Sunday, September 30, 2018

The beautiful Maritimes fly south



Moody Beauty
Acrylic on canvas
30 x 30 inches
Barbara Muir © 2018
One more painting that will show in New York at the Amsterdam
Whitney Gallery opening on October 6, next Saturday from 3 -
6 p.m. And yes I'll be there and delighted to see you if you'd
like to attend the opening.

This work, Moody Beauty, underscores the truth for me -- that
the Maritimes (and our drive out there from Toronto) are always
beautiful.  Grey day, sunny day -- every day astonishes with
its endless views of magnificent land -- much of it untouched by
the vicissitudes of progress, and overconstruction we see
in the urban environment.  Don't get me wrong -- I'm a city
woman, but that makes every trip I take to the country all
the more precious. 

Have a loving your country time day

Thursday, September 27, 2018

More for New York -- and they've arrived!


Higher Love
Acrylic on canvas
36 x 48 inches
Barbara Muir © 2018

Happy news today -- this piece and three others arrived
in New York City and will be on display at the
Amsterdam Whitney Gallery for the month of October.
My Gallery director was delighted, and says all four
will be showcased beautifully!  Woo Hoo.   I've been painting
round the clock for the past few weeks trying to finish
the work, and am ready to breathe a massive sigh
of relief.

Shown today is a painting based on the pond in the
park behind the Brick Works in Toronto.  It's a big
happy piece expressing my joy in visiting the
Brick Works market and the beautiful park out
behind the market with this lovely wild space.
Lately the pond has been home to a massive
turtle. But he wasn't there when I started this
painting last February.

Have a loving-where-you-live- day.

Tuesday, September 18, 2018

New work for New York


The Moon's Out Early Today
work in progress 
Acrylic on canvas
30 x 30 inches
Barbara Muir © 2018

I feel like I just got back from travelling to the east coast.  Well we arrived home
just over two weeks ago, but the Maritimes are still deep in my mind,
thick in my soul, and wrapped around me like a warm blanket of thought,
imagination, and beauty.

This is the landscape we hit when we're driving to Nova Scotia that tells
us we are almost there.  And it's the passage through the Maritimes that
breaks our hearts when we're heading back to Toronto, our home.  So
the place is as thick with memories as the paint I used to create the
fields.  Such beauty -- and of course the clouds of the Maritimes, and I
couldn't resist a day moon against the deepest blue sky.

Have a loving your memories day.

Tuesday, September 11, 2018

My thoughts on 9/11 posted first in 2016 (revised)



In the right place at the right time
Acrylic on canvas
36 x 48 inches
Barbara Muir © 2016
SOLD 
I first posted this blog on 9/11 2016.  It says everything I want to say about 9/11 --
the day my father died -- some years before the 9/11 attacks in New York City.
It now comes out that many people have died, and that people are continuing to develop
serious, often fatal cancers from exposure to cancer causing dust and fumes spread 
when the towers fell. This story is about what can happen when we join together in
 friendship -- and there was never a time in the world when that was more important.


Under the beautiful window, on the left you see my painting
In the right place at the right time, which is in the right place
as part of the Kunst in Drimmelin exhibition,  in the Netherlands
Thank you to Kunst in Drimmelin for the photo, to Miranda Brouwers,
Rolf Leemeijer and Vittorio Dorigo for everything.  You all mean the world to me.

Another photo of the Kunst in Drimmelin show in the Restaurant Onze Kerk,
from the exhibition photographers, showing my work on the left and 
and to the right you see half of my friend Miranda Brouwers' gorgeous
landscape diptych, plus many other super artworks.  
My Dear Father,

I think of you every year on this date because you died on 9/11 some
years before the tragedy in New York City.  For me your death,
and the devastation and sorrow New York experienced blend together
in a cloak of sorrow.  But this year something else is happening.
Computers -- which you were fascinated by, and the internet
have lead me to be invited to partake in wonderful exhibitions
(something you as an artist would have so enjoyed), and also
brought me some truly delightful friendships.
My friend, Miranda Brouwers' beautiful, large diptych of the Worp 
One of these -- my friendship with Miranda Brouwers who I met
in 2015 at the Florence Biennale -- has resulted in me being part of
an exhibition in the Netherlands this weekend, in a show called Kunst
in Drimmelin. I know that even if you would have had trouble telling,
me so, you would have been proud of this event, of its focus on the
environment -- something you cared about.  You might also be
surprised that I paint landscapes now too -- something you were
known for in the creative part of your life.

I think of you lost to ill health, and of the losses of all of the families
all over the world who have lost people they loved because of war, violence and
terrible and pointless hatred.  And I wish for all our sakes that
we turn to peace and saving the planet in time for our children,
your grandchildren, and mine.

I love you and miss you Daddy.

In the right place at the right time
Acrylic on canvas
36 x 48 inches


Barbara Muir © 2016

Have a creating a more loving world day! 

Tuesday, September 4, 2018

2001 -- a blog Odyssey


Magic Moonlight
Acrylic and acrylic ink on canvas
8 x 8 inches
Barbara Muir © 2018

Yes!  This is my 2001 blog!  I am ridiculously excited to tell
you that!  Why?  Because my blog has brought me every wonderful
thing in my artistic life.  I am not exaggerating.  This blog
helped me meet amazing people from all over the world.  It got
the attention of Howard Wolinsky the then Skype blogger from Chicago,
back in 2009 when Skype was huge!  And Howard's YouTube piece
got me a spot on the Oprah Winfrey show talking to Oprah on Skype.
Amazing!  Yes!

But that connection and all of the media exposure that followed
attracted the attention of the Florence Biennale, and I was
invited to participate, and have exhibited in the Biennale in Florence,
Italy twice.  What else? My gallery in New York City where I've
shown many times, and two exhibitions in the Louvre in Paris!

But most of all this blog helped me meet and learn from artists all
over the world.  It helped me get into the International Water for Life show
that will be on view in Niagara Falls at the Niagara Falls History
Museum until September 9.  I now have artist friends who help me,
 and care about my work, in Europe, in the United States, and across Canada.
These amazing people make me so happy to be part of their communities.

The painting tonight is a simple landscape from memory of
seeing spectacular moonlit nights in Nova Scotia.  I have just returned.
Nova Scotia is one of my soul's homes for sure.  I love the people and the
landscape so much.

Have an enjoying your own story day.