A Brush with Life - Issue #61 Playing The Fool

I often say that embarrassment is not fatal when I about to take a risk where I know I am reaching beyond my capacity, skill level and experience..... but I just have to try! I strongly recommend that we do what we don’t know how to do. Do something for others that we are not good at yet. Even do something we may never be good at. Do it for the love of doing it! Do it often and maybe for a life time. This is creativity. Creativity is not something warm, fussy and nice. Creativity is not something bestowed on just a few. Creativity is essential to all of our experiences as humans. Creativity gets us into situations and it gets us out of situation and it is always there, an option, at least in a painter’s life anyway. Creativity is about getting to know yourself and the world around you.

I wish I could take credit for this summary about creativity, and the inspiration for the title of this issue, but it is actually comes from some of my personal highlights taken from a short TED Talk with Ethan Hawke. (The YouTube link is provided for you later on with a brief introduction.)

Basically, when in doubt, do that thing anyway and risk playing the fool for creativity’s sake! Nothing new is learned by only doing what we are already good at.

Finding Synergy between Painter and Gallery

There is always a shift when we add a significant new element to our lives. Such is the case with expanding the gallery both physically and online. My intention is to have this be a value-added experience for both us. I intend to keep the personal elements that you love, like going on adventures or hikes with me and seeing in-progress work. At the same time, I am expand the newsletter voice to include conversations and artwork by other artists. These shifts may be a bit wobbly at times as we both learn the new dance-steps that come with this more complex tune. But stick with me and I will do my best to lead us until we are twirling around the floor like professionals! I promise not to step on your toes too often and if I do, please let me know and we will make the needed adjustments. Your ongoing support and patronage is deeply respected and appreciated. Without it, the paintings would be pretty sad wallflowers. Thank you so much for showing them off to your friends in email ditties and social media tweets and posts and finally, for taking these lovelies into your home. The paintings love it! I love it! We all love it!

~ Terrill 👩‍🎨🎨❤️

So You Think You’re Out Of Space For Art

There is no wall space left! This is a common lament of art lovers who visit with us in the gallery or online. While, in the very same hour, another art collector calls to say they are rearranging their artworks and would like to consider a larger work to go with the nine other original “Terrill Welch paintings” that they already own. What are the significant differences between the art collecting approaches of these two individuals? We have often tried to crack this puzzling question without any illuminating discoveries. Is it that some art lovers see artwork as a decorative addition to a room while others see a room as one possible place to appreciate their art collection? Maybe, but is it really that simple?

We hear from art collectors who change over their collection by season and who store the works not on the walls. We hear from art collectors who buy artwork that will go to family to be hung in their home and then they visit it regularly. We hear from art collectors who keep artwork high up in stairways, in their closets, on easels, on their desks and displayed on bookshelves. Sometimes rooms are added for art collections or a neighbouring condo or even a whole house is purchased. For these art collectors, there is really no such thing as no more space. Fortunately, this is often how many of our great art collections have been preserved for future generations. We have just the article about such art collectors! Walter and Louise Arensberg’s collection, shown to us through intriguing black and white images, give us a good idea about how it can be done. We think you will love it!

“The Arensberg pictures stand belligerently close together, but they do not fight. Their hanging breaks every museum precept of height, space and light, but you see them clearly, one by one, and remember them in detail for a long time afterward.” ~James Thrall Soby, a curator at the Museum of Modern Art, 1945.

Inside Walter and Louise Arensberg’s Legendary Art-Filled Home - Artsy

One of the most extensive private American collections of early 20th century art, their 1920s Los Angeles home was filled with roughly 1000 works of art.

Give Yourself Permission To Be Creative

I love the story Ethan Hawke tells in this talk about the short diary written by his grandmother that had five pages on making costumes for a play, a paragraph about her husband and a short note about a lifetime of cotton farming. Then he tells us about the quilt he has that she made and how he can feel the love she put into making it. Anyway, this watch is 9:16 minutes worth spending, just for the joy and love of creativity.

Give yourself permission to be creative | Ethan Hawke

Visit http://TED.com to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized talk recommendations and more. Reflecting on moments tha...

A Painter’s Palette of Paintings for Pre-sales

We are uploading new work, at two to four paintings at a time, ever few days right now in order to have everything ready for our new shows opening early in October. As part of this preparation we thought a tongue twister was a good way to introduce just a few of these new paintings. So now that you have managed your way around all those “P’s”, the following works are now available for purchase in the new Artsy online gallery. We only ask that they stay with the gallery long enough to be shown for the first two weeks of the next art shows.

Also, in this pre-sale preview we can show you a work a few times during the months ahead. Few, if any, of these landscape paintings in our gallery are digestible at a glance. They are like the landscapes they depict. It takes time to become intimately familiar with their presence and the viewer tends to notice different aspects on each unique viewing. So enjoy. There is no need to rush. If a work sells before you are ready, know that another will come along and court your heart soon enough and then that time might be the right time.

Jody Waldie | Georgia Strait (2019) | Available for Sale | Artsy

Available for sale from Terrill Welch Gallery, Jody Waldie, Georgia Strait (2019), Oil on Canvas, 36 × 48 in

Glenda King | The Red Chair (2020) | Available for Sale | Artsy

Available for sale from Terrill Welch Gallery, Glenda King, The Red Chair (2020), Oil on Canvas, 12 × 12 in

Jennifer Peers | Blazing Sunset on the Pass (2020) | Available for Sale | Artsy

Available for sale from Terrill Welch Gallery, Jennifer Peers, Blazing Sunset on the Pass  (2020), Oil on canvas, 15 × 30 in

Terrill Welch | Morning Rays Reef Bay (2020) | Available for Sale | Artsy

Available for sale from Terrill Welch Gallery, Terrill Welch, Morning Rays Reef Bay (2020), Walnut oil on canvas, 20 × 24 in

How The Art Market Has Changed

How do you feel about your art collection as a financial investment? Apparently our answer to this question has changed during the past few years. Who do you think is more likely to purchase original art? Women or men? The article below explores some of these aspect of collecting art in an interview with Mary Rozell. As serious fans and active art collectors of the landscape painting represented by the Terrill Welch Gallery, we thought you might find this article valuable.

Mary Rozell on the Four Biggest Shifts in the Art Market over the past Decade

In the six years since Mary Rozell published The Art Collector’s Handbook: The Definitive Guide to Acquiring and Owning Art, the art world has seen major shifts.

New Paintings Still on the Easel

Shiny, wet and set aside to start the second of this pair of 16 x 20 inch oil on canvas paintings. This is “Arbutus Grove West”. Can you guest the title of the next painting in the pair?

I offer a few of the in-progress images as I know there are a number of you who enjoy these.

I have a hunger to be with these trees. They are a great metaphor about finding a way to continue to grow in difficult conditions. Their persistence is worthy of awe. So we shall see a few more of these in the near future I think. In the meantime, here is the beginnings of the second painting in this pair.

And what it looks like in its “resting” state.

And finally, the pair together unceremoniously set in the wooden garden chairs...

Opinion Piece - The Show Must Go On

The show must go on is a reflection on our renewed commitment to the smallest of personal bubbles and ideally in wide open spaces. Our COVID-19 numbers have been climbing in British Columbia during recent weeks and air quality ranging in the red unhealthy zone has kept many of us not only at home but inside here on the southwest coast of Canada. For the physical gallery, both these factors means limiting “by chance” open opportunity and mostly opening only by appointment again. For the online gallery presentation of our work, this means strengthening our social media presence and inviting you to consider online purchases with the assurance of our 30 day-no-questions-asked full refund return policy, even if you feel you are close enough to do a day trip visit in-person.  In person visits can be done of course. We have rescheduled some gallery visits this past week for when the air quality is better. However, online viewing and purchasing IS a viable option that so many of you have taken advantage of this year.

We know you get it and we know you are working as hard as we are to keep our pandemic numbers low and slow. But it isn’t easy at times, is it? We are right there with you! Our group of plein air painters have stopped gathering to paint for now because we were double the size of the recommended same six individuals. Even though we were meeting outside and keeping our distance, we have several high risk individuals in our families and even amongst ourselves. For many of us, this was our main weekly in-person social connection. At the same time, if possible, we want to ensure our children and grandchildren can go to school using the new protocols that have been implemented. We want our small businesses to be able to stay open and not to have to close because someone has been exposed and must quarantine or worse, has contacted the virus. So we have pulled back. We have pivoted to a weekly zoom call that will start in mid October, that is then followed by a shared time dedicated to painting in our individual studios. Then participating artists will share what they accomplished in a private FaceBook group. We don’t know if it will work but we are creative individuals… and the show must go on. We are committed to painting, to staying safe and to taking care of our physical, emotional and financial wellbeing during these difficult times. Everything seems to take much more time and money to accomplish in these revised ways of proceeding. But we are doing it - because the alternative just isn’t worth considering.

So, if you are personally struggling to maintain your emotional optimism, know this is a normal response to an unprecedented situation. Things are simply bloody tough at times. How might we possibly keep going? May we offer a suggestion? If you can, focus on breathing through these moments. Sometimes this is the most proactive response we can manage. With our recent poor air quality, this may be more important than ever. Breathe in and breathe out and repeat. That is all. Focus on only this one task. Breathe. Once you have managed to do this for a while, choose your favourite painting. Sit with it and... breathe in and breathe out and repeat. Let the painting fill you with each in breath and release anything you are holding too tightly with each out breath. Whatever that is. Let it go, even if it has no name. The painting does not require a knowing. Your action of breathing out is enough.

My painting “Hope For A New Day” was actually painted in this very manner of breath work during March of this year, right near the beginning of our pandemic here in British Columbia. If you do not have another painting picked out, try breathing with this painting.

Terrill Welch | Hope For A New Day (2020) | Available for Sale | Artsy

Available for sale from Terrill Welch Gallery, Terrill Welch, Hope For A New Day (2020), Oil on canvas, 36 × 40 in

Or you might want to just take one of the detailed images that are included with the link and breathe with just one aspect of this painting. Maybe try just where the sun is coming up or maybe just where the wave is turning over. Then, if you wish, let me know how it goes.

Sometimes our best efforts fail us. At this point, we may want to reach out to a friend or consider some professional support or both. This decision is made as uniquely to each situation as we are uniquely different from each other and yet, we are all the same. Sometimes it is just too much to ask ourselves to proceed by ourselves, on our own. Even a strong person, especially a strong person, knows when to ask for help.

Bottom line - we can do this hard thing. It is not forever, it is for now.

With an abundance of love ❤️ I stand with you, we at the Terrill Welch Gallery stand with you, as one human being does with another human being.

Special Request to Share

As you know, the gallery is having a reasonably good year and far beyond what we could have reasonably expected when the pandemic was announced in March. However, in-person gallery visits are about 25% of usual. Since this has been our number one way of reaching new collectors and letting them know about this newsletter, we are wondering if you could give us a hand and possibly send it along to a few people you think might find these missives interesting. Then they can have a read and sign up if they wish. Personal notes via email may work best but sharing posts or private messages through your social networking platforms is also an option. Anyway, most appreciated and no pressure. If it works for you, great! If not this is okay too.

Many thanks either way! 💖

Until Next Time

Well, there we have it! Until next time when we shall have more gallery news and painterly adventures for you. Take good care and as always, all the best! ~Terrill Welch

Terrill Welch Gallery | Artists, Art for Sale, and Contact Info | Artsy

Our gallery program brings extraordinary connections to ordinary moments in our natural landscape. The Terrill Welch Gallery opened in August 2017. Since then, the gallery has more than doubled its physical gallery exhibition space and online reach.