Victoria

A Good Night of Sleep and other Studio Blessings

/ Terrill Welch / 6 Comments

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

The West Coast Slug by Terrill Welch

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.

In the mean time, ARBUTUS BY THE TRAIL has been released over on my website at Terrill Welch Artist if you care to have a wee visit with this small impressionist style west coast landscape oil painting.

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.

Quality prints available HERE.

CASTLE ROCKS: The castle-top rocks with a window to the sea swell the imagination.

Quality prints available HERE.

 

What are YOUR marks on the horizon of 2014?

So there we have it! May your Monday be filled with attention to your blessings and good-will.

© 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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The Plum Tree and the Brick Building

/ Terrill Welch / 12 Comments

Looking across the street I admire the plum trees against the brick building.

Oh those blossoms can make a heart twitter like a spring bird!

Have you ever noticed a blooming plum tree standing by a brick building? So majestic and regal it stands like the building butler as the blossom petals drift to sidewalk.

(image available for purchase HERE)

There is a window dripping with plum tree blossoms that must look as lovely from the inside out as the outside in

(image available for purchase HERE)

 

SPROUT: What blossoms have your heart a twitter like a spring bird?

 

© 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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In the Rain at Cattle Point Victoria B.C.

/ Terrill Welch / 9 Comments

With much harder rock formations than the sandstone found on Mayne Island, this urban seascape in the rain caught my attention yesterday when we were in Victoria. The clouds are low and soft rain is falling but the mid-day sun is pushing through a gentle light from above.  Last evening’s high winds have passed and this heavy peace remains sprawled over the point.

(image available for purchase HERE) 

As the name of this park suggests, this point was historically used to unload cattle for upland farms on Vancouver Island.

And an update on

Spring Studio Sale – Art is not ART until it is SOLD

As far as I know Sam Juliano from Wonders in the Dark did not win the big 500 million U.S. lottery last night so at the time of this posting all five paintings are still available for purchase. Thank you everyone who has shared the link to my spring studio event and for your kind words and interest in these paintings. There is still the better part of five days left and still time to decide or share the link with someone else you think might be interest.

 

All the best of Friday everyone! I see the sun poking through here in the Mayne Island quiet so sending a little your way.

 

SPROUT: What was the last rainy day moment that captured your creative energy? 

 

© 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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Holding the Sea

/ Terrill Welch / 10 Comments

The rain is steady this morning and the forecast is the same for at least the next five days. I have woke early, very early – 4:30 am to be exact. I have decided something. I have decided to shift my creative routine.  Change it up if you will. Oh you might not notice to much of a difference as there is always something percolating to share. But I will notice the difference in my work flow. It feels a little like this photograph of the sea – holding.

before it rushes forward with a recognizable pounding rhythm.

(image available on my new pro smugmug gallery HERE) 

I want to step back and look at my adventure from the cliff-side of my creativity.

I want to sing to the sea of its flow while I organize, file and scrub the vessel that holds my daily works and my place of eating and sleeping.

Then I will be renewed to begin again with fresh eyes and replenished spirit.

It is time. Could it be spring?

 

SPROUT: What are the your notable signals your recognize that time you it is time to shift your creative flow. 

 

© 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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I made the cover

/ Terrill Welch / 35 Comments

I made the cover! It isn’t the cover of the Rolling Stones but it is a glossy cover of a new regional magazine called ISLAND GALS reaching Vancouver Island and the smaller Gulf Islands. This includes British Columbia’s capital city of Victoria. Actually, my oil painting HENDERSON HILL made the cover and I made honourable mention in the top left hand corner. But it does make this artist’s heart beat like a ruffled grouse on a log to have her painting chosen as the magazine cover and to be featured under the title “create.”

Isn’t this exciting?

One of my goals for 2011 and 2012 is to expand my exposure beyond my immediate long-standing network. This is a necessary step for a successful art career. It is one of the reasons that artists have benefited from exposure through traditional galleries. But things are changing quickly between the buyer and artist relationship. Buyers seeking original art work have a keen desire to know and interact with the artist whose work they are collecting. They are and want to be part of the story about the work that is on their walls. It could be a place they visited. It could be one of the paintings they watched being developed. It could be that the painting reminds them of something that is significant in their experiences. Or it could be all of the above. The bottom line is collectors want direct contact with the artist. For artists this means moving beyond the traditional buyer to gallery to artist circuit.

I know I don’t need to convince you dear readers as you know this already. But from the business side of being an artist I must be clear with myself. I must purposefully take steps to ensure there is an expanding opportunity for my work to be seen and for buyers to connect directly with me. Creative Potager and other social networking platforms provide these opportunities on a global scale. However, being featured on the glossy cover of a magazine is just plain old-fashion, satisfying goodness.

NOTE: The 20 X 16 inch original oil painting of HENDERSON HILL is still available for $900.00 and can be purchased by contacting me directly via email at tawelch AT shaw DOT ca and I have a copy of the magazine to go with it 🙂

Best of the weekend to you and watch out for monsters and low flying witches but be sure to get out and kick some leaves!

Sprout Question: In your wildest dreams what magazine cover would you like to be on?

 

© 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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Port of call – Mayne Island

/ Terrill Welch / 14 Comments

Near Mayne Island while traversing the inside passage from either direction, the Gulf Islands B.C. Ferry vessel loudspeaker will crackle. The captain then announces variations of “We are approaching Villiage-Bay-Mayne-sland. This is also the transfer point for passengers going to…..”  This last part of the announcement changes depending on what ferry you are traveling.

It is pretty hard to miss your stop. But knowing if you even want to come or how to get this far in your trip can be a little tricky. Fortunately, our Mayne Island Community Chamber of Commerce makes it easier.

Regular Creative Potager readers may recognize the photographs on the front panel and the inside of this four-fold brochure. Yes, they are mine.

Earlier this year I was asked by a chamber member if I would consider submitting some photographs for use in the brochure. There had been a community-wide call for submission. I hummed and hawed feeling that my images are not really marketing sunshine and fun. They are often quiet, subdued, reflective and moodily dramatic. Since most of my photographs are taken in low-light during fall/winter or during the bookends of a spring or summer day, I wasn’t sure what I had to offer. But I agreed to let the committee have a look at my redbubble portfolio. To my delight they chose these two images. This is the second time this year that my images have been requested for promotional purposes – a pleasant addition to my artistically aimed photography.

But you might be saying “where is Mayne Island anyway?” The Chamber brochure has a pictorial answer on the back panel. Off the west coast of North America, snuggled into a cluster of Canadian Gulf Islands and the United States San Juan Islands, that darkly coloured island is home.

Now I bet you want to know exactly where Creative Potager is on Mayne Island – right? If you open up the brochure there is a map of the island. I love the crunchy tactile unfolding of maps. This brochure has a particularly satisfying soft and earthy feeling to the touch.

Creative Potager is marked by a white-squared number 35. See it there, just below the Mt Parke Park signage near the centre of the island.

The white-squared number 35 Creative Potager home studio is open by appointment.

The best way to get a home studio tour of our timberframed strawbale la casa de inspiracion is to email me at tawelch@shaw.ca .

You will need a brochure, or wait for the chamber website to be updated, to know exactly what else is marked on the map. I can tell you that yellow-squared numbers are accommodation, green are farms, orange real estate, red services, and white shops and galleries. If you would like your own brochure it will be on the ferry or drop me a line and I can mail you one.

My STUDY OF BLUE  solo exhibition of 15 original oil paintings, opening Thursday June 30, 2011, will be held at the yellow-squared number 9 and blue-squared number 17 which is the two listings for the Oceanwood. One is for accommodation and one for the restaurant.

Fly into Vancouver or Victoria in British Columbia, Canada, rent a car, catch a ferry and you are here. It is just that easy. During the busy summer season it is recommended to make reservations for the ferry from Vancouver to Mayne Island and for accommodation while you are here. I look forward to seeing you sometime soon.

Best of the weekend to you!

Sprout question: What is your creative port of call?

STUDY OF BLUE  solo exhibition opens Thursday June 30, 2011.

© 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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Emily Carr Mystery Solved

/ Terrill Welch / 6 Comments

View and purchase full resolution image here.

Yesterday’s “Can you Guess?” post was so much fun. Yes?

It is indeed Emily Carr.

The statue is located in the Victoria, British Columbia harbour near the Empress Hotel which you can see in the back ground. The specific location is on the corner of Government and Belleville Street diagonal to the legislative buildings.

Looking up is Emily’s dog Billie. He is looking at Woo Emily’s monkey who is sitting on her shoulder.

The artist/sculptor who was commissioned to create the Emily Carr statue is Barbara Paterson.

I took these photographs the day after the unveiling of the oversized Carr statue. People were still frowning at it as they passed on their way to work in the morning. I didn’t take their pictures as they were so unguarded in there peering at this statue of a strange woman with a monkey on her shoulder. I didn’t want to embarrass anyone. I believe it is safe to say that most of them couldn’t have guessed who the statue represented either and they live in Emily’s home town.

The evening before we had seen a screening of a new documentary film Winds of Heaven: Emily Carr, Carvers and the Spirits of the Forest by Michael Ostroff which I reviewed on the “Emily Carr My Kindred Spirit” post in October. I was in full Emily Carr remembering when I took these photographs. I have read her diaries, her stories and viewed her art work for much of my life. I regard her as a mentor.

Why did I wait so long to post the photographs of the statue? It is because my heart sank when I saw the statue. I was filled with a deep sadness – not because of the statue itself. The statue is beautiful, thoughtful and skillfully created. I was sad because the location chose for the statue presented a mystery for me. Emily would hate it. I just know she would. Stuck in the buzz of city traffic and tourists, with people peering at her while she is left sketching one miserly branch of the great forest she loved would have been torture.

Why would anyone choose to put a statue of Emily Carr in such a counter position to her whole being? I thought and mused as I invited Emily to walk with me out of the noise and commotion down a path along the harbour shore. I am sure her feelings were hurt as much as she was angry.

I know because as we stopped to look up at the totem pole along the path, she seemed to be saying:

“Why couldn’t they have just tucked me a little ways into the peace of the rose garden where at least the birds visit?”

“Why didn’t they put me in Beacon Hill Park where it is quiet and the glorious big pines still stand?”

“Oh bother! Why didn’t they just forget about this old fool?”

I feel compelled to tell her that she is important to art history in Canada and especial in British Columbia. Though people may have not chosen the best spot for her statue in relation to her love of the woods, their hearts were in the right place. They loved her. She sagged a bit under the weight of it all and seemed to weary to fight the mistake… for surely it had to be a mistake, wasn’t it?

After weeks of considering, my conclusion is no, it is not a mistake. It was the right decision even as heartbreaking as it is to think of Emily sitting there stuck so far from the peace of her woods. It is the right decision because the statue isn’t for Emily Carr. She lived her life, created her art, wrote her stories and her spirit is free to be where it chooses – which is not on the corner of Government and Belleville Street I can assure you. The statue is for those of us who have yet to discover Emily Carr. For those that do not know of her great art and her books. The statue is a clue to a mystery that waits to be discovered by tourists, workers going to work and the three year old on a walk with her dad who draws him into the world of Emily as the child pets Billie and they both smile up at Woo. Maybe then they will seek out Carr’s paintings and wander into the great forest to see the trees as she saw them. I hope so because this is where they will find her spirit joins them as they sit on a log in wonder at one of the greatest mystery of all – the forest.

The statue is only a clue to solving a great mystery. Maybe someday the world will know Emily Carr and her woods well enough that this clue can be removed deep into the forest where we can sit together with her as kindred spirits around a small fire discussing other creative mysteries.

Sprout question: How do you resolve creative sadness and disappointment?

Or an even better sprout question offered to us by Leanne Dyck: What artist of the past would you like others to discover today?

Thank you Leanne:)

© 2010 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

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Unusual Light

/ Terrill Welch / 16 Comments

View and purchase full resolution image here.

Harbour Air is part of the Victoria B.C. morning view. In this image the sun has found a hole in the heavy cloud cover as the float plane taxis out, taking passengers into Vancouver. The lighting was very unusual. It has a surreal effect on our senses. We might ask: “Is it day or is it night?”

Often, an image captures our attention because it is ordinary but seen in unusual or different light. Take for example, photographer Jeff Stroud’s image “waiting II” and the uniqueness of this ordinary bench. Impressive!

Sprout question: When has unusual lighting caught your attention?

© 2010 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

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Please Do Not Take This Pumpkin

/ Terrill Welch / 21 Comments

Cities on the west coast are changing. I visited a friend in Victoria yesterday. After walking through her garden and behind the outdoor studio, I admired a hen through the fence in the neighbour’s yard.  But even before I got to the house, I stopped on the street to see how the pumpkin was doing.

Imagine my delight when “the son” answered the doorbell a few minutes later  and agreed to get his picture taken with this large beast growing between the sidewalk and the street.

Just to help ensure you can tell how big this pumpkin is, Simon is eleven. The pumpkin gets so many visitors that my friend is thinking of putting out a guest book.

Congratulations Simon on your giant pumpkin. Thank you to your neighbours for not picking it.

Sprout Question: What part of your creative experience is larger than usual?

© 2010 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

Roof Top Morning

/ Terrill Welch / 17 Comments

toe-to-toe bride and her best friend

Did you ever notice that when you use the hand garden shears your mouth opens and closes as you work the shears? No, this is not a gardening post. But I have been out watering, weeding and trimming already this morning… and besides the fact that the tomatoes are blooming, I notices how my jaw was engaged with my hand’s sheering motion.

As many of you know, I was away at one of our children’s weddings on Sunday and returned at dinner time yesterday. I have not edited my photos yet and I when I do I will post them for family on my flickr account. Except for the one photo above, you will have to wait. Our son-in-law was the official wedding photographer and I also don’t want to get ahead of him in posting my photographs. He took his photography training last year and wants to establish himself as a wedding photographer. I think he got some amazing shots from where I was observing so I am excited to see the results.

What I have for you this morning is two roof top photographs taken from my room at the Swans Hotel in Victoria B.C. Canada. These images show the topside and kind of a roof-top-back-alley view of part of old Chinatown.

I have taken photographs of this remaining heritage wall from many angles. The wall was supposed to be integrated into a new development that went sour a few years ago and now the vacant lot is growing weeds and the wall is crumbling.

I am attracted to these kinds of cityscapes that are being reclaimed by the environment. The morning reminds me of the beauty in a moment while considering that everything is impermanent. The environment, my life and the brick wall all continue to wane and will eventually transition into something else.

Sprout Question: How does your creativity bring your attention to your mortality?

© 2010 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