Please --More pansies!
Acrylic on canvas
6 x 6 inches
Barbara Muir © 2013
When I was studying at OCAD I had a favoriteteacher who seemed like a comic. I drew my
first nude male at 17 in his class. The model
was a very overweight, pasty, white man in his
50s, and my teacher helped a group of shocked,
innocent kids concentrate on drawing, and get
over their embarrassment and learn to describe
form.
That teacher was incredibly exacting in his own
work. He refined and refined and was really never
satisfied with what he'd done. Some of his watercolours
sold for $15,000 dollars. But he'd go into museums and
take them out of the frame and keep working. His one
relief from sad subject matter -- decrepit, rotting, old
houses, sagging, depressed, older bodies -- was pansies.
Every spring he painted dozens of pansy paintings and
sold them all. They were bright, cheerful, joyous
watercolours. Completely out of step with his usual work.
I have always loved this flower -- so brave and cheerful
in the cold of Canadian early spring, and resurfacing in
garden stores in the fall. So here's another little pansy painting
tonight.
The story? Check out the movie Love is All You Need
with Trine Dyrholm, and Pierce Brosnan -- a beautiful,
sensitive and joyous love story. Set mostly on the Amalfi coast,
in Italy it was a total visual treat as well. Delightful.
