to anywhere in the world for $25.00. Some of these paintings are as small as 6 x 6 inches such as
MORNING IN THE KITCHEN (one of my few recent abstract paintings)
and some as large as 36 x 60 inches such as
EVENING AND THE ARBUTUS TREE
No matter, one shipping price for each painting purchased. Just use the “make an offer” button to the right of the painting you are interested in to send me a direct message with the request “OpenStudio.” Besides, using that “make an offer button” will be good practices for tomorrow.
Sunday November 10, 2013 is MAKE ME AN OFFER day on any of my original paintings still available in the Artsy Home online gallery. So just like yesterday click on the “make an offer” button to the right of the painting you are interested in and tell me your offer. All reasonable offers will be considered – however, I do on occasion counter offer… just letting you know so you are not surprised 😉
NOTE: all in-person sales on original paintings will take priority if I there is a conflict. If you happen to make a purchase for a painting that is already sold, your money will be refunded immediately. To avoid this, please send me a note through the “make an offer button” at the right of the painting to let me know you are making a purchase and then I can mark the painting as SOLD in the physical gallery.
For today and tomorrow –All five of my Redbubble photography and painting calendars are available for $34.00 U.S. each which is a nice savings of about $10.00 off the regular price. Here is the newest addition to feast your eyes on as we get stared.
In addition, I have set up a Special Open Studio Event Feature portfolio in my Redbubble storefont with 24 selected photography images and this year’s calendar for your easy access and viewing pleasure.
Do enjoy, do have fun, do share and I look forward to seeing you.
May your weekend be filled with beauty, resilience and peace.
Until the end of December, my Monday morning posts are about noticing blessings and things I am thankful for receiving. Due to my schedule this week, I am posting on Sunday instead.
What I am noticing is that I often take action when I am feeling blessed. For example, I am thankful for the local apples and pears we have been devouring over the last couple of weeks. So good! In fact, good enough to want to put a few in a new still life painting.
First, let’s set everything up and take a photograph or sixty just for fun. The painting will be from a different perspective but this gives us the idea…
It is hard to see but the whole canvas has a light wash to tone down the white and then I just begin to find the shapes and colour relations not really worrying about the final result too much at all. Things will change and move around with time and light. The idea is just to get started somewhere.
Working wet-on-wet or alla prima I continue to build up the paint on this roughed in start. The minutes slip by and eventually the painting time can be counted in a few hours…
I must quit now. There is a meeting. There is super and then the full moon pushes against the fog and sleep arrives under the night sky. In the morning I push on. I set it to “rest” and have some breakfast. I make a few edits. The day passes into night and I make few more edits on the still-wet oil painting, until …
PITCHER APPLES PEARS on a 16 x 20 inch canvas
We now have a study of whites and how they are always leaning towards one colour or another. The tastes, smells and texture of this still life have slid onto the canvas. For this magic of creative process I am thankful.
Now to clean up the studio but before we do, one last shot…
Some of the pears and apples have been eaten. The brushes have been clean and the paint on the palette is drying but it is all still here.
May your Sunday be rejuvenating and bring a sense of awareness and comfort.
What blessings do your actions tell you that you are noticing?
Well. almost. Today is the day that my new studio assistant will come by for his orientation. We will wander through the work place that I have cleaned and organized in his honour.
Then we will go through a typical work order to do the final work on a piece of work so that it is ready for purchase. You know, all those tasks like getting it into the online inventory, putting on the hanging hardware and if needed, painting the edges. By now I am sure you know how much I really do not enjoy painting the edges of my paintings, yes? I am so excited about finally getting this help in place as I am a wee bit behind as I keep painting new work without doing this final bit of administrative work.
I am most thankful for the sun, the sea, the autumn leaves, a clean studio, a studio assistant and the health and well-being of my large family. I am truly blessed on this fine and great annual day of thankfulness. All the best of a Canadian Thanksgiving and Monday blessings to you!
Can you tell us about a time when you stopped fighting yourself and hired work done that you could do but were not?
Heavy rain soaked the island during the night but now shafts of sunlight push between the branches of the large fir trees outside my studio window. I continue my Monday morning blessings practices with a sense of awe and wonder.
There are the most essential and practical blessings of warm dry shelter with ample light, nutritious food, refrigeration, running potable cold and hot water, These are such luxuries of abundance we can take them for granted but I don’t. I notice. I notice almost everyday.
There are the blessings of a loving family and the company of friends. These too I notice. One of our young grandsons came to visit this weekend for the first time. He is already past his second birthday. We see him at his home several times a year but it was the first time he had been here to la casa de inspiracion. For this I am deeply thankful.
Then there are the blessings of creative abundance. Sunday was a grand and beautiful day on Mayne Island. Let us slip for a moment into yesterday and revisit one of these moments chasing the October sun by the sea.
The canvas with its red underpainting stood ready on the french box easel while I devoured and early lunch and tried to decide what to paint.
This preparation and decision-making time is crucial to my painting process. It is the time I consider my intention, my focus, composition and method. Once I have decided these things then I paint usually without thinking about them again because I am by then deeply immersed in the moment using all of my sensory presence to bring the work to life on the canvas. This is how I render a painting alive rather than worrying about it being perfect. In this case few images were captured of the painting process. The light was moving shadows on and off the canvas from the large trees on the bank behind me. I focus on the work at hand rather than documenting the process itself.
Eventually, I step back.
Then just as quickly, I move forward and continue working until the brushes come to rest as the painting becomes too saturated with wet paint to continue.
Today I shall engage my critical creative mind and see if there are areas I can strengthen to carry the painting any further to its place of completeness. I am not sure that there is but I shall leave it sitting where it can surprise me with a quick glance just to be sure.
There is also the blessing of my art work being appreciated by others enough that they want to give the work a good home.
THE MT. BAKER REACH 8 x 10 inch oil on canvas will be off to California this week.
Not all artists experience public appreciation for their work during their life time. I have been very fortunate in this aspect over the past few years with numerous art collectors in Canada, United States, Australia and several parts of Europe purchasing my paintings and photography. The power of this blessing cannot be underestimated. As paintings leave the studio it creates a driving need to continue to do my best work as often as I can manage. Thank you to so many who continue to support my work with hard-earned financial resources. I notice and I appreciate your patronage.
Now I must fess up. With the upcoming Open Studio event now scheduled for November 9th and 10th from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm, I must delay the work on my new art book until early in the new year. Besides, the book has demanded a far larger scope than I had originally intended. The darn thing has taken on a life of its own! Image that!?
Who or what are you most thankful to have in your life on this fine Monday morning with its blessings?
My art work sells well but I wonder if I could do more…
Question: would you be any more likely to buy my paintings if I showed them to you from gallery space rather than my home studio space like in the photograph below?
YES or NO and it would be nice if you could tell me why?
I am asking because 70% of my art sales are from or supported by online exchanges with patrons, admirers and fans like you. Since January 2010 when I launched my painting and photography work, my collector space has doubled each year. I am set to increase prices of my original paintings for the second time this year due to the volume of sales. I am also considering other options to bring my work to a larger audience. There are several ways to do this but not all are practical living on a small island.
For example, I could rent Gallery space and show my work. This demands specific store hours from me and overhead costs. Which would be fine but the purpose would mostly be to better show my work to online buyers who collect my work. The local population, even with tourists, is too small to support such an adventure for art work that is already beyond emerging artist prices.
Getting my work in traditional galleries around North America is another option. The challenge of course is the time to secure representation and transporting work to and often from the venues. Ferry and mailing costs make this less than appealing.
So this is why I am asking my question. I want to know if you, as my audience and collectors, care one way or the other.
Again the question is – would you be any more likely to buy my paintings if I showed them to you from gallery space rather than my home studio space like in the photograph below?
YES or NO and it would be nice if you could tell me why?
Please feel free to send me a private note if you prefer.
Dear readers, I know you are used to regular posts about my work-in-progress and I admittedly have been more than a little tardy in supplying them.
However, I am hoping that this rather vulnerable, revealing exposure of the painting process for my latest large 36 x 72 inch oil on canvas WEST COAST BLUES ROLLING WAVES OYSTER BAY will make up for this.
I find it hard to define where a painting really begins as each work is usually in the middle of a longer artistic exploration and painterly discussion. But for the sake of starting somewhere let us start with March 3, 2013.
The waves are rolling midnight blue on one of those rare days when the winter sky is just right and the west coast mountains remain visible across the Strait of Georgia.
(Quality prints of this photograph in various formats are available HERE.)
Not long after this day a small 12 x 16 inch painting WEST COAST BLUES STUDY is completed.
(Quality unlimited prints of this painting study are available in various formats HERE.)
The painting SOLD still wet and “resting’ in less than 24 hours after it is completed. Fortunately, I am able to make arrangements to keep the painting in the studio as I prepare to work on the larger canvas. Sadly though, my external hard drive fails at this point and all but one other reference image of this scene are lost. I usually work with about 20 – 150 captures of a scene I want to paint but must now settle for two which includes this one…
Driven by the movement of the sea which is far greater than the camera can capture, I choose a primary composition to guide the large painting…
Several months after painting the small study, I begin to work up the underpainting and with modern technology I am going to take you with me.
Oh to get that energy on the canvas from the very beginning! We now must leave the underpainting to dry for a few days before, with bare feet and all, I am ready to start building the whole canvas up at once – mostly working wet-on-wet or alla prima.
I paint for several hours at a time as the canvas is mammoth to cover, even with using large brushes.
I am always happiest at this stage of any painting because the possibilities feel limitless and exhilarating. There are often smiling moments of gems like this detail that will eventually disappear as the painting progresses.
As always I am conscious of the light direction, the season and also the movement and energy resistances within a landscape. My desire is to have the viewer inside the painting rather than sitting comfortably as an observer of the scene. This next video clip hints at how I go about accomplishing this.
At this point I want to caution that what I am sharing here is how I paint and my painting process. It is not “the right way” or “the only way” but rather it is my way. Other artists have their own well-developed approaches and techniques that works for them just fine. So this sharing of my process is NOT a “how to” sharing but rather an intimate personal sharing of my own painting process. I am allowing you into my artist’s head and heart as I work.
I am now to the point where the painting is at risk of the painting tightening up more than I want…
I keep working adding some studio lighting to try to even out the light hitting the canvas.
I continue and time passes until my physical ability becomes fatigued and yet I am reluctant to quit.
I must eventually leave it and walk away until the next day when, with some help, I get the painting down the stairs of the loft studio and outside for a good look.
Now is as good a time as any to tell you that between the first painting study that I did as part of the reference work for this large painting I also painted fifteen other smaller works and of these seven or almost half are already in private collections.
In a moment, I will share two of these smaller paintings that I feel are most relevant to this specific work and that are still available for purchase. But first let’s set up the iPad again for one last video clip…
A nifty new use for my French Box easel 😉
My disappointment is almost overwhelming. The painting is not measuring up and I am unsure as to what to do about it. This is the hardest part of the process for me both in experience and to share. All the hours, days, weeks and months have left me with what I feel at this stage is an unsatisfactory result. This moment is not new to me as I mention in the video. It is a common experience I have at or near the end of a painting. What to do? I wait it out by placing the painting where I look at it while working on other paintings.
This leaves me with one of the two other significant small studies that I mentioned early.
END OF STORM GEORGINA POINT MAYNE ISLAND 8 x 10 inch oil on canvas was painted midway through.
Update July 16, 2017: This painting is now SOLD and is in a private collection in Norway.
THE MT. BAKER REACH 8 x 10 inch oil on canvas was painted during that difficult resting period of uncertainty.
Update October 8, 2013: This painting is now SOLD to a private art collector in California U.S. A.
Somehow, unknown to even me I was able to determine what I needed to do on the larger canvas because of the work on particularly the second of these two small landscapes of the sea. After several days of letting the painting “rest” I went back in and did another day’s work and came away much more satisfied with the final results. The relationship between these smaller works and the large painting is best observed in these details from the larger work.
Detail one and each of the following details are about 15 X 20 inch portions of the overall 36 x 72 inch canvas.
Detail 2 with a good slice of the land, sea, sky relationship.
Detail 3 with an up close view of the water movement.
Detail 4 showing the largest rolling wave.
Recently a studio visitor asked how had I learned to paint water. I gave my best effort to explain that in order to paint something with its energy and with conviction I become that element and I feel the tension that surrounds it in relation to other aspects of its environment. This is a process of painting the light and space between the forms evident in a painting rather than painting the forms themselves.
Detail 5 showing a small piece of the sky.
Now I must leave for 10 days. I will not look at the painting and with a wee bit of luck I won’t even think about it.
Okay, here we are. It is August 3, 2013, five months after I began formulating the reference material for this painting and a total of sixteen smaller paintings and two larger paintings have been completed besides this largest of the large work. I have walked around the painting and allowed it to surprise me. I have had more than a handful of individuals through my home studio and I have seen the impact the work has as its presence reaches them.
Finally, though I may privately wish the painting was more, I am ready to say it is complete. Done. Ready to stand on its own.
Please allow me to introduce you to WEST COAST BLUES ROLLING WAVES OYSTER BAY 36 x 72 inch oil on canvas
A while back, I was invited to consider competing in the Arabella Canadian Landscape Contest. The six year old Arabella magazine had made an audacious proposal to tell Canada’s story through contemporary art by creating an outstanding collection of current works that examine the emotional power of landscape art in shaping Canadian identity with a full sense of past, present and future. Though I do not usually bother with art competition, with a proposal like this how could I refuse?
The contest is now at a point where I need your help. The Exhibit of over 100 participating artists and 300 paintings is now open for voting and commenting in the People’s Choice Award. I would greatly appreciate it if you could take the time to register, vote and comment on my three paintings that are part of this Canadian landscape art competition. Also, if you could share this blog post in your networks I will be ever-so-grateful. The direct link to my three paintings in the competition is at http://aclcontest.arabelladesign.com/photos/index.php?/category/62
The paintings that I submitted will be familiar to most of you. They are:
SLICED WITH A TEAR – 36 X 60 inch oil on canvas
RHYTHM OF THE SEA EDITH POINT – 20 x 40 inch oil on canvas
And EVENING AND THE ARBUTUS TREE 36 x 60 inch oil on canvas
To register to vote and comment on these paintings in this Canadian landscape art competition, go to the Login details on the upper left on my competition page HERE. I know registering, voting and commenting in an art competition is a lot to ask. However, a comrade on Google Plus has helped me to reframe this request with his comment as follows:
It is hard to ask of others for some people – I’m one and you are as well. But you are really not asking for anything..You are giving it! If you did not post this I would never have known or suspected that I could make a difference in your world other [than] by comments. You are giving me a way to thank you that I never had. Your paintings and musings make me feel good and take me away from concrete and glass. For this I am grateful and am in your debt–not vice versa.. Someday I’m going to see you in the McMichael*….You deserve to be there!
* Renowned for collecting only Canadian art, the McMichael Gallery permanent collection consists of almost 6,000 artworks by Tom Thomson, the Group of Seven, Emily Carr, their contemporaries, and First Nations, Métis, Inuit and other artists who have made a contribution to the development of Canadian art.
Isn’t this a nice way to look at my asking you to drop by register, vote and comment on my paintings that are in the competition? Since so many of you are regular readers and often comment here on the blog I decided to be brave and ask for your support. So thank you and special thanks to those of you who have already dropped in voted and commented. I deeply appreciate the effort.
Your votes will count in determining the winner of the People’s Choice Award, just one of the great prizes being offered in this contest. All prizes will be awarded in August 2013 at the conclusion of the jurying process. Please note that in order to vote you must register an account. Email data requested is only used for the contest and will not be used for any other purpose.
Now I am going to do something that may seem odd for a participant in a nation-wide art competition. I am going to share with you a few favourite works by other artists. I feel that these works collectively do a brilliant job of fulfilling the task of expressing the emotional impact of the Canadian Landscape. I have hyperlinked each artist’s name so that you can go directly to their competition profile and see any additional work they may have contributed. Possibly you may even take the time to vote and comment too.
Holly Friesen – an artist I have introduced to you in the past.
Holly’s connection between our inner world and the landscape moves me deeply as the painting stretches, encircles and holds my emotions.
Maryanne has a lovely colour harmony and loose expression in this painting leaving lots of room for the viewer’s imagination.
Michael O’Toole – with just this one painting in the contest Michael has captured so much about the west coast of Canada.
There are six artists whose first name is Peter in this competition. I am not sure if this says something about the popularity of the name Peter in Canada or not. But you are excused if you have a hard time keeping them straight and instead resort to just using their last names. I am going to share four of these six “Peter” artists next – with both their first and last names 🙂
There is strength in less when we dare to be bold and vulnerable as is so aptly demonstrated by Peter Adams here.
Peter McConville – again with only one work in contest it is worth going to his profile and following the link to see others of his pointillism style paintings.
Not often is so much movement captured in such detailed work as in Peter’s landscapes.
Slipping into to the woods is easy in Peter’s painting. Yes there is an opening beyond but my viewer’s eye is in no rush, allowing the trees to fold me into their peace, their stillness.
The gorgeous use of design and colour by Peter allows me to pull away from the specifics of the scene and appreciate the whole and then be drawn back into the landscape – again and again.
Rich Bond – a fellow British Columbia artist with six paintings in the contest making it hard to choose just one to share with you.
Patches of colour, harmonious and pleasant, seeking the trust of the viewer’s eye to find and accentuate the landscape elements independent of the painter. It is a rare gift to paint with such strength and conviction that any ego remnants of the painter are submissive to the landscape and its relationship to the viewer.
Well, this gives you a small taste of eleven of the over 300 paintings in the Arabella Canadian Landscape Contest. There are many more to browse and enjoy on the contest Exhibition website – which collectively really do capture the beauty and emotional spirit of Canada.
Yes, I am fully aware that this kind of sharing of the other participants art is not actually conducive to winning a People’s Choice Award for this competition. However, this is not my motivation for sharing the work of these fellow artists. Five years from now the People’s Choice award will likely be lost in the litter of our everyday lives. We will have moved on (artists and viewers alike) – we will have forgotten about the registering, voting and commenting. But just possibly the Canadian landscape itself will be strong and present to you through the work of these artists and through my own paintings. This chance to have a lasting impact on your experience of the land I love and the country I love is why I share these additional works by my fellow contemporary Canadian landscape artists. I hope you enjoyed the experience.
Now wish me luck and I look forward toreading your comments on my paintings in the Arabella Canadian Landscape Contest for the People’s Choice Award.
What emotions most aptly capture the Canadian Landscape for you?
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.
I linger over a fine red bud.
Then swoon down to a singular red beauty.
Dipping even closer, her fragrance tingles my sense of mystery and wonder.
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.
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.
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
New Growth West Coast in late May 8 x 8 inch oil on gessobord
From Felix Jack Road Mayne Island 14 x 11 oil on canvas
(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?
