> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://terrill-welch.ghost.io/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Structure the Poetic and the Rational — Terrill Welch by herself - issue #57 - URL: https://terrill-welch.ghost.io/structure-the-poetic-and-the-rational-terrill-welch-by-herself-issue-57/ - Published: 2026-10-16T13:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-16T13:51:46.000Z - Author: Terrill Welch - Tags: Close to Home series, Mayne Island, peace through nature, terrill welch, Terrill Welch by herself, thriving in place Simplicity is the distilling of complexity into what is essential according to architect Glenn Murcutt from Australia. He goes on to explain that we need to find ways to structure the poetic and the rational into an architecture of necessity (Murcutt, 2019). His analogy is that of making a soup stock and how it is many ingredients distilled down into a cup of stock. Using his analogy, the simplicity of that one cup of stock is measured by the rich complexity it comes from (all the bits going into the broth) and then in its creation of something new (the stock). This same framework can be applied to painting. In fact, one of the projects covered in the video I was watching was the Authur and Yvonne Boyd Education Centre that opened a few months before the painter and lithographer Authur Boyd passed away. Murcutt explained his architectural principles in relation to the painting practice and artwork of Boyd. The twenty-one minute documentary is worth considering both in my painting practice and my daily life. Words like considered, refined, distilled, sorted and letting go come to mind. I do not need to remember everything or keep everything or find a place for everything that incompasses my full 68 years. This is not only impossible but an irrational expectation. But where to begin? What level of releasing and letting go of thoughts, feelings, ideas and objects is going to be acceptable (or more profoundly necessary) to me before the final passage of releasing everything, including my own mind, body and existence? Have you been asking some of these same questions? I was watching a documentary directed by Jacquelyn Mills about the work of naturalist Zoe Lucas who lived, beginning in the 70’s, over 40 years on Sable Island recording its ecosystem that includes around 500 feral horses and the largest colony of grey seals in the world (Geographies of Solitude, 2022). The island is a national park reserve sitting in the Atlantic Ocean near the edge of the Continental Shelf, 290km off the coast of Halifax, the island is still considered part of the city municipality. This 43 km narrow sand bar of land is constantly changing and reinventing itself. There is a building decomposing into the sand. Freshwater lakes on the island are slowly vanishing. Nothing ever stays the same for even as long as we can remember it. Not a place, not an object and not ourselves. How do we find a through flow line within this complexity that allows for structuring the poetic and the rational into meaningful and elegant simplicity? These are my frameworks of musing this week as I watch an older interview by Norwegian best selling with Linn Ullmann with Nobel Prize winner in literature and Canadian, Anne Carson (Writer Anne Carson: Life is not fair | Louisiana channel, 2024). I have been reading out loud from Carson’s *The Beauty of the Husband: A Fictional Essay in 29 Tangos* (2002) a few at a time after dinner. Carson is the third Canadian and only the nineteenth woman out of 119 opportunities since 1901 to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. I told David when she won, as a woman to win, her work will be extraordinary. No woman or person of colour can win at this level without being outstanding in several ways at the same time. I was right. If you haven’t yet explored her body and breadth of accomplishments, you are in for a treat! I was puzzled how most of her work, beyond her translations of Sappho, could have escaped my curiosity. However, as a classicist and academic who rather successfully avoided the public limelight, she is likely best known within her field of work and study and those who came across her varied and diverse expressions directly. Of all the writing available for me to read, Carson’s work most exemplifies Murcutt’s analogy of simplicity. This nicely captures what I have been reading and watching and thinking about over the past couple of weeks as I meandered around Mayne Island gathering reference and then beginning a painting. Heavy fog blanketed the island several mornings in a row broken only by the whistle of the ferry slipping through its mist. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/fc/6d/fc6d57d1-84f5-451a-9c0b-d6622f52daa6/content/images/2026/10/IMG_5869.jpeg) Often in the afternoon, the fog would be pushed off shore leaving a bath of brilliant blues behind. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/fc/6d/fc6d57d1-84f5-451a-9c0b-d6622f52daa6/content/images/2026/10/IMG_5911.jpeg) We had family visit and I spent a good number of hours in the kitchen watching the world pass through the surrounding trees. This prompted me to make a trip to our Mayne Island Memorial Japanese Garden. What spectacular displays of colour, form and texture. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/fc/6d/fc6d57d1-84f5-451a-9c0b-d6622f52daa6/content/images/2026/10/IMG_5965.jpeg) Our evenings are coming early and sometimes announcing themselves with startling displays of grandeur. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/fc/6d/fc6d57d1-84f5-451a-9c0b-d6622f52daa6/content/images/2026/10/IMG_6067.jpeg) We find ourselves standing side by side on the west deck taking in the stillness between lamp black and crimson. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/fc/6d/fc6d57d1-84f5-451a-9c0b-d6622f52daa6/content/images/2026/10/BeCasso_2026-10-10_22-07-04.jpeg) Over the next few days I return to the studio with a half baked idea that I have no idea how I will resolve. But it now has its first oil stick marks on the yellow acrylic ground. There is nothing left to do except continue. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/fc/6d/fc6d57d1-84f5-451a-9c0b-d6622f52daa6/content/images/2026/10/IMG_6107.jpeg) **Reference list:** Carson, A. (2002). *The Beauty of the Husband: A fictional essay in 29 tangos*. Vintage Books. *Geographies of Solitude*. (2022). Canada. 103 minute documentary film currently available to view on Prime Video. Murcutt, G. (2019). *Belonging - Glenn Murcutt*. \[online\] YouTube. Available at: [https://youtu.be/QYEbgU7xZHA](https://youtu.be/QYEbgU7xZHA?ref=terrill-welch.ghost.io) \[Accessed 13 Oct. 2026\]. *Writer Anne Carson: Life is not fair | Louisiana channel*. (2024). \[Video\] Directed by Louisiana Channel. YouTube. Available at: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksH3FIs0eJs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksH3FIs0eJs&ref=terrill-welch.ghost.io) \[Accessed 13 Oct. 2026\]. **UPDATED PRICE BRACKETED OFFERINGS** A while back I selected and curated 10 artworks in each price bracket for your consideration. I promised to remove those that sold and add new work over time. Well, that time is now. Here is the updated original post from May 15, 2025, if you care to take a browse: [Notably For Our Art Collectors of Terrill Welch PaintingsCurated collections by price brackets: Thank you to everyone for your recent inquiries to purchase Canadian artist Terrill Welch’s paintings. There are just over 150 still to choose from out of total over 500 paintings completed during the past 12 years. Many are new paintings created during the past![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/fc/6d/fc6d57d1-84f5-451a-9c0b-d6622f52daa6/content/images/icon/0B7C9DB9-6428-46FE-8C23-8A9BC4318F51-de622d65-b997-4cac-ab36-a076d3aecb72.jpg)Terrill WelchTerrill Welch![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/fc/6d/fc6d57d1-84f5-451a-9c0b-d6622f52daa6/content/images/thumbnail/IMG_2279-d7ed3746-95c8-4ba1-b320-8bb9ba3eb422.jpg)](https://terrill-welch.ghost.io/notably-for-our-art-collectors-of-terrill-welch-paintings/) I have adjusted the price brackets slightly to better reflect some of the new sizes of work and chose a few different pieces in each section to replace those that sold and those that seemed ready for a bit of a rest from the spotlight. **UNTIL NEXT WEEK** Now that the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend is behind us, this is when I really begin to stretch into the cozy season of quiet, soft light, leisurely visits with fellow islanders. I double check the pantry for food supplies, the shelf for batteries to use in lamps and the propane tank that fuels our fireplace and offers heat during power outages. We are tucked in and ready for our Mayne Island winter of heavy rains, infrequent snows and predictable occasions of high winds. The MA Fine Art, Final Show closed yesterday. I will be keeping my individual exhibition up while editing the page with a few additions that can now be added since assessment has concluded. This has been an unexpectedly good year so far for finding homes for paintings. Though I always welcome a few more leaving the gallery, it is not necessary or essential to the overall wellbeing of my art business. You will hear me muttering “not bad all things considered”. My body is finally limbering up and strengthening following all the long hours reading and writing for my degree. I am relieved. For a while I was beginning to think that crippling around with lower back and hip pain were going to be my new normal. It was truly quite unpleasant. But I do believe, I have it sorted! Which means more hiking on the trails in my future. Stay tuned! All the best as alway, Terrill 👩‍🎨❤🎨 [Online Art Gallery for Terrill Welch Paintings - Terrill WelchExplore Terrill Welch’s online art gallery, featuring her original oil paintings inspired by the rugged beauty of Mayne Island, BC. Browse available artworks or view sold pieces to appreciate her evolving style.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/fc/6d/fc6d57d1-84f5-451a-9c0b-d6622f52daa6/content/images/icon/cropped-artwork-archive-use-of-terrill-welch-painting-in-her-studio-by-allison-mullally-_mg_5876-966c73a5-4dc3-4007-8fa9-0a5cf33e4ffd.jpg)Terrill Welch![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/fc/6d/fc6d57d1-84f5-451a-9c0b-d6622f52daa6/content/images/thumbnail/3EEB68CF-24BE-41CB-9AB9-116B38EF66D3-567fb86b-f9f8-4cf7-96cb-2a85178e4db1.jpg)](https://terrillwelchartist.com/online-art-gallery/?ref=terrill-welch.ghost.io)