Thank you May

May pansies
Acrylic ink and 
marker on watercolour paper
6 x 8 inches
Barbara Muir © 2023

Thank you May for being cooler than normal, and for 
letting the two pots of pansies in front of our house
thrive.  

Here's my latest pansy painting.  There is a lot going
on in my life, mostly good, and I don't have too much
to say about it right now.  To my friends in Nova Scotia
and in Alberta and B.C. near the fires -- please stay safe --
we are thinking of you.

Wishing everyone a happy Thursday. 

One of the most important anniversaries

Oprah Winfrey
Skype Sketch
willow charcoal on Canson
Mi-Teintes paper
11 1/2 x 13 3/4 inches
Barbara Muir © 2009

My husband and I are big on anniversaries, and celebrate
our first date, and our wedding day in some way every
month.  There's been a lot going on in this past month, and
I missed an anniversary of a date that in many ways
changed my life.

On May 21, 2009 I drew Oprah Winfrey live via Skype
on the Oprah Winfrey show. So many wonderful things
happened because of that amazing day. So the occasion certainly
deserves a highlight here.  And thank you again Oprah
and your staff.  I am wearing the T-shirt you sent me 
in 2009 as I write this. 

Here's a quote from the blog post from that day:

"People who don't know me cannot possibly know how much
I like Oprah. I probably started watching her show when it
first started running in 1986. Since her magazine began
publishing I've bought every issue, and enjoyed the range
of articles in the publication. Oprah is certainly one of the
most amazing women in the world, and a major hero for
me. So it was a huge thrill to be on her show. Watching
myself today I could tell that I was nervous, because I wanted to
be spontaneous like the people in Harrods who were cheering
with delight. But of course I was also conscious of the fact that
I had a job to do, create a portrait in the time span of
the show, and get that drawing right while watching Oprah.

Believe me from the time her team called a few weeks ago,
until I actually drew Oprah live on the show, I must have stared
at her face in my collection of magazines every free second,
studying her features -- which as you must already know -- are
incredibly beautiful.

What was it like drawing Oprah via Skype? Like an incredible
dream come true. For someone who loves people and faces
the way I do, to get to draw her lovely face, and meet such
an exceptional person was the ultimate treat -- just the best.

My drawing tonight is the sketch I did of Oprah.
I will never forget the intensity of creating it. What
an experience!

Have a memorable day."

The power of nostalgia

Number 56

Maison De Haute Couleur 

Charvin, Paris Watercolour and

black marker on Fabriano paper

5 x 8 inches

Barbara Muir © 2017

(This is half of a semi-detached house.

I kept part of the sketch open so I could

show you the robin that nested on

the post between our houses one year.

A lot has changed since the reference

picture was taken.)

The painting I’m showing you tonight is of our house before
the beautiful changes that happened a couple of years ago
when we got new windows for the front of the house, had the
house painted white, and got red shutters installed. What a
transformation! Our friend, the architect John Hinrichs 
designed the new look.

The rose bush, which looks like a twig in this painting, now
stretches over the entire front porch in a screen of leaves, and will
soon be covered in beautiful red roses. 

StillI love this painting of the before.

Have a loving your life day.

Memories from last year

 

At this time last year I was in the Food For Thought virtual show
put on my the San Fernando Valley Arts and Cultural Center.

It's been a long busy day. Here is part of my piece from that time.
That was a wonderful experience for me.

Upper left corner: Stand Back for the Pie 

Acrylic on canvas 24 x 24 inches Barbara Muir © 2013
(First place in the show)

Upper right corner: The King's Breakfast 
Acrylic on canvas 
24 x 24 inches Barbara Muir © 2015

Lower left corner: Good news Clementines
with Lemon friends
Acrylic on cradled birch panel
 8 x 8 inches Barbara Muir © 2019 

Lower right corner: Breakfast at the Skylight Diner, NYC 
Acrylic on canvas 
30 x 30 inches Barbara Muir © 2014

This was my fourth entry:

Breakfast in the hotel

Acrylic on canvas

6 x 8 Feet

I had five entries in the show, and won First Place with my painting 
Stand Back For The Pie. 

That was a big thrill.

Have a loving your life day.

The time for pansies

Some pansy paintings
Acrylic ink and marker on
paper.
Each painting is 
5.5 x 8.5 inches
Barbara Muir ©

You have probably realized that I am a pansy fan. True. 
And I am also aware that their season ends pretty soon.
In Toronto we have had a delightfully (to me) cool spring.
Not the normal five days of spring, and then high heat.
This is about to end, and with it will go the happy
sight of glorious pansies.  

Heat and pansies do not go well together.  If you like
pansies a lot, and would like a pansy painting, you
would come to the right place, if you stop here. I
Have many views of the beautiful flowers.

So I put these three paintings on a styrofoam backing to
photograph them.  Not a perfect setting, but cheerful.

Have a loving your life day.

Adding a bit more

Victoria Day Pansies

Acrylic ink and marker

on paper
(done I think)

6 x 8 inches

Barbara Muir © 2023

This painting needed a bit more.  Sometimes that is true of
everything. Today I needed a bit more sunscreen, a bit more
walking, and a whole lot more laughing.

Thank you to the sweet friends who were there to cheer
me on, and join with me in celebrating a beautiful day -- even
if we were miles (countries) apart. You are wonderful.

The weekend is upon us, and we are ready! Yes. Fun and
rest have never been more welcome.

Have a loving your life day.

My friend -- the blog

Tree by the lake
Acrylic on canvas
24 x 24 inches
Barbara Muir ©

What is true about a blog that has more than 3,000 posts, is
that most of my life for the past 15 years is recorded, and least
in part. Today I was looking for what I was writing about at this
date in other years, and came upon a painting I'd completely
forgotten.  This can happen.

I think in my mind the painting wasn't working.  I worked on
it, put it away, worked on other things, and never got back
to it.  So I went looking for the painting today, in a break from
my current unfinished work, and thought --"Wow! that's
not bad!"  One year later I think I know how to finish it.
So happy Thursday everyone.

Have a loving your life day.