My first real walk

You know I broke my ankle in July. Aside from losing out on
my vacation in our somewhat primitive school house in Nova Scotia,
I lost my favorite form of exercise temporarily. I couldn't walk for six
weeks, and the truth is, I'm still learning how today. At school
I still use my crutches, because the long days make my ankle
hurt, and the crutches ease the pain. Plus they protect me from
the unwitting football style blocks that can happen in a hallway
full of teenagers and young twens (early 20's) rushing to class.

At home I try to go it alone. Today I took the dog for an old style,
long and rambling walk in the park. She sprained her ankle the
other day, so we were almost on equal terms. She is a big time
runner, so slowing to a walk is not her regular style at all.

I thought of Eldon Warren and his description in his last blog
of a magical space to walk in Colorado.Cedarvale Park is that
kind of place for me. I have not been into the ravine in two months.
Today it was decorated with tall, bright coloured maples, and low
bushes in every shade of red, filled with birdsong. Canadian
Thanksgiving is this weekend, and it makes sense. Outside it feels
like there's so much to be thankful for.
Even the wild flowers are at their peak -- lining the pathway in
purple, white, and yellow flowers -- their leaves a brilliant green.
I revelled in my liberation to move through this beauty alone
-- with the dog.

Sun spill
4 1/4 " x 6 1/4"
acrylic on watercolour paper

I found this little painting of another place that's special to me --
the beach near Pugwash Nova Scotia, where we usually spend
the month of July. Of course walking on this beach at the ocean,
you see skyscapes that would knock your socks off, if you weren't
barefoot.

Have a grateful-for-what-you-see day.

Baby boy, pride and joy

This was one of my long days at school -- exciting from the point of view
of teaching -- I have wonderful students this semester -- but tiring in
the way that only teaching is. Still there is a great feeling of moving
forward, watching ideas and skill take shape.

This is one of the little drawings I did
before I began this painting
It's purple Sharpie on white sketchbook bond

Now I am going to go and paint. I found the prep drawing I
was looking for of the woman with the baby. I call the painting
Aaron's First Party. The woman holding Aaron, is not his mother.
It's a friend from the neighbourhood, who like me, is the mother of two boys.

When I started tonight this is where
it was at

As a mother of boys, I always feel a tenderness for baby boys, and boy
children. I love girls too, but having raised boys, it's like I switched
camps, and almost feel I understand boy children better than girls.
Little girls are a delight and a mystery to me, but boys are my home
territory. So part of what I am trying to capture in this painting, is
the nostalgia my neighbour seemed to feel holding baby Aaron.
Her own "babies" like mine, were well into teenage life when the
party happened. Baby Aaron is now four, as he proudly told me the
other day, and still absolutely beautiful.

I refined both faces,
although the baby still looks too old.
I began to think about the background.
That's all for tonight, I'm tired.
The painting is acrylic on canvas
12" x 12"

Have a loving-the-children-in-your-life day.

Loving the kitchen china

Kitchen China
Acrylic on canvas
24" x 48"
Barbara Muir ©
SOLD ♥ 

Here's one of the paintings that sold last weekend in
Artwalk. I don't think I've shown a proper picture
of it before. When we had our kitchen renovated,
one of the things we designed was a big hutch to
hold my collection of antique china. I am a big
fan of late 19th century, white china, with a touch
of gold. Over the years friends and family have
added to this stock, and I'm now at the point where
I can't take one more cream jug, although I might want to.

This cabinet gets decorated for every holiday. It looks
just beautiful and the contractor designed the lighting
to show off our collection. I've painted lots of still life paintings
of my china, but in this painting I connected portraits and china.
My model came into the kitchen, sat down and had some
chocolate cake that Steven had just baked, and that was that.
A painting was born. I thought it might have been
too whimsical, but last weekend it found a new home --
so in a way, part of my home, has become part of
someone else's home. I love that idea.

Have a spreading-the-joy kind of day.

It is so cold!

It's so cold -- how cold is it? So cold that people like
me who spent the summer on crutches, are wondering
where the summer went. In Toronto it rained for
most of the summer. Two weeks ago we had our
hottest day, and turned the air conditioners on.
Today we have the furnace on and an electric heater
in the bedroom -- sorry universe.

We are cold. I worked all night trying
to get two paintings ready, but in the end found
this tiny still life I quite like -- so here it is.

Still Life Apples and Sunflowers
3" x 5"
acrylic on watercolour paper
glazed

It's small, but it still packs a nice abstract, juicy
colour punch. After a night of not quite getting
it right, it made me happy to find it. It was hard
to photograph because I glazed it to a fare-thee-well
-- tip take the shot before you glaze. Ah well.

Have a do-nothing-at-all-day.

The birthday season

In our family and extended family October marks
the start of the birthday season. Tonight we went
to my friend's daughter's family birthday party, as
we have every year since she turned six. I love
Claudia like a daughter, and as I don't have any
daughters, that is a wonderful gift to me. I've painted
her several times, and she's definitely one of
my favorite models.

Sam, my youngest is home from university because
his university has been on strike so he came to the party,
and we all had fun. At one point the conversation got a
little hot over the election -- strangely enough
people are more excited about the American
election, than our own.

We decided to shelve the topic so we could just
enjoy each other. The truth is that as soon as
both of our countries' elections are over, everyone
will go back to being people -- just people.
That's why I say I'm from the art party, because
anyone who paints, draws or likes to enjoy art
can join, and then we can all be friends.

After the Dance,
Sam sketch
30" x 30"
acrylic on canvas

I have a couple of paintings I'm working on
that I'd like to put in the blog, but I haven't
had time to get them ready today, so I'm
showing you a large sketch painting I did
of my son Sam, when I was teaching private
art lessons. It is like a class sketch, because
I painted beside my student, and used the
painting to illustrate my lesson. Looking at
it now, there are areas I'd want to refine, but
it is a fairly good portrait of Sam, who was
our good-natured, if somewhat reluctant
model.

Have an apolitical, loving everybody, peaceful day.

No debate about this one

I finished my painting of the woman and her cats. Of course
I could keep going. I could keep touching it up for
20 years probably. But my goal is to retain some looseness
while capturing the essence. These cats are so lovely,
I'm glad their owner likes the painting. That makes
me happier than almost anything else.

A woman and her cats
acrylic on canvas
36" x 24"
Sold

And they are a touching threesome -- the cats love their
owner, and her love for "the boys" as she calls them, is
obvious. The cats are brothers from the fluffy cat school.
Very furry. So this is it. I can breathe a huge sigh of
relief and move on to the next one. I'm proud of my client
and me for weathering through our two broken ankles, hers
first, which crossed off most of the winter, and then mine,
which cut into our summer sessions considerably. We are
strong and valiant women. Her ankle is almost better, and
mine will be almost better in six more months.

I am not watching the debates, because I've already seen
the Canadians debate in French, and I'll enjoy the American
one through the lens provided by Jon Stewart and Stephen
Colbert.

Have a relax-somehow-things-always-turn-out-day.

Election heat

Here's another class sketch from a few years ago,
done in acrylic on rough watercolour paper.
I was trying a turquoise blue ground. I soon
discovered that blue was not the best background
colour for me, but it works all right with this
particular face.

I had a very long and rewarding day at school
today, and came home to paint. But my brother
told me that the French election debate was
heating up, so Steven and I watched both
the French and English shows of the debate,
switching back and forth between them.

Art Class sketch
acrylic on watercolour paper

The Canadian election is definitely not as high
profile as the American one, but as far as I'm
concerned it's just as interesting. Although we're
much smaller we're facing many of the same
problems. Yet with the economy still in
crisis, our brave debaters raised the topic of art
and support for artists again. That's because the
province of Quebec recognizes the central role
the arts and culture play in their thriving tourism
industry. But the driving economic force in the
country has been oil, and in an election the concerns
of the oil patch trump art hands down.

The main thing here is art, and I've got to get back to
my painting. I hope you're having a good time
with yours.

Have an art-is-the-best-party day.