Working slowly and speaking at my art group

Untitled (Work in progress),  Stages 3, 4 and 5

Acrylic on canvas

36 x 48 inches (3 x 4 feet)

Barbara Muir © 2014

On Friday, February 28, I spoke at the Don Valley
Art Club about getting back to work after a serious
loss.  The theme combined my writing as a guest
blogger on Alyson Stanfield's Art Biz Blog with my
belief that one of the great motivators for making
art is a feeling of joy or happiness.  During the
evening I spoke about how hard it is to get that
feeling back after one of life's hard knocks, but
how it is vital to try. Thank you to everyone who
came out and who shared their moving stories
with me.  It was a deeply rewarding and meaningful
evening for me.

As well as fighting a terrific cold I am slowly working on a
new big painting -- an enormous change from the small
wood panels I've been painting so far this winter.

The model was a gift as I explained in my last post.
And as I keep painting more and more ideas come in.
The temptation of course is to put everything in.  But so
far it's just the mother, the baby, a grove of peach trees
and a hill or mountain up behind her.

At this point I think she's in Italy, maybe Tuscany,
because I'd love to be there, but we'll see, although
that's given me another idea. (Aha! moment).

Normally I work in a fairly ordered way, but this
time I'm using the "I'd like to" method.
That means that when I come into my studio hot
lemon drink in hand and look at the painting, I allow
myself to work on whatever appeals to me at the time.
This way it will get finished, but I won't feel
constrained.

It is still in the deep development stage, and I am
happy so far.

Have an enjoying-what-you're-working on day.
Thanks to everyone at the Don Valley Art Club
last Friday.

Starting a big one -- the kindness of strangers

 

 Untitled (Work in Progress) Stages 1 and 2

Acrylic on canvas

36 x 48 inches

Barbara Muir © 2014

I am excited about beginning a large work -- one of
three that I'll be showing together later this spring.
The model for this painting was a woman I met at
the Art Gallery of Ontario on Tuesday.  I spent
a wonderful couple of hours there looking at the
Canadian art I love and going througn The Great
Upheaval exhibit.

The day felt like a gift, and one of the reasons was
this lovely woman holding a beautiful new baby.
I have a soft spot for the look of a new mother
and baby, and this woman radiated that sweet
new love mothers have for their babies.

I had to ask her if I could take her picture.  All
I had was my phone, and when she agreed I
snapped off a few shots and gave her my card.
The baby's name is Daphne -- a lovely name.
And so this painting begins.  The woman who
is delicate and petite in real life is much larger
here on this 3 x 4 foot canvas.

This is a very early stage, so a lot could change.
But thank you Daphne and Daphne's mother.
I love the blanket with the stars, which I'm
sure will tie in with one of the other paintings
in the triptych.

Have an enjoying-the-kindness-of-strangers day.

The family goes home

The girls with Let's get this party started

Acrylic on canvas

30 x 30 inches

Barbara Muir © 2013

This painting has already lead an interesting life.
It was exhibited in a show in October in Studio
Vogue Gallery. I was talking to a friend about
that show today, and saying that I have almost
no memory of it.  Steven I had driven to Ottawa
on Tuesday night to see my mother on Wednesday.
She was dying and the family, my husband,
son Sam, sister Sally and I gathered around her
bed.  She was funny to the end, and I held her
 hand for most of the visit.

Then we drove back to Toronto, I taught on
Thursday and was at the opening of the show
on Thursday night. Then we drove back to
Ottawa to be with my mother until her death
on Thanksgiving Day.

The family I painted were like a talisman to me.
 I was so fond of them by the time the three paintings
 of their life together were finished that I actually dreaded
the end of the process.  In fact I considered
keeping going, painting a room full of paintings
of this one great family.  I may still do that,
but for now this is it.

Then for a couple of months all three paintings
hung on the wall in one of the chair's offices
at a local community college.  I like to get my
art out and working in the community. The chair who wanted
art for her office, said she loved how the work brightened
the room.  But ultimately the family wanted to own
this picture. So it travelled again.

What I loved about these five people was how
generous they were with their time.  Here were the
mother and father raising three young children
more than ready to take photos for me -- hundreds
of photos to work from.

When my mother died, I'm sure the kind
support of my gallery, the thoughtfulness of this
sweet family, my portrait subjects through months
of work, and my family and friends are what
kept me going.

So it was especially poignant for me to see the
family in person, and deliver the work.  I have
family in Ottawa, and we worked in a brief visit to
my brother and his wife. It was all good.

The family's home is beautiful, filled with
light, and my paintings as I unwrapped them
to show them, took on a whole different
life in that brilliant light.

I wished I had my camera out as the two
little girls carried in a huge tray with
a plate of tarts, and a plate of delicious
strawberries.  (John Singer Sargent
would have loved to have painted that one.)
My photos of the girls with the painting
the family bought were taken with my phone,
so forgive the blur. Their mother is a friend, but I
had never met her children before, even though I
felt like I had, having studied their faces for
so long.  They are, if possible, even more wonderful
in person.

Have a working-on-paintings-you-love day

Florentine Prince, or Toronto designer?

 The Florentine

Acrylic on canvas

12 x 16 inches

Barbara Muir © 2014

We had a wonderful model at my art group tonight --
a young graphic designer.  He was excellent at
holding a pose, and delightfully engaging and funny in the
short breaks.

All in all today was a great day in art.  I went to the Art
Gallery of Ontario, heard a wonderful lecture about the Group
of Seven in the Canadian Gallery, and went to the show
The Great Upheaval: Masterpieces from the Guggenheim
Collection on now until March 2. I stood in awe in front
of the Kandinskys -- my favorite paintings in the exhibition.
The exhibition focuses on paintings created between
1910 and 1918, a time of great change in artistic expression.
 If you're in Toronto between now and March 2, I
recommend that you check it out.

A big thank you to the model, Daniel, for being such
an instant inspiration.  The artists in our art group
were debating what he looked like.  I voted for Renaissance
Florentine prince, but people had many ideas about his
dramatic looks.

Have an enjoying-the-drama-in-your-painting day.

Happy Valentine's Day

 

 Happy Valentine's Day from the Bluebird

Acrylic on canvas

8 x 8 inches

Barbara Muir © 2014

In our house Valentine's Day is huge.  We decorate, we
talk about our favorite food, we eat more chocolate
than is at all wise, and in recent years I do a painting
for my own cards.  I love the idea of celebrating love.
That force for good is an incredible power, and I
can't thank my family and friends who love me enough
for the kindness, encouragement and wonder they've
brought into my life. And I thank them for giving me
the pleasure of loving them. 

This painting is of a Bluebird. I have only ever seen
one once, and it was quite magical.  This fall the
week after my mother died, one of my girlfriends
took me walking, as her way of helping me
recover.  We talked about nothing, or we talked
about her dog (Steven and I didn't have our dog
Sally then), and as we headed up the hill in the
park one day we saw the brightest blue in one of the bare
trees.  Up close we realized it was a bluebird, and
I felt like I'd been given a gift from the bird, the
universe, maybe even my mother, who did teach
me to feel wonder.

Here's my latest Valentine painting, and some of
the fun I've had making designs with my painting
and a painting of tulips I sold last year called
And then we were seven.

I hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day and
weekend with the people you love, doing whatever
you love to do.

Have an enjoying-everything-about-your day day.

Quick, quick -- Slooow, Sloooow

Late evening tulips 

Acrylic on birch panel

12 x 12 inches

Barbara Muir © 2014

Last month I painted 31 paintings.  It made me
feel terrific.  Some of them were complete,
and others like this painting of tulips I'm showing
you tonight were started, but not finished.

It's great to get into a rhythm of turning work
out quickly.  It feels amazing, but it's also good
to slow down, take a second, third and fourth
look and push the work to where it wants to
go.  This painting is almost there.  When it
asked for more time, and then some more,
and maybe even now more.  I listened.

The title is a quote from a former dance
teacher of mine, Theresa Kowall teaching
us how to do a jazz dance.  I loved the
sound of her voice and the feeling of the
movement of the quick step, and the slow,
sliding step. 

Sooo fun.

Have an enjoying-the-dance-of-art day.

Canvas finds its happy soul

The Fruits of Love

Work in Progress Stage 4 & 5

Acrylic on canvas

24 x 30 inches

Barbara Muir © 2014

This is the story of a canvas, good quality, on a
thick gallery style stretcher that could not get
a painting.  The first coat on it over the gesso
was the artist's classic orange base -- a colour she'd
found was kind to people's skin.  And as she was
a portrait artist, this discovery was a boon.

So she drew a big portrait of a woman on it, got
involved in other things, and forgot it.  The trouble
with the canvas at that time, was that it was large
but not large enough.  It became a spare.  One
day she wiped off the figure, and drew on a cityscape,
but it looked wrong, and once again the canvas
was forgotten.

Now, in magical 2014, no canvas is left unpainted.
Suddenly the artist, who'd been painting on very
small wood panels, wanted something bigger.  But
it was snowing, and she had a cold, and.  Ta Da!
In the corner of the studio the canvas spoke up,
"Ahem!" it said.  She pulled it out, slid a deep
magenta glaze over the orange after she wiped
off the latest charcoal drawing, and began.

The painting still needs more work, but the
canvas likes its jubilantly happy theme.  It
fairly shouts that life is wonderful, and please
enjoy it.  The canvas knows the artist is happy,
and so far it's a happy ending.

The artist didn't have much time today to work
on this happy work, but every minute was a pleasure.

Have a making-your-canvasses-happy day.