The bravery of joy

After Breakfast
Black marker on bond paper
18 x 24 inches
Barbara Muir © 

In recent days I've seen friends going through the hardest
times, who are still working on being joyous.  I find this
moving.

This drawing of the remnants of a hotel breakfast makes
me happy, joyous -- because I have such fond memories
of every hotel breakfast.

This has been a strange day. Steven and I drove for
an hour trying to charge my car's battery. Then we got
home, left it for another hour, and when I tried to start it
again dead.  Meanwhile a signal on the dashboard showed
a key. After I messed around with controls on the 
door, and the key -- the car started.  Then my mechanical
engineer husband was determined to solve the problem.
He did. I need a new key fob. Okay.

The drive was beautiful, and we loved driving by Lake
Ontario and seeing people playing in the parks.
Despite the reason for the drive (trying to charge the car)
we felt joyous.  So happy seeing the blue of the lake.

Have a loving your life day!

Inktober, and so many art shows

 

Nicole

Inktober sketch before Inktober existed

Marker on watercolour paper

12 x 9 inches

Barbara Muir ©

(Skype drawing from the 

Consumer Electronics Show

2009)

Today I'm showing you another Inktober drawing.  Steven and
I have been to 3 art shows since last night.  The first one at 
Edwards Gardens on Friday night was Essence of the Garden, the second
annual plein air art exhibition and sale. Many of my artist friends
showed beautiful work in the show, and you can visit it on
regular hours for Edwards Gardens for the next couple of weeks.

The Luminous show opening of photographic work at the Heliconian
Hall opened today with so many fabulous photos.  There was song,
dance and poetry to accompany the exhibition and it was often
very moving, and also quite delightful. Kudos to all my friends
who have fabulous work in the show!

Tonight we went to see the opening of the Nuit Blanche Avenue
Road Art School exhibition for teachers and students at Young
Place on Shaw Street. One of my friends, Jennifer Hinrichs,
teaches for the school and has a wonderful painting in the show. 

Alas while still recovering from a long road trip, coping with a cat
who just had surgery, and the intensity of all this, I didn't take
any photos.  I apologize, but check these shows out. Nuit
Blanche ends at 7 a.m. Sunday morning, so if you're an
early riser -- go and see it.

World Smile Day is today October 3, this year, and I think I 
made a few people smile. My husband and I did fake smiles
until we ended up laughing and smiling happily. There is so
much appalling news -- write our MPs, protest if we can, sign
every petition asking for an end to racism, wars -- cruelty of every
sort.

But smiling for family, friends, funny people, new friends and
people helping us, and who we are helping, still matters.

This drawing is from a super commission where I drew people via
Skype (now it would be Zoom) for the Consumer Electronics Show.
It was such a great assignment. 

It's movie night.  So have a fantastic weekend.

Have a loving your life day!

Flowers save the day

 

Joyous Anemones

an Inktober drawing

Black marker on
Canson Mixed Media paper

5.5 x 8.5 inches

Barbara Muir © 2020

The fall blooming anemones are very happy that it rained all
night last night.  Steven and I even did a short walk in the rain, 

and believe me we were the only ones walking.

The beautiful crest of magnificent white anemones are
breathtaking.  And on a day when I had to spend hours
on the phone and in person trying to solve a false bank charge
 -- seeing them when I came home made me happy.

The huge heat this summer meant we didn't complete our garden 
this year.  But the anemones have done their thing. A friend
warned me that anemones are invasive, and this year my 
neighbour is glad that they've invaded her garden too. Right
now they are taller than me at 5'4 inches -- probably six feet.

They are so incredibly beautiful that every time we look out
the back door, or sit and drink coffee on the back porch we
feel reassured that somehow things will turn out right.

A miracle in the current world.

Have a loving your life day!

A great time with family and Inktober!

 

Let's talk

black marker on paper

5.5 x 8.5 inches

Barbara Mur © 2019

I wasn't happy that September was over, because I am not 
ready for summer to end.  But we had a lovely time today 
with our very creative, and funny family members, and a 
sweet neighbour, and I loved it.

And it's Inktober time! I've never officially joined Inktober
but love doing pen and ink drawings. This drawing is one of
my favourites -- based on a photo of me by my father, who
was an excellent photographer.

Have a loving your life day!

A tribute to the school yard

 

A Magic Day in the Neighbourhood

Acrylic on canvas

24 x 24

Barbara Muir © 

Currently for reasons no one can explain the schoolyard across
the street has been under construction for the whole summer,
and there are gates, and fences everywhere on what used to be
a welcoming space. Sometimes it feels like that's the story all
over the city -- that developers rule.  

But we have to believe that when the work on the schoolyard
is done, the fences will come down, and the spaces will go
back to being children's favourite places to be.  And the sounds
of laughter and fun will fill the street.

Have a loving your life day!

The loss of my sweet cousin

Woman with her cats

Acrylic on canvas with gold leaf

36 x 24 inches

Barbara Muir © 

It's a very sad day because the beautiful woman in
this portrait died Sunday.  She was my cousin, and she
commissioned me to do her portrait.

I am for sure a portrait painter, plus I also love
painting landscapes, still life, and scenes with people,
but I started with portraits, and they are still a
major love of mine. This painting reminds me 
why portraits matter.  

I vividly remember working on this painting. 
My cousin was in the most beautiful blouse,
with her cats sitting behind her shoulders,
and on her lap. I took many photos with the cats
in the pose, then my cousin came and posed for
me in my studio, and we used pillows to pose
instead of the cats.

The cats were big beauties, and I really wanted
to get them right. My cousin who was incredibly kind 
loaned the painting to me for my solo show at the 
Heliconian Hall last year, and when I took it back she
was quite ill. But she said looking at her cats who were both
gone, made her happy. I miss her so much!

Have a loving the ones you love day!

The power of positive thought

Here's a photo from the taping of the Oprah Winfrey show

back in 2009. The woman with her head down

drawing beside the Skype symbol is me.
I am trying to capture Oprah when she looks
in my direction.  I've never been quite as excited and
scared at the same time.

I was reading a journal from the days when I taught Positive Psych at
Seneca College.  I'd forgotten that one of our exercises was the Whoop
exercise.  I'd ask my students to put their hands in the air, envision 
something wonderful that they wanted to happen and then yell
whoop in joyous enthusiasm.  They actually loved doing it, and 
miraculously no other teachers ever knocked on my classroom
door telling us to quiet down.

I would often say after we did the whooping --"you watch me -- I'm
going to be on the Oprah Winfrey show." They took that with a grain
of salt until the thing actually happened.  And the students from 
the semester before it happened found out, and then they were 
blown away.  "Miss! Miss!, Miss!" one student yelled -- "This
is unbelievable."  "Yes!" I said, "but it's true.  It happened."

Try the whoop exercise in your car if you have no private place.
Imagine something you'd love to happen (positive -- not 
negative), raise your arms in the air, whoop and say you won't
believe what happened!" Awesome.

Have a loving your life day!