A Brush with Life - Issue #36 Art Work and Falling in Love

One of the approaches I strive for is to be everywhere people are looking for art. This reach includes the gallery, hard copy awareness such as profile in a provincial brochure, local wrack cards, posters and internationally accessible website and online gallery, books, catalogues, social media posts and even this newsletter. Why do I do all of this work in advance with only my best guess from the gallery’s previous history that I will recover my return-on-investment (and then some) for both my time and money?

The answer is simple. You can’t fall in love with a painting you haven’t met or an artist’s story that you haven’t heard yet. The painter in me must paint the work that is central and truest to my intention. That is my primary and sacred work as a painter. The gallery owner in me, who represents this work, must provide the best possible opportunities for catching your eye and heart. Beyond our genuine friendships and deep heartfelt exchanges, make no mistake - the gallery owner in me is courting you and seeking both a long-term relationship for my paintings and for my artist’s story. Let’s just brush that right up front onto the canvas before we go any further! But what fun we are having! Yes? Or is this just a little to honest and cheeky to share with you? 😉

On this note, here is the latest work completed and resting on the gallery’s winter studio wall with those brushes still needing washing...

This work has inspired a whole new commitment to discovering and painting arbutus trees. I am looking forward to pushing paint into elegant curves on more canvases in the near future.

Recent Adventures Gathering References

Fall is an incredible time in the gulf islands. The trails are quiet, the light spectacular and sometimes a wind comes up to give us stunning waves. Allow me to share with you just a few of these recent highlights from my reference gathering adventures...

These are just a few snippets of my days. The trip to Saturna Island was with my sister and my niece (who kindly took a photograph of the my sister and I).

Let’s close for now with these last two...

What an inspiring couple of weeks I have had! The best part is it is not over yet. There are still two more scheduled reference gathering trips beside the spontaneous Mayne Island adventures before the end of October. Ta-da!

The 2nd DRAW winners

I did the 2nd Draw, a 2nd time, for a new newsletter subscriber and we have a winner! Lina, a new newsletter subscriber and longtime collector of my work from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada will receive a 30% collector savings on any original painting purchased between now and November 30, 2019.

Since I was the person who referred this new subscriber, there is an additional draw from all subscribers and the winner is..... drum roll... Paul from Murphy, North Carolina, United States who is an early newsletter subscriber and engaged fan of my work. Paul will also receive a 30% collector savings on any original painting purchased between now and November 30, 2019.

Congratulations to both winners and thank you to everyone who shares the newsletter with friends and family that might be interested! Your ongoing support is greatly appreciated.

News - Prices On Paintings Are Going Up

Here is the insider, A Brush With Life newsletter subscriber, scoop:

In 2017: 33 new paintings were released and 25 in the collection of available works sold.

In 2018: 27 new paintings were released and 19 in the collection of available works sold. Prices increased in the summer of 2018.

By the end of September 2019: 23 new paintings were released and 17 in the collection of available works sold!

Over all, you may notice over these three years that the number of new works released and sold has decreased each year. But what you cannot see from these numbers is that, contrary to what one might expect, the revenue has increased year over year. Already this year, at the end of September, the revenue is higher than whole of last year which was higher than the year before that. This is because more medium and large works were painted and have sold into the hands of art collectors. These larger paintings leaves the gallery with fewer new works to release and sell but has resulted in a higher revenue outcome.

The general art industry advice for pricing artwork of emerging or established artists is to increase the price when half or more of the work sells within a year. I usually do some more specific analysis into over all costs and then I reflect on what is working and not working for allowing an increasing number of potential and current art collectors to fall in love with the work. Following this review, I make every effort to keep the increases as small and incremental as I can.... but the square inch price in each bracket size range will still go up. So here we are, past the date of the previous year’s increase in July and poised for another rise in prices.

This is good news and is also a great time (for new collectors and seasoned collectors alike who are passionate about my work) to have a browse through the currently available work at https://www.artworkarchive.com/profile/terrill-welch to see if there is something they would like to purchase - before the increase takes effect, likely during the first week of December, 2019. Tip: the easiest way to do this is to change the view at the top of the online portfolio so you are only looking at work that is “Available”. When you review using the “All” view it can be disappointing to see work you love that is already sold.

By the way, passion was the number one reason sited for buying art in survey results of 4,000 international art collectors conducted by Artsy (a highly regarded online platform that offers global support to art galleries and where Gallery 104 in New York City includes a few of my paintings in their artists listing at https://www.artsy.net/artist/terrill-welch).

“Passion is the most important driver for art collectors. Factors like an artwork’s aesthetic qualities, the story behind it, and its ability to inspire the collector all significantly outranked investment and socially motivated factors, such as which gallery is selling the work.” - key findings, The Online Art Collector Report 2019

There are some fascinating bits in this report about art collectors and surprise-surprise, there is very little difference between online collectors and in person collectors. We could have saved them the trouble of the survey on that front couldn’t we? 😊 Let me know if you would like to know more about how other art collectors collect art and I will see what I can discover.

For me, my own gallery numbers seem to indicate a need for more time in the studio this winter to keep the inventory of available work both fresh and plentiful. My aim will be to have over 35 new pieces released by the end of 2020. Yes! This I can do!

During this time of climate change, I believe there is an even greater need than ever for awareness and connection to nature and our landscape. The intention behind my painting practice is to provide this bridge between home, our work places and our natural environment. I believe it is important work - in fact, significant and necessary work, for me and for you. It is you however, who provides the bridge through my original work - by purchasing it, visiting the gallery and sharing online images and this newsletters with others. For all of this, I am deeply grateful and appreciative! Your patronage, visits, sharing and private notes with observations and encouragement are such a big part of sustaining my thriving internationally collected art practice both physically and emotionally. Thank you!

What Has Sold

A prolific art collector of my work who has the distinction of having the largest number of my paintings has added a new 18 x 14 inch oil on canvas to her collection.

Notes from the artist: The mist turns to a light drizzle as I sit on a low chair looking out past the cedars to yet other islands across the sea. What can possibly cut through these west coast greys? Then I remembered.

Earlier in the day I had seen large red poppies growing in the garden near the water.

“I wonder!?” I said to myself.

Galiano Island, British Columbia, Canada

This work is now hanging beside another much earlier water colour painting of mine completed 24 years ago in 1995.

This art collector has several of my earlier water colour paintings along with many new works since 2010 when I returned to working with oil paints and became a full-time artist. As the painter it is an odd and interesting experience seeing these various works on the display together.

Opinion Piece -  a painter’s motivation

When considering my motivation, I am reminded of taking my two young grandson’s painting and their needing to put on my red painting apron that is covered in paint splatters and marks. They wear it with the excitement of a surgeon’s gown or a carpenter’s belt. Painting is important work for them. At the ages of now six and eight, they have painted enough times with me that they know how to hold my good brushes, mix the colour they want and stand back to see what they have on their painting board. Their serious attentive faces as they stand at the easel, that I have adjusted for their shorter statures, reminds me of this - what we place significance on, so will others. Process seems to provide the ongoing motivation to start a painting, while it is challenge and progress that keeps me painting. Yet, like when sharing painting with my young grandsons,  the leaps forward need to have some reachability, some distance that is just outside my immediate grasp but doesn’t take me completely over a cliff with no wings yet to fly. As the years have past, I feel more confident in taking on greater challenges because I have a larger bed of previous progress to fall onto should I fail miserably. Neither is my confidence so easily crushed nor manipulated by outside opinion.... Often, the only motivation I need is to see my painting tools. There are mental drawers in my mind overflowing with ideas and I just pull one out, untangle it from the others, and begin!

What about you? Where do find motivation to work on your most passionate endeavours?

What I am Reading

I am reading several things but a particular article written by OluTimehin Adegbeye, one of the five newly hired correspondents for The Correspondent, caught my attention and has held it. So I thought I would share it with you...

The stick figure on the door: unconscious ways we exclude each other - The Correspondent

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 😊

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