Newly pink finished, The B cookie and Mother's Day in Central Park

My little painting of pink tulips is done and has more
drama than the last time you saw it.

 

Newly Pink

Acrylic on wood panel

5 x 5 inches

Barbara Muir © 2011

I'm home now and feel a bit strange, as if my feet and
mind are one place, and my spirit and heart are elsewhere.
I loved New York.  I spent Mother's Day at the MoMA,
in Central Park, at a café in Soho, and topped a day of
incredible walks off with a dinner at a superb Italian
restaurant, and a quick hike over to Times Square and
back.

Me with Steven in Central Park,

New York City on Sunday

But I missed my sons and the kind of fun filled dinner we
would have had together if I'd been home.  So I was delighted
to come home and find that Sam had made me a delicious
oatmeal, chocolate chip cookie in the shape of a B (for
Barbara) and to be able to give him a hug.

The B Cookie Sam made me for Mother's Day

piping hot out of the oven when I got in

the door from my flight on Monday. Yum.

Have loving-your-family day

The MoMA, Monet, and Me

 

 Three views of Claude Monet's Water Lilies 1814 - 1826

at the MoMA, New York City

Monet and I have a relationship even though we've
never met.  But we've met in paint -- the most
momentous time for me took place in Stuttgart
Germany at a major show of his work.  I visited Germany
tagging along with Steven on a business trip that took
us to England, Germany and Sweden over a two week
journey.  While Steven worked, I visited museums
and had experiences.  My encounter with Monet's
paintings was so profound that I couldn't even describe
it to Steven without crying.  I felt that Monet was in
the room in the museum as I studied his paintings of
poplars. Of course he wasn't really there, but his
painting spoke of his hand and where he had dragged
either a brush, or a cloth of a new colour along the
horizon. For a painter the language of paint is
almost as direct a language as speech.

At the bottom edge of the triptych the canvas shows in places.

 I was interested in what happens at the join 

of the canvasses.  From afar the paintings read as one

large painting, not as three separate works.

Yesterday I had the same experience -- the
feeling of knowing the painter had been there at
the MoMA where Monet's Water Lilies is on
display.  It's a triptych, more than 40 feet wide.
How absolutely magnificent. I studied how Monet
joined the edges of the three pieces, and noticed that
he covered the upper edges of the work, but that the
canvas was bare in places at the bottom edges.  I felt
both moved and instructed.  Once again the presence
of the great Monet was with me.  These works are
remarkable, even if you know nothing about the
painter, but add to the equation the fact that Monet
worked on them until his death at 86 and you realize
how impressive it is that he was working on such a
huge scale.

My friend Flora Doehler's work reminds me a bit
of Monet, even though her work is completely
different.  What is similar is her use of texture, and
building colour in layers.  Plus she reveres nature
the way that Monet did.

Have a seeing-the-creativity-of-the-past-in-the-future day.

More from the Moleskin

 

Working in the lobby

black marker on bond paper

5 x 9 inches

Barbara Muir © 201

 

Eating lobster in New York

black marker on bond paper

5 x 9 inches

Barbara Muir © 2011

Today we're exhausted -- we walked all day
yesterday -- from breakfast until the late afternoon,
and from after dinner until after midnight.  New York
is such an exciting city that there is something happening
everywhere.  Yesterday we walked through Central
Park and were dazzled on all sides by the beauty
of the graceful Elm trees, flowering bushes and beds
of tulips.

Today we've been to the gallery and then hung out
reading,  then grabbed dinner from the famous street
vendor near our hotel. .All in all it seemed exactly
the right way to spend the day after months of hurrying.
Now we're heading out to see the night life at Time's Square.

After dinner coffee

Black marker on bond paper

5 x 9 inches

Barbara Muir © 2011

Forgive the quality of the images, the light is not
good in the hotel.  It has been a gorgeous day in New York.
Wish you were here.

Flowers at the Children's Zoo, Central Park, New York City

I love the saying on the sign. It made me think of my boys.

Happy Mother's Day everyone.

Have a loving-your-mother day.

A delightful opening in the city of art

Last night was the opening of the group show I'm in at
the Amsterdam Whitney Gallery.  What a wonderful
time I had talking to the artists, fascinating guests and
the Director Ruthie Tucker and her husband Ambassador
Dr. Alton Louis Amsterdam III.

The conversation continues

Left to right: Listening across oceans; Late night

in Norway; and The best news right here

This is my series based on Skype images taken of

conversations with my friend the artist Henriette Sonne

in Norway. 

I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I would have
liked to because I was having such a great time and met
so many engaging people that the time sped by, and I
was lucky I got a shot of my work and a picture of me
with the Director Ruthie Tucker.

  

 

 Me at the gala opening with

the fabulous Ruthie Tucker

The Amsterdam Whitney Gallery openings are super.  

Champagne is served, there are fantastic treats, and at the end of
the evening we all sang Happy Birthday and had
birthday cake in honour of a close friend of the owner's family.

Have a getting-out-to-a-gala-opening day

Some sketches for you

 View out the window in Toronto

Black marker on bond paper

5 x 9 inches

Barbara Muir © 2011

(Forgive the quality of my
photos today.  The best
light is in the washroom, but even
there it is not that bright.)

We headed out for New York today.  I have a lingering
on-the-edge cold, so took the decongestants the
pharmacist prescribed, almost worked.  There
is a lot of waiting when you're flying.  Despite my
cold we were happy, and luxuriated in the time to sit,
to wait, to enjoy a coffee together.

I bought a Moleskin notebook and sketched until
my pen succumbed to the pressure on the plane,
and started leaving black blobs of liquid ink on the page.
I was inspired by all of you as I drew, but in particular
two people, David Xu, from the Don Valley Art
Club, who showed me his sketchbook when I
went to Studio Vogue for the Jeremy Lipking
video evening.  David's sketchbook deserves a
show all on its own.  His drawings are beautiful.
He paints in a formal high realism style, which
is greatly admired, but his many sketches done
travelling the subway in Toronto show a completely
different side of his art.

 Runway tractors Pearson Airport Toronto

Black marker on bond paper

5 x 9 inches

Barbara Muir © 2011

Then I was thinking of Edward B. Gordon who says
he doesn't think about what, or who he's painting,
just shapes.

 

Ready for take off

Black marker on bond paper

5 x 9 inches

Barbara Muir © 2011

Unloading the plane

Black marker on bond paper

5 x 9 inches

Barbara Muir © 2011

 I had a lot of fun until my pen resisted.  I took a different
pen to dinner, so there may be more sketches tomorrow.
So far we have had a super time.  Stuffed filet of sole for
dinner at a wonderful Spanish restaurant in Chelsea,
then we walked from Chelsea back to our hotel which
is near the park.  It's cool here, and the rain stopped
tonight, so it was magnificent at Time's Square
-- filled with people, all the stores open at midnight.
Such vibrant energy, we do love New York.

Have an enjoying-wherever-you-are day

This art is going places

Tonight the ladies at the Don Valley Art Club nearly fell
off their chairs when I showed up with my paintings
at 6:30 p.m. -- early for me.  I feel like there's almost a
new show to remember every day -- not true but there
is a lot going on. And today I was distracted by the
problem of among other things dresses.  The eternal
dilemma of what to wear.

I entered these two paintings in the DVAC spring show.
I have a special affection for them because
they are about the wonders of video telephoning (Skype
in my case) and the love that you can see face to face
through this technological magic when you are separated

Check this out

Acrylic on canvas

24 x 24 inches

Barbara Muir © 2011

Connected

Acrylic on canvas

24 x 24 inches

Barbara Muir © 2011

by great distances. I've shown them to you before. I have been on a

Skype kick lately -- keen to paint the very different expressions

you see when you're talking to someone through their computer

screen. It makes sense that I've been enjoying this kind if

portrait image when you think about the shut-in quality of our Canadian 

winters and the great distances that can separate us from friends and family

-- especially when the weather forbids travel. 

It's always a treat to see my friends at the Don Valley Art Club -- in real

time face to face -- no computers involved.  I wish

I'd had more time to check out the show.  There were wonderful paintings

coming in but I had to fly.

Have a getting-your-work-in-to-spring-shows day.

Paintings off to Studio Vogue plus pink tulips

Two of my paintings capturing my love of the city I
live in were juried into the My Toronto show at
Studio Vogue, and Friday I dropped them off with
Joyce Fournier, the gallery curator/owner.  I'm showing
you the final version of the most recent one Backyard
Cherrywood Just Spring below.  We enjoyed
a great chat.  Earlier in the week Joyce hosted a
screening of a Jeremy Lipking video, and portrait
painters like me came out to watch a very in-depth
look at his techniques.  The great news is that Joyce
plans to hold more of the evenings and I've
already put in a request to see a Bob Burridge video
if she can get permission to show a longer one.

 

Backyard Cherrywood just spring

(final version)

Acrylic on canvas

24 x 24 inches

Barbara Muir © 2011

I've been fighting off a touch of the flu for the past week,
and so far I'm winning, but I recommend my
herbalist's brew of three slices of a real lemon,
two (or more) teaspoons of maple syrup (he insists
that it should be organic) and cayenne pepper.
Don't overdo it on the cayenne -- although this is
the ingredient that really makes you feel better.

Newly pink (work in progress)

Acrylic on wood panel

5 x 5 inches

Barbara Muir © 2011
(I see some changes I'll make to this one
tomorrow)

Here is a little painting of the brilliant pink
tulips that have graced my kitchen this week.
They're almost finished now, but this is how they
looked when they were new last weekend,
nestled tight into their generous leaves.

Have an enjoying-the-promise-of-May day.
P.S. If you're Canadian, please vote May 2.