Thursday, February 11, 2010

Funny people



Journal sketches
(carrying on the theme from last night I found these
two sketches of Steven sleeping with a pillow
over his head -- in a journal filled
with writing about art, these are
the only two drawings)
black marker on notebook paper
9 x 6
Barbara Muir © 2010



Man sleeping
Journal Sketch
9x 6
Barbara Muir © 2010

Okay I forgot something when I talked about my
addictions the other day. I really, really love
humour. In fact it's one of the things I live for.
Sometimes it doesn't seem like such a funny
world, but funny people don't take long
at all to see the humour even in desperate
situations. So...funny is something I crave.
This preference gets me into trouble
when humour is inappropriate, which it
often is.

To that end I have stayed up way past any
sensible bed time to watch Jon Stewart and
Steven Colbert. And tonight talked on Skype
too late given my 5:45 morning wake up
for school, laughing my head off with a friend
who lives in the American southwest. It
is so different there it isn't even funny.

Except it is. What I mean is planting season
really never goes away, and people there
are getting their seedlings ready for
the garden. You could do that here, but
it's going to snow tomorrow and you can't count on reliable heat until
after May 24, and if we had a summer like
2009, maybe not ever.

Enough though. Fatigue does kill humour.
I shared some laughs with friends in the
neighbourhood tonight, and then went
home to talk to USA. Funny artists need
one another, because we've all suffered
through art school classes with pompous
self involved people cranking out Mozart
and insisting on silence while they work
at their oeuvres. We confuse oeuvres with
oeufs here in Canada - eggs, and serious
people silently painting to classical music
sometimes trigger unappreciated fits of
laughter.

Have a loving-what's-funny day.

6 comments:

Gwen Bell said...

What a great post! Humor is such an important part of life. Laughing at the thought of you laughing at pretentious Artists.

"The Inappropriate Laugh". Ah, I know it too too well. Brings to mind the time my sister & I burst into hysterical laughter at a Great Uncle's funeral. We tried our best to make it look like we were sobbing but we really didn't know him that well. Sigh.

cohen labelle said...

True, Barbara.
They say that love and laughter make the world go around. And if there's love and laughter during the night that's even better!
I like the drawings of him, i.e. the sleeping Steven -a great time to observe - time well spent!

xoxxoxoxo
Marcia

Melinda said...

Another great post, Barbara, and I love these drawings of Steven. Was he trying to sleep through a Skype chat?!

My wish for you is that today is full of inexplicable energy because you made time for laughter and fun. I know I am feeling that way today.

Virtual hugs!

Barbara Muir said...

Hi Gwen,

I cringe when I think of my art school classes and the silence cop kids who played endless classical music and painted the figure using sponges, no line, no colour, just the squares of the sponge impression. 7 or 8 hits of the sponge made a figure. Nice girl and guy -- no humour. I would have loved to paint to Aretha, or great rock, or something funky with a beat. Or...nothing. Nothing against classical music. I love it, but it's sombre when you're 18.

xoxoxoxoxoBarbara

Barbara Muir said...

Hi Marcia,

I'll take my love and laughter at any time of day. But it's true I'm more awake in the afternoon and evening.

The drawings are not new -- perhaps a few years old. One day I'm going to date the covers of my journals, and maybe even have those little tabs sticking up with the dates. You make me very creative.

xoxoxoxoxoBarbara

Barbara Muir said...

Hey Melinda,

It did work out that way. I've been painting like the dickens. (Brit chat for you.) Couldn't stop. I look a little rough around the edges, but I did get my artistic thing together.

Glad you're feeling happy today.

Now you are one funny person.

xoxoxoxoxoxBarbara

Portrait Artist

My photo
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
I paint and draw on commission and for shows. To commission a portrait, or purchase one of my paintings please contact me at: barbara.muir@sympatico.ca
A major highlight in my career? Drawing Oprah Winfrey live via Skype for her show "Where in the Skype are you? Galleries: Studio Vogue Gallery, Toronto, Canada. The Amsterdam Whitney Gallery, New York City. Gallery at the Porch Door, Kingston, Canada. Your positive comments on this blog mean the world to me. I'd love to hear from you!