Sandstone

February 24, 2010February 24, 2010 / Terrill Welch / 8 Comments

There is nothing more intriguing to my imagination than southern gulf island sandstone. The wearing and washing of the sea along island shorelines creates a beauty that is hard to replicate. With its abundance and ease to work with, sandstone is used for everything from walkways, front step, garden beds, to cob wall foundations. Our home, along with many others on the west coast, make practical use of this local natural material.

Yet, it is the sea that has the most talent in sculpturing this soft stone as shown in these photographs from East Point on Saturna Island.

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Sprout Question: What natural substance has draped you with creative possibilities?

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Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

Redefining Underpainting

January 12, 2010 / Terrill Welch / 10 Comments

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In focusing on creativity as a main adventure in my day, I am facing an internal struggle with what is “true creativity” in my creative process. Technology allows me to create in new ways I couldn’t have imagined ten years ago. In this process, I want to redefine “underpainting” to include the first selected and chosen photographic image.

This takes me to my passion for the concept of “underpainting” which I tend to use even when painting with watercolours. What has got me musing, and experimenting, is the technological advances that allow me to start with an image I’ve captured in a digital photograph and then begin “overpainting” until it is rendered as an oil painting or ink sketch in further digital applications.

( I’m not a photoshop artist nor have I yet ventured in the direction of actual layering images to gain a photograph that gives me a desired finished product. I may at some point – but it has not come to that yet.)

This is my question to self: “Is the finished work (which I am pleased with) having begun with a photographic “underpainting” and resulting in an oil or ink “overpainting” while never picking up a brush or hand-mixing a colour a legitimate creative process?”

Here is another example where I am equally satisfied with the “overpainting” and the original photographic “underpainting.”

View image in full resolution here.

View image in full resolution here.

Sprout Question: How do you define legitimate creativity in your own creative processes?

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Purchase photography at http://www.redbubble.com/people/terrillwelch

Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

Hidden Things

January 8, 2010 / Terrill Welch / 4 Comments

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Have you ever been editing your photographs and found “hidden things” that you didn’t know where there when you took the photo?

In the photo West Coast Winter above, I discovered that I had unknowingly captured two bald eagles on the crest of one of the fir trees. I had heard the eagles calling when I was shooting but I hadn’t seen them. To see them you will need to go to full resolution image and click large view – and even then they are small and blurry. But they are there. Also on the left of the image about ¼ of the way down there is an eagle nest.

Because these hidden things are not the focal point of the image, I don’t usually tell people about them. I leave them to discover (or not) on their own.

Sometimes hidden things are in my writing, painting as well. These are often patterns, colour or word usage, and perspectives that others have observed. I might not even be aware of these elements. I find it useful to ask what others have noticed in my work to discover aspects of my creative process that I might be hidden things to me.

Sprout Question: When was the last time you asked someone whose opinion you value and trust what they notice in your work?

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.