Close up of the Lake view

At Lake Muskoka

Acrylic on canvas

36 x 48 inches

Barbara Muir  2011

For the past few weeks I've been working on
a portrait of a friend's husband.  My routine
with a commission is pretty straight forward.
The sitter comes to my house in whatever clothes they
will be painted in,  we have cookies (by
request), and a drink -- coffee, tea, or a
soft drink, sit in the kitchen, talk about everything.
Then we go into the studio where the sitter poses while I paint
for 10 - 12 minutes.  The timer goes off, and we
head back to the kitchen.  I time the sitting, but
not the breaks, because I learn so much in the
breaks.  And of course while we're talking,
I am studying the sitter, noticing how the nose
looks, his eyes, and what happens when he smiles.
When it seems right we go back and the sitter poses for
another 10 - 12 minutes and so on.

This subject is a sweetheart of a man, well
loved by his wife, and incredibly co-operative
about posing for me.  We are almost finished the
painting process.  But for today I'll show you a
close up of his face.

Have a working-away-happily day.

Hurry! Buy a lottery ticket!

 

 Apples on a fancy dish
watercolour on Arches 

watercolour paper
with black marker

12 x 14 inches
Barbara Muir © 2009

I was going to publish something quite different
tonight, but I will perhaps be more serious tomorrow.
Meanwhile, why should you get a lottery ticket?  No.
Why should you run, or race to your nearest lottery
outlet?  I'll tell you.  My apple tree, which normally
produces about enough apples for one pie, or maybe
8 - 10 apples, is heavily laden with fruit this year.
The whole world has gone topsy-turvy in the fruit-in-
the-backyard world.  We had no cherries, and usually
are begging neighbours to come and pick them, and
the apple tree, is dropping apples on the entire yard.
The poppies don't stand a chance.

But how incredibly lovely.  They are cooking apples,
and tonight I produced a batch (small -- the apples
are organic, which means a lot of cutting out of not
great bits) of applesauce, and had a bowl of it before
I rushed up here to tell you. 

So get your ticket.  Now if possible.

The painting today is a little watercolour I did in 2009.

It is of our tiny apples when they're green.  Usually we
get a nice bowl of  huge yellow apples, but as I said this year
...I know it's hot.  But jump in the car, or get on your bike.
Go get your ticket.

Have an-enjoying-the-fruits-of-the-earth day.

Why it matters

 At the party

Acrylic on canvas

36 x 48 inches (3 x 4 feet)

Barbara Muir © 2011

There are a million reasons to commission a
portrait.  I know some of them from the paintings
I've done over the years -- but one of the most moving
jobs is to paint a commission based on nostalgia.
Some people want to capture their children as
they are, or a moment in time when their parents
were young.  What I've begun to realize is that even
when they start out for a formal reason, all portraits
end up being emotional and sentimental.  I think
my youngest likes living in a room covered in
portraits of himself at different stages in his life.
Whether they were quick sketches or longer studies,
bits of his life are there in a much more powerful
way than a snapshot can convey.

Edward B. Gordon posted a moving portrait on his
blog today of the actress Maria Kwiatkowsky. She
died on July 4th, at 26 years old.  Edward did a
series of small portraits of her for his blog and he
made her live for his readers.

I am posting the full painting of my At the party
today, which captures the joyous feeling of a loving
family out for a special evening.  The painting
conveys a moment in time that is already history
because the young women are growing up, and have
changed of course. I'm glad that in the painting they are
happy and enjoying their family.  I wish them a lifetime
of happiness.

Have a creating-joyous-and-meaningful-work day.

The final piece of the puzzle

At the party (detail)

Acrylic on canvas

36 x 48 inches

Barbara Muir © 2011

Here's the last portrait detail from the family of
four I've been showing you.  I'm really happy with
the painting and I'll show you the whole result
tomorrow.  Next month I'll borrow the painting from
the client so I can photograph it properly both for
the blog and my portfolio.

We went to see Midnight in Paris yesterday, a romantic
and nostalgic Woody Allen show.  Like most of what
happened yesterday -- a day of long wait times, and
incredible surprises my trip to the movies was unusual.
Steven and I set out to see the new movie Horrible
Bosses.  Most of my bosses have been wonderful, but
the horrible bosses can stand out in your mind.  Once
I went on vacation leaving my job as Assistant Editor
on an art magazine for four weeks, and came back to
find that my job had been given away, and I was now
in ad sales.  Ad sales was a fraught position, because
the low budget magazine was always at least a month
late, and ads for art exhibitions really care that they
are out before the show.  Fussy I know but true.  I left
the magazine as quickly as my finances would allow, and
have been a bona fide freelancer ever since.  Ultimately I am
grateful to my quite horrible boss for everything I learned
on the job, and for pulling the rug out from under me so
I had to make my own, much more beautiful rug on my
own.

So I would love to see the movie Horrible Bosses, but
when we walked into the theatre it was standing room
only.  That was not for us, so we ducked across
the hall and ended up in Midnight in Paris -- a very
happy and delightful accident.

The girl in the painting today is Danielle, who is also
a dancer, and is studying art at the Ontario College of
Art and Design.  It is clear from my portrait that she
is a happy, confident and beautiful young woman. I
so enjoyed meeting her and working on this portrait.

Have a working-for-wonderful-bosses day.

A beautiful woman and a busy day

 At the party (detail)

Acrylic on canvas with gold and silver leaf

36 x 48 inches

Barbara Muir © 2011

This has been a long day running around
helping a friend who is looking for a car.
Now that is a hard job.  My friend has probably
been to at least 6 car dealers in the past
week, and I've gone along for the ride and for
moral support.  Whew!

After leasing a number of cars myself I am
starting to know some of the ins and outs of what
happens.  But here's a tip for the car industry.
Tell the truth wherever possible and be nice.
Ultimately my friend bought a car from the nicest,
kindest, most direct and honest dealers.  The dealership
wasn't convenient, the car wasn't even in the running
before a day of looking around.  In other words,
polite, but not pushy helpfulness (along with good
design and affordability) won the day.

So. Triumph. My friend is getting a reasonably
priced, good and comfortable car, and I can
go back to painting, although I did get some
drawings done today during various long waits.

The painting tonight is a detail from the large
family portrait I'm showing you person by person
with a grand finale in two more days.  Sabine,
the mother of the family, is an elegant and beautiful
woman who manages a demanding and successful
business, and takes care of her family.  She
seems to do so effortlessly, and with style and
good spirits.  It was a pleasure painting her.
Her sequined dress has real silver leaf accents,
and I used 24 karat gold leaf on her rings,
and watch and her husband's ring.

Have a being-a-good-friend day.

Mirror Neurons, the happiness factor and next person in the portrait

 At the party (detail Jochen)

Acrylic on canvas

36 x 48 inches

Barbara Muir © 2011
(I do need to get better
photos of this painting, and
will in the next month or so.)

Did you know there's a reason not to be negative and
angry for trivial reasons.  Your nasty moods can
spread through an observer's mirror neurons.
What are they?  According to the article Why
I feel your pain: secondhand stress and how it spreads
by Mark Fenske in the Globe and Mail yesterday they
are neurons in our brains that react or "mirror" the
emotional signals put out by others.  So if you are
happy, sunny, cheerful, singing, loving -- others may
unwillingly "catch" that mood and be forced to go through
their day smiling,whistling, dancing, singing, and just
generally acting silly and happy.  Hmmm.  I don't know
about you, but if I am choosing who to mirror
it's going to be the happy people.

That's why I like the happy smile on the second
portrait in the large portrait At the party, which
went home yesterday.

Jochen, the father in the family, is an expert with
horses, and started the Saddlery business he and
his wife run, after noticing that poorly made saddles
can hurt a horse's performance in competitions.
He has a wonderful twinkle in his eye, and a joyous
smile that lets you know he loves his family, his work,
and loves life.

Have a mirroring-good-moods-day.

The big portrait goes home -- left to right -- Sam

 At the party (detail -- Sam)

Acrylic on canvas

36 x 48 inches

Barbara Muir © 2011

Painting a family of parents working 24/7 and
grown children involved in university is a hard
call.  The problem?  Time.  Coordinating four
people is next to impossible.  But that's where
the artist comes in.  Working with the sitters we
have the great good fortune of making the impossible,
possible, and I was overjoyed today when my client
came to pick up At the Party, hugged me, and
took it to its new home.

I've decided to show the people to you one by one,
and then the whole picture like the grand finale
at the fireworks display we watched on Canada Day,
last Friday.  The first person on the left of the
painting is Sam.  She is studying dance.
Sam patiently sat on the arm of my studio chair to
recapture the feeling of our original shots taken at
her home north of the city, and recreate the pose.

I enjoyed talking to her so much.  She has a wry sense
of humour and the grace that comes from being a dancer.

Have a finishing-your-projects-day.