For The Love Of Trees and More

The Terrill Welch Gallery pod has a new show with additional works showing exclusively online for your browsing and purchasing pleasure between November 3 and November 28, 2022. “For the Love of Trees” includes a selection of Terrill Welch’s tree paintings and a guest tree painting by Glenda King. Visiting this unique gallery space, tucked into the woods at 428 Luff Road on Mayne Island, is becoming a travel destination for the gallery’s art collectors, fans and island visitors. All artworks in each current show can also be viewed with additional information and purchased online in our private viewing room HERE.

The gallery pod space is purposefully designed for self-browsing with assistance upon request and is open 11-4 Thursday through Monday and closed Tuesday and Wednesday unless arrangements are made in advance. (The container gallery space was built by West Coast Container Homes on Vancouver Island.)

Opening today “For The Love Of Trees” is our third show that we have curated in this new gallery space since the beginning of September. If a large gallery space were like a novel, then the gallery pod’s modest size is like poetry. There is a desire and a need to make each painting exactly the right choice in precisely the right position with no more and no less artworks than what is necessary to complete each show. Poetry, yes?

Keeping the walls for artwork only, a price list with descriptions and additional information is available on a chair for visitors to discover more about specific paintings that are of interest.

The painting on the left is by Glenda King and is titled “Look Way Up”.

In most shows there is a guest painting by a fellow island artist to accompany Terrill Welch’s artwork. These artists also show with her in a second location, ISLAND TIME ART, which is located near the ferry terminal on Mayne Island at 492 Dalton Drive.

The differences between the two show spaces are subtle and yet intentional. Paintings selected for the Terrill Welch Gallery Pod are usually landscape paintings and mostly larger artworks by Terrill Welch with a few smaller pieces included as space allows. ISLAND TIME ART has mostly smaller original paintings by various artists including Terrill Welch and reproductive prints and useable art products by only Terrill Welch that are suitable for gifts and collecting holiday memories. Many people visit both locations and some just one or the other depending on their needs and interests.

But let’s get back to “For The Love Of Trees” which is a long standing passion subject for contemporary landscape painter Terrill Welch.

The tree painting subjects in this show range from Fremont in California to the Stuart River in north central British Columbia with many located on Mayne Island on the southwest coast of Canada. There are willows, polars, firs and arbutus trees as well as a winter scene painted plein air in the snow at the Mayne Island Japanese Memorial Garden. Each tree or clump of trees is painted as if they were sitting for a portrait or telling us a story about their lives while we listen intently.

We wish you much enjoyment and discover about each of these paintings of trees that will be part of the Made on Mayne Tour from November 11-13, 2022. You do not need to wait though and as mentioned above, you can slip in to see this new show starting today or view “For The Love Of Trees” online HERE.

In addition, we would like to extend a thank you to Island Art Magazine for including “Winter with the Old Fir on the Ridge” that is in this current show on page 20 of the magazine’s November publication. We smiled when we saw it placed next to a a short article about the difference between Monet and Manet.

The complete online publication can be viewed HERE and if you love art, and Canadian art in particular, you will enjoy the read.

On a final note, we would like to congratulate our art collectors on the purchase of a commissioned 20 x 24 inch oil painting “Cotswolds Memories” by Terrill Welch.

SOLD – “Cotswolds Memories” by Terrill Welch

Artist notes: This painting is a rare collaboration starting with an art collector’s image. Much research, my own memories of painting in England and plain imagination went into this homage to a fascinating mackerel sky.

And with this, we shall conclude our gallery update for now. Please do contact us if you have any questions or special requests. We are always happy to assist if we can.

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Happy Earth Day 2022

A note from landscape painter, Terrill Welch, for Earth Day 2022 as we feature her painting: “Conducting An Orchestra”, oil on canvas, 40 x 36 inches. More information about this west coast oil painting is available at: https://www.artworkarchive.com/profile/terrill-welch/artwork/conducting-an-orchestra-terrill-welch

In her own words…

“I am a landscape painter exposing life’s mystery in an ordinary day….”

“Stripping away the human illusion of our separation from nature is at the core of my work. I have a driving need to succeed in creating bridges with my art between humanity and nature, before it is too late. This illusion extends to a presumption of a separation between land, water and sky. I explore the inter-dependency of these natural elements….”

“These works reflect my surrounding landscapes. The brushstrokes render the light, shadow, movement, smells, sounds and emotions I am experiencing in our natural world. The resulting paintings are my complete sensory experience, expressed…”

“It is a tall order for a painter with a brush, making marks on a canvas. Yet, I must try…”

“ I must keep painting until we pause before the work and weep in our knowing – without our natural world, we will no longer exist. It is my sacred work as a landscape painter to ensure that this message reaches into the hearts of humanity. This is my mission – my in-progress life’s work. Happy Earth Day 2022!”

View the complete inventory of Terrill Welch’s available paintings at: 

https://www.artworkarchive.com/profile/terrill-welch

Never Miss the Good bits! Sign Up Now for the curated editorial Terrill Welch newsletter HERE published on the 1st Friday of every month.

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ArtWork Archive original paintings and acrylic sketches currently available

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New Release of Large Landscape Painting

The last one for 2019! A new large contemporary landscape oil painting has been placed into our art gallery inventory and released…

arbutus tree large landscape painting by Canadian contemporary artist
Morning With Arbutus Trees by Terrill Welch, walnut oil on canvas 36 x 48 x 1.5 inches

View and inquire at https://www.artworkarchive.com/profile/terrill-welch/artwork/morning-with-arbutus-trees

Notes from the painter: “To stand quiet and alone with these arbutus trees during a late summer morning is to find the spirit of the place, resting next to my bones with the slow beat of my heart keeping time with their gentle rhythm.”

SOLD This Past Week

In October, this large 40 x 30 inch work left the gallery for a trial visit. However, the art collector had a challenging location and the painting didn’t work in that first desired location. But rather than giving up, she tested in another location… and then another location. The third time was charmed. We saw a sneak preview Last week and believe “When I am Among the Trees” will be most happy there, doing its job of taking the viewer for a walk through the trees into the spirit of the place. And so another large landscape painting leaves Mayne Island, and crosses the Strait of Georgia, for a more urban adventure. 

large west coast forest oil painting by Canadian contemporary artist Terrill Welch
When I am Among the Trees, oil on canvas, 40 x 30 inches by Terrill Welch

We wish you all the best of the holiday season and look forward to seeing in the New Year, if not before!

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View More Available Work in…

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The Work Of Art

Yesterday, following a rocky ferry ride, a power outage and in the mids of winds and heavy rain, business woman, Katrina Elliot and I slipped into the Terrill Welch Gallery. A painting had been set aside months ago, waiting for her final review and consideration. She said “yes!” 

Happy Art Collector

You see, like people, my paintings have work to do. My paintings are not just a pretty face to dangle on your wall for others to admire or an accessory to balance or decorate a room. In fact, many collectors of my paintings hang the work in their bedrooms where few see them but the intended viewer. So, what is this important work that these paintings do? 

Well, like Katrina, many “Terrill Welch collectors” are leaders in fields that they are passionate about – it is demanding work, meaningful work. The risks are often high and the learning curves steep because these individuals continually reach for what is just at the edge of their ability, simply because the positive outcomes for change, in individual lives and in community, are great. It is work that will matter ten years and even a hundred years from now. These individuals give everything they have and then find that extra 10 percent. In these situations, my paintings frequently provide a focus for reflection, a chance to regroup and build resilience, an opportunity to dream and problem-solve. They provide confirmation that you are enough – just as you are. Finally and most importantly – hope. The paintings are a touchstone and buffer. They are a reminder of our ability to endure and navigate significant losses and the trials we all must face in living a full life, one that is well lived. 

We know this because firstly, it is the spirit in which the work is created and secondly, the paintings have been doing this work for so long that they excel in their partnership with the viewer to accomplish these tasks. In fact, Katrina attended and purchased her first work from my very first solo gallery show back in the mid 1990’s. Sadly, this initial painting was lost in a flood a few years ago. In 2016, wanting to replace the painting, Katrina did a google searched for me and the rest, as they say, is history. Since then she has carefully and thoughtfully added works to her “Terrill Welch collection” and I do trust and hope that these paintings will work as rigorously and hard as she does. The biggest bonus for me is that we have rekindled a friendship that now spans almost 25 years. The paintings consider this their valued-added contribution to the bottom line of life and community. The paintings can never guarantee this outcome but it is always a welcomed deliverable. As a painter, I think I love my work almost as much as the collectors and the paintings do! After all, we all have work we must do, that we cannot bare to walk away from or leave only half completed. 

So, let us congratulate “Centuries of Seasons – Heritage Road, P.E.I.” on finding the perfect home and Katrina Elliot on her new stewardship of this work. May they both thrive, give their best and always know how much they are appreciated. 

You can learn more about Katrina and Four Corners Management Consulting at https://www.4cmc.ca

Oil painting of Prince Edward Island Heritage Road showing all four seasons starting with winter, then autumn, summer and finally spring in the distance.
Centuries of Seasons Heritage Road PEI by Canadian Artist Terrill Welch

Painter’s notes about “Centuries of Seasons – Heritage Road, P.E.I.” 24 x 30 inch walnut oil on wood… 

Centuries of Seasons might be said to have begun on a drive down the Currie Heritage Road on Prince Edward Island, Canada in May 2016.

It might be said that I only trust my brushes today and not my own words and convictions. This is true, though it is not uncommon, I would think, to seek the experience of wise counsel when processing ones own experiences.

It might be said too that I have begun with the first trees I ever painted. This likely is equally true because to know a tree well enough to paint it is to spend years in its company.

It might be said that the centuries of seasons in this painting have no beginning and no ending. This too is true as we can observe that the road has worn away from years of passage over its red dirt surface.

Regardless of what might be said, this is where the painting has come to rest with its centuries of seasons.

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Happy New Year with Best 7 Paintings of 2018

At the close of each year, Terrill Welch reaches back and picks up the best bits and tosses them forward, leaving stepping stones for the year ahead. In this way, she is fortunate because this year, she has so many solid and elegant gems for tossing.

In the words of the artist herself….

“Gathering a monk’s collection of polished simplicity, I find myself preparing for painting adventures with a traveling bag full of painting problems, desires, half-baked ideas and unknowns. My meager tools and methods are but a few hundred years old. Will they be enough? Am I enough?”…. 

After all, works of art are always the results of one’s having been in danger, of having gone through an experience all the way to the end, to where no one can go any further. (Rainer Maria Rilke – Letters on Cézanne, 1907. Published in English in 2002) 

This quote opens up the introduction by Elena Maslova-Levin of the catalogue Conversations on Edge that was published in the spring of 2018 for a two-artist show with Welch and Maslova-Levin in the Terrill Welch Gallery on Mayne Island in British Columbia. Excerpts of Maslova-Levin’s introduction about my work is one of the pebbles of observation I am tossing forward…

Terrill-Welch-plein-air-painting-at-Georgina-Point-on-Mayne-Island-BC-in-2018.jpeg

Landscape painting might not seem like a particularly dangerous adventure: you take your easel, and paints, and a canvas, and go outside, and paint what you see. What danger can be there? 

It is the danger of seeing what nobody else has seen, the danger of shattering conventional and comfortable visual reality. 

Paul Cézanne once said that Claude Monet was “just an eye, but what an eye!”

This remark may seem disparaging – unless you know what it takes to see what your eyes really see. Every human being receives an infinite richness of visual information every waking moment, but the brain habitually filters out almost all of it, and builds a simplified picture of visual reality for the mind to consume, based mostly on what we already know. This mechanism is there to protect us, and it takes both courage and mastery to switch it off, and to fully open your mind to the unspeakable infinity of world’s beauty. To go through the experience of seeing all the way to the end, to where no one can go any further. 

Although a student of Claude Monet’s in many ways, with an eye as attentive and discerning as his, Terrill Welch is much more than an eye. The space of her paintings is more than the familiar three-dimensional space of visual reality. It encompasses not just vision, but all sensory dimensions of human experience – the sound of silence, the smell of distant snow, the cool touch of shadows, the taste of ocean water (and, occasionally, a hearty winter lunch, too). This is how she inhabits the multidimensional space of ever-present Now. That’s how she fills with life and light what might seem like empty space to a lazy eye. 

It is this multidimensional space that opens up from the deceptively two-dimensional surface of her paintings. We see not only the visible, but the invisible too. And this experience – a peak visual experience – can expand your sense of vision, your perception of reality, and ultimately, your consciousness, but only if you allow yourself to fully see how she feels her way into the space of a landscape and fuses it with her inner space. 

Her paintings invite us to share in the treasure she brings back from where no one can go any further. 

This excerpt is the criteria Terrill Welch shall use to select her personal, in no particular order, SEVEN out of twenty-seven BEST of 2018 paintings – these are the painting pebbles that she shall toss lightly ahead of her as she moves into the stream of a new year. 

Best SEVEN Paintings of 2018

Restless Salish Sea –8 x 10 inch plein air acrylic sketch on gessobord

Restless-Salish-Sea-8-x-10-inch-plein-air-acrylic-sketch-on-gessobord-by-Terrill-Welch-Sept-27-2018-IMG_9433.jpg
https://www.artworkarchive.com/profile/terrill-welch/artwork/restless-salish-sea

The day was fantastic! The waves were being whipped up by a good breeze but it was still warm enough to be comfortable standing around. A favorite kind of plein air painting day!

A small Emerald Bay Mayne Island BC – 24 x 18 inch oil on canvas – SOLD

A-small-Emerald-Bay-Mayne-Island-BC-24-x-18-inch-oil-on-canvas-by-Terrill-Welch-October-31-2018-IMG_1315.jpg
https://www.artworkarchive.com/profile/terrill-welch/artwork/a-small-emerald-bay-mayne-island-b-c

The emerald waters in the bay sparkle with the clarity of gems as the sunlight reaches over top of the hill. I stand in the calmness for a while then cast my thoughts farther afield to the smoky skies across the water.

Oyster Bay Morning Rain – 8 x 10 inch plein air acrylic sketch – SOLD

Oyster-Bay-Morning-Rain-8-x-10-inch-plein-air-acrylic-sketch-on-gessobord-by-Terrill-Welch-April-11-2018-IMG_4780.jpg
https://www.artworkarchive.com/profile/terrill-welch/artwork/oyster-bay-morning-rain

As we stood, clouds gathered, until I had tipped my easel almost closed. Morning Rain. Oyster Bay, Mayne Island, British Columbia

Arbutus in the fog St John’s Point – 16 x 20 inch oil on canvas

rbutus-in-the-fog-St-Johns-Point-16-x-20-inch-oil-on-canvas-by-Terrill-Welch-IMG_6700.jpg
https://www.artworkarchive.com/profile/terrill-welch/artwork/arbutus-tree-in-the-fog-st-john-s-point

The old arbutus on St. John’s Point tells the story of winds, dryness, winter rains and endurance as it curls up and back over itself for balance. The morning fog leaves its shape exposed and gathering more attention than usual.

Sea and Shore – 36 x 48 inch oil on canvas – SOLD

Sea-and-Shore-36-x-48-inch-oil-on-canvas-by-Terrill-Welch-IMG_7263.jpg
https://www.artworkarchive.com/profile/terrill-welch/artwork/sea-and-shore

Arbutus Tree Reaching – 36 x 48 inch oil on canvas

Arbutus-Tree-Reaching-36-x-48-inch-oil-on-canvas-by-Canadian-artist-Terrill-Welch-January-22-2018-IMG_3656.jpg
https://www.artworkarchive.com/profile/terrill-welch/artwork/arbutus-tree-reaching

Late afternoon sun catches the curves of a grand old arbutus tree reaching out into Campbell Bay on Mayne Island in British Columbia. I want not to move or even shift my gaze for a very long time.

Winter with the Old Fir on the Ridge – 48 x 24 inch oil on canvas

winter-with-the-old-fir-on-the-ridge-48-x-24-inch-oil-on-canvas-by-canadian-artist-terrill-welch-feb-3-2018-img_3629.jpg
https://www.artworkarchive.com/profile/terrill-welch/artwork/winter-with-the-old-fir-on-the-ridge

The snow on the north side of ridge slows my progress because I need to take several stops to catch my breath. But the climb was worth it! I have the Mt. Parke ridge with its fresh snow all to myself! Just me and this big old fir tree were there when the sun broke through the rushing clouds and warmed our backs.

This could be many places in British Columbia in the winter and certainly took me on a memory meander around the province when I later painted the moment.

Now, standing at the easel, brush in hand, Terrill Welch shall step cautiously, yet confidently, forward with the advice of Mary Oliver in verse 4 of her poem “Sometimes”

Instructions for living a life: 

Pay attention. 

Be astonished. 

Tell about it.

(from page 105 in Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver, 2017)

Happy New Year!

What about you – what stones, pebbles and gems are you tossing forward for your journey in 2019? 

Never Miss the Good bits! Sign Up Now for the curated editorial Terrill Welch newsletter HERE published on the 1st Friday of every month.

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ArtWork Archive original paintings and acrylic sketches currently available

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Work in progress BLOG –

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Seven More Paintings Gone

Since the beginning of October, seven more paintings have left the Terrill Welch Gallery and the artist’s home studio for private art collections. We haven’t shared these departures for a while so we will also add in three other favourites from earlier in the year for a total of ten featured in this post that are now in private art collections. There are others of course. But one can’t share all the works going and have any room left for sharing the new work being released. So we shall stop there for the moment. These original works are characterized by a wide range of sizes, rendered in acrylic and in oil – each have Welch’s signature attention to place, light and movement. Starting with the smaller acrylic painting sketches and working up to the larger oil paintings, let’s see what we have…

Update November 25, 2018: Make that eight! Starting with the latest…

Salish Sea late August morning – 11 x 14 inch acrylic plein air sketch on gessobord by Terrill Welch. In Private Collection. Waves rolled ashore creating a space to pause in the August Sun. What a day!

Salish-Sea-late-August-morning-11-x-14-inch-acrylic-plein-air-sketch-on-gessobord-by-Terrill-Welch-2015_08_20-092.jpg

Then continuing as originally posted….

Orca Trail Cotton Park  – 8 x 10 inch acrylic plein air painting sketch by Terrill Welch. In Private Collection. A glorious day standing by the sea plein air painting for summer solstice. Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada.

Orca-Trail-Cotton-Park-8-x-10-inch-acrylic-sketch-on-gessobord-by-Terrill-Welch.jpg

Afternoon Chairs – 8 x 10 inch acrylic plein air painting sketch by Terrill Welch. In Private Collection. A pleasant afternoon spent painting under the trees in a fellow painter’s backyard.

Afternoon-Chairs-8-x-10-inch-plein-air-acrylic-sketch-on-gessobord-by-Terrill-Welch-July-12-2018-IMG_9497.jpg

Sea and Shore Study – 11 x 14 inch acrylic plein air painting sketch by Terrill Welch. In Private Collection. Sweeping curves round above seal-shaped forms below. Light and shadow intertwine in a symphonic melody.

Sea-and-Shore-study-11-x-14-inch-plein-air-acrylic-sketch-by-Terrill-Welch-May-28-2018-IMG_6776.jpg

A small Emerald Bay Mayne Island B.C. – 24 x 18 inch oil on canvas by Terrill Welch. In Private Collection. The emerald waters in the bay sparkle with the clarity of gems as the sunlight reaches over top of the hill. I stand in the calmness for a while then cast my thoughts farther afield to the smoky skies across the water.

A-small-Emerald-Bay-Mayne-Island-BC-24-x-18-inch-oil-on-canvas-by-Terrill-Welch-October-31-2018-IMG_1315.jpg

A Tall Tale of Autumn Stuart River – 16 x 12 inch oil on canvas by Terrill Welch. In Private Collection. These are my childhood trees – popular trees growing on the riverbank. They are my first subject of paintings. I cannot pick up a brush to render them without being transported back through time with its many stops before these trees. These are trees I met before there was even a field in front of them. These are trees I introduced my first lover and later others. Then much later my now husband. These are trees I walked beside while I carried my babies and then with them while they carried theirs. These are the trees that my mother and father have walked with me since they were younger than I am today. Painting the spaces of light and shadow in between is filled with the residue of many visits. It is a tall tale that gets taller with each telling. All I intended to do was to use up the paint leftover on the palette.

A-Tall-Tale-of-Autumn-Stuart-River-16-x-12-inch-oil-on-canvas-by-Terrill-Welch-2013_12_24-003.jpg

High Desert Dawn – 30 x 40 inch oil on canvas by Terrill Welch. In Private Collection. The morning light slices through the heavy storm clouds over the high desert in Orville Washington.

High_Desert_Dawn_30_x_40_inch_oil_on_canvas_by_Terrill_Welch_May_29_2012_to_May_2_2017_IMG_4335.jpg

Long Beach Vancouver Island June 2013 – 48 x 24 inch oil on canvas by Terrill Welch. In Private Collection. There is nothing like a long stretch of sand on the west coast of Vancouver Island with the water and mist rolling at the same tempo. Untamed wanton desire whips up our wild side with such grace and ease we gasp, we cry and we laugh like the gulls.

Long-Beach-Vancouver-Island-June-2013-48-x-24-inch-oil-on-canvas-by-Terrill-Welch-2013_08_23-027.jpg

And here are three more Gallery favourites from earlier in the year that have also sold:

Morning Along the Island Road Mayne Island BC – 20 x 16 inch oil on canvas by Terrill Welch. In Private Collection. The rising sun grasps at the branches of the arbutus tree and dashes across the old road and through the dry grass. My eyes and heart race to catch up while the brush makes swift marks on the canvas. An island summer plein air morning to be remembered.

Morning-Along-the-Island-Road-Mayne-Island-BC-20-x-16-inch-plein-air-by-Terrill-Welch-July-19-2017-IMG_0447.jpg

Catching Waves at Georgina Point Mayne Island BC – 30 x 40 inch oil on canvas by Terrill Welch. In Private Collection. There is a brisk northwesterly wind stirring up the Salish Sea in the bright autumn sun. I step carefully down the sandstone trail to the shore below the lighthouse at Georgina Point. Looking out across the Strait of Georgia, it seems that the best thing to do is to catch a few waves. Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada.

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And finally for the largest work which only hung in the Terrill Welch Gallery for a day before being personally delivered to the art collector….

Sea and Shore – 36 x 48 inch oil on canvas by Terrill Welch. In Private Collection. There is this small bay at the mouth of Active Pass as it opens into the Strait of Georgia where the tension between sea and shore is intense.

Sea-and-Shore-36-x-48-inch-oil-on-canvas-by-Terrill-Welch-IMG_7263.jpg

So there you have it! Just a few painting adventures for you as they leave the Terrill Welch Gallery or the artist’s home studio for your browsing pleasure. If you want to see more of her works that have sold or, more importantly, that are still available for purchase –  drop on by the Online Gallery at https://terrillwelchartist.com/online-art-gallery. Or, if you happen to be making a trip to Mayne Island on the Southwest Coast of Canada, make an appointment and come into the Terrill Welch Gallery where it is the artist’s winter studio until the spring of 2019.

Never Miss the Good bits! Sign Up Now for the curated editorial Terrill Welch newsletter HERE published on the 1st Friday of every month.

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ArtWork Archive original paintings and acrylic sketches currently available

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Trees: As we breathe with West Coast Canadian Artist Terrill Welch

Large oil paintings of trees, mostly arbutus trees,  grace the walls of the Terrill Welch Gallery from Friday, May 18, 2018 to Sunday, July 23, 2018. A very few smaller plein air sketches and studies provide balance and perspective to these larger canvases.

Trees: As we breathe is an invitation, a reminder to our human connect to trees for our very breath. Rendered in each brushstroke is Canadian west coast landscape artist Terrill Welch’s passion and pure pleasure in trees.

The paintings are about the elegance of this often forgotten relationship as we race towards deadlines, commitments, dreams, goals and personal expectations for human achievement.

This show is about giving a nod, taking a pause and being like the trees we so rely on for life. This show is about love, beauty and aging in place. This show is about loss, companionship and spirals of time.

The paintings in this show can be viewed in the online gallery collection by the same name “Trees: As we breathe” HERE.

Directions to visit (along with days and hours open) the Terrill Welch Gallery in-person are available HERE.

Never Miss the Good bits! Sign Up Now for the curated editorial Terrill Welch newsletter HERE published on the 1st Friday of every month.

ONLINE GALLERIES include –

ArtWork Archive original paintings and acrylic sketches

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Work in progress BLOG –

Creative Potager – first place new work is unveiled. Subscribe to stay current.

Three Large Oil Paintings of Trees Released

The winter studio time at the Terrill Welch Gallery has yielded three new large oil paintings of trees so far. Each of the featured trees on the big canvases are in their own special landscape and light. Let’s have a look shall we?

Morning Coon Bay, Galiano Island, B.C. – 48 x 36 inch oil on canvas

At this northern tip of a boat access park, on the long narrow Galiano Island, there is mystery in the morning light catching sandstone and trees.

Details and purchase information HERE.

Arbutus Tree Reaching – 36 x 48 inch oil on canvas

Late afternoon sun catches the curves of a grand old arbutus tree reaching out into Campbell Bay on Mayne Island in British Columbia. I want not to move or even shift my gaze for a very long time.

Details and purchase information HERE.

Winter with the Old Fir on the Ridge – 48 x 24 inch oil on canvas

The snow on the north side of ridge slowed my climb with several stops to catch my breath. But it was worth it! I had the Mt. Parke ridge with its fresh whiteness all to myself. Just me and this big old fir tree were there when the sun broke through the rushing clouds and warmed our backs. This could be many places in British Columbia in the winter and certainly took me on a memory meander around the province as I painted.

Details and purchase information HERE.

This last painting is so long and narrow for online viewing, let’s add a couple of detail images.

And this one as well…

 

ONLINE GALLERIES include –

ArtWork Archive original paintings and acrylic sketches

Redbubble painting and photography prints and merchandise

Work in progress BLOG –

Creative Potager – first place new work is unveiled. Subscribe to stay current.

Happy New Year with best 5 paintings of 2017

As we approach the end of the calendar year, we again select the artist’s choice for the best paintings of 2017. This year, we have decided on 5 out of the 29 new works that have been released – and three of those are just being released today in the online gallery! So be sure to check it out. The link is included below.

Here is the 1st and likely the public favourite…

Storytelling Arbutus Tree Bennett Bay Mayne Island BC
By Terrill Welch
Size (h w d): 60 x 40 x 1.5 in
Medium: Oil On Canvas
Available: HERE

In 2nd place for the artist’s choice of the best five paintings completed in 2017 is…..

Northeasterly Morning Strait of Georgia Mayne Island BC
By Terrill Welch
Size (h w d): 20 x 40 x 1.5 in
Medium: Oil On Canvas
Available: HERE

In 3rd place for the artist’s choice of the best five paintings completed in 2017 is……

Early Spring Morning at Miners Bay
by Terrill Welch
Size (h w d): 12 x 24 x 1.5 in
Medium: Oil On Canvas
Availability: Sold

Then in 4th place for the artist’s choice

Winter Late Afternoon Georgina Point Mayne Island BC
By Terrill Welch
Size (h w d): 18 x 24 x 1.5 in
Medium: walnut oil on canvas
Availability: Sold

And finally, the 5th painting chosen…

Just Before Sunset Mayne Island BC
By Terrill Welch
Size (h w d):  30 x 24 x 1.5 in
Medium: Oil On Canvas
Available: HERE

View all available work in the online gallery HERE.

Closing remarks for 2017 from artist Terrill Welch:

An outstanding career photographer who follows my work, who has been to some of the places rendered in my paintings and who has seen some of the paintings in person, as well as online, made this comment:

“The strength of your work is not always immediately evident. A person must often be willing to take time with it before its power becomes apparent.”

This is what I have come to call – exposing the mystery in an ordinary day. The energy of a piece is intended to reach our bodies before our eyes can decipher and translate what we are experiencing into cognitive thought – words. The paintings are intended to reach the viewer before they can edit what they are experiencing into what they think they already know.

These paintings are a good examples of this tension between the ordinary impressions of a day and the early 1800’s sublime or romantic. With the predictability of a labyrinth, we circle back to a new, yet slightly familiar, place. But for me this life/painting journey is more like a spiral that is so finely threaded I have have no idea whether I am winding inward or outward. Possibly, it doesn’t really matter.

My job, as I see it, is to capture the conversation between this earth and me and then translate these experiences into a universal language of paint. How else can we collectively gather ourselves around a shared purpose to change our ways and recognize our responsibility for our planet, for our stewardship, for our world and for our continued existence?

Yes, I paint what is meaningful to me, often without even sorting through the “why” of it. But this means nothing unless the viewer becomes passionate about the painting’s conversation and cognizant of their own urgency to engage, to act, to be and to love.

This a tall order to ask of a painting and of a painter on a mainstream global platform that is spiraling towards self-destruction – chasing shock and awe. Still, I must try because we deserve a chance and above all, I am not alone. You have come to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with me, again and again, canvas upon canvas upon canvas. This 2017 year has been no exception. In just the last few days alone, the paintings have been viewed over 25,000 times. I can no longer count the vast number of views, comments, shares and conversations each year. On top of all of this, more than 20 original paintings, from the very large to small, were purchased and are now in private collections.

Thank you for being here. Thank you for embracing the conversation with the land, the sea and the sky…. and with each other.

HAPPY NEW YEAR and all the best in 2018!

ONLINE GALLERIES include –

ArtWork Archive original paintings and acrylic sketches

Redbubble painting and photography prints and merchandise

Work in progress BLOG –

Creative Potager – first place new work is unveiled. Subscribe to stay current.

Terrill Welch landscape paintings showing in Vancouver BC

Spring, summer, fall and winter – art shows always it seems! Next up is Art!Vancouver Fair, May 25 – 28, 2017 at the Vancouver Conference Centre, East 999 Canada Place. Terrill Welch is showing her paintings with three other Canadian artists in 30 feet of booth space sponsored by Artists in Canada. More about the Art Vancouver Fair HERE.

Northeasterly Morning Strait of Georgia Mayne Island BC,  20 x 40 inch oil on canvas, is one of the paintings that will be available.

Pre-sales are always welcome and further information is available in the online gallery for this specific painting HERE.

Come by the Art Vancouver Fair and meet the artist and experience her Canadian west coast landscape paintings in person! You can save 20% on advance tickets with the code TW20 through EventBrite at https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/art-vancouver-2017-tickets-26309784273?aff=eac2

The Gala Night is Thursday 25th May 2017 from 7-10 pm and this year has a Red Carpet dress code. Terrill has a few complimentary tickets for this evening event. If you would like join her, send an email request to tawelch@shaw.ca and we will get you sorted.

In other news, two more paintings have left the studio to join three other works in the home of prominent art collectors of Terrill Welch paintings.

Sold before it was ever featured on the website! Morning at Bennett Bay Beach Access, 20 x 16 inch oil on canvas

Sold! Oyster Bay Mayne Island BC with fresh snow, 16 x 20 inch oil on canvas

To view all other paintings currently available click on the Artwork Archives link below for Terrill Welch’s online gallery.

And more work is coming soon as Terrill prepares for a six-week solo exhibit opening June 30, 2017 on Mayne Island  B.C. at Shavasana Art Gallery & Café. More will be available about this show later in May or early June.

If you are visiting or planning a visit to Mayne Island, studio visits are always welcome by appointment.

Never Miss the Good bits! Sign Up Now for the curated editorial Terrill Welch newsletter HERE published on the 1st Friday of every month.

ONLINE GALLERIES include –

ArtWork Archive original paintings and acrylic sketches

Redbubble photography and painting prints and merchandise

Work in progress BLOG –

Creative Potager – first place new work is unveiled. Subscribe to stay current.