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.

A sense of wonder

I stayed late at school last night -- the last day before Reading Week
so a student could finish a paper. Luckily another prof doing a
Ph.D. in comparative mysticism visited me, and we had a great
conversation about religion, and belief, and Bill Maher's movie
Religilous. We talked about why people need religion, and I said
that even if people aren't religious, they can feel a sense of wonder
and awe at the magnificence of the natural world.

For an artist I think this sense of awe comes easily, unbidden.
In fact apparently our brains are wired differently -- so we
get into what this fellow was describing as a "trance" state just
by opening our eyes. This is a bit dangerous in traffic, but
it also means we see the whole picture -- a big part of safe
driving.

Detail of a portrait of my friend Josephine.
I've painted her many times,
and she's a superb model

The human face makes me feel that sense of spiritual connection
to all things. That's why I'm a portrait artist. Most parents
feel deeply moved looking at their child's newborn face,
and for portrait artists that feeling spreads out to include
most faces at every stage of life.

One beautiful baby

Have a appreciating-your-sense-of-wonder day.

The slow reveal

When I paint portraits I don't let the client see the work
until I feel it's ready to be seen. I'm sure this is
frustrating for the sitter, but it's much better for me.
Today Mike Dooley's daily email said, "Very, very, very happy,
Barbara, is the same as very, very happy."

This made me laugh and I thought about it all day, because
I was very, very, very happy. My client came to see the
commission for the first time. This job was delayed first
because of her broken ankle, and then mine!!!! Luckily
both of us have had a great sense of humour about it.

Portrait commission detail

Well...it's a painting of the woman with her two
cats. One of the cats needs work, because we need to
move the woman's hand over the cat's body.The cat in
tonight's image is done except for a touch up on
his leg, and cleaning up the background, and I love how he
looks. She did too I'm not a photographic portrait painter,
and have no interest in reproducing a photo, but still need
to create a clear likeness.

I've been so blessed to have only positive reactions to
most of my portraits, but I'm always nervous when
I reveal the painting. When the client came in she
couldn't stop saying "wow!!!" and a big smile spread across
her face. She especially loved the cats. Here's one. When
the other one is finished I'll show you that one, and bit
by bit we'll piece together the portrait.

The opening at Todmorden Mills went very well tonight,
and people loved my self-portrait. It had been hung on
a good wall in excellent light. There were so many
top notch paintings in the show that it was a treat to see.

Time to take a break from painting and watch some T.V.

Have a patting the purring cat day.

My magical family

Tonight I'm thinking about family, and remembered
the portrait of my family I did a few years ago to hang over
the dining room table.

Family Portrait
36" x 48'
acrylic on canvas
Not for sale

The dining room now serves a dual function, and except for parties
and special dinners is usually my studio -- but it can still dress
up when asked. I originally intended to add a photo collage to
each person in the family, but that proved to be too political.
Which photos should I use and where should I put them?
I started the project, included the photos I thought were
okay, and the painting remains in this state.

At the time my big questions were about where to place
each family member to let them know they mattered.
Now I can't tell you which decisions lead to the current
configuration. I really like the painting -- I love its
loose style, and how it captures how we all looked a few
years ago -- left to right: Sam, Christopher, Me and Steven.

I've been talking with my son Christopher, in Korea, on Skype --
such a strange sensation and yet so wonderful. I
snapped this picture while I talked to him. It was
morning there, and you can't see him too well --
but that's how we have our conversations now --
face to face over computer screens. In many ways
it seems like magic.

Christopher in Korea
Thursday Morning,
July 24,
Korean Time

Have a loving your family night.

Missing California

Aside from the environmental problem with air travel, which I'm sure we'll solve, there's the problem of being capable of feeling at
home in so many places. For me California was a total surprise. I
did not expect to love it so much, to have the urge to get back
there as often as possible. Of course a big part of my family lives there full time -- my niece, her husband and her two children all of whom I love big time, and my nephew and his girlfriend and their new baby daughter.

The painting I'm including today is a portrait of my nephew,
Jonathan and his girlfriend, Kathryn. They are both actors,
and Jonathan (Jon) is also a magnificent writer. They
just had a sweet baby girl, so I now have a passel of relatives
out on the coast, and they are all so warm and kind and
funny, that I really wish we didn't have to climb into the
big bird to go and see them.

Plus I now have a wonderful artist friend there, my friend Pam,
and artists I'd like to study with like Bob Burridge. So all in all
the place presents a powerful draw. I painted this portrait when
my nephew and Kathryn were living in Toronto. Kathryn had
decided she had to go to L.A. at least for part of the year to make
it as an actress, and Jonathan didn't want her to leave.

I like the mood in the painting. The couple posed for me
a few times, but I had to work mainly from
photos. Despite that I like the huge impression of Jon's
arms around Kathryn, and the clear feeling of love between
them. For me that works. It's a big painting -- 3 ft. x 4 ft.,
and one of the first paintings I worked on in a larger format.

I wish I could be with all of my family and friends in
California, and that it was just around the next block.

Have a knowing-you-are-lucky day.

Growing up in paint

Some of my favorite models throughout the years have been my family.
My children and husband frolicking at our favorite beach in Nova
Scotia were often featured in my watercolours. Since I switched
to acrylic my son Sam has been a kind model for me, especially
when I teach private acrylic classes. This quick sketch of him is
one of my favorite paintings. Looking at it closely, which I rarely
do, I can see some areas I'd work on if I wanted to spend the time
on it, but I like the rough quality. What I like most of all is the
mood -- the eyes are amusing to an artist mother who has seen
that look so often, and the huge hands, a sign of just how tall
this boy would be. I think he's 6'3" now.

I am immensely grateful to my family for their cooperation. My
own father was a pretty great photographer, so for a certain
period in my life my brother and I, who like Sam, were the
youngest and most available are beautifully captured in all
our moods in black and white 8 x10 prints that my Dad
created in his little darkroom in our basement. Those photos
now are an amazingly vivid record of our young lives,
and strong works of art.

Have a resourceful evening.

Paintings with juice

There is no magic formula in
painting, but you do need a bit of "juice'" zip, life, energy. I call that juice -- not to be confused with
alcohol. Some paintings work for an artist because they easily demonstrate all of the artist's favorite tools. This painting of one of my
best and constantly changing models,
Claudia, is such a portrait. It showcases what I feel is a most successful colour trio, turquoise, red and mid yellow.
The underneath ground is red, which
shows up embellished with purple,
pink, orange and blue in the pillows.
In some ways the painting is more
about shape and colour than anything
else. The skin colour pops because of
the black and dark blue, and the dark
colour heightens the punch of the skin
and the red, yellow and turquoise.
The figure is casual, relaxed
and elegant, painted in a free
loose style. She seems intelligent
and content. The whole painting has
the festive, joyful air I like in my life
and like to create for others.

If you paint, try the basic three -- red, yellow and
blue -- Robert Genn would say and add grey. In
this case, the mauve functions as a hot, vibrant grey.
http://www.painterskeys.com/

Have a vibrant evening.

Gilding not required

Lucy was an inspiring portrait subject. Her bright
red hair, green eyes and shy smile contrasted
perfectly with her regal being. This is the pose
she picked, and I love how what should
look awkward, both arms going off the canvas
works because of her confident gaze.

I've known Lucy since she was seven, and she
was an amazing seven-year-old, wildly
imaginative. She always played queens in
pretend play. Some of her fabled royal
heritage came through to me as I painted,
and that's why the bands in behind her are
24 karat gold. Her beauty didn't need
embellishing, but the painting insisted.

I also added flashes of gold to her dress,
because I'm partial to gold. The colouring
was a whole other animal. I must have painted the pillows out five or six times before the colours complimented her dress properly. Colour theory
was no help at all. (Wheels and all that).

As with all commissions what matters to me is
that the sitter is happy, and she was. I don't
usually let people see their portraits until they seem
almost finished to me, and that's a good
policy. I can always make changes at the end,
but I save my subjects any of the agony I may
go through getting the piece to a place that pleases me.

Goodnight. School is over for the summer.


Go ahead and gild the lily tonight.

The luckiest of professions

One day during a show I had with
the wonderful landscape painter
Gill Cameron, a friend of hers
came in and instantly understood
my concept of "Before the Dance."

She saw this metaphor as a perfect
description of her three children,
and so began a delightful working
experience for me.

When I visited the family in their home, and saw how
they were together, I knew I wanted the paintings to
connect. All three children got along extremely well.
They were polite, gracious and a pleasure both to
paint, and to talk to during our many breaks. I
generally buy cookies for my subjects, and each child
liked a different kind of cookie. They were all athletic,
artistic in their own ways, and enjoying life to the
fullest.

I've enjoyed everyone I've ever painted, and when I
have a client in my studio and the image is humming
away nicely, I am certain that I am blessed as an
artist. Then I say, "Thank you universe for your
bounty." Thank you children for being a delight
to paint. This work is three separate paintings,
which together add up to to 6' x 36".

The photo in this case does not do the work
justice.

Have a blessed evening.

Mother love

I've been thinking about mothering all day. Impossible to avoid the topic because my friend Josephine's mother, Maria, died on Easter Sunday, and
the visitation was today. I dropped into the funeral home briefly to pay
my respects. Her four daughters were all there. I thought surely if their mother were alive to see them she'd be proud of them -- these four good daughters, dressed in perfect black suits, looking elegant and sad
in the very tasteful setting. People clearly
loved Maria, who was lying laid out in the casket,
surrounded by an entire florist shop of flowers
in reds and pinks, which must have been her
favorite colours.

I never painted Josephine's mother, although I've
painted Josephine and her daughter, Claudia,
numerous times. But I've painted mothers before,
sometimes for very serious reasons -- because the
mother is sick, or because she is not expected to live.
And of course the most important reason is that
people love their mothers.

Some of my favorite paintings are of mothers
and their children. Mary Cassatt comes to mind
as one of the best at this art. But Sargent did some lovely large
canvasses of families and Alistair Adams of the Royal Portrait
Society in England does great family pictures.
http://www.eyesonstalks.com/group/group-gallery3.htm

In portraits mood is everything. I usually try to capture,
even impose, a sunny mood because that's what I like.
After working on an art magazine and seeing some
"real" and terrifying depictions of life's horrors,
I opted to create beauty. That may seem facile,
but I've found that beauty, outer and inner is one
of the great comforts in this world.

A TV monitor on the wall in the funeral home
showed photographs of Maria at different stages in
her life with her family around her. She was at the center
of so many family parties. Enfin, it looked like a good life.

Here are some pictures of mothers I've painted.

Have a nurturing day.