A Brush with Life - Issue #32 August Bliss

The Art of Terrill Welch Gallery celebrated its 2nd anniversary last weekend. Two years already! We are having an amazing year and I love that you are part of this success, in whatever way works for you. This includes finding new paintings for your art collection, browsing the gallery in-person or online or telling family and friends about the paintings or... just reading along with each issue of our newsletter. Whatever works for you, works for me - especially in August!

This eight month of the year always feels like an ebbing tide, a pause in a breeze, a beginning of a new moon, a liminal time - that state of in between. August is my favourite month of the year because it is the beginning of the warmer light in nature. It is usually when I start planning and anticipating new beginnings that will start in September. And near the end of August, it is my birthday! So, with all these things in mind, I decided it was time for another newsletter online gallery show featuring a few Still Life paintings from the month of August!

Shanti's Sunshine by Terrill Welch | Artwork Archive

There are people we all know that shine just a little brighter in their ordinary everyday interactions with us. Shanti is one of these people. When I asked h...

Katherine's Sunflowers by Terrill Welch | Artwork Archive

Their specific sunflower fragrance from being freshly cut drifts over to the easel as I work. From life, yes, from life I work briskly in the moving natural ...

August Still Life with Cezanne and Matisse by Terrill Welch | Artwork Archive

There are distinctive elements of Paul Cezanne's work that go far beyond his use of colour to represent form. He had a way of presenting different viewpoints...

Plums, Apples and Mostly Sunflowers by Terrill Welch | Artwork Archive

The soft filtered light of late summer minimizes the contrast as we drift into the spaces in between, enjoying the colours and the relationships within this ...

Golden Plums an Apple and a Green Vase by Terrill Welch | Artwork Archive

A colourful still life that is anything but still.

Since I am known as a landscape painter, my Still Life paintings seldom get to step forward onto centre stage. But August is a perfect month for their rich abundance of colour and substance. I hope you enjoyed the change as we move forward into August Bliss... and September is off in the distance - we might even still believe summer is going to last forever.

Evening Plein Air Sessions

A fellow watercolour plein air painter joined me with her travel kit that she has used when painting various times in Europe. Always fun see what works for someone else. Another painter came down just to visit for a bit as she couldn’t get away with enough time to actually paint. All in all, it was a great way to spend the evening! And I even got a painting sketch done 😉

However, I didn’t get much of a photographic record of the process but it was a grand evening!

A second morning plein air session a few days later, I was on my own. Well, a few people came to the Oyster Bay beach near the end of my painting session but, mostly I was on my own. This time I have a bit more of a photographic record to share with you...

On a rare occasions, not all of a plein air painting can be completed in the field. The light is just too fast. When this happens while painting a small work, as close to the time of the initial start as possible, I just finish up the painting sketch in my home studio. With a larger work, it may mean going back for a second or third plein air painting session at the same time for a few days in a row. No two days are ever exactly the same, even at the same time of day, here on the southwest coast of Canada so a plein air work over several days is real adventure in decision making as one builds up the experience over a passage of time.

What Has SOLD...

“Consider it sold” he commented last evening, below several other comments on a Facebook post (from a few days earlier) on my person profile. I didn’t bat an eyelash but made it SO - before brushing my teeth and crawling into bed for the evening! The art collector was “on island” over the following weekend and came into the Art of Terrill Welch Gallery to pick up his painting. I had both the painting and the paperwork ready when he arrived.

The art collector’s swiftness in reply was that he feared the painting would be snapped up before he could get a chance for a more discrete and formal reply... and it could have been. Others were looking... but the first to shout “sold!” - wins!

And so it goes... in the life of this landscape painter and gallery owner on a small island off the southwest coast of Canada. Many of my paintings are indeed already in the homes of collectors but I am always releasing new work and the current Earth, Sea and Sky solo exhibition is a good place to start browsing.

Reminder about the DRAWS

Two issue ago, I outlined two DRAWS that will lead to three winners for newsletter subscribers. The first is for a small plein air painting sketch. The next is for a new subscriber after July 12th to receive 30% savings on a purchase of an original painting before November 30, 2019. And for the third and final DRAW, the same offer of 30% savings as outline above will be given to the person who referred the winning subscriber to A Brush With Life. If the person referring them was me, then a draw for the second 30% collector savings will be drawn from the full subscription list. Further details are in the previous issue at:

A Brush with Life - Issue #30 Earth Sea and Sky Opens | Revue

A Brush with Life - Twelve of the eighteen paintings in the Art of Terrill Welch Gallery’s hottest show of the season were completed since the beginning of 2019.

Beauty of Oils Painting Classes

For the last few years, by special request and interest, I have taught both in-person and online oil painting classes. We have a small island population so the demand for such classes is also small and my online presence is not focused on building a community with other painters or teaching painting. My audience and networks are people like you - mostly serious fans and collectors of my work. Yes, a few of you are painters and painting students but you make up a tiny percentage of the whole. This is mostly because I haven’t set out to be an art teacher and this aspect is still not part of my central focus - rather painting is. What to do!?

First, I am going to give a good solid effort to reach our minimum number (10) painting students to go forward this Fall. We are at 7 students registered right now (and all students must registered before August 29th for planning purposes). Then, if we reach our minimum, we will go ahead with a fall group of classes. If not, I will take the teaching materials and put them in a PDF e-book with live links to the teaching videos so that the notes, painting exercises and such can be purchased for independent study. This way, the painting lessons are not lost for those still using them and will be available for those who would like to have them in the future. If we do reach our minimum and the classes go ahead, it will be the last season of group classes that I teach in the immediate future... and I will still work towards getting the teaching materials into a PDF e-book. Other opportunities or ideas, such as workshops or special short programs, might come up down the road but this will be it for group classes after this Fall.

So, if you happen to know someone who is interested, let them know that NOW is the time, if they wish to be part of a group class! Here is the link for further information and sharing...

Beauty of Oils Art Classes with Terrill WelchCanadian Contemporary Artist Terrill Welch Landscapes and more by impressionist painter Terrill Welch

Art Classes with Terrill Welch Have you always wanted to master the art of oil painting? Now is your chance with international artist and teacher Terrill Welch. There are independent online classes available ongoing and group online and in-person classes are taught fall and spring plus an ongoing independent study class. Independent Study of Skill…

Opinion piece...

Where does a painter’s obligation reside - to paint or to share the learning that comes with painting? It is an interesting question and likely doesn’t have a definitive answer. But let’s unpacked the challenge anyway! First and foremost, a painter must take the work of painting as far as possibly. Painters, like other artists, have a responsibility to the universe and to themselves to find every possible way to do their very best work. This best work, at times, may include sharing what they learn with others through writing and teaching. But not always and likely not even forever. Why is this? When I am painting and working on the outside edge of my abilities, I have yet to find words to explain or summarize what I am doing and experiencing. If I ask myself to focus on finding words for what is happening then I must step back, even ever so slightly, from the edge of my own new discoveries. Sometimes stepping back is a good thing because it ensures a solid foundation for moving forward. Other times, it is a hindrance to the work at hand. The difficulty is determining what shared learning and teaching is building the work for further exploration, my own and that of those that come after me, and what is getting in the way of my focus and taking the risks necessary to step further into what is yet to be known?

This is the tension I live with daily both in teaching painting, sharing on social media and yes, organizing and writing each issue of this newsletter. Do I share what I am learning or do I plough recklessly forward on the canvas without breathing a word? Most often as you know, I do both! Sometimes though I realign the balance or the tension between the two. This is where the decision to complete my group painting classes has come from and to organize the materials into an e-book learning package for current and future students. This process of evaluation and being mindful of my purpose in the world and my vision for the future has served me extremely well my whole life.

What about you? Are you clear about how you are serving your purpose in the world and your vision for the future? What steps are you taking to ensure your practice aligns with these commitments?

Until next time!

Canadian Contemporary Artist Terrill Welch Landscapes and more by impressionist painter Terrill Welch

Canadian landscape painter, Terrill Welch, exposes the mystery in an ordinary day, reminding us that there is only one moment – this one.

If you enjoyed this issue of the newsletter, please consider sharing it with someone else who might also enjoy the read and browse. Thank you and all the best as always! Terrill 😊