Favourite stop -- a great start

Untitled (Work in progress)

Acrylic on canvas

24 x 24 inches

Barbara Muir © 2017

Here's a painting I've been working on -- another landscape --
a bit different because it's at a favourite place to stop on the
way to Nova Scotia, on the St. Lawrence River in Québec.
The feeling of peace, and the light when we pull into this
park is unparalleled.  I want to stay, but there is a long
journey ahead of us, and we have no idea where to eat nearby.
(Sure to be a place -- because Quebécers care passionately about
food -- but we don't know where it is and when we get to this
place we have two provinces to go.)

I've been thinking about gratitude today all day -- to the market
farmers who take my order via email, and save the best eggs,
a quiche, carrots, potatoes and greens for me every Saturday,
even while they're packing up because they know I'll arrive
late in the day.  And I am so grateful to the flower store, that
knows what I like to buy, and what I'd like to paint, and give to
clients.  And of course to you

Have a dreaming-of-somewhere-peaceful day.

The thrill of finishing up

Untitled (Work in Progress)

Acrylic on canvas

36 x 48 inches

Barbara Muir © 2016

Here's what I'm working on.  I'll tell you more tomorrow
when I hope to be all finished -- every last detail.  But I
am so close in this image.

I wish I could have posted more on my blog, but painting
has filled my days lately.  And I admit that's a pretty
wonderful way to spend my time, even when I am nervous
from time to time and trying to figure things out, and
occupied night and day with thoughts of where it is, and
where it's going.

As another artist said to me today -- "Aren't we lucky!"
I can't imagine a life without a serious passion.

A toast to all my fellow artists.  I will try to catch up --
soon.  But for now back to painting.

Have a loving-what-you-do day.

You do have time!

Wonder Water series -- just back from

the Florence Biennale, 

heading out to New York City.

I hover on the edge of never wanting to post anything but
my best work, and wanting to keep in touch with
my blog friends while I'm creating something new.
This is a wildly busy month with two shows at the end of
the month, and one coming up in May.  I am painting like crazy,
but don't want to show you unfinished work.  Plus I'm
teaching. But I'm also listening to Mike Dooley, who writes
the Notes from the Universe, to help myself calm down in my
travels around town.  One of Mike's affirmations is,
"You do have time!"  I am well aware that we program
ourselves constantly, and I hit on that one today.  That's
why I'm here tonight writing you.

Today I'm showing you the combo of paintings called
the Wonder Water Series that went to Florence, Italy,
via Vienna, and returned recently in perfect condition.
That is always a worry when work travels.

These paintings have just come home for a brief visit, and the
portraits will go in a show I'm in Painting Passions,
with Gill Cameron, opening at the Wychwood Barns,
on April 22, and running to April 24.  Then those two
portraits will combo up again with the landscape and head off to
New York City, where they'll show for a month at
the Amsterdam Whitney Gallery in Chelsea, NYC,
opening on May 14th.  More about both shows next
week.

Meanwhile I wanted to tell you about a wonderful
thing my late night self ordered -- the Sketchbox.
What a treat in a high pressure month, to get this
present (from myself) in the mail.  I sat down
immediately and did a fast drawing of some
pansies.  Following the lead of Danny Gregory
who sketches everything.

 

Pansies in April

Sketch

Ink, marker, watercolour, watercolour crayons

8 x 8 inches

Barbara Muir © 2016 

It's a quick sketch, but I used the bright red ink,
the green marker, the black line drawing markers,
the white resist paint, plus my own watercolours
and watercolour crayons, oh and the lovely little
brush in the box just to try them out.   I was inspired
to try Sketchbox by Kim Van Der Hoek, a
wonderful painter, who posted a little video
on Facebook about it.  And I thought I'd show you
what came in mine this month. No I am not being
sponsored by Sketchbox -- right now it's snowing like
crazy in April, I think we could all use some fun!

Have an "you do have time" day.

Not even close -- more and more fantastic!

 No Contest -- Nature Wins

Acrylic on Canvas

30 x 30 inches

Barbara Muir © 2016

(This is a corner in Amherst, Nova Scotia,

and the edge of a parking lot. I was

asked to do something urban with

my clouds.  And this is it.  It could

be a corner in a suburb anywhere in

Canada really. )

You know how you think your life is going to be?
Do you? You fall in love, learn how to do something
to make some money, do your job and have your kids,
and that's it.  All that is beyond wonderful, when it
works, and I have been really over the moon lucky,
because like the Facebook one liners say -- love IS
what matters.  I am well aware that life can be hard
as hell, and I've been there too, but I think it's important
to welcome the happy dance when it comes your way.

What they don't say is that life can just get more and
more amazing, and richer, and funnier, and more
delicious and delightful, and you can get more friends,
and if you leave the job that was there forever, but
started to wear thin, new stupendous opportunities
can fly in to dazzle you.  No I haven't been drinking --
just milk (seriously -- oh and tea at the Art Gallery
of Ontario -- but what an amazing week.)

I got my painting finished for the Scape show (landscapes)
at the Super Wonder Gallery -- with a love blast,
overwhelmingly, marvellous interruption in the process
in the final hours of our lovely granddaughter being
born -- perfect and gorgeous.

Alice with her Dad

How I ever went back to the easel is beyond me,
but I did. Whew.

 Me with In the City,

at the Scape show this weekend

on until February 4th between 2 and 8 p.m.

(This is the painting inspired by a 

Howard Wolinsky photo.)

Acrylic on canvas

36 x 48 inches

Barbara Muir © 2016

Two openings later, and yesterday an afternoon with
Alice Isabel Vincett Muir and her mom and dad, and
we are exhausted today, but filled with a giddy joy.
(Were you picking up on that?)  As there were other
visitors to the baby today we visited the Art Gallery
of Ontario, and saw the Turner show again.  We also saw a
super Stella, a Claes Oldenburg hamburger, Paul
Peel's beautiful work, a Monet,  and a Gaugin.

Tonight I'm planning my work for next month's show,
so that's all for now.  Whew.  I'll keep you posted.

Here's the show invite, in case you missed it.  It's a great show,
check it out if you're in town.

 

Have an enjoying-the-happiness-life-gives-you day.

Homesick and a friend's gift

 Clouds over the bay

Acrylic on archival canvas board

6 x 6 inches

Barbara Muir © 2014

Our first week back in Toronto is always
a rough one.  It's hard not to miss the Maritimes,
and even the drive from Pugwash to Toronto
through Fredericton, Quebec City and Montreal.
Canada you are beautiful, and if you've never
been here, this is a drive that will dazzle you.

A few months ago a friend I met through
FaceBook asked for someone to write her
each day saying that they had meditated.
I agreed without thinking -- my motive
being to "help out with a project."  Ha!
I committed to 5 minutes a day, for one
month.  We reported faithfully to one
another daily for 3 months.  The result is
that I am doing guided meditations from the
Internet for between 15 and 25 minutes a
day.

The formal reporting is over, but during the
process I have gained a wonderful friendship,
and a habit that is changing my life.

Here's the list of benefits of meditating I
sent to her.

1.  I can now relax with greater ease, much more
 quickly than I could before.

2.  I've always believed in the power of the
mind, but I've been blown away by the power
of the breath to calm the body and the mind.

3. I care about being positive, but meditation has
helped me tap into the well of positive
thought I have inside me, and to stay in the positive,
even when circumstances or people are hard.

4.  I've learned the importance of daily dedication
 to my own peace of mind.

5. I've re-affirmed the importance of a concerned
 and encouraging friend when starting a new activity.
My friend's interest, suggestions, and dedication,
and strength of purpose have meant the world to me.

6. I've been so impressed with how a small amount
 of time -- anywhere between 5 and 30 minutes can
 change the tenor of a day, increase my energy.

7. I've connected with the infinite possibilities available,
when I do want to meditate.  Understanding that I could
never explore all of the wonderful guided meditations,
audio meditations and meditation scripts available through
 the internet has given me a clear and impressive
example of the bounty of the universe.

8. Words have always mattered to me.  I have
written guided visualization scripts, and shared
them with groups of people,  but I am hyperconscious
of the destructive nature of negative words right now.
That doesn't mean I don't think and speak negatively,
it means that I instantly recognize that I want to stop
when I do now.  Plus I can move away from other
people's negative words more easily now -- just
deciding that that's their issue, not mine.

9. I am lighter in spirit, even more connected to
the beauty of the planet, than ever before.

10. I have always been a happy person, but I am
 easily 1,000 times happier than ever before.

So thank you so much.

Maybe your life is idyllic and you don't need
meditation.  But I think it's good for artists to be
able to unwind. Our job involves the potential
for over the moon excitement, coupled with
stage fright and anxiety.  I am endlessly
grateful to my friend for inspiring me to take
this on, and make it part of my day.

Have a thanking-a-friend-day.

Land and madeleines

Before I start I've been thinking about Proust, not because
I'm a fan, but because in an attempt to escape the sad
recounting of how Canada may have capitulated to power
in the vote, we went to a bookstore that has a good coffee
shop and drank decaf with madeleines, Proust's famous
shell-shaped cookies. If those cookies could transport
Proust back in memory, driving my school route with
Steven takes us over the road of lost lives. The farm
Steven worked on north of Toronto as a 15 year old boy,
is gone, the land covered in houses. The farm where
we bought our vegetables and wonderful Ontario
wine until a year ago is gone, succumbed to the same fate.

Here's a little painting I've been working on, which seems
appropriate tonight because I'm thinking about the land
-- Canada and land as a concept. A new government will
rule us tomorrow, and I hope in my heart of hearts that
that gang will respect both the country, and the land.
All around Toronto land is disappearing. This isn't poor
scrub land, no good for anything, but housing developments
anyway. This is prime farm land -- the bread basket of
Ontario. And it's tragic to cover it with cheap tract
housing, that will be ploughed under in 20 years because
it won't hold up. As I drive to school I watch acre after
acre of this beautiful country -- golden trees, forests
of pine, fields of daisies, places where hawks soar,
swallowed up by badly built homes.

Landscape in progress,
acrylic on canvas

So here's my little painting. Canada has a proud landscape
tradition stretching back before the famous Group of Seven.
Even in the early 1920's painters were hurrying to capture
the raw, wild, natural beauty of this place, before it
was invaded by industry. Landscape is not my
strength, but each time I paint a landscape I honour
my friends who do. Vote carefully my friends.

Have a proud-of-the-land day.

Weird day

While we were shopping for groceries at a Superstore north of
the city, an amazingly powerful lightning storm hit.
The roof of the high steel building reverberated with hit after
hit of lightning, but held. Then one of the indoor water pipes
broke and water gushed down into the store in a torrent like
a waterfall. The aisles started flooding dramatically and an
announcement came on over the loud speaker that the store
was being evacuated.

Steven said that would be a Sev 1 incident, meaning it was severe
enough to shut down business. They were letting people out through
just one door, and I asked if they could open another one.
So they did. The storm cleared up just as we were walking to our
car, and we drove home through blue sky and sunshine.
Thank you universe. Here's a very small 3" x 6" landscape of
a sunny, fall Ontario scene I painted a few years ago.

Have a calm and peaceful day!