Still on holiday

I'll make this short and sweet, because we just
got in from Windsor, and it's a long drive
with a healing ankle. But what a great trip.
Windsor was just fine. Sam's room in residence
although predictably awful, was all right once we'd
made his bed with his new comforter and
sheets, and helped him unpack. You
wince at the price tag for such sub-mediocrity,
curtains in the window with the hems coming
down -- but hey!

Our view of Detroit from the Hilton

We stayed overnight in the Hilton and had an
amazing view of the St. Clair River and Detroit.
I cried a few times thinking about leaving
Sam, who is a complete sweetheart. But
I was so surprised that on the way home I
felt -- great! On the spur of the
moment Steven and I decided to get off the
401 and check out Port Stanley on Lake Erie.

Me & Suzie's serves local produce -- Yum.

We bought lush tomatoes and corn for tomorrow's
supper at a rural fruit and vegetable market,
then whipped into Port Stanley in time to catch
the great antique store still open, and take
a look around. Dinner of locally caught fish
at the Me and Susie restaurant was fine, and
we actually went to the beach. -- an event
of high excitement for me. As Steven said it wasn't
Nova Scotia -- way too busy, but it sure was pretty
and I love the sound of seagulls arguing.

My first beach of the summer

Wow! We listened to the book Blink all the
way to Windsor and all the way home. I highly recommend it.

Portrait in progress

Here's a painting I'm working on.

Have a blink-don't think-night.

Last days of summer

Toronto by
http://www.nystravel.co.uk/images/toronto3

Hi everyone,
We're taking a little trip to get my youngest off to
university. It's strange to me that both of my guys
chose to go to school in the town where I was born.
I left Windsor, Ontario when I was 4 years old.

I hopped on a plane with my mother and brother,
and flew to Ottawa. I never looked back. I spent
my childhood in Ottawa, and my teenage days in
Toronto -- each move taking me to a larger, and
larger city. From my present perspective
I think my parents may have timed things
perfectly, although you never think that as a child.
My memories of Windsor, though hazy are all
of gardens and playing with friends on my street.

Ottawa had a fantastic education system, way
ahead of other cities in Ontario when I was in
public school, and I had a few amazing teachers.
And Toronto? Despite it's bad reputation -- Toronto
is cool. In Toronto I was exposed to great music,
great art and a city constantly revising its culture.
Toronto was pretty conservative when I moved
here at 13. By now it's the most diverse city in the
world -- which means it's mega cool -- for art,
for food, for music -- there's always something
happening.

I'll be back with more art tomorrow.

Have a happy-to-let-your-kids-go-day.

Baby boy is growing up

Sam playing trains on the real
engine at the Ottawa Science Center

Mothers are a sorry lot. Not really -- but we love our children,
and according to experts some of us love them too much.
I am not a religious person, which doesn't mean I'm not
spiritual, but I am always moved by the tenderness in
pictures of mothers and children. These images, whether
they're the Renaissance Madonnas or the wonderful paintings
by Mary Cassatt get to me, because I can feel the emotion
coming through the paint.

In case you're out there wanting your portrait done, let it
be known I'd love to paint a mother and her children,
and this fall is a good time for it. Why? Because my
last baby other than my cats and dog, is going off to
university. It seems such a short time since he was
a bouncing baby, a funny and serious little boy who
loved trains, a terrific speaker in middle school, and an
all round wonderful student, musician, and actor in
high school.

Sam posing for one of my
paintings

Mothers love their children, and that's why they
encourage them to have dreams and follow them.
I know that a life in art is hard, but I also know how
rewarding it can be. That's why when my youngest
decided he wanted to get an acting degree we said yes.

Detail from Shorelines Beaches Spring Break
featuring Sam

Tomorrow he goes off to university. He has been
a treat to raise, and I'm looking forward to hearing
all about his new adventure.

Grown up Sam buying flowers for his girlfriend

Have a grateful-for-the-children-in-your-life day.

Watching politics unfold

Tonight I've been watching the Democrat's convention in the
United States, and seeing Barack Obama make history.
Whatever your politics, or country, the fact that Obama
has become the Democrat's candidate to be
the next president of the United States will send a
profound message of change around the world.
I am glad that we were witnesses to that change.

I know some of my friends in America will not
be voting for Barack. But if what he said about
the United States has meaning politically, it
has even more meaning in the artistic community.
We are united no matter which political party we vote for
-- this is as true in Canada as in the United States.
Our party is the party of creativity, and all of us belong
together.

More than half of my relatives live in the United States,
in California, and I was thinking about them tonight.
The rest of my closest family lives in or near Ottawa,
our nation's capital -- the center of Canadian
politics.

The view through the trees
Chelsea, Québec

Let's take a break from painting tonight. I've been
painting all day, but nothing's ready. Instead
here's a shot taken from my brother's back
deck a few weeks ago, looking over the Gatineau
River. Let this picture, be what Oprah would
call a breathing space.

Have a space-to-breathe night.

Experimenting like crazy

In the past few days I've done more work that I couldn't keep
than work I will show. I've been working on a big
commission, and in between I've been trying out new
things (for me) and learning. Very tame results so
far.

It was the first day of school today -- so learning
seems appropriate. I met some of the students I'll
be teaching this fall, and felt the excitement I always
feel about going back to school. The people on the team
I work with are fantastic, and I have so many dynamic,
and incredibly funny colleagues.

Nasturtiums in my garden
Gardeners forgive the weeds.
One of the gardeners has
been out of commission

Inspired by the positive feeling at Seneca, I came
home and picked nasturtiums in the garden, then
set out to paint them using a palette knife -- and brushes.
I've painted one other painting with a palette
knife, and that was a large canvas. In that case
I isolated the techniques using a large palette
knife, more like a plasterers tool on one area,
and a fairly flat paint technique in another.

Nasturtiums in a small jug
acrylic on canvas
7" x 9 "
Not finished

This little painting is not complete. I'll finish
it tomorrow. The palette knife gets the
butterfly feeling of the blooms nicely. The
painting is too centered, and I think it needs
more dark, darks as my old teacher
Americo Del Col would say.

The main thing is I had fun doing it.

Have an absolute riot doing whatever you're doing today.

Why draw when you can paint?

Sometimes in the endless thinking about painting, drawing
is a way to relax. The first drawing I'm showing you tonight
I found in one of my sketchbooks. Toph Schink says he
doesn't draw, he just paints, but he does draw while he's
painting, the way all the rest of us do. He just doesn't
separate drawing from painting.

Sketchbook study Marty's Mom

I did master classical drawing long ago in art school,
but painting in watercolour and acrylic changed me.
Today I'm trying to be myself in paint to the extent that
that's possible.

The first drawing is really a colour study I did
when I was doing a portrait of my friend Marty's
Mom. A wonderful woman, warm, intelligent
and very pretty.

Marty's Mom
acrylic on canvas
24" x 36"
Barbara Muir © 2004
sold

In university I had a friend who drew

with everything, leaves, grass, sticks,
pizza. Nothing was safe from experiments in
line and form when he was around. I loved
that wild way of working -- although I'm far
from wild -- but sometimes I try something
just for memory's sake. In my case, bits of
fruit or flower don't produce great art, but
the process is fun. Here's one done with
purple flower petals.

Sketchbook drawing of a table top grouping
in either purple Iris petal, or pansy petal

And of course I draw to fill in time, divert my mind,
capture a moment, and practice. Before my son, Christopher
left for Korea, I drew endlessly in the pub restaurant where he worked.
I had no intention of turning the drawings into paintings, I just wanted
to stop my mind from running ahead to missing my little boy, who has
grown up into such and amazing man. Drawing anchored
me in the present -- the noise, gestures, enjoyment, serious
conversations people were having in the pub. It helped me
stop my emotions from swamping me. Artists are secret
scientists. In a way every drawing that isn't expected to be
great art, is an equation waiting to happen. Coloured pencil
on heavy watercolour paper -- maybe not. Ink on bond -- not
bad.

Sketchbook study Fionn MacCool's Toronto
Never completed because dinner arrived

Have a noticing-and-enjoying-everything day.

After the dance

http://www.chateauversailles.fr/en/0_Iconographic_catalog.php

The Hall of Mirrors
Chateau de Versailles

When an artist friend asked me if I'd stop the dance series,
I thought about it and said no. I love the look of people dressed up.
In fact for a jeansian kind of person, I'm fond of the look of
anything dressed up, (People, houses, -- take Versailles
for instance, cities). Lately I've been dancing around the
Internet looking at so many wonderful paintings, that it's
mind blowing. But what beautiful dressed up, ready for the
big party of life, and of vision paintings I've seen -- landscapes
that are delicious, still life that just sings, portraits that
go way beyond getting the image down. I've seen exciting
use of colour, point of view, technique -- stunning stuff.
So I'm including a little after the dance painting from a
few years ago. These girls look worn out, the way I
feel when I've spent too long whirling around the
dance floor of the art universe on line.

After the Dance
acrylic on canvas
16" x 20"
sold

The painting is pretty loose, so I was amazed that not
only did it sell when I exhibited it, but I had one of
the strangest experiences of my career. A client
asked if I could do a second one. This, ladies and
gentlemen, feels like a trap when you hear the question.

Luckily I did the original painting from a photograph
I took of my models relaxing. My first Before The Dance
painting was 6' x 4' and you can see it in my first blog
in February '08. I spent quite a while on it, and
got to know the girls (daughters of my friends) well.
But the the little painting was just for fun, and I knew I couldn't
make an identical painting. So I agreed to do
another painting of the same image, on the
clear understanding that it wouldn't be the same.

I've since seen many series by reputable artists
clearly done from the same reference, so I don't
know what I was worried about.

Speaking of dancing, today my friend
Suzanne and I decided to play hooky and
we caught an afternoon showing of Mamma
Mia. The movie was panned ferociously by
Toronto critics, but it was so much fun and
the setting -- a little Greek island -- was
absolutely breathtaking. Meryl Streep is
fantastic -- and the colour and humour were
just what an artist, who's been shut in for
7 weeks needs. And the dancing was
incredibly joyous. The whole movie was both funny
and silly, beautiful and over the top. We
loved it.

Have a fun-with-friends day.