Poppies, Canada Day and Baby's Birthday

 Holiday Poppies

Acrylic on canvas

8 x 8 inches

Barbara Muir © 2012

I think that should be in the reverse order because the
main thing on our minds today is my older son's birthday.
And of course Christopher will always be our baby. A few
minutes ago Steven and I sat in the kitchen reading my journal
 from the year Christopher was born.  At the time I was working
 selling drawings in coloured pencil and black pen and ink, and
 translating articles from French to English. That is hard to believe
 now when I have to work hard at remembering my French.

Christopher Sleeping 

(journal drawing)

marker on paper

Barbara Muir © 2012

The painting today is of poppies, loosely based on the poppies
in our garden, one of my favorite flowers.

People gather at sunset to watch the fireworks.

We sat on the rocks at the beaches.  The man in

the foreground is holding a dog in a towel.

In the far distance you can barely see the CN Tower.

Yesterday was Canada Day, and Steven and I and Sam went
over to the Beaches to watch the fireworks out over the water.
We go to the water treatment plant at Victoria Park, and watch
the fireworks at Ashbridges Bay from there.  It's far less crowded
and much more human.  One of my favorite things about
the evening was listening to a little four year old girl, who was
lying in the sand proclaiming "oh my that is so colourful, that
is so beautiful! This is a great party!"  Her enthusiasm was
particularly impressive because we waited 3/4 of an hour for
the fireworks to start, and the mosquitoes at the water were
incredibly thick. 

The moon over Lake Ontario at the beaches, Toronto on

Canada Day.

The drawing today is of Christopher from my diary.  Now
I have to go and wrap his presents.  Happy Birthday Christopher.
You rock.

Fridays are for family

Hi there,

If I get home from the restaurant where my son works on time I'll say something more here. Otherwise have a lovely evening. I am marking the last of the exams and some essays. Outside my window the sun's last glorious peach light is illuminating our old maple and its deep red buds. Spring is rushing in and I am rushed. It was hot outside today when the dog begged me to take a break. The backyard garden thick with grass is
popping up Tulips and working on spreading Forget-me-nots everywhere. Soon we'll have
bright red tulips against a sea of blue, and then
the white apple blossoms and cherry blossoms
and on and on in the wonder that is May.

Have a festive evening.

Enjoying everyday plenty

For the past couple of years I've
been combining still life and
portrait paintings, sometimes
linking them. The first of these
paintings is shown here. It
depicts our kitchen table in full
summer dress confusion. True
the pansies had to be propped
on a book. But the book was
there because my son was
in a baking phase, making
Reagan Daley's scrumptious
chocolate cake from scratch.
I just changed the colour.

The sugar bowl is the antique
kind I've collected for years,
bigger than the coffee cups.


We grow nasturtiums and
pansies every year, and we
always have fruit in the footed
glass bowls.

When students are trying to figure out what to write
about I tell them the old rule of starting with what's
right in front of you. Sometimes when it's time to
paint I have no idea where to begin. Then I lean
on my own advice and paint the bounty I live in
every day. In all my work I'm trying to capture
the joy I feel matters in life -- I wish joy could
be the core of life for everyone.

I'm including a photo of one of the bouquets
cheering up the kitchen today.

Have a thankful day.

Ospreys and Killdeers setting up house

I am a big fan of the bird. I think
they know this. That must be why
the Osprey at school always announces
her return by flying as close to me as
possible -- not in a threatening way,
but in a "Hi Barbara -- see- how- beautiful- I- am -way." Yep. The Ospreys are back at King, and
there are babies in the huge nest made
out of large twigs sitting on top of one
of the very tall light standards in the
parking lot. These birds are awe-inspiring.

http://pelotes.jea.com/AnimalFact/Birds/osprey.htm
I parked my car almost as far away from school
as I could so I'd get a walk in, because
I was in class most of the day. Tonight
walking by the remaining snow banks
I noticed a Killdeer frantically trying to
get my attention about 10 feet from the car.
I remember a Sunday school
picnic when I was a little girl,
where the picnic committee had
to place a wooden box
over a Killdeer nest right in the middle of
the field. Killdeers remind me of the people who
buy houses right beside the airport, and then
complain of the noise. Hello! They are always
at the wrong place at the wrong time, poor birds.

I have a massive amount of marking to do, so
talk to you tomorrow.

I'm putting in a picture of the flower shops
yesterday. Today it was so warm that I stood
outside in the sun without a coat to call Steven on
a break.

Have an airborne day

Oh boy the pansies are back!

Hi,

Today was a great day for signs of spring. Steven likes to buy me
flowers every weekend as part of his Valentine's gift. The trip to
the flower store for locally grown roses (yellow this week) takes me by a window with what seems like
the ideal portrait chair (covet, covet). Today in front of that window
there were tulips getting ready to come up. It's still mighty cold,
but the bike is out of the snow bank (abandoned), and children are
walking along in T-shirts and shorts. Not me. It's spring, but with
a crisp chill in the air. We bought pansies and stuck them in our
huge planters out front. They look a bit lost, but I love them
I picked some. Yes! And brought them in to put in a little jug.
Expect a Pansie painting soon, when the marking is done.

Have a creatively flowering day!

Spring cleaning

Fiona is tired because we've
been working hard today.
These are some of this week's
beautiful roses from Steven in
a brilliant blue vase I picked up at a garage sale last May.
I don't think of myself as the spring cleaning type, but perhaps the warm weather means that one thing leads to another. To take the paintings to the show, I had to empty out
my little Mazda 3, which was filled with boxes destined
for the Sally Ann (Salvation Army). The boxes must have
been in my trunk and back seat for six months. So we put
them in the front hall, and there were more in the living room and dining
room (otherwise known as my studio). Today we carried those boxes
plus six more that we filled with things we simply aren't using out
to the car, and over to the Sally Ann. There was a brand new food
processor, and two of those things you use to shred vegetables.
Apparently we don't do that. We wrapped up china, and boxed
up clothes and felt really virtuous...until we got home and saw
that we could easily fill at least six more boxes. But ultimately
there is a bit more space in all the lower kitchen cabinets.
Some sad CDs have gone to a new home. Even the studio--
which is always a bit chaotic is looking tidier. But then nobody's
painted anything today, but a Happy St. Patrick's Day sign.

Have a "make way for the new" day.