Terrill Welch by herself - issue #10 September’s Luxurious Expanse
I put the kettle on to make a pan-fried Lapsang black tea that comes all the way from China. I only drink this smoky pungent brew in the afternoons from September to early November. It is my own autumn tradition. I like to sit outside and sip it as the golden light travels between our tall fir trees. Having shipped likely the last painting that will be sold as part of my special birthday offer this morning, I am torn between writing to you and doing a few small edits on a plein air painting of Active Pass and working on the larger Springwater painting. For the moment, while my tea cools enough to drink, the newsletter wins!
I love this time of year on the island. The hustle of summer is now firmly behind us and the light is amazing. Tourists and part-time want-to-be Mayne Islanders have mostly returned to work, school or other activities in the cities. Because their numbers are more than double that of permanent full-time residents, I celebrate quietly… with leprechaun leaps and silent fist pumps along the empty seaside trails.
Don’t get me wrong, I (and we) do LOVE all of our guests and part-timers that we share the island with for part of the year. It is just that, well, potential hurt feelings aside, until you have made it through your 8th power outage in six weeks and consider it a BC Hydro success when none were longer than 3 days, you are a fair weather Islander. It is just a fact. And when the island population goes from someplace on the other side of 4,000 on summer weekends to below 1,300 of those of us still here the rest of the year, we tend to stretch lazily and put our feet up for the first couple of days after Labour Day. In fact, I have noticed, we often have a hard time keeping a knowing grin off our faces when we amble past each other. It is like - Damn! We did it again!
Oh, there is still a bit of time yet before it gets really quiet. But with the predictability of our shorting days, we are on our way. There is still October’s Canadian Thanksgiving and the November Remembrance Day weekend Arts on Mayne Studio tour and then Christmas holidays before we truly enter the weeks when only the heartiest of souls remain with batteries checked, pantries full and a stack of new books to read beside our bed or chair or both. Alternative heat and cooking options are sorted if one doesn’t have a wood stove or a propane cook stove. We are ready for come what must. About this time, we really sink into an island life that consists of an informal network of checking in on each other. A kind of determined resilience surfaces above the high wind warnings that only start to lessen when the first seed catalogue arrives some time near mid February and B.C. Family Day. Then comes Easter, which is the end of March this year, and, as we tumble into longer days, our island population steadily builds until we reach the summer highs with heat waves, recently droughts, water shortages and washed out light that culminates with late August’s angry wasps. Just when I think that my compassion for my fellow human beings and my lungs can’t cope with one more hot, sticky, smoky day, we are in September. It was a great summer and now it is over!
Pheewwwf! As I said before - we did it!
This rhythmic cycle has repeated itself for the whole of the more than sixteen years we have lived on Mayne Island. The only difference is, full timers no longer hoot as loudly as the last ferry leaves the island on Labour Day Monday. I tell you true, even with our current expressive constraint (brought on by the influx during the early part of the pandemic when part-timers and weary and scared city dwellers squabbled and demanded to join our small ranks of full-time islanders starting in March of 2020 and then they stayed the coming fall for 2020 and on into 2021) we one-home-year-round Mayne Islanders really do love September! We will warmly squeeze you tight in an islander hug and then wave in big arching half circles as we bid you farewell with “see you in the Spring if you don’t make it over for a few days at Thanksgiving or Christmas!”
We can again graciously do this because, we are back to our usual patterns of island living where the shoulder seasons are quieter and and the winter months even quieter… for now at least. Should we ever have a situation like that again, I have a feeling we would be more prepared. I would hope at least. Anyway, thank you, thank you for winter storms! They seem to send all but the most skilled problem solvers back to urban life during our long quiet season of frequent power outages. And in this way, we are able to enthusiastically welcome everyone back in the Spring. Yet, if you were to ask me when was the best time to visit, I would say come in early spring or fall. It is the best light and the weather is usually good and the trails are great! And gallery guest are of course welcome anytime and all year around. 😉
WHAT IS ON MY EASEL
I have a new 11 x 14 inch walnut oil on gessobord plein air painting “Beside the Maple Tree in Active Pass” completed and one of our paid subscribers has asked to see it and give it a trial hang. I will keep you updated on if it becomes available, likely in the October “A Brush with Life” issue. However, if you are interested, just let me know and I can add you to the list of those considering. This is your exclusive paid subscribe change.
It was a great morning even if it wasn’t exactly the kind of light I was seeking. Sometimes a painter just has to go with what is there. I have an idea for this view that I want to paint on a larger canvas. This is a quick plein air study to see what I think.
Artist notes: The first Sunday in September is warm with filtered light. I had hoped for sunshine but it offered only fleeting bursts between the cloud cover. I painted anyway between a few drops of much needed rain. The outgoing tide washed over the rocks as the ferries went by. People came and chatted and then went about enjoying their long weekend as I soft-edged the painting into existence.
The second painting I had started a few weeks ago and I have been savouring the process as I waited for one layer to dry and then another.
As you may recall from the quick email about “the last call” for the birthday special, I started this with one of my usual orange grounds on a 20 x 36 inch canvas. Well, that is not really where it started. The day I want to paint is from a foggy morning at Miners Bay on November 8, 2019. It was breathtaking! I have a few photographic references and one painting study that I did in October 2021 that you can see here…
However, none of these are quite right for what I want. I have to improvise and imagine to sort it all out as it is in my mind’s eye.
It is the feel of it I want! The preciousness of lifting fog with hints of blue sky beyond while the soft movement of the sea at low tide keeps the reflections dynamic and yet still visible. There are so many angles! Reflections do not fully appear as they are above. One must remember this and look closely to see what is really there. At one point I turned everything upside down to paint. I just didn’t trust my brain to honour what my eye was seeing.
Finally, it has come together and though still not yet dry, you can have a look…
Artist notes: The November morning holds promise as the fog drifts low on Active Pass and swirls below a bright blue sky punctuated with patching wispy clouds in Miners Bay. The Springwater Lodge flanks the shore with aged superiority. I pause and wait, for something, anything really, to break the spell.
Here it is in a room view to get a better feel for the work.
And for those that loved the orange showing in the work-in-progress image, here is my solution...
There are still edges to paint and a final photograph to take but it is done. And if you are interested let me know. Otherwise, I will release it publicly when it is ready.
MY READING FINDS
Last time I wrote I was looking for some new books to read. Well, I found one on my bookshelf I hadn’t read yet by American born but Canadian lived and Internationally recognized author Jane Rule. Contract with the World was first published in in 1980 and is set in Vancouver during the mid 1970s. It is an unapologetic insider read that captures the points of view of a portrait painter, a sculptor, a sound musician and a writer struggling for his sanity. I lived in greater Vancouver in New Westminster during 1976-1977. Rule captures my sense of both the place and the times. I was about ten years younger than the characters in the book but my experience of art and roaming the streets on endless walks at all hours are similar. I love cities at night. In fact, I might prefer them over daytime. Anyway, it is definitely worth reading though my favourite of Jane Rule’s books is still Memory Board. If you haven’t read it yet, I suggest looking it up and giving it some consideration.
Jane Rule was born in Plainfield, New Jersey in 1931. She grew up in the Midwest and in California where she graduated from Mills College. Jane moved to Vancouver in 1956 (two years before I was born) where she worked at the University of British Columbia, as did her partner Helen Sonthoff whom she met in 1957. They became Canadian citizen in 1960 and lived together until Helen’s death in 2000.
In 1976, Jane and Helen moved to our neighbouring Galiano Island and the two remained there until the end of both their lives. They were well-known and loved on the island, and purportedly Helen and Jane would give loans to the island's residents in need, as well as teach all the neighborhood children how to swim in their backyard pool.
By age 60, Rule was plagued with chronic arthritis, which ultimately dulled her desire to write. In 2007, she was diagnosed with liver cancer. She refused any radical treatment and instead continued swimming and living her life as usual. Prior to her death, Rule had already had two "living wakes" and felt that because of this, she would die elegantly. She died later that year, at the age of 76 on November 28, 2007, at home on Galiano Island. The ashes of Jane Vance Rule were interred in the Galiano Island Cemetery next to those of her beloved Helen Sonthoff.
(Biography notes are taken from the back of the book jacket and Wikipedia)
I then recently ordered three more books based partly on a selection presented by the Sotheby’s Institute of Art “End of Summer Reading” list published on August 29, 2023. These books haven’t arrived yet but I will tell you what they are just in case you might be interested. Once I have read them, or are reading them, I will tell you more.
Barnet, Sylvan. A Short Guide to Writing About Art. 10th Ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2011. Sylvan Barnet’s A Short Guide to Writing About Art guides students through every aspect of writing about art. Students are shown how to analyze pictures (drawings, paintings, photographs), sculptures and architecture, and are prepared with the tools they need to present their ideas through effective writing.
Behrman, S.N. Duveen: The Story of the Most Spectacular Art Dealer of All Time. New York: The Little Bookroom, 2003. A startling number of masterpieces now in American museums are there because of the shrewdness of one man, Joseph Duveen, art dealer to John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Mellon, Henry Clay Frick, and William Randolph Hearst. In a series of articles originally published in The New Yorker, playwright S.N. Behrman evokes the larger-than-life Duveen and reveals the wheeling and dealing, subterfuge, and spirited drama behind the sale of nearly but not quite priceless Rembrandts, Vermeers, Turners, and Bellinis.
And,
Finlay, Victoria: Color: A Natural History of the Palette – Jan. 1 2003. In this vivid and captivating journey through the colors of an artist’s palette, Victoria Finlay takes us on an enthralling adventure around the world and through the ages, illuminating how the colors we choose to value have determined the history of culture itself.
WHAT I AM WATCHING
You may know that I have a slight obsession with Georgia O’Keeffe. She is not only the greats modernest painter but also an outstanding landscape painter. So when I find an excellent documentary about her, I can’t help but want you to see it as well. At some point in the course of this exquisite presentation a note from one of her letters is read and it goes something like - “I want great buckets of colour… and I don’t want to be careful of the floor.”
I strongly suggest taking a little over an hour and simple enjoying “Georgia O’Keeffe by herself” with Allan Charlton that was prepared for a show of her work at the Tate Modern three years ago. You may have to watch the video directly on YouTube but here is the link…
WHAT ART COURSE I AM TAKING THIS FALL
My next online art course “Painting: The Canadian Landscape I” is with Neil McClelland at the Vancouver Island School of Art and starts on September 20th from 6-9 pm. I am not sure how I will manage this evening class time but thankfully the classes will be recorded and I can watch them later if I play out. I am looking forward to diving deep into Canadian art history and having lively conversations with the instructor and fellow students. Though I have studied historic Canadian landscape painters since before I took my first oil painting class at age 14, I always enjoy a chance to hang out with these painters through their work as they feel like old friends. You will likely hear more about this class as I work on new paintings over the months ahead and these courses usually mean weekly new paintings. Stay tuned!
NEW ORDER OF CUSTOM CANVASES AND SHOW FRAMES
Let me bring you into the secret world of what keeps landscape painters up at night. I put in my order via email with Artworld in Victoria B.C. for my favourite custom frames with 12 ounce canvas and 1.5 inch edges. Ten beautiful large canvases of various sizes. Email request sent! I have ideas! Along with these, I order ten 8 x 10 inch and five 11 x 14 inch plain wood show frames for my painting sketches plus one hundred D rings and screws to attach hanging wires. When everything was all added up, the bill was over $3,400 and was almost double the price from last year. The art store calls to tell me the amount and to confirm I still want to continue with the purchase. I swallowed hard and, before I could give myself time to hesitate and reconsider, I approve the order. Even though I know I will eventually have to build these increases into the purchase prices of paintings, the quality of these canvases is worth the investment and the show frames are a necessity to best present the small painting boards.
These canvases are substantially beyond the quality of anything else I can get and make all the difference in both the painting process and the archival standard of the artwork. But Yeeeooowzers! I suppose I should have guessed the materials would be substantially more if I thought about the current price of butter and gas. Besides, I now have enough supplies until likely Spring. No whining! It is done! Now I just have to figure out where I am going to stash everything in our home with limited storage.
WHAT HAS SOLD
With gratitude, more paintings have sold since our last issue.
The first is “Arbutus Glowing After the Rains”. It is now hung together with another of my small paintings “Standing Before an Old Fir Tree Study” and joins several other “Terrill Welch’s paintings” in the art collector’s home in Vancouver, British Columbia.
The second painting “Rock Face Beside the Trail” has been purchased by a new art collector of my work and has been shipped its forever home in Calgary, Alberta.
This makes 20 paintings sold of various sizes so far in 2023 and if we count these last two new paintings in this issue, I have managed to complete 23. In the world of artists, if half as many sell as are created, it is considered a great success and time to raise prices. However, since a large number of these sales were part of my birthday special and the last part of 2022 and first part of 2023 were slightly slower than usual, I am in absolute no rush to go there just yet. I have a sense that everything is just about right for the moment and I will revisit where we are again late next Spring. I have seen several art collectors purchase my work for the first time this year and this is always a good feeling. In addition, the gallery pod is attracting return visitors who arrive with new groups of their friends. These are always special visits with a level of excitement that reminds me of starlings in the fruit trees. I feel so totally energized after these groups leave and I settle back into studio! I am looking forward to more of these exchanges after we reopen hopefully on Thursday, September 28th.
CLOSURE FOR PROPERTY RENOVATIONS
While the Terrill Welch Gallery Pod is closed from September 11 - 27, 2023, we will continue to be able to support your browsing and purchasing request through our online gallery at:
This closer is to support the installation of our new Septic System which will require the whole of our property and the space we have in our front yard around the gallery pod. It will also allow us to have a mini vacation of sorts. We are crossing our fingers that everything will be ready to reopen on Thursday September 28th but unless you have heard from me directly, do check our Facebook page or Google map listing for updates before venturing over.
UNTIL NEXT TIME
This issue has many varied swaths of colour patches that somehow have made up the whole of the previous month in this artist’s life. With the coming autumn there are bits to let go of while other shapes come into view for a short time before these too vanish into something else.
One must not hold on too tightly during times like this. We are meant to release summer’s frenetic energy and warmth as we prepare for winter. Our rough edges are softened by the golden light and shorter days.
May you get a chance to wander under the trees and down the trails or put your garden to bed in the autumn afternoon sun.
All the best as always,
Terrill 👩🎨🎨❤️
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