Looking back on August

August road trip

Acrylic ink on 

watercolour paper

and pencil

5 x 7 inches

Barbara Muir © 2022

August was a wonderful month for us because we got
to travel 5600 kilometres (3479.679 miles) across this
beautiful country -- through 4 provinces -- Ontario, 
Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.  

The view I'm showing you tonight in this painting is 
from the highway in New Brunswick. It pulls at
my heartstrings because it was inspired by photos I
took on our way back to Toronto.

Goodbye to August.  Wishing you a happy and hopeful
September.

Have a loving your life day.

One of my favourite landscape paintings

Heading home

Acrylic on 2 canvas panels

4 x 6 feet,

Barbara Muir © 2016
(the title of this piece is 
about the feeling of coming
home when we reach Nova
Scotia.  We are so lucky to
feel at home in that beautiful
province and back here in

Toronto.)

Need a landscape painting -- I've got some!  This big beauty currently
graces the wall of my studio, and does a good job of capturing the
wonder, and even the scale of the magnificent landscapes we see
wherever we go when we're in Nova Scotia.

One gift of the pandemic for us has been our love of landscape.  Even
if the pandemic numbers rise, you are completely safe in your car
driving through wonder.  But here in Toronto, normally a 20
minute drive gets us to our favourite park by the lake where we
went tonight to catch a walk looking at a spectacular sunset.
And we were almost alone.  Not many people walking at 7:30
at night. 

I had a lovely visit with a dear artist friend today.  We both rapid
tested and could be inside together. So fabulous.  

Have a loving your life day.

The final, final -- I think!

Stepping into the light
Acrylic on canvas
24 x 24 inches
Barbara Muir © 2022

Here is the final, final version of my painting  Stepping Into The
Light.  I hope so.  Sometimes I have a hard time letting a painting go.
This is one of those. I've enjoyed working on it so much, and had
such a lovely response from both the model and her mother -- 
the inspiration for the piece.

I do have to sign it, and haven't figured out where that should go.
I never want my signature to interfere with the work. So there
is always something to consider. 

I'm hoping to do another portrait of this wonderful young woman.
So stay tuned.

Have a loving what you do day.

The San Fernando Valley Arts and Cultural Center Artopia show ends August 31

A Day At The Lake

Acrylic on canvas

24 x 24 inches
Barbara Muir © 2020

The San Fernando Valley Arts and Cultural Center virtual art
show Artopia, which originates in California, runs for
the month of August.  So if you haven't seen it, please hit the
title in this paragraph and check it out.  The work is fantastic.

My painting -- shown above -- is featured in the show, if you scroll
down. I was delighted to be juried into the exhibition as there were
more than 400 entries.  A fabulous show. 

Check it out. And yes this painting celebrating one of my favourite
parks -- Colonel Sam Smith Park -- is for sale! 

Have a loving art day.  

A beautiful day in the garden

Holding our heads high with pride

Watercolour on Arches watercolour paper

6 x 10 inches

Barbara Muir © 2012

The garden is taking off, just when the weather is suddenly
cooling down at night.  Strange.  But nothing seems to be normal
anymore. So the nasturtiums, usually flourishing at this
time of year, are just starting to bloom, and the leaves
are massive.  You reminded me -- if you want flowers on
nasturtiums cut back on the leaves. Okay.

I love this painting because it captures all the joy I feel
when I look at the garden. There are huge cosmos plants
in deep magenta and mauve waving in the wind.  Colours
I would not have chosen, but last year at the flower center
we go to, they only had mixed pots of plants.  I'm sure we had
white too  last year -- one of my favourites, but for the most part
this year the garden planted itself. And we're delighted with how
 it arranged itself. So the title of this painting makes sense.

Have a loving your life day.

National Dog Day

Sally the dog

Acrylic on canvas

5 x 7 inches 

Barbara Muir © 2014

I'd planned to make a design including some of my favourite
dog paintings, but I worked on a portrait of a person all 
afternoon, and to celebrate the perfect weather, we took 
our dog for a walk, and I sang Happy National
Dog Day to her to the tune of Happy Birthday.  She normally
barks her way through Happy Birthday, but like any
9 year old she was embarrassed, and so was Steven even
though no one heard me.

Here's a post from 2020, which says it all:

"People who are lucky enough to have dogs for pets, have
companions who insist on joy.  The current virus has left us
isolated to a great degree and stuck in our homes watching a
continuous loop of the news. And most of that news is soul
destroying.

That’s where dogs come in.  Play and fun are two elements that are
absolutely necessary for a dog.  And it’s impossible to play with a dog
without feeling happy.  The horrors of the news, the sadness friends and
family are experiencing, the state of the world, all recede.  It’s as
much fun as playing with a toddler, but a dog never grows up in the human
sense. I am eternally grateful to our dog."

Happy National Dog Day Sally.  

Have a loving your life day.

Apples are good luck

Apples from our tree
Sketch
Acrylic ink, marker and
coloured pencil on
mixed media paper
5.5 x 8.5 inches
Barbara Muir © 2022

I should have listened to my own advice yesterday, because today
it was very hard to get to happy.  I think Steven and I are experts
at it. And we succeeded. Sometimes a simple thing like grocery
shopping, and watching TV with the cats and the dog make us
know how lucky we are.

I started this sketch when I was in Nova Scotia, on the last day
of our visit.  We have a few crab apple trees on the property line.
Steven pruned back the dead branches on one until it looked
perfect, and I picked a few apples to arrange for a drawing. 

Today I discovered that you can use acrylic ink over coloured
pencil, and that was a happy discovery. I will call this a quick
sketch.  It does make me remember what we have when we head
out to Nova Scotia, our own property surrounded by trees.

Have a loving your life day