Try as I might, the mix of experiences this past week refuse to be organized into a meaningful story. It all feels like beautiful colours tangled into a day with no breaks in the string, no long pauses and no rest points. New projects, such as getting a gallery up and running, are often like this I think. The past seven days went something like the late ferry sunset building to a perfect moment.
With a couple of thoughts about the morning’s plein air painting time with a fellow painter and friend,
And another thought about the gyroscope jewellery coming in mail from another multi-talented painter and jeweler friend,
and it is over…
As the sun drips into the sea, we turn away preparing for night and see the almost-full moon reaching out to greet us.
In this flow of melded time, knowing one of these moments, someday, will be our last, one is often tempted to think about the strange concept of forever.
What moments this past week have tempted you to think about forever?
Bringing the wild inside is the ultimate of having a landscape painting that resonates with both a room and your life. This past weekend that room was HUGE with more than 80 booths in total. Every few minutes, people would come and stand in front of my west coast landscape paintings and “sigh” these long exhales. It was like they just needed a few minutes before they could go on to even one more booth!
Often viewers would come close and then back up. Then come close again. Then they would walk slowly sideways and then back to the centre. Sometimes they would tell me that the waves were three dimensional and seemed to lift right out of the canvas. Other times it would be the tangle of the friendly arbutus tree that would hold their attention until a quick smile would appear just before they turned to talk to me. People were inspired by the movement, the brushstrokes, the colours and just the beauty of our west coast captured on the canvases. One of many precious moments was when we were all packed up with the paintings wrapped and ready to move a forklift driver in the complex stopped his machine to make a point of telling me how much he loved seeing my landscape paintings in the show.
I owe a huge thank you to the many online followers who I had never met before who showed up to see the work in person. I lost count of how many times a total stranger to me would say – I have been following your work online for years and it is great to see it in person! Now how cool is that?
Of course, there were the many people who traveled from around the lower mainland and even from Mayne Island and Victoria that made a special effort to come to see my work in person at the Art! Vancouver Fair. I am thrilled because Paul Constable of Artists In Canada had sponsored me and three other artists to show in this booth. I felt not only fortunate to be showing in this venue but also that my special people made such a point of attending. I was bought glass of wine near the end of one of our days in appreciation. I was asked for so many photographs of the work, of me with the work (just after hanging)
and several of me with visitors with the work. Here are just a few of these….
Monica with Terrill
Terrill with John
Katrina with Terrill
A video of me on the runway with “Southern Gulf Islands Afternoon” for The Face of Art by Amber Stace.
It was all crazy fun! Well, at least once I had that runway walk done! 😉
There is a story that goes with this next photograph.
Janet with her daughter Tracey and three other family members, including this little girl, made a special trip in from Langley to come and see my work and the art fair. They made a day out of it and came early for a special breakfast before Art! Vancouver opened. Janet asked that I post this photo for her. While I am here I might as well tell you a Sunday story….
You see, Janet has known me through her sister since I was 22 years old with 2 small children painting on the kitchen table in a 610 square foot home in a trailer park. Money was so tight that sometimes her sister and I would combine what we had in order to make supper for both of our families. However, we laughed a lot, went camping often and I always found a bit of time to do a quick sketch, mostly in watercolours. Needless to say, I wasn’t at risk of giving up my day job anytime soon. It would be another 15 years before I did my first solo show and 2010 before I became a full-time artist.
Janet said she just had to offer her support and see for herself how far this little girl from rural north central British Columbia outside of Vanderhoof had come!
There is something sacred when people connect with my work, my life and me in this way. I am humbled and filled with gratitude.
This is just a small sampling of some of the powerful interactions during the art fair but should be enough to give you a flavour of the weekend.
The Artists In Canada booth also included the work of Arnold Burrell (1924-1991) represented by Ellen Mackay.
And Janna Kumi who is right beside me with paintings and collage work.
Then on the far right of our booth space is Teyjah McAren her heavily textured rich paintings.
Or maybe this photograph works better…
Somehow I missed getting a closer portrait of Teyjah’s work. Darn! Because it is quite fascinating.
Here we are all together. Starting on the right is Ellen, Janna, Teyjah and the me!
Oh! Let me share with you my favourite painting by another artist in the Art Vancouver Fair. Wang Chen Guang is not only an extremely talented painter, currently studying at Emily Carr, he is sincere, genuine and direct both in his work and as a person. There is a vulnerability and raw, yet controlled, emotion emanating from his figurative paintings. The power of this work is difficult to experience in a photograph but it is the next best thing to standing in front of the 60 x 40 inch oil on canvas. I was very tempted to bring it home except I feel the work needs a large spacious room with few distractions – which I am unable to offer it.
Wang Chen Guang is definitely an artist to follow and see where his driving passion takes him in the future. I am pleased that we met and look forward to staying connected.
As well, special thanks to my son, Kris Welch, who is a high-end finishing carpenter and the master skill set that managed to get the paintings hung so beautifully.
His 15-year-old son got all dressed up and came to the opening too but he is rather camera-shy so we shall keep that photograph just for family.
I think this is more photographs of me at one event than you have seen all together during all my years of my posting online! I hope that this post allows you to feel at least a little like you were there, even if you weren’t.
Tomorrow morning David and I are off to the neighbouring island of Galiano for a three-day retreat together before the next big adventure which is the Solo exhibition “West to East Coast Canadian Landscapes in Paint” opening June 30th from 3-5 pm at Shavasana Art Gallery & Café here on Mayne Island. The show will be up until August 13, 2017.
Have you ever been to an international fair of some kind and if so, can you share a memory?
The lemon, cadmium and naples yellows are brilliant and the brush quick in the Okanagan afternoon sun. Peachland reminds me of painting en plein air in France with everyone stopping to visit and comment on the progress as I worked.
This is very different from the usual Canadian standing back and frowning at me as they skeptically ask “Can you make a living do that?”
I always here their parent’s voice in these comments. After so many years of these exchanges, I am mostly use to it. But it can still, on occasion, be a little startling. I wonder, do these same people, if they see someone pruning hedges, or building a fence, or moving their herd of cattle, or tying up their charter fishing boat or cleaning the bathrooms in the provincial park, do they ask those people this same question? It is, after all, one would think, un-Canadian-like to ask such a personal question, tinged with judgement, to a person you see standing in front of an easel (paintbrush in hand) outdoors in our scenic landscape. But not so apparently. When I look up at these strangers, I realize that they just can’t help themselves. They simply must ask. Their curiosity seems to override politeness. I have a plan though.
The next time I am asked this question, I am going to reply “Why do you ask?”
I am sure their answers will be fascinating!
But in Peachland, like it was when I traveled in France, the people stopping by seemed to know and respect the seriousness and dedication that goes into the “real work ” of painting – even a quick plein air sketch. I was impressed and pleased. People could be seen crossing the street to come over to where I was busy working away at the easel.
They stopped in both direction on their walks along the waterfront to see how the sketch was coming along. It was a most pleasant 45 minutes on a fine autumn day!
The southern interior of British Columbia in general simply IS different from our southwest coast. Take these reflections on Vaseux Lake.
A little colour…
and more colour…
and then not much at all…
But the reflections! These kinds of reflections we do not get often on the Pacific Ocean. Not like this. I will be back another time I am sure. I have to test out other locations to see if more of the Okanagan has an appreciation of plein air artists or if it is just Peachland.
Back in the studio, another of the paintings that recently sold was delivered and is now ensconced in its new home. Doesn’t it look like it has always been there?
I did get one more finished, done excepted for the edges, new oil painting completed during the past few weeks. It started out with the usual underpainting and was built up from there.
The final result is “Winter” an 18 x 24 inch walnut oil on canvas Mayne Island seascape.
In October, the painting shared in the previous post that I had just completed, “Salish Sea No Separation” 18 x 24 inch walnut oil, also sold before I could get it officially released. This work has safely arrived in Michigan and is now gracing the walls in the living room of a large rancher. I haven’t seen any photographs yet but I am sure I will before long.
Right now, I am feeling the pressure to find more studio time so that the inventory is replenished for the upcoming year. I trust I shall find the time. I know that I will. I must!
Then, we shall smile together when the next person says – “can she really make a living at that!?”
We can simultaneously reply… “Why do you ask?”
In other studio news, there are rumours of a possible pop-up show of my paintings early in the New Year. This will be confirmed once plans are in place. Also, I will be painting and staying in Victoria for the month of January and then traveling to Prince Edward Island to photograph and do painting sketches from the end of April until near the end of June. During the Art! Vancouver international art fair in May, I expect to have a couple of paintings in a gallery group show in Vancouver as well. The year ahead is shaping up to be eventful already.
For now though, I am rolling up my sleeves in the studio to paint!
Best of the holiday season everyone in case we don’t chat here again before then!
When the southwest coastal trees of British Columbia in late February remind me of a northern winter, I am incline to take action.
Let’s turn up the heat!
Here is my Artist’s invitation to SPRING!
With the release yesterday of RED GATE (30 x 40 inch oil on canvas contemporary landscape) all of my current available work is now posted.
So here is what I propose: Including shipping, save 20% on a choice of over 60 original oil paintings by Terrill Welch during the next four days. The offer ends at midnight on February 28, 2014.
To access this savings, go to my Artsy Home Gallery, scroll down, find the painting you are interested in purchasing and then click on “Make An Offer” to send me an email that says “20% Heat Please!” and I will apply the Spring Thaw to the purchase price.
Alternatively, you can send me a direct message using any social media or an email at tawelch@shaw.ca and we can get things melting from there.
How can you turn up the heat on this spring thaw even without adding a painting to your collection?
Share, share SHARE. With each share a we are raising the temperature on this Art Studio Spring Thaw Event. Thank you for helping me turn this snow to green grass and daffodils 🙂
p.s. update to add a wee short Mayne Island winter wonderland video…
Most days I have little idea what direction my painting is taking me. I like to think I do. However, it is a myth. What I have are intentions. My intention is to explore how my specific historical experience impacts my work with more conscious awareness.
But right now, I have a long list of tasks that must be accomplished in preparation for three months travel in Europe beginning in April 2014. The round trip tickets are purchased. We are committed. I updated the most urgent items that must be accomplished to a separate list on Sunday morning. Then I set it aside.
You see, a request had come in from a fellow artist and friend for me to donate a postcard size work to Twitter Art Exhibit: Orlando. I usually do donate to this fundraiser and this was just the nudge I needed. The deadline is February 21, 2014 and I need 10 days travel time for the work to arrive in time. If I wanted to work in oil on canvas paper, the work needed to be completed now. Besides, the cause is compelling:
This is the fourth Twitter Art Exhibition, a concept founded by founder David Sandum, a Swedish-born artist living in Moss Norway, who conceived Twitter Art Exhibit as a vehicle for doing good through social media and online community-building. The idea is simple: artists around the globe receive a call through Twitter social media to create original postcard-sized art, which they mail to a local curator, who then exhibits and sells them to benefit a local charity.
Here is my 4 x 6 inch oil on canvas paper contribution set aside to rest and dry before submitting it to this event.
WALKING AN AUTUMN ROAD
The postcard size works will be sold for $35 a piece and ones that do not sell on the opening night of the event will become available for online purchase. If you want to know more or would like to participate follow the hyperlink above or go HERE.
After this, I picked up my list of urgent tasks…. well, not exactly. What can I say? There was paint on my palette? The sun hadn’t come out? I just couldn’t leave the easel?
Choosing a 12 x 16 inch canvas with a dark purple ground I began to contemplate quiet despair, broken promises and how some moments are too sad for tears. Why this aspect of our human experience had surfaced was a blog post by Deborah Brasket “Some Tragic Falling off” into Difference and Desire. This post and our west coast weather.
A January west coast afternoon.
We haven’t seen much of the sun during the past few weeks. In fact, the fog has been hesitant to raise her skirts much above her knees on the island ridges. We can’t really blame her. After all, we have been gawking without shame, seeking even the tiniest glimpse of blue sky and sunlight between her cottony ruffles. Today though, within the deep winter quiet, we are given brief moments of reprieve from her dowdy grey garments. It was not a dazzling display but enough to leave us momentarily content, hopeful even.
So I set to work. I like to think that I know my approach to a canvas and I am reasonably sure of the outcome. But I mostly just fool myself. My stubborn, overbearing intuition regularly slips the brush and palette knife from between my conscious breath and finds its own way across the canvas.
PROMISE – resting
The painting has a feeling all its own. My husband came in and said softly – oh, it is quiet. Then he smiled, satisfied, content even.
More about this painting and links to purchase information on my website Terrill Welch ArtistHERE.
What might represent your idea of “some tragic falling off from a first world of undivided light” as in Robert Robert Hass’s poem “Meditation at Lagunitas” posted by Deborah Brasket?
Now, before I dare pick up the brushes, that list. Where did I put that list?
My best guess is that I shall paint fewer paintings in 2014 and release more photographs and painting sketches. This will be partly due to three months traveling and living in Europe. We plan to leave sometime near the beginning of April. The tickets will likely be purchased by the end of the week.
The 2013 year was a good solid success for my paintings but I want to go deeper into the learning curve of how my specific historical experience impacts my work. I want to go deeper into how I can paint the spaces in between light and shadow. I want to find ways to bring you, the viewer, farther into my work until you can clearly formulate the poetry of landscape. I want us to know and understand our embeddedness in our natural environment. Human life, as we know it, may depend on strengthening that one relationship. I suspect that my trip to Europe and its museums and countryside combined with my camera and brushes is going to help me find answers to these searches.
Oh, there will always be new work to release in my Artsy Home online gallery, such as the two new paintings entered over the weekend. But I find it is not really important but rather a task similar to organizing the books on the bookshelf for a research project.
What is important then?
There is quote attributed to Buddha that I saw this morning which seems most succinct:
In the end only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you.
My only commitment today is a long walk. With the heavy rains water is rushing to the sea.
Quite possibly it is a stone in a stream that will hold most of my attention today.
This , and a few of the lines from the Mary Oliver “Morning Poem”
If it is your nature
to be happy
you will swim away along the soft trails
for hours, your imagination
alighting everywhere.
And if your spirit carries within it
the thorn
that is heavier than lead –
if it’s all you can do
to keep on trudging –
there is still
somewhere deep within you
a beast shouting that the earth
is exactly what it wanted –
reference; p. 106/7 of New And Selected Poems volume one (1992) by Mary Oliver
What are your focus and intentions for the year ahead?
The Government of British Columbia and its fine west coast island citizens are in agreement that something has to change to sustain one of the most beautiful water highway systems in world. There is not agreement on how this system must change however. User fees are going up and usage is going down. With the expected total tariff revenue shortfall of about $40M by the of March 2016, there are proposed service cuts and tweaking of schedules which may save money but will likely not lead to increased traffic. Several factors have led to this grim situation including a lengthy downturn in the economy, fares overreaching the balance point of cost to value in the traveler’s wallet and the government requiring that each route be self-sustaining while separating these ferry served waterways from the highway transportation system and its funding support. It is not a pretty picture. If this situation is not resolved The Local Ferry Committee concludes that “the final result will be the continued strangulation of island and coastal communities, the effects of which are already evident.” (Ferry Facts – MayneLiner Volume 24, Number 1, January 2014)
There seems to be only one way to really give you a good idea what this means and that is to take you with me on a trip from Mill Bay on Vancouver Island to Miners Bay on Mayne Island in January.
The Mill Bay sunrise with Mount Baker in the background is pleasant.
from under the arbutus tree on the Brentwood College campus where I am visiting the “O” family.
Boats rest quietly in the marina next door as another amazing day begins.
I don’t have to leave until midday so we go off for a morning hike returning in time for a quick lunch before I head out. Mayne Island is only about 35 km directly across the water but I will drive an hour over the Malahat highway and up the Saanich Peninsula to the Swartz Bay terminal to catch the 2:15 pm going to Saturna Island and then Mayne Island arriving about 4:10 pm. I allow three and a half hours for travel time. On a day like today this is a pleasure…
Ferry traffic can be spotted regularly as we set out from Swartz Bay.
After passing island after island views, we approach Saturna Island almost an hour later and Mount Baker is still grandstanding on the horizon.
The sun is getting low in the sky when our small Mayne Queen ferry retraces its passage back between North Pender Island and Mayne Island.
The Queen of Nanaimo ferry is finding its way from Saltspring Island and Galiano Island gives a looming welcome on the right.
I turn and look back towards Swartz Bay knowing that one of the large ferries taking passengers across the Strait of Georgia will likely be visible.
I wasn’t disappointed.
We dock about five minutes late and I meander home, waving at neighbour and friend Leanne Dyck from The Sweater Curse blog who is out for a walk as I go.
My sweet husband has a few groceries he wants to pick up before we go out for dinner. We unload everything but my camera and head immediately for Miners bay. There is only a slight orange glow left in the sky as we pull up and part on the street facing the Miners Bay Trading Post.
What can I say? It is good to be home. It is good to have ferry service and not have to hitch-hike on a passing tug boat, freighter, sea plane or sail boat. Yet, I wonder if it might come to that again in the maybe not so distant future. If it did, we would remember these days of 3.5 hour assured travel to go a distance of 35 km fondly. But would we move? Would we leave our island home with its water highway for the paved highways of the mainland?
Would you still think about coming to visit me if there was no ferry service?
There is something about autumn by the sea with the gray melancholy wrapped in fall colours. This particular day is one of those slow-baked, melancholy west coast Sundays, so moist and tender you can slice it with a tear.
This is the first of four huge canvases I have completed over the past several months. I started this painting last year about this time but it was not completed until February. However, I was not ready yet to let it go out into the world. I coveted closely, showing it here, on my blog and to close friends, family and art collectors but it was not for sale. Today though, I am ready and I am releasing this painting to a good independently wealthy or willing-to-take-out-a-mortgage home. This is one large painting! 🙂
Here at Creative Potager we haven’t been down for walk on the beach for a while. It must be time – yes? About yesterday’s adventure with a Great Blue Heron and a good strong surf, will that do? Get all settled in because here we go…
It was about three o’clock in the afternoon and a wee bit of sun was coming out after a morning of heavy rain, hail and even a bit of snow. Miss Prissy, the old blue ford 4×4 seemed as ready as we were to go stretch our legs down at Reef Bay. David and I chatter away at each other as we stop in at the Farm Gate Store. We have a quick visit with the owners Don and Shanti McDougall as we pick up local eggs, bread, plum jam and a few other odds and ends. One more stop at the Trading Post to pick up our weekly bottle of red wine and then it is time to head for the sea.
Of course we had to stop and check out the daffodil field along the way. Not enough blooms for a photo op yet. Soon though, very soon.
As we come by Oyster Bay I can see the surf is up and we almost stop there but I had a hankering for Reef Bay. By now you know it is a favourite and I thought we might be just a bit more sheltered from the wind. Pulling that old ford around on the half-acre at the entrance to the trail to the water we park. I leap ahead and David comes along more leisurely behind.
Right away I spot the Great Blue Heron over on side of the reef closest to the Strait of Georgia. These birds are a bit skittish here and keep their distance. So I get my camera set and begin the trek to see if I can meander close enough to get a good photograph.
Oh, I am spotted but still the heron seems content to pretend to meander just a little way down the reef hoping I haven’t noticed it. As it disappears behind a rock I think it thinks I have missed it. Then up pops its head. I move the camera just slightly to position the frame and there it goes…..
At first it is high over the crashing surf and then swoops down in a long glide close to the water.
The heron is contentedly hidden among the seagulls as I watch the Oyster Catchers and notice another large storm cloud coming our way.
With stiff fingers from the brisk wind I look to see where David might be as I make my way carefully back across the sandstone. The tide is coming in and I must clamber over the boulders to reach the beach again.
SEED: The Great Blue Heron is a favourite bird for many and particularly nature photographers. Its beauty and prehistoric squawk seem to keep our attention longer than most shore birds.
Great blue herons’ size (3.2 to 4.5 feet/1 to 1.4 meters) and wide wingspan (5.5 to 6.6 feet/1.7 to 2 meters) make them a joy to see in flight. They can cruise at some 20 to 30 miles (32 to 48 kilometers) an hour.
Though great blue herons hunt alone, they typically nest in colonies. They prefer tall trees, but sometimes nest in low shrubs. Females produce two to seven eggs, which both parents protect and incubate. Chicks can survive on their own by about two months of age.
Well, I hope you enjoyed your seaside walk and feel refreshed and energized to meet the day! All the best, from Mayne Island to wherever you are in this grand world of ours.
I am sure many of you remember my recent “A Whale of a Story” where I was gifted a chance to photograph Killer Whales or Orcas from our Mayne Island shore on one of my recent January photo shoots. If you have a look at that post you will be able to see where I the inspiration for this painting came from.
ORCAS IN EVENING is a 12 x 12 inch oil on gessobord with a 2 inch wood cradle
In many ways this painting was a stretch for me. I seldom paint animals or birds into my paintings of sea or landscapes. This time I wanted to have the Orcas included. It was such thrill to see them like this I just felt “I must!” However, I wanted to do this in a way you could “feel” rather than just “see” the Orcas in their natural environment at sunset. This is why I anchored my work in the quote from Claude Monet and intention from an earlier post “Painting the Desperation of Wanting to Stay Alive.” I wanted to paint the impression of whales as seen from “the glance.” What do you think? Was I successful?
I also was thrilled to have the chance to paint pinks, oranges and mauve. Though still grounded in the body of cool-blue tones that are our foundation here on the west coast of Canada these “hot colours” are not common in my work. I couldn’t help but think of the paintings of a colleague and artist Lena Levin. You can view her work on her website. Though she has primarily still life work at the moment, she did do a seascape a while back that she felt had been influenced by my work. Now it is my turn to share that this piece was definitely influences by her astounding palette development in these sunset colours. Do check out her Ten A Penny experiment as well. It is an idea I am watching closely. Even though I don’t do a lot of what are called “studies” I really like the concept. Lena is also on G+ HERE if you want to drop by and say “hello” or browse her recent posts.
SPROUT: Who is having a profound influence on your work of late?
