My first love

Baby
acrylic on canvas
18 x 24 inches
(first steps. I've painted a ground,
drawn the baby, started to paint
her, and figure out the background design.
I think she needs a toy, so I'll ask about
that. I'm happy with her placement,
and love painting her. I have
to stay soft on her, may go
quite light with the dress, and
darken the couch. More tomorrow!)
Barbara Muir © 2009

I am painting a little baby, and you might think how could
someone who loves strong colour handle that assignment.
I even wondered myself. I've studied the baby, drawn
her picture about 10 times, thought about it, and the answer
came in a flash -- an underpainting of very soft, pale pink.
She is a very light pink colour, and is wearing a pale pink dress
in the photos I'm working from.

What you couldn't possibly know is that I've loved babies
since I was a very little girl. I was a major baby doll freak,
and almost had to have my baby doll pried from my hands
at 13 when I was starting grade nine. I more or less
adopted a couple with a beautiful baby boy on the next
block over when I was seven, and was with them as much
as possible until I moved to Toronto from Ottawa
just before my 14th birthday. When I was eleven I babysat
three of their children, and the youngest was two weeks old!

I loved babies, and that's what got me started drawing. So
as I was painting this little girl a whole slew of memories
came flooding back to me, and I realized I started out
drawing exactly this kind of picture. It's rough now, but
I'll refine it, and the whole time I'll get to stare at this
beautiful baby's face. A baby girl in a beautiful pink dress.
Heaven for me, and the seven-year-old artist child within.

The challenge of course is staying simple, and making her
alive. So I'm taking it slowly. Her dress is patterned, and
the client wants to see that. I'll figure that one out.
Meanwhile, my little baby is calling!

Have an-enjoying-the-babies-around-you day.

Picking cherries, finishing portraits, more pie please

At the market
acrylic on canvas
24 x 36 inches
Barbara Muir © 2009

The painting of the lady who sells vintage quilts
and fabrics at the market is done. We may change a few
things later in the summer when I glaze it, but for now it's
gone home. Steven and I spent a celebratory hour picking
more cherries, and once they're pitted I think we have
enough for at least two more pies, probably three. I am
certainly up for some sour cherry recipes that don't involve pie
if you have them, although Steven's pies are so magnificent
that I could happily eat nothing else for a week.

The pie ready for the oven

So I'm off to get canvas. Lots more happening. It is
starting to heat up, and we are finally going to plant
our front garden. That's because I can breathe a bit
this week, and I've had time to go outside today. I
think the rest of the city says -- "well summer's over!"
the minute we plant our front garden.

The finished pie, half eaten as soon as
it's out of the oven!

Have a You-know-what?-More-Pie-please! day

Painting and pie

The Cherry filling

Steven makes the dough

Steven trims the edges

Get to know me -- I am not even a pie eater. But there are
two kinds of pie that I love, and both celebrate a season.
My husband's cherry pie is the penultimate dessert
experience. The cherries are fresh from the tree, pitted
with determination by Sam, and are in the oven, in the
pie now. I am painting wildly to a deadline. Painting
so hard that my hands hurt and my eyes are trying
to burn holes in everything I see. I was watching my
cat wash herself on the window ledge today and I realized
that I couldn't even do that casually.

Timbah visits me in the studio to tell me that
the pie's in the oven. I was looking at
images on the computer and he climbed
up on the back of the chair.

So my contribution to this delicious prospect has been
to harvest as many cherries as a short person can pick
by standing on ladders under the tree, climbing on our garage from a
ladder held by Sam, and reaching on tiptoe from the
bench beside the garage. I have yanked that tree around
something fierce pulling on one branch to make the
next one come close enough. And when we eat this pie,
and are as fat as can be, I've picked almost four more cups for
another. Ach aye (as the Scots say). I'm part Scottish.

The other great pie is pumpkin of course, but discussions
on that will have to wait. Now back to the painting
I hope you are imagining the smell of cherry pie
baking. Too bad the blog didn't have a scratch and
sniff component. Better yet, teletransportation, so I
could send a piece to all of you, and save myself from
temptation.

Have a waiting-for-pie-and-painting day

Baby bird

The baby sparrow that
fell out of a Blue jay's
beak today
black, yellow, and mauve marker,
charcoal and pink coloured pencil on bond paper
4 x 6 inches
Barbara Muir © 2009

Our little backyard was the scene of high drama today
as a blue jay stole a baby sparrow from the nest under
our eaves and ate it. That would have been high drama
enough, but later in the afternoon it came back to steal
another one, and I told the dog to bark at the jay. The thief
dropped the baby all right, and there we were on the horns
of a dilemma. What to do?

My father raised a baby robin, and so did my niece. I wasn't
around for my Dad's childhood, but watching my niece
raise that bird taught me an important lesson. If you know
where the bird comes from, by all means give it back. Otherwise
be ready to feed it either ground up worms or hamburger
puree every hour or so for a couple of months.
So Sam constructed a kind of crib out of the bottom of
a box of tissues, and paper towels, put on my winter gloves,
lifted the baby into the box.

He hauled our two story ladder out of the garage, and I held
it while he scaled up with baby bird, to try and put it
back. At the top, a very long way up, baby kept trying
to get back out. It had little wings, but did not have all
of its feathers. So Sam put it farther in and climbed down.
Whew. We then read on the net that we'd done exactly
the right thing. Good.

I love blue jays, but we'll have to get the marauding one
some peanuts so it can leave the baby birds alone.

Tonight I saw the movie Demons and Angels -- action
packed, but after the incidents with the birds, it seemed tame.

My drawing is an imperfect rendering of what the bird looked
like. I didn't think to take its picture.

Have a taking-care-of-nature day.

Cherries -- Abundance exemplified

Our cherry tree this afternoon
We've almost picked enough
for a pie (4 cups pitted).

I've been painting so hard, that if it weren't for my dog
whimpering every now and then, I might not even get
outside for a whole day. What a pity that would be right
now when the cherry tree is coming into the height of
its glory. True I love it when it's covered with blooms,
but now thick with red, rosy coloured, and still not
ripe yellow cherries, it is so beautiful, I could spend the
day just feasting my eyes on it, and picking its lovely
fruit. The juice runs down your hands and arms as you
pick and its a very sensual experience.

The deep green leaves are so lush. I start thinking
about how stupid we are in this province to cover
up our farm land with cheap housing moving farther and
farther north -- when just this one little fruit tree could
probably yield enough fruit for a whole neighbourhood
to make pie, if we had more people working on it.

Then switching off my political self I imagine paintings of
the leaves and the berries, I can see some old Laura Ashley
fabric I used to own -- a print of cherries and the brilliant
green leaves and wonder where it is. But it's time to get back
to work on my current portrait until the dog hauls me
back out again.

At the Market
acrylic on canvas
24 x 36 inches
Barbara Muir © 2009
(Almost finished. Remember
we were having a conversation
a few days ago about overdoing detail.
I am actually not finished the detail here,
and I have work to do on the subject's
face and hands. I'll be finished
tomorrow and will show you the changes then.
This lady sells vintage quilts, and whatever
your thoughts the details just have to be there.
Now I need more detail on the face, hands,
glasses, hair, and the fabric in the front,
plus more shadow, and highlights to the
degree possible without taking away
from the design of the fabrics.)

Have a noticing-what's-beautiful day!
Happy 4th of July to all my American friends,
and Happy Birthday Marilyn! We miss you.

Happy Birthday Christopher!

The Red Tie
18 x 24 inches
acrylic on canvas
Barbara Muir © 2005

It's my son Christopher's birthday and he's travelling so
we can't be together. But I'll be thinking about him all
day and reliving the details of the day he was born
as I have on every birthday since the first one.

He has always been a wonderful person, since day one, and
has grown up to be a funny, kind and talented young man.
Steven and I love him so much. So we're thinking about him
and wishing him well. Christopher is somewhere in South
Asia now, and I know he's having a great time.

Reading the paper after the dance
acrylic on canvas
18 x 24 inches
Barbara Muir © 2006

In the past year, partially because of his travels, and teaching
in Korea, so much has happened in my life that leads
right back to him. He was the reason I started drawing
on Skype, and he was a major help for me when I was
getting ready to appear on Oprah.

Skype portrait of Christopher
acrylic on canvas
8 x 8 inches
Barbara Muir © 2009

So my paintings today are paintings of Christopher. We'll
have a birthday dinner when he's back in August. But for
now I'm just delighted with him, and as always wishing
him another wonderful year, which I know he will have
because he loves life, and people, and that means he's
learned the most important lessons.

Happy Birthday Christopher

Late night Canada Day!

At the market
Progress Photo
(starting the details on the quilts and
background)
acrylic on canvas
36 x 24 inches
Barbara Muir © 2009

Steven and I have been working so hard that our big thrill
for Canada Day was getting time to take the dog for a walk
in the local park. It was a spectacular day, and everything
looked amazing. We listened to birdsong, observed the
bulrushes in the ravine, now taller than me, and just
enjoyed the chance to talk without the phone ringing.

After supper we both got back to work, and Steven couldn't
even break to cross the street to see the fireworks our
neighbours let off in the school's baseball field. Sam and
I sauntered over for a few minutes and had fun talking to
neighbours and watching some pretty impressive dazzlers.

I'm working now on my market lady. There's a lot to do.
She is almost finished, although I still need to refine her
face, hands and scarf, then there's the quilts, which I've
just begun, the background scene, and the fabrics on the
table. I have my work cut out for me, and I'll show you
my progress.

From here on in I think it will be fun. This is not my
only project, but I'll tell you more about that another day.

Happy Canada Day!