Holiday decisions

The Back Door
watercolour on arches watercolour paper
8 1/2 x 11 inches
Barbara Muir 2009

Hi everyone. It's time to make a major holiday decision.
Here it is. It's raining, so do we go to the beach now
that we've finished lunch at a wonderful cafe, the
Chatterbox, in Pugwash, or go for a drive somewhere, and where
will we have dinner, at home, or at the Sandpiper?

Then when will I paint --now while it rains, or
later when we're home again. I tell you the pressure
to follow through on these nagging problems is
pure agony.

I think I'll finish my ice tea and head out.

Wish you were here.

Have a making-the-right-decisions day.

Still Painting -- despite blogging issues

Nova Scotia Flowers
acrylic on canvas
8 x 8 inches
Barbara Muir 2009

So...Sorry I didn't have any images for the past few days.
I've been having a serious problem uploading both my
pictures and my blog.

This is a great pity because I'm painting every day,
and the scenery here is something I'd love to share with
you. Plus everyone I know out here is either an artist,
or a writer. It's an idyllic existence.

When we first started coming out here we didn't have
a phone, cell phones looked like books, and we still
don't have TV. Thank goodness. But times have
changed in 14 years and so have we. The blog must
go on.

Have an appreciating-what-you-have day.

The art of conversation and thank you Flora

One of the many things you notice about city versus
country life, and probably one of the main reasons
city people need beaches, warmth and complete
escapes from time to time is the pace. We are so
used to short form. Twitter was invented for us because
we can fit in a bunch of messages to all the people
we need to talk to without spending a long time
crafting our messages.

Where our schoolhouse is near Pugwash is a whole
different situation. Everyone who talks to you about
anything, who helps you, meets you, everyone
enjoys conversation. This means for someone like
me used to making at least part of my living by
talking, this is paradise. Days wash by in a sea
of superb food and talk. We make friends effortlessly
and go home full of plans to be here more often, maybe
forever. It takes us three weeks to unwind out
of this joy and get 100% into that one.

A big thank you to Flora for publishing my blog
for me yesterday when we couldn't get computer
access.

Have a delighting-in-conversation day.

Heading home, always home

They say if you don't have a home in your heart
you will never feel at home. Crossing this country
my eyes feel constantly at home. God this is
a fantastically gorgeous land. In a couple of
days I'll have time to show you what I've seen --
meanwhile just shout out wow, over and over
like you mean it, and you'll get the feeling. If you've
never done the drive from Quebec to Nova Scotia,
you are missing some serious beauty. Landscape
artists get out here!

I drew a little drawing last night in a diner.
I hope you're painting and drawing like fury.
Got to go haul water, and stoke that fire. Kidding.
It's hot today, but won't be kidding tonight when the
cold evening temperatures hit. Figuring out how
to paint with limited water is the next challenge.
Not too bad.

And then of course there's dinner.

Have an enjoying the joys of the day day.

The importance of light

The Promise

acrylic on canvas

36 x 48 inches

Barbara Muir © 2009

(I'm posting this again because it has

not ever been shown properly here.)

One of the things I really enjoy about our blogging community

is the way we teach one another how to do things. This

painting is going to be my catalogue work in the Florence

Biennale in December, and the photo I sent in does not do the work

justice. My bad as they say. The other day after reading

peoples' comments on how their photos did not compliment

their work, I took this painting outside to photograph it. It

was a brilliant, sunny day and I propped it up in the shade and

took the shots. Wow! I thought, this is an even better painting

than I knew!

Now come on, you've got to forgive me. Sometimes we have

to enjoy a tiny moment of pride. And I had my fall last year with

the broken ankle if you remember. I do absolutely love this painting,

because it does everything I'd like to accomplish all the time. I love

the colour (which I realized I'd never seen properly because she

was a winter creation, and my house, even with great lighting

cannot compete with a summer's day for light.) So I'm giving her to

you again.

Thanks for all that you're teaching me. It's impossible to

photograph work outside in the winter, or even in the fall and

spring when wind might whip a bigger work like this around

like a sail. But on the perfect summer day, I'll be taking more

of my work out.

Have an enjoying-your-work-in-good-light day.

Blogging Light

Andrew and Lina's dog Tao -- the cutest
Andrew is my brother and Lina, my sister (in law)

Hi everyone. Listened to a fantastic Blues show on CBC on
Saturday night out of Edmonton, Alberta. Try and get it
by googling CBC on Saturday nights. We were driving to
Ottawa and happy as could be.

Today it's Quebec City -- easily one of the most beautiful
cities in the country. So are we happy. Yes. Feel great.

Have a super-going-where-you-want-to day.

The school of blog

Steven and our student, Sam at the Thai restaurant
black marker on bond paper
8 1/2 x 11 inches
Barbara Muir © 2009
(Sam was drinking a beer, and the hand
was blurry. He looks serious the way
many students do when a new school
year is almost here.)

Whenever August rolls around I start to think about my
students and look forward to seeing their faces again.
There are the new ones some of who will regard my enthusiasm
with suspicion, and be reluctant to listen to what
I have to say for a week or two, and the ones from
previous semesters, most of who will run up to me
and ask for a hug and shout out my name in the
parking lot and hallways. The most exciting thing
is hearing their success stories.

One former student of mine works in a nearby store
and always hugs me when I see him in the food aisles.
He finished his college work and is working two
jobs saving to go to university. He wants to be a social
worker for seniors and is the nicest young man.

Speaking of stores, all across the country now, and
probably all across the continent stores are packed
with back to school stuff -- the lined paper that goes
into the binders, cool calculators and back to school
clothing.

My students have taught me that the most important
thing I can tell the student in my house is that I love
him and believe in him. School -- especially post-secondary
school is such a privilege, that everyone of us who
gets to participate in any way, whether as a student,
teacher, or parent footing the bill, or administrator,
or government giving out grants -- we are lucky.
In many countries not everyone gets to have the
experience. And that experience is enriching beyond
imagination.

How does this relate to art? I hold the words, gestures,
images and philosophy of every excellent teacher I
ever encountered in my mind. I am still inspired,
directed, comforted, encouraged and moved by
what they taught me years after my courses with
them. So they actually have a huge impact on my
art and thinking -- and are a chorus working along
with my major teachers now -- the school of blog.

Have an enjoying-learning-and-teaching day.