Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Blog friends are real


Getting a big canvas going.
My friend Flora Doehler
an artist blogger we visited in Bear
River, Nova Scotia, said she
wanted pictures that show the
scale of paintings. Here I'm putting
the ground on an 36 x 48 inch stretched canvas.

For all my blog friends out in the world I have
some excellent news. Not only are blog friendships
real, but friendships started independently of
blogging can deepen and become more meaningful
because of blog connections. When I was in Nova
Scotia I spent a lot of time at the lovely Chatterbox
Café. My friend Norene Smiley is the reason I
started blogging.


Norene at the Chatterbox Café
She and a couple of friends
set up a blog to both celebrate and advertise
a show they were having in Dartmouth, near
Halifax, Nova Scotia. They wrote a blog about their
progress, and I wanted to be able to respond and
write encouraging comments to Norene and her
friends. Norene's paintings are very exciting for me.
She uses layers, and layers of acrylics, scratches into
the paint, wipes paint on and off, plays with and delights
in the medium. Just after we arrived at our school house
she had an opening in a group show at the Fraser Cultural
Center in Tatamagouche and Steven and I went out to see it.


Norene with some of her work from the Alien Gardens
series. She is currently working on a series inspired
by the salt mine and the ships that come to Pugwash,
Nova Scotia to collect the salt we all use and carry it off
to Montreal and other ports to be shipped out for your
fries.

As Norene runs an incredibly vibrant and successful
café in the small town of Pugwash with her husband
Greg, she is a very busy woman. So if I visit the Chatterbox
every day I maybe get to see her for about 10 hours a
year. Yet we have a connection because she sometimes
comments on my blog, and Greg occasionally features her work on
his Pugwash blog, TLJ Thoughts.
One of the most exciting times on our visit out east was when
Norene invited me downstairs into her studio below the
café to see her current series. Big, powerful, Diebenkorn
like industrial pieces. Abstract with vibrant colour.

I am working on a number of paintings now, so I'll have
to continue my tales of artist friendships through the
blog tomorrow.

Meanwhile have a that's-right-my-friends-on-the-blog-
are-inspiring-to-the-max day

6 comments:

belindadelpesco.com said...

Yay for online blogging friendships and artists connecting over the net. We are lucky little critters to live in this time. High five and a fist bump to you, my friend, from across the continent. :)

Liza Hirst said...

How nice to see you in your sunny house! And I am looking forward to seeing the developement of this big canvas, too.
What would I have done in this wilderness without blogging?!!
Thanks to the blogger's world for saving me from isolation! Admittedly I am exaggerating a bit, but our friendships are indeed wonderful!

Barbara Muir said...

Hi Belinda,

Yay for sure! We are so lucky to live now -- high five and fist bump
(you made me laugh with that one -- thinking about Steven Colbert)back at
you across the continent and two countries. I do feel completely blessed to be able to see the great work you do.

xoxoxoxoxoxoBarbara

Barbara Muir said...

Hi Liza,

No! Are you exaggerating? A bit? Funny. But you can be isolated as an artist even in a big city if you don't find artists who understand you. I've been lucky both with my local artist community and in the wider world. And the international friendships are definitely connected to the blog.

So glad you're back to blogging. Love your work!

xoxoxoxoxoxBarbara

flo said...

love seeing 'getting a big canvas going', friend of mine. I feel myself getting back to brush in hand status...

Nicki said...

I liked this story! Yay for friends!

:)
Nicki

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!