Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Gallery at the Porch Door -- so much fun

 Home grown beauty (work in progress)
Acrylic on wood panel
5 x 5 inches
Barbara Muir © 2011
(This year my husband Steven planted
tulips and daffodils in abundance in
our small front porch garden.  The
other day I cut a few to paint -- but the
difference between tulips from the
garden and the ones grown in greenhouses,
is that one bloom could fill my entire painting.  So
gorgeous!)

Here's a little painting I started working on a couple
of days ago.  It's not quite finished because there
are one or two other things going on.  Isn't that
the way it should be?  Today I went on a day
trip with my friend Josephine to visit Sally Chupick
at her new gallery -- the Gallery at the Porch Door.
Check it out on her blog. (By the way while
I was writing here, Sally had already installed my work!)
The Gallery at the Porch Door

Watching Sally choose my work was fun.
She laid it all out on the floor, and kept adding
pieces as the arrangement formed in her
mind. 
It's quite exciting when blog friends meet.  I
think we're especially lucky because we get to
know one another in the first place because we
like each other's work.  But then we talk to one
another through our comments, sometimes for
years at a time before we meet, and we are
purely positive.  So before we ever see one another
we have a unique, and quite wonderful relationship.
At the International Women Celebrate show I met
three blog friends I'd never seen in person, and we had a
great connection.  Then today I got to meet Sally,
and it was just so over the top delightful.
She is every bit as fantastic as she seems on her blog.
Her gallery is charming and elegant, her house
beautiful, and her work is so magnificent -- photos
do not do it justice.  Still I'll try.
Painting by Sally Chupick on the gallery wall.
A quick snap at an example of one of 
Sally's lush seaside townscapes.
It was quite a long journey, and we even managed
to get lost, so Josephine and I were tired when
we arrived. I was so in the moment that I forgot
to get a photo of me with Josephine and Sally,
or of Sally and me, or of Sally with her husband
Dave, who did all the fabulous construction and
design work to make her gallery happen. Still I will
get more photos of all of us the next time. 

Sally really liked my work, and will showcase quite
a bit of it in her gallery.  Hurray!  Three cheers
for Sally.  Three cheers for Josephine.  (Thank
you Josephine for getting us home safely through
that unrelenting rain).

Have a-showing-in-a-new-venue day.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your long and informative post, it was really great to meet you...i know i couldn't believe i forgot to get pictures of us!!! duh. the painting is called: "Everything About It, But Nothing In Particular" . I am going to make a link from my post to your blog too. Thanks Barbara (and Josephine too for being a travel buddy and all around lovely person)I love your work hanging in the gallery!

laura said...

I love the inside of red tulips--have tried to capture it.
The gallery looks great, how wonderful! And I love Sally's painting--that peachy light is a balm!

Barbara Muir said...

Hi Sally,

That's right. I've been listening to Seth Godin and he says we like the blog comments short. The writer in me wants to keep going. Thank you so much for everything. The work looks so great in your elegant space. It was such a treat to meet you and Dave.

XO Barbara

Barbara Muir said...

Hi Laura,

You are so right. Every one of Sally's paintings is a balm for the soul. The gallery is just super -- it's small, but that makes it cozy, and it is a model of how to make the best and most elegant use of a small space. I am thrilled to be showing there.

XOBarbara

Kim Rempel said...

Barbara! Wow - do those ever look fantastic laid out like that! Sunny and bright and full of joy - just like the artisrt : ) Congrats!

Barbara Muir said...

Hi Kim,

We paint them one by one. Each one a unique consideration. So it's cool to have someone who has never seen your work put them together in a certain order and design. So fascinating and fun.

XO Barbara

Karen Bruson said...

Wonderful! Your paintings look great all together. Can't wait to meet a fellow blogger.

Barbara Muir said...

Hi Karen,

I'd love to meet you. Bring some paintings up to Canada -- to Toronto and let's have a coffee together.
XOBarbara

suzannepaints said...

Great work. Keep it up. You Toronto painters have very creative ideas.

Barbara Muir said...

Hi Suzanne,

Thanks so much. I'm delighted that you like my work.

Take care,

Barbara

Linny D. Vine said...

Barbara and Sally!! I'm certain that your paintings are having a great time hanging out (and being gorgeous) together!!

Anonymous said...

Hi Barbara,
You're welcome - I'd do it for you again in an instant.

Your friend Sally is wonderful and very kind (thank you Sally for the warm hospitality).

Best wishes on this beautiful new venue.

Love,
Josephine

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!