A passion for roses

 Oceana roses in a Victorian jug

 Black marker on Ikea drawing paper

4 x 4 inches
Barbara Muir © 2011

In our house roses are part of the celebration.
We definitely stock our house for
Christmas.  There are wonderful inexpensive
flower stores in Toronto and ourmy favorite is
Yang's on Avenue Road, where the staff in
the family run business are friends.  They
know that my favorite roses are Oceana for the
gorgeous smell of a rose garden.

At Christmas I put a big antique jug of
roses on the coffee table in the studio.  Mmmm.

Have a filling-your-house-with-flowers day.

Breakfast for Christmas

Our Christmas Breakfast table today

Best wishes to everyone whatever holiday
you celebrate, and my warmest wishes for
peace in your world.  After the flutter of
present opening, and the running around
before Christmas -- there is a delicious
lull before dinner, dressing up and welcoming
guests.  It is indeed all good.

In this photo Steven lights the candles on the
breakfast table.  On offer, French toast, with
blueberries, strawberries and our own frozen
peaches, champagne and orange juice, and
coffee cake.  Fresh coffee in the coffee pot
kept us going. Years ago we decided that
everyone should eat before we opened
presents.  It doesn't seem to calm us down
but it does make the day start in a wonderful
way.

Have a loving-your-traditions day.

Merry Christmas and Multiples

The Christmas Hearth and garland 

(after the stockings.)

 Black marker on Ikea drawing paper

4 x 4 inches
Barbara Muir © 2011

Merry Christmas everyone.  We are having a lovely
one.  Our son Christopher and his fiancée Megan
were here for Christmas morning, opening stockings
and presents after a beautiful breakfast which Steven
has started making as a Christmas tradition.  The house
filled with carols, and the animals were permitted to
come in the studio -- which is for the next few days
back  to being our living room and dining room.

What a happy day.  Right now the turkey is cooking
and I've been starting on an idea that's been in my
brain each time I try to sleep at night -- how to do
many, many small, very fast drawings.  I will be
doing short blogs (yes more than one) every day
until the New Year.  Here's the first one.  Merry
Christmas, Happy Holidays -- thank you for being
a gift to me all year.

Have a-wonderful-day-with-great-food

End of year wrap up -- a Great Year

 

 Matisse at the MoMA

Watercolour on watercolour paper

with black marker

8 x 10 inches

Barbara Muir © 2011

All of the news outlets, TV and radio stations
are doing end of year summaries now.  It
will be a count down until the New Year, and then
Poof!  All over and we start again.  I think we're
brilliant at summarizing and moving on because
of this 12 month calendar invention.  Good for
us.  I was scrolling back through the year
in photos, and thought -- it's been miraculous in
many ways.  So I thought I might paint some of
the highlights until 2012 crests over the horizon.
My son is making cookies in the kitchen, the delicious
smell is filling the house.

We do have Christmas to create, so here's
tonight's offering.  I'm thinking that if I really
get inspired by the theme I may do more than
one post per day.  The studio is our Christmas
Central -- the tree goes in there, so it's unlikely
I'll paint on canvas until the new year.

Today's highlight, is from our trip to New York
last May when I was showing there in the Amsterdam
Whitney Gallery in Chelsea.  Steven and I were
in a hotel five minutes from the MoMA, and visited
it several times.  This is a painting of people taking in
 one of my favorite paintings, Dance (1) by Matisse.
What a thrill it was to be in New York City, and to
be able to cross the street and walk a block and be
at one of the best galleries in the world.

Have a remembering-your-great-times day

"What big eyes you have"

 

 Through my mother's eyes

Watercolour on watercolour paper

8 x 10 inches

Barbara Muir © 2011

I can still hear my mother's voice acting out all
the voices in Little Red Riding Hood.
"But grandmother what big eyes you have"
"All the better to see you with my dear," said the wolf
my mother would growl in a low, gruff voice,
then switch easily to Red Riding Hood's high,
little girl tone.  I picked up the love of literature
from my mother, who enjoyed reading
bedtime stories to us, and put her heart and
soul into it.

My mother is going blind, and after a hard
work schedule like the one most teachers
face at the end of a term when I feel at all like
complaining, I remember her.  My mother's
courage and strength are a marvel to me.
And the gift of sight, plus a passion for
art, seem even more of a blessing, after
spending a weekend with my mother who
sees that gift diminishing.

My father was the artist in my parents' marriage,
but my mother taught me to see, and to love
what I'm seeing.  This fall when I talked to
her about discussions I was having with my
students about the power of the imagination
she quoted most of Wordsworth's
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud to me and
ended with this final verse:

"For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils." 

Tonight I'm showing you a quick sketch
I did of the two of us.  It isn't
an accurate portrait, but has the feeling
I was trying to capture.  I may do a more
finished painting of this subject later.
Meanwhile I am more than grateful for
my mother, and for the eyesight she's
trained me to have.


Have a loving-what-you-see day.

Fan of the Poinsettia and run off my feet

 Poinsettia with red tinfoil and plastic wrap

Watercolour and black marker on watercolour paper

8 x 10 inches

Barbara Muir © 2011

I want to post something just so you won't think
I've forgotten you.  Not so.  But the pre-Christmas
run around, end of term, plus social occasions
have made it hard to get time to blog.

Tonight in a mall run, I ran into an art store, and
picked up some watercolour paper and a new pen.
The complexity of even the smallest Poinsettia
plant, and its punch wows me.  So I quickly drew
a small sample that the cat has not destroyed (so
far) and did this watercolour.  Merry whatever
holiday you celebrate.  I hope that you are discovering
peace on earth.  Steven says in 25 days it will all be
over -- it will be New Year's Eve and then 2012.  Boy
can we pack those 25 days no matter who we are. 
Wherever you are -- I wish you time to paint and draw.

Have an enjoying-the-rushing-about day.

The need for joy in darkness

Evening conversation

Watercolour and black marker 

on watercolour paper

10.5 x 13.8 inches

Barbara Muir © 2011

When I look out my upstairs back windows at
night I see such a cheerful sight.  Two of the
neighbours on the next street over have strung
colourful lights in their backyards.  Just a looped
strand of brilliant blue and deep magenta in one,
and in another multi-coloured lights nestled in a small
tree.  When I first saw them their beauty and simplicity
took my breath away -- and something else warmed my
heart - the kindness of offering this beautiful sight to their
backyard neighbours.

Making plans

Watercolour and black marker 

on watercolour paper

10.5 x 13.8 inches

Barbara Muir © 2011

Today is December 1.  The sun began to set at 3:30 in
the afternoon.  We are heading towards the darkest days.
And I think how brilliant we are as creatures to create
a lot of song, dance, and colour right now when the
world is at its darkest here in the Northern hemisphere.
The whole notion makes me proud of us.  I don't mean
the crowds in the stores, and the gifts.  But the ceremony,
the parties, the singing, and lights everywhere.  Brilliant. 
Zoey the dog featured in my last post, is practicing
Jingle Bells. When people sing, especially Happy Birthday,
she joins in (with the reward of a cookie in mind). 

Today I'm showing you a couple of watercolour Skype
sketches I did of a recent talk with Sam.  One of the
great things about this time of year, is that my family
will be together again soon.  And they are a gloriously
kind and funny bunch.  Happy December.

Have a singing-because-you're-happy day.