Wednesday, May 2, 2018

What's in a name? Magic


The ocean series in the kitchen getting ready to be 
photographed. This part of the series showed in New 
York city, and here in Toronto.  And these paintings 
started me on my exploration of clouds, and water
scenes.

Preparing for the Water for Life exhibition has taken a number
of months.  And tomorrow that big painting is jumping in a
van and driving to Niagara Falls.  Yes!  The build up to this moment
has been intense.  And after the work arrives there is a week to wait until
the show opens.

I was going to write about the water crisis again, but then I wrote
the painting's name on the back tonight, and now I want to talk about
that name.  Cloud Magic.

My fascination with the beauty and magnificence of water landscapes
began in my childhood in a setting something like the one in last
night's painting -- a rural lake in Northern Ontario.  And after my husband
and I bought a little school house in Nova Scotia, and spent every
day of our vacation there walking on the beach by the ocean, I was
more than in love with ocean and water views.

Before that I had been a flower and a portrait painter, but I started
an Ocean series of portraits connected by a bar, which was the sand
in the chosen landscape of the sitter.  Before long the magic of ocean
vistas demanded to be painted alone, without people.  And in Nova
Scotia and the Maritimes, clouds dominate your view.  They are the
most magnificent, huge, billowing, clouds I have ever seen in my life.
I had to paint them, to share that magic with my collectors.

Which is how we get to Cloud Magic, my ocean scene painting for
this show.  But tonight I will show you some of the ocean series
paintings.

Have an enjoying the magic in your life day.

2 comments:

Flora said...

Congratulations Barbara! I can't wait to see your Ocean Magic Painting. How fitting that it would be revealed at Niagara Falls. Take lots of photos for us! xo

Barbara Muir said...

Thank you so much Flora,

It is called Cloud Magic. And yes nothing could be more fitting for a painting about water
than a city listening to the roar of the falls 24/7. I had never seen them before Friday,
and they are magnificent.

XOXOXOXOXOXO Barbara

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!