More from Inktober -- Friday portraits

Let's talk

black marker on paper

5.5 x 8.5 inches

Barbara Mur © 2019

It's been a great day for art.  I worked most of the day
on a painting that is coming along nicely.  And
tonight I drew this Inktober portrait.  So much fun.

I loved something Elizabeth Gilbert said about being
a "celebrant" today on Instagram, and understand that.
I'm working on pieces that celebrate the landscape,
and they're for a climate crisis show  My focus on
seeing how amazing the world is, is my way of
saying, "let's take care of this place."

Have a celebrating each day, day.

Happy afternoon with a major collector

Adriana's celebration

Acrylic on canvas

36 x 48 inches 

Barbara Muir © 2012

To take a break from Inktober today I’m posting a

painting of one of my top collectors who I
visited today. I've had the honour of being
like a family portrait painter for her. And
there is a new personality joining that group.

Over tea and delicious cookies we discussed the current
planned piece, which should be fun. And she
said I could take a photo of a portrait I love that I did of
her.

All in all a wonderful time, and a mood of
delightful anticipation.

Have a planning for joy day.

The 16th of Inktober -- Portrait time

Bibby's new dress

Black marker on paper

5.5 x 8.5 inches

Barbara Muir © 2019

What I love about Inktober is the challenge of trying to
draw something -- if not every day, as often as possible.
Today it's a portrait, and I enjoyed thinking about texture
in terms of line, very different from painting, although
many of my favourite painters' portraits begin with
a detailed line drawing on the canvas.

The portrait tonight is of a little girl who just got a new
dress.  I could keep going with the portrait and fill in all
of the pattern and texture of the dress, but I felt like
her expression mattered the most, and it's all there.
What a treat to draw.

Have a loving your work day.

The sunny side of life -- Inktober

Manu in sunlight

Black marker on paper

5.5 x 8.5 inches

Barbara Muir © 2019

It was another beautiful day today, and this
portrait based on one of my father's super
photographs goes along with that.

I'm hoping that our garden flowers will make it
through another chilly night.  The anemones are
absolutely magnificent and it will be a definitie
loss of beauty when they're gone.

I am a fan of Inktober whether I'm doing it
properly or not, because I continue to work
on a bigger piece and it's still not finished.
To be able to show you something new makes
me feel wonderful.

It is a very fast paced world now, and the
time and care that goes into more painstaking
work doesn't fit the model of immediacy.
But drawing does, and I am delighted that
it does.

Have an enjoying all that you do day.

A day of joy -- Happy Thanksgiving

A line on roses

Black marker on Moleskine paper

8 x 10 inches

Barbara Muir © 2015

Today was the actual Canadian Thanksgiving Day.  We had
our celebration with the family on Friday, and decided we'd
have a special treat tonight at one of our favourite restaurants.

It was a beautiful and very cold day.  We sat on the back porch
watching the wasps who would otherwise be interested in us,
devour the maple syrup we'd put out for them.  Watching
them was mesmerizing and very relaxing, and we could have
watched the crew of about 14 come and go, and jostle for
position.  But we had places to go.

So we went down to the lake.  It was magnificent there -- big
sailboats anchored in the bay, blue water sparkling in the sunlight,
children playing under the trees, couples in love (like us), a
woman running by talking to her mother on the phone through
headphones and telling her that some of her behaviour caused
tension.  Seagulls floated in the air about us and we were as happy
as can be.

Then tonight we dressed up and went out for dinner.  It is supposed
to be very cold tonight so I cut lots of flowers from the garden and
brought them in -- now the kitchen looks so festive.

The roses in tonight's drawing, could be an Inktober drawing but
I did it four years ago.  To me roses are celebratory, and although
we don't have any at the moment we have a lot of garden flowers.
Happy Canadian Thanksgiving.  October in our family is packed
with celebration.

Have a loving your life day.

Happy Thanksgiving

The only important message on this weekend here in
Canada is Happy Thanksgiving!  Families and friends
all over the country have spent the weekend gathering
together to express our gratitude for the bounty of
the harvest, for each other, and for the planet.

I love Thanksgiving because it includes everyone.
It is not about religion, it's about gratitude for what
we have, and sharing a meal with the people we
care about.  There are no gifts other than food and
good company.  It is a wonderful holiday.

I am taking a break today, so for now best wishes for
a very happy day on the last day of this long weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving.

So grateful for artist friends and our community -- an art weekend

Me with the artist Jennifer Hinrichs and her

beautiful work The River, (see below).

The River

Acrylic on canvas
30 x 30 inches

Jennifer Hinrichs © 2019

On Thursday night we stopped in at the Aird Gallery in its

new location at 906 Queen Street West.  My friend Jennifer Hinrichs
had a piece accepted into their juried show Paint which runs until
November first.  The gallery was packed both with paintings, and
with eager art lovers -- always a treat to see.

It's a wonderful show, so if you can make it, go and take a
look.  The gallery is in the basement of the building, and they are
hoping to expand.   It's in a great area with lots of restaurants and
all of the good things the city offers.

Jennifer's piece River makes you want to do what the young girl
in the painting is about to do -- find some water to swim in
and jump in.  Oh for summer!  It's cold tonight and the thought
of a hot summer day is a treat.

Today we went to the Art Gallery of Ontario, had a delicious lunch
in the Member's Lounge, and went to see the Rubens exhibition.  I
loved the quote they had on the wall, and thought "right on Rubens
 -- good attitude!" Rubens said, "I confess that I am by natural instinct
better fitted to execute very large works than small curiosities.  Everyone
according to his gifts; my talent is such that no undertaking, however vast
in size or diversified in subject, has ever surpassed my courage."  He
wrote this in a letter to William Trumbull dated September 13, 1621.

I'm not fond of his paintings of sad religious images with figures lying
in agony bleeding, but I do love his portraits and needless to say, the man
could really paint. And size did not scare him.  He was telling the truth.
Some of the works are very large in scale.

Home to my own humble studio, and time with the family again.
We went for a walk in the park, and enjoyed the art of the natural
world, and the beautiful moon tonight.

Have a loving art, and a Happy Thanksgiving weekend day.