Terrill Welch by herself - issue #43 Pillow Talk Between the Sea and Me
Learning how to do endings is as important as doing fresh beginnings. Usually, there is not a hard stop but a liminal time of transition when I am neither here nor there. I am currently in one of those liminal spaces with my painting practice. Close encounters with the tideline on our Mayne Island shores has been an intimate conversation, pillow talk, between the Salish Sea and me and by extension, you. The Seafloor series, spanning two years of focused work, is coming to a close, for now. Feel free to browse the whole collection of 47 paintings at:
https://www.artworkarchive.com/profile/terrill-welch/collection/seashell-paintings
Once I have spent time interrogating an idea, perspective, theory and practice method, there is no returning to exactly where I was before. Just as the cells in our bodies replace themselves, learning replaces parts of the framework in our thinking and how we experience the world. Reparative and nature-centric theories as they relate to my painting practice allowed me to go much deeper into why I paint what I paint than I had ever imagined possible.
In the beginning, I was aware of my deep connection to nature and that time spent directly in its company was soothing and rejuvenating. I didn’t think of my reference gathering and painting as reparative. It was only after reading Shannon Forrester’s paper ‘Painting from the Other Side: Tracing the Reparative Turn in Contemporary Practice’ (Forrester, 2020) that I began to examine what was in my personal ‘why’ for these paintings. The reason it has taken so long to make this connection likely has to do with how long my nature-centric painting practice has been serving this purpose. The answer to this question is - most of my life.
My rural upbringing ensured a strong connection to our natural environment and my mother’s repeated suggestion that I paint what I was angry or upset about reinforced this reparative practice from the time I could hold a crayon or brush until such time as I reached for these tools without being prompted. I found it easier to communicate and navigate my emotional experiences through drawing and painting and writing than I did speaking about them. These physical expressions held my language in a way that words couldn’t. I reach the end of this programme with a larger painting vocabulary to enhance a painting language, that is already very much my own, with the first reference being nature itself and more secondarily art history and our contemporary art world. I make no apology for this positioning. Nature is the strongest element supporting human existence and will not be ignored. The art history of our past, the contemporary art of our present and the imagined art of our future can only maintain relevance as long as we have a natural physical world to support us. The sooner civilizations as a whole figure this out and take heed to determining how we can support our collective living fauna and flora survival, the better chance we will have at succeeding. This is where I position my work. This is where my contribution matters. This does not mean I ignore the artist and art of the past and present. Understanding these influences and voices within my chosen field of practice is important… and also secondary to my work and primary relationship with nature.
Endings come with new beginnings and I am taking my reparative nature-centric autoethnographic theory and research methods with me as I move forward in my painting practice beyond this programme.
This issue will briefly share the latest two paintings, then will go on to what has sold and conclude with information about an upcoming shows. Before I do this, I want to take a moment and thank one of my colleagues and art collectors, Charles van Heck’s article ‘A letter to an Artist Friend’ published on June 1, 2026 in his Woodhull Journal. Charles and I have exchanged long email letters, often sparked by these ‘Terrill Welch by herself’ newsletter, for years now. This one we agreed, after some editing and revisions, he would make public. I think you will enjoy the read that is available at the link below:
Charles van Heck
I have long standing connections and friendships with many of you who receive these monthly publications. But only a few of these exchanges make it into the public sphere. Thank you Charles for so often taking the time to go even deeper or to stretch out one of my ideas in a new direction or for bringing something completely new to our discussions.
BRIEF INTRODUCTIONS TO TWO NEW PAINTINGS
These two new paintings conclude my Seafloor series, for now. Both are listed along with all my recent work since the beginning of the year that is related to this series
Artist notes: Pushed by the tides, empty mussel shells spoon together as sea life is eating and being eaten. The seafloor is anything but a safe quiet place and would be better described as a hotbed of reproduction and digestion that can quickly cloud and distort any romantic notions under closer observation. Yet, it is also a place of renewal and continuity. I have leaned into my full range of mark making sensibilities from figurative to abstract as a means to hold several possibilities at once - the hard edges of clarity, soft smudges of ambiguity, wide strands of chaos, broken bits of destruction and a harmony of quiet renewal.
More information about this painting is available in my online gallery at:
https://www.artworkarchive.com/profile/terrill-welch/artwork/spooning-under-the-covers-of-the-sea
The second painting is almost a celebration in and of itself.
Artist notes: Like this sugar kelp, everything living must release at some point. A rough sea tore the kelp’s holdfast loose and it drifted into the reefs on an incoming tide. I find this to be a good reminder. Do not hold too tightly to ideas. Be open to being torn loose from habitual ways of knowing. I only want to hold a position for as long as it is working for me in the way I intended. I want not to be afraid to drift for a while before deciding where to attach my focus next.
This is the final painting in the seafloor series, for now. It is a subject and framework of exploration into my reparative nature-centric painting practice that I have held for two years. Now it is time to let go and pause ever-so-briefly before committing to what is next in my painting practice. This painting is not just a means of observation. It is a vessel for reflection and growth.
More information about this painting is available in my online gallery at:
https://www.artworkarchive.com/profile/terrill-welch/artwork/holdfast-released
WHAT HAS SOLD
I am pleased to let you know that ‘Northeasterly Morning Strait of Georgia Mayne Island BC’ has found its forever home where it will be in the good company of many other ‘Terrill Welch paintings’ and it will stay in British Columbia for the foreseeable future.
The second painting that has been scooped up by an art collector was being shown in The Hague, Netherlands as part of the Postcard Art Exhibit and fundraiser.
This original donated work sold in first 12 hours of the opening of online purchasing.
There are still many more beautiful postcard size artworks to collect from over 1000 participating artists from around the world. This year’s exhibition, curated by Dutch artist Tessa Maagdenberg, will support the Blijft-je-Bij art program at Museum Beelden aan Zee — a groundbreaking initiative for individuals living with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. Please check out the Postcard Art Exhibit website for more information and purchasing of artwork for this important cause:
RECENT AND UPCOMING SHOWS
The Giving Ocean pop-up art show, curated by Carolina Nakiri and founder of Story Tell Art, was this past weekend in Victoria. However, I will still donate 25% of the sale price for the five paintings of mine she selected to show until July 16, 2026.
I did attend the evening event before going to dinner with a friend on what was a very warm evening. Unfortunately, I didn’t take any photos. We will have to wait and hope that the official photographer shares some later on. If you would like to know more about which five paintings were included in this show, let me know.
Arts on Mayne members show is coming up at the beginning of July and I have three of my Seafloor series paintings that will be included.
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And finally, opening on August 20, 2026 is our Five Seasons, Online Exhibition, MA Fine Art Final Show.
I will have more to share in our next issue about such things as links and the like.
UNTIL NEXT TIME
This past month has moved swiftly into summer.
By the time you receive the next issue, I will have completed all of my materials for assessment and should have or be close to having submitted it for review. That’s it. Two years and I am very close to the end. Crossing my fingers as I slide in low towards the finish line.
Summer is upon us and the gallery pod is seeing a regular stream of visitors to view paintings, talk about paintings and see what I am working on in the studio. My plan is to exhale and then do a wee bit of plein air painting until fall. At which point, I hope to be able to offer a short ‘Wilding Our Creative Practice’ three part workshop in person with an online option for independent study. More on this in early September.
I hope you have some delightful and delicious things planned with family and friends over the months ahead!
All the best as always,
Terrill 👩🎨🎨❤️
P.s. feel free to email me directly any time at tawelch@shaw.ca
Terrill Welch
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