I do get to

 

 In a peaceful mood

Acrylic on canvas

18 x 18 inches

Barbara Muir © 2010

(We had a wonderful model tonight

at my art group.  She was an

actor, a minister, a lawn bowler,

and a great person.  Everyone

created super paintings.  I am

happy with mine.)

One of my blog friends just reminded me of the
"have to",  "get to" transformation.  Thanks
Marilyn.  You are so right.  I'm working with a
long list of could be "have to"s that I just
converted to "get to"s, and I felt the panic
subsiding, and happiness flooding into my
brain synapses where all important changes
are processed.  Yep.  I get to.  I get to
finish marking, I get to teach, I get to paint,
I get to go to art class, I get to get my snow
tires on first thing in the morning, I get to
go to school in snow probably.  I get to laugh.
I get to play with the dog.  I get to enjoy life.

The transformation takes me from "poor little

me," to lucky me.  As Mike Dooley said last
June when I saw him in person, happy people
are busy people.  I know I am doubly blessed
to be both happy and busy.  Now take a deep
breath and move on to the next thing.  And
while you're at it, put some music on that
you love.  And while you're at it, pick up the
cat and do a little dance step -- she misses your
happy-go-lucky self.

Have a getting-to-enjoy-life day.

Hey -- You're on my list!

My computer is having some difficulty uploading

the material tonight, but let me carry on.

Self portrait on Monday night

Charcoal on bond paper

12 x 14 inches

Barbara Muir © 2010

It's been an incredibly busy day,  and we're having our street 

dug up -- this time for water, for the second time since the

summer.  I decided to do a self portrait, simply because I'm

here and cooperative, but what do you know my hand

immediately moved into the position that drove me crazy

in high school photos.  You know the ones taken by the

photographer who made every girl pose in this pose, and got 

every guy to look tough.   And there's my hand doing it 

voluntarily.  

I leave you with a video, because it is getting late and time

to move to the next thing on the list.  

Have a happily-crossing-off-that-list day.

Life with cats and dogs

 

Simone in the Forget-Me-Nots

Acrylic on canvas

(work in progress)

5 x 3 inches

Barbara Muir © 2010

For those of us who paint in response to real life, it's
hard to resist turning to the cats and dogs who populate
our world for subject matter.  Take today for
instance I found a small canvas just begging for
a painting.  Thinking of the superb small paintings
Belinda Del Pesco does, I thought "Hmmm what about
a cat?" I searched through Steven's wonderful albums and
found one of my favorite pictures ever of Simone in
the Forget-Me-Nots.  Simone was a wonderful cat, and
she liked to go outside.  But Siamese are not really safe
left to wander, because people either want them, or are
frightened by their yawly speech, and hurt them.  So
Simone went out on a red leash, just into the backyard
during her lifetime.  Her eyes were almost the exact colour
of the Forget-Me-Nots.  She was a spectacularly loving and
wonderful cat.

Our Siamese now -- Fiona, has been with us since November
2007.  I bought her while I was still devastated with the loss
of Simone, who died after exploratory surgery.  I'm so glad I
did.  She has been a comfort and joy ever since I first set eyes
on her.  I read in the paper a few weeks ago that it takes
14 parts of the brain to fall in love, and it happens in five
seconds.  That's about right when it comes to me and Fiona.

The Heater Wars are on again.  Watch how Fiona steals that
coveted spot away from our dog Zoey.

 It is getting cold, so the animals position themselves 

near the heat vent from the furnace.  The warmest one is
under the kitchen counter. This is Fiona next to
the feet of our dog, Zoey.

 

Fiona feigns disinterest.  She's just

there for a friendly chat.  She can

take or leave the heater.  It's no

big deal.

 

But she's so tired, so she decides just to lie 

down with Zoey -- nice and friendly.

 
But she's not quite warm enough so she
decides to burrow in a bit more behind
Zoey.  In the process she may just lick a
very sensitive place on Zoey's leg.

 

And voila -- what a surprise -- Zoey leaves.

This was not a calculated move on Fiona's

part.  She keeps trying to talk to Zoey

about co-operation, but Zoey is jumpy-- what

can you expect -- she's a dog.

Ah well she says.  If people want to be that

sensitive.  Let them -- meanwhile I think

I'll put my front paws right on that

heat vent.  Now that's so much better.

Have a loving-the-animals-who-make-life-great day.

Super show at Todmorden Mills

What a day from start to finish!  The light was magnificent
and bright this morning when Steven brought me my
coffee. He opened the curtains and the day looked so
dazzling.  Its secret?  Snow ladies and gentleman --
just a gentle dusting in Toronto, but enough that
when mixed with sunlight -- pow major wattage.

Early Mandarins in a Glass Bowl hanging on the wall at Todmorden Mills

Acrylic on canvas

8 x 8 inches

Barbara Muir © 2010

Sold

Maureen Morrison (left) gives me a hug

before she takes my painting off the wall

and heads out of the DVAC 

Large and small picture show today.

So in a super mood we headed over to Todmorden
Mills so I could help sit the Don Valley Art Club
Large and Small Picture Show.  For people who
submit smaller paintings, like me in this case,
the point is that the buyer can take that painting
right off the wall, as soon as the cheque for the
right amount is safely in the hands of the people
on the payment desk.

Visitors enjoyed the show today, and 

make sure you get down there tomorrow.

Well -- I had just started my shift and was walking
around with my clipboard and red dots when someone
from the club tapped me on the shoulder and asked
if I knew what I was doing because she wanted to
buy a painting.  Well blow me over with a feather --
the painting she wanted to buy was mine!  Yep.
Naturally I let her, and we snapped a couple of
shots of the two of us amping it up before she
took my painting off the wall, and I ran back to
the car to get the replacement painting, you are
supposed to have handy.  I did.  Wish me good
karma on selling the others.  And if you are in
town head over to Todmorden Mills tomorrow
afternoon to do some Christmas or Holiday shopping.
There are probably 120 paintings in the show, and
all of the small ones have other paintings waiting in
the wings to pop up on the walls for the next
discerning art buyer.  The show is on next
Saturday and Sunday afternoon too from noon
to 4 o'clock. (I've been advised that it's also open
during the week staffed by Todmorden Mills
 Wednesday to Friday from noon to 4:30).

We came home and played cards with friends,
then Steven and I watched a romantic movie on
TV.  A perfect day all round.  Exciting and quiet,
Balance.

For my friends in the southwest I'm hoping that
because I am a woman, and the artist who bought
my work (and by the way if you're in Toronto you
should go and check out her wonderful landscape
in her signature gorgeous blue) is a woman, that
we are holding up the feminist side of this art
discussion.  But I should mention that there are
many wonderful paintings in the show by men,
like Peter Adam, who I have shown with, and
my good friend Michael Steinhauser who was
there today, and too many more men and women
to name.

By the way the wall is not empty -- I replaced
the mandarins with this painting.

Nectarines on a pressed glass cake plate

Acrylic on canvas

8 x 8 inches

Barbara Muir © 2010

To all of you in blogland, thanks for your good
wishes and support. 

Have a loving-your-artist-friends day.

My Dad's Lake Mazinaw

 

 Flowers at Mazinaw

Oil on board

24 x 36 inches

©W.W. Muir (date unknown)

When we were children my father and mother rented
a cottage from my mother's uncle and aunt.  My mother's
sister and her husband rented another of the three
cottages my great aunt owned.  We were not a chummy
family with dozens of relatives coming in and out of
our house most of the time.  But at Lake Mazinaw all
that changed. My father usually spent his two weeks
holiday there, but my mother and my two brothers and
sister usually spent a month or so there with my father
coming up on weekends.

My memories from those summer days are some of
the fondest from my childhood.  Because we were all
family up and down the forested path next to the lake,
we had many meals together, and the adults laughed, joked
and played cards with one another.  The cousins, my aunt's
two sons and our brood of four played in the water on rubber
rafts and later putted back and forth lazily in motor boats, or
canoed carefully exploring the lake.  If you Google
Mazinaw you'll discover that it is the second deepest
lake in Ontario.  It was once the haunt of artists and
writers, and there's a Walt Whitman poem chiseled into
the face of Bon Echo rock, which is an impressive
100 meters high.

My dad was a strict man, but he relaxed at the cottage.
He loved going out in the canoe with my mother and
heading for some remote spot to take beautiful photos,
his second passion after painting.  This painting hangs in
the bedroom I usually stay in when I visit my mother.
It is of a  swamp flower, and I don't know the name of
the species, but if you do you can tell me.

I've grown to love it over time for its simplicity and
the confidence my father felt in painting by the time
he produced it.  Now I love it because it speaks of
his love for the days at the lake, that remain locked
in my memory, like the sparkling sun on the water,
and the smell of bacon, eggs -- my mother's home
made bread toasted and slathered with butter and
her wild strawberry jam.  I can smell pine needles and
imagine sitting out under the stars at night, or listening
to music on the radio and dancing with my sister in our
cabin far from the main cottage.  I spent my summers
there from the time I was two until I was 13.  Then
my father and uncle couldn't agree on a price because
my father wanted to buy our cottage, so the deal fell
through and we quit going there.  We moved from
Ottawa to Toronto, and I've been up to the lake just
once since that time.

So once again art connects me to my father and our
too short time together on the planet.  Here's to you dad.
On this frosty night in Toronto I'm dreaming of our halcyon
summers at Mazinaw.

Have a remembering-your-childhood-summers day

Artists for Africa

Photo from the Peace Matunda Orphanage and School slideshow

Tonight we are going to a party at the Pilot Tavern
here in Toronto in support of my friend Gill Cameron
who is going to teach in Arusha, Tanzania in Africa
this winter.  Her whole family, Gill, her husband Bruce
Harbinson, and the girls, Emily and Meredith are going
to spend Christmas together there before Gill begins her
volunteer work.

Artwork from the Peace Matunda school and orphanage

Last June when I showed with Gill, all of the proceeds
from the sale of her work were going towards this project.
So tonight we will celebrate with her at the fundraising
party and learn more about the project.  I may have
more to say when I get home.

Later...What an event!

My friend Gill is an amazing watercolour painter,
a fantastic artist and an all round great person,as
kind as they come, shy, petite and strong as steel.
So this winter she will be working at the Peace
Matunda orphanage and school.  A young couple
started the orphanage because they were taking children
into their own home, and they wanted to be able to
help more children.  Tonight's party helped raise
enough money to build a whole new room on the
school, and to furnish it! It was a wonderful night
and it finished with a video of the kids that was
deeply moving.  Gill is going to live at the school,
sleep in a bunk bed with four roomates, and teach
art.  She has a duffle bag packed with art supplies and
she's very excited.

One of the children of Peace Matunda

To link to Peace Matunda click here, and if part  of
your Thanksgiving involves giving to others, this
may be the place you're looking for.  I think it
will be a huge adventure for Gill, and also a hard
place to leave.  But she will miss Bruce and her
family so much, that she'll be happy to come home
too.  I wish her the best time, all the love in the
world, and I am incredibly proud of her.

 Gill Cameron (right) and her husband Bruce Harbinson at the end of

a great  evening.  Thanks so much you two for all that you do.

Have a loving-your-friends-for-their-spirit-day

Getting close to 1,000

Cape Breton dinner

(work in progress)

Acrylic on canvas

14 x 18 inches

Barbara Muir © 2010

 (I worked today on

Flora's face, and dress, and here

and there on other things -- It

feels like it's coming along.

I was very comforted

the other day by Belinda Del Pesco

talking about all the unfinished

paintings in her studio.  This is

one of the things I'm working on in mine.)

Hi everyone,

I'm coming up to a pretty big occasion in my blog life.
In 25 days I'm going to be at the 1,000 mark. Thanks so
much for being with me on the wild and sometimes simply
present ride that's been writing this blog.

Why do I like blogging?  There are so many reasons, that
it would be hard to list them.  The number one reason is you.
Meeting you has been incredibly exciting, and you've given
me so much.  I feel like I'm learning, I have
a supportive community that spans the globe. Plus I get to
see your work every day, and feel so  delighted that I do.

I'm a fan of Mike Dooley who sends out The Notes from
the Universe, five days a week to people who subscribe
to his newsletter.  I met him when I attended his seminar in
Toronto this summer with Steven and two friends.  In
my car I listen to the Notes on CD when I feel like I
need a boost in my positive outlook.  I used to listen to
the part about friends all over the world waiting to meet
me, and think -- "Now come on Mike I don't know if
that's true.  And do I need more friends?"  I was suspicious
then of the very bounty I now enjoy.  So the blog has
changed me, and transformed my world completely.
Mike also says on the CD that wonderful surprises
and great events are going to happen, that you cannot even
imagine.  And although I went along with that thought in
principle, I might have been skeptical about that possibility
too.  Not anymore.

If you'd told me In December 2007 "You're going to write
a blog, and because of the blog you'll meet people from England,
Ireland, France, Norway, Italy, Germany, India and all over the United
States, I would have said, "don't be ridiculous!"  Well wasn't I
proven massively incorrect, and I am so lucky that it's true.

So...about the 1,000th blog.  I'll have to think of something. It's
a month away now until Christmas Eve, and it's Thanksgiving
Eve for my American friends.  So Happy Thanksgiving to
everyone in the United States including my family and friends.
Eat some turkey for me.  We had our Thanksgiving a month ago,
and we know this is a family occasion that matters.

Eldon Warren asked me how I was going to celebrate.  I might
have to wait until the New Year for the celebration event.  But
he has got me thinking.  Too bad you all couldn't come to Toronto
and we'd have some Veuve Cliquot and celebrate.


Have a loving-your-friends-one-thousand-times-day.