Working through a cold

Reading on the dock

(Work in progress

Stage 1 and 2

Drawing and blocking in colour)

Acrylic on canvas

24 x 24 inches

Barbara Muir © 2013

I seem to be on the edge of a cold.  And have definitely
tried to take it easy.  But the urge to paint, and the need
to paint won out.  After multiple cups of hot lemon,
maple syrup and cayenne pepper I worked on a commission
and this painting.

This is the beginning stage.  I have blocked in most of it,
and made some decisions about colour.  I'm working over
a very bright pink ground.  I like a combination of texture
and smooth, so I worked in the dock planks in palette
knife.  I'm still making decisions about placement and
have just begun the face.  But I'm happy with it.  It
has the mood I was trying to get.  That cheery summer
mode is a strong pull today with the snow coming down
outside.  Still I loved the snow today.  It's supposed
to snow in March in Toronto.  But the weather's been
so crazy lately because of global warming that we forget
what normal is.

More to come. 

Have a feeling-like-enjoying-myself day.

This is the 1400 mark! Thank you!

 

Thoughtful

Black marker on watercolour paper

9 x 12 inches

Barbara Muir © 2013

If my records are right this is my 1400th post.  I
could tell you 1400 reasons why blogging has
been miraculous for my art career -- and will
 from time to time in the next 1400.

Once again thank you for being here with me.
I've been having discussions today on the effects
of the Internet and easy access to information
on knowledge.  In my case I know I learn so
much about art reading your posts every day.

So here we are.  Another lovely milestone.
I'm posting a drawing I've been working on --
which is an exploratory sketch for a portrait
I'll be painting.  My subject is much better
looking and will be his gorgeous self in the
painting.  But I enjoyed the depth of emotion
I felt drawing him.  In a way drawing is close
to poetry and deep into feeling.  Ideal
preparation for a portrait painting.

Have a celebrating-your-milestones day.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

 Lucky Shamrocks

acrylic on birch,

5 x 5 inches

 Barbara Muir © 2012

Some small part of my family on my mother's side
immigrated to Canada from Ireland and settled near
Perth, Ontario.  They had originally been French Hugenots
and fled France because of religious persecution.  So...
is this why my family celebrates St. Patrick's Day?
No.  We just like festivities.  The house is decorated,
the champagne is cooling in the fridge, we're getting set
to buy groceries for dinner, and the children (all grown
up now) will come over and get silly treats.  Then
we roll on through the calendar to the next celebration.

I did this little painting last year.  It was so warm last winter that
we could purchase this fragile flower in March.  I didn't see any
this year, and it is freeeeeezing out today.

Have a Happy St. Patrick's Day.
P.S. We did have a lovely dinner and toasted the day.

Flowers and the flower shop

Happy spring (Work in progress
stage 4)

More lights and darks

Acrylic on birch panel

5 x 7 inches

Barbara Muir © 2013

I love the shop where I buy my flowers.  When I'm
not painting portraits or landscapes I paint a lot of
flowers, both in still life settings and on their own.
The flower store I love in Toronto, is Yang's  at
132 Avenue Road where I buy so many flowers
for my paintings, that we have come to know one
another, and are friends.

My painting goes way up on the wall for now at

Yang's Flowers

Today my dear friends there put one of my paintings
on their wall, and asked for a bigger one to display
and sell.  If you are interested in picking up a flower
painting by me, drop into their store and check
it out.  Ask for Lyn, Annie or Min, and they will
either sell you the painting that's there now on the
spot, or contact me for you, or give you my card so
you can call me yourself.

 

The store is packed with spring flowers

The painting on the wall

August market flowers
Acrylic on canvas
12 x 12 inches
Barbara Muir © 2010

Woo Hoo.  I'm posting the next stage on the little
Tulip painting tonight.

Have a loving-the-people-who-sell-your-flowers day.

Dreams of summer

 Derbyshire wildflowers

(work in progress)

Acrylic on canvas

8 x 8 inches

Barbara Muir © 2013

I think it might have been June when Steven and I
last went to England in 2006.  A beautiful time of
 year, and our friend Kathleen lived in Sheffield.
 We spent a weekend with her, and one memorable
 event of the weekend was travelling by bus to a little
town outside of Sheffield where there was a cave
and a small waterfall.  We were weary travellers,
and I think we slept on the bus, but on the way
home Kathleen pointed out the woods rushing by
the window which were carpeted in a breathtakingly
beautiful mauve flower.

Although I don't usually paint from memory, I'm trying
it with this work in progress.

Have a remembering-awesome-beauty-and-friendship day.

Pi Day -- and polishing off the Pie painting

 

Stand Back for the Pie

Acrylic on canvas

24 x 24 inches

Barbara Muir © 2013

Today March 14, 2013 is Pi Day and in honour of this
great day I went back to my pie painting and finished
it off.  It is (I think) now complete.  Not much has
changed since I first posted it, but little changes have
happened that make me feel happier.  So I signed it.

According to the Huffington Post Pi Day is named after the
Greek symbol π which is the ratio of the circumference of
a circle to its diameter. The first three digits in Pi are 3
 (this is the third month) and 14 (the fourteenth day)
= 3.14 or Pi.  What better day to eat pie if you get the urge.
 And any way you slice it you will not be alone in your
pie indulgence.

I live with a mathematics fiend, (Steven) who has been
known to sleep with a Calculus text beside his bed at the
ready should he feel like reviewing it with his morning coffee.
He also makes a mean cherry pie -- the point of the
painting. The pie.

Have a deliciously-happy-Pi-day.

Model and mood -- the love of portraits

Missing you -- write again 

Black marker on watercolour paper

9 x 12 1/8 inches

Barbara Muir © 2013

Tonight's drawing is of one of my favorite models --
Shaniece.  I'm sure I've written before about how she
"gets it."  She loves having fun, and is cheerful and
upbeat, and kind.  But when she poses she goes into
character and maintains that mood faithfully for however
long she poses.  She is a portrait painter's dream.
I thought of her because some of the discussions I
had today with experts in my field were about models.
These talks made me miss Shaniece, and that inspired
my drawing.  I may have even drawn this pose before,
but the photo spoke to me.  I haven't painted the pose,
but I hope I will one day.

Thank you Shaniece -- you totally rock.

Have a thanking-the-people-who-pose-for-you day.