Relaxing with drawing

The breakfast phone call
8 1/2 x 11 inches
marker on bond paper
Barbara Muir © 2009

Tonight I worked on a drawing that I'd love to turn into
a big painting at some point. Drawing is a whole
different discipline from painting. In some ways you
have to do more with less, especially if you're working
in black and white, but drawing gives you the freedom
to describe edges and be exact in ways that wouldn't
always work in a painting. Of course you need both,
and both are inextricably linked.

Artists need to move from one kind of expression
to another from time to time just for fun, like changing
the tempo and steps in a dance.


Have a dancing-in-art day.

Great help in the art world

Model at the kitchen table by Barbara Muir
10 x 12 inches
black marker on bond paper

I want to strongly recommend using art consultants when
you are working on changing your art business, or
even just need information on how to refine the methods
you're already using. I had a wonderful talk today with
Alyson Stanfield, from Art Biz Blog and feel so much
happier about my future plans.

I also helped a wonderful artist friend of mine,
Jennifer Hinrichs start her blog and get her first
entry together. I know you're going to love her
art, because she is an amazing painter and a
complete original. We have had lots of shows
together in the past, and used to work on an
art magazine together. Hop over to her site
now and be one of the first to comment on her
brand new venture.

I'm including a sketch I did a couple of days ago of the
model featured in several of my recent paintings.

That's all for today folks. It is late and time for bed.

Have a getting-help-when-you-need-it day.

Going to class

Before the dance with the cat
acrylic on canvas
36 x 48 inches

I'm going off to my art class tonight, happy to be going.
It's really a group, not a class, because there are no
teachers, just a model and a chance to paint with friends
whose work I love. I will arrive late, they will be entranced
with their work, and hardly notice me coming in,
then I will fall into the wave of people rushing to capture an
image. I'm in a mood of high excitement over the end of
term and all the goings on in art that will happen in the next
six months. So much happening!

For your pleasure I'm posting the other painting I finished
yesterday for the DVAC Juried show.

Whew.

Now I can just paint and draw my brains out for awhile.

Have a painting-your-brains-out-happily day.

Painting all day

New Day
36 x 48 inches
acrylic on canvas

If you know me you'll know that I'm not a 12 hours in a row painter.
I need lots of breaks, to stand back and dream, to plan,
to go away, to read my book, to talk on the phone and read
your blogs. I crave that type of art experience.

Today I locked myself in the studio with a coffee, came out
to breathe a few times, had lunch, looking at my paintings,
but other than that never left the room.

I painted from 8:30 this morning (also not my favorite
time to paint) until 7:30 this evening because my paintings were
going in an exhibition tonight. I know some of you paint
on that kind of a schedule every day, and I bow to you,
but I find it a tough go. I listened to books on CD,
and the radio. When I used to be a journalist I'd frequently
have three or four people sitting with me while I typed
the final version, and they'd read it, and find typos and
ask questions until I thought it was ready to send off.
Today I got some of my big paintings off the wall, and
brought them in to be with me while I painted, to tell
me what to do. I'd see a lick of light here, a way of
treating shadow there, and I was comforted by my
beautiful (in my eyes) completed work. Then later
in the day a very good friend came by and sat with me
while I put the finishing touches on the two big
portraits. One of the painters I read said he gets
looser as he progresses in a painting, that definitely
happened with this one. I was up against the wall
metaphorically, but it looks like I was having the time
of my life. And I was. It's been a really wonderful day.

Have a painting-hard-and-loving-it day.

One more kitchen picture

Another kitchen painting detail
The lighting isn't right,
but it's an autumn painting,
and much different
from the other two

It's been another full day finishing the last marking details
for the semester. So here's another kitchen picture detail,
to satisfy the rule of three. On the subject of happiness -- although
I do work well under pressure, I have been working for the past
three weekends, and I really think your kind messages have
kept me afloat in a sea of marking, taxes and endless
household business. I work well under pressure, but love
days when there is nothing more to do than decide what
to eat, when to walk, what to read, and maybe who to see.
The trick is to pull that relaxed feeling into the midst of
days scheduled to the last second.

Meanwhile I'm working on my big paintings due tomorrow,
plugging in the kettle to get the coffee going, cranking up
the music, checking out my references and crossing my
fingers and toes (ouch that toe part -- don't try it at home.)

I'll have more to say tomorrow. Thank you to all of you
who make me very happy.

Have a getting-it-all-done-beautifully day.

And 10 more reasons to be happy

Detail from another kitchen
painting. These things
are long and thin. The theory
being that anyone can find a long,
thin place, even in a small
house. But I must say they look
great cropped.

What the heck? Why not have an entire happy weekend.
To continue from yesterday -- I tell my students that
people believe erroneously that being happy is frivolous,
a state preferred by people with feeble brains.
I assure them that in fact the opposite is true. Happiness
is a skill, and takes a highly developed and imaginative
brain. And I go one step farther -- I say it is a choice.
You can choose to be happy, angry, miserable. The
people at The University of Pennsylvania Positive Psychology
Commons agree with me. And in fact you can learn to be
happy. Dr. Martin Seligman at Penn says that the
difference between happy people and unhappy people
has very little to do with degrees of wealth, illness or
freedom from harsh life circumstances. Happy people
think differently. That's the difference.

So on this very busy Saturday let me give you
more reasons from this small semi-detached house in Toronto.

10 More reasons to be happy
1. I slept in.
2. I read my fabulous book for an hour!
3. My husband Steven made dinner.
4. Our power stayed on in the severe storm today.
5. My friend is over using our power because hers
is off and we're going to have coffee and talk.
6. I've marked all of my exams (117)!!!!
7. And that means I'm finished marking!!!!!!!
8. My son applied for 30 summer jobs today.
9. I read wonderful blogs and imagined my life in art next week.
10. I'm going to watch a movie on TV with my sweetheart.

Have a wow-this-10-reasons-to-be-happy-idea-is-
making-me-happy! day

10 Reasons to be Happy

Detail from one of my
kitchen paintings.
When I paint the kitchen
it's the excitement and
exuberance of our lives
there I'm trying to capture.
We always have flowers,
bowls of fruit and someone
settling down to a cup of coffee
or tea.

I teach a course on school success -- a very enjoyable
job. One day in the winter driving to school I realized
that I wanted my class to know how much psychology
has changed in the last two decades, but even more
so in the past ten years. I wanted them to know that
there's been a shift from examining people's flaws, to planning
a present and future life that would be fulfilling -- to each
individual.

I had one of my "aha" moments on the way to school and
decided to introduce a new exercise called Ten Reasons to Be
Happy. I explained that in a negative news world, this
whole concept was decidedly radical. But we started.
Each day when we had time, ten people (and towards the
end of the term more) would go to the front of the class
and each student said one reason that she or he was happy,
and related it back to the course.

The impact was dynamic. In fact I've never seen anything
like it in 18 years of teaching. This exercise filtered into
their daily lives as they thought about what they'd talk
about if it happened to be their turn in the class. I picked
the people to go to the front at random, unless they
volunteered, but all were welcome. In my very last class,
the whole class went to the front and it was a delightful
sight to see.

Their reasons were connected to the course, so some were
doing well in school (study skills), some were learning to
love themselves and others (self knowledge), some were
managing their time better (time management). But the
smiles on those faces really blew me away.

Here are my 10 reasons to be happy today:

1. The term is over, and I feel like I did the best job
teaching that I've ever done.
2. I am going to work on a painting tonight.
3. I've started to mark today's exams (time management)
4. We had Jerk Salmon for dinner tonight and it was delicious
5. I have wonderful friends in my daily life, and in the blog world.
6. I washed the kitchen floor yesterday.
7. My sick cat is eating again (salmon).
8. It's the weekend!
9. I'm reading a great book.
10. I'll get to go for a walk with my husband tomorrow in
the beautiful ravine near our house.

You get the idea. The reasons can be small (a good meal), or
big (falling in love). One day last week I called my mother
and I was very upset about something. She started listing
reasons to be happy, unprompted. She said there was a
beautiful bird in the tree outside her window, she could see
sailboats on the river, the weather was warmer, she'd been
asked out to dinner, and I started to cheer up. Maybe she
was my best teacher. I thought if she can be happy, and
she lives alone, and has been a widow for over 20 years,
how can I possibly feel anything but happy, with my wonderful
family and friends around me.

Have a 100-reasons-to-be-happy day.