Super day -- and Internet problems

Portrait of somebody

Black marker on watercolour paper

11 x 14 inches

© Barbara Muir

I tried to post this yesterday, but the Internet went dead

as dead can be.  So here goes.  I found this drawing in a
search for older work to post.  The eyes weren't there, so
I filled them in.  I like the drawing although I have no
idea who it represents, and no idea when I did it.

More tomorrow.  Have a wonderful weekend.

Have a treating yourself kindly day.

A beautiful book arrived yesterday

The cover of my PastBook, which

is almost 200 pages long, and exceptionally

printed.

I don't usually do this but I ordered a book on PastBook

of my last 10 years of posts on Facebook.  The book is
quite remarkable, and beautifully designed and printed.
I am thrilled.  And there it all is, my art, my travels, my
family. Amazing.  I could pick and choose which images
to save, and did, so there is very little repetition.

Some of the spreads in my book

A delight.  But trying to write about this last night was close to
impossible.  Our internet has been as shaky as a leaf in a
high wind.  So here it is.  I'm delighted that I bought it.

Have a loving your work day.

Guaranteed spirits lift -- my art group!

Andy -- art group sketch

Acrylic on canvas

12 x 16 inches

Barbara Muir © 2019

Yesterday was strange.  People who are usually cheerful were cranky. 

That's a bit mild.  Grumpy, angry annoyed. One fellow in my art group 

explained that he was depressed because of the weather. It has
been unusually cold for June. People are calling it Junevember.
I told him that the trees are happy and green. And I’ve never seen
such beautiful lilacs as we have this spring.  But to be fair I like this
colder weather. Plus It was warm enough to sit outside
on our back porch today.

I have been fighting off a bug. So far so good, but I know the best
cure is humour, and of course making art — especially with
my art group. Last night our model was Andy, a friend of one
of the people in the group. When the model didn’t show, Andy
very kindly filled in. He was a good, confident model, and
read a history book for the entire pose. I was only there for an
hour, but that small window of time made me feel incredibly
happy.

Have a working with artists day.

450,000 hits -- Hurray! And thank you.

View of a scene in Florence, Italy

in front of Santa Maria Novella,

which I would never have seen without

the attention that my blog brought to me.

Exhibiting my art in Florence was

an enormous thrill and the friendships we

made there are so wonderful.

I was going to make this just about the statistics -- the numbers.
That is exciting to me, and I will talk about it.  But after writing
about that I thought about what the blog means to me.
This collection of my writing about my art experiences
has absolutely changed my life in magnificent ways.  It has
helped me be invited to show in places like Paris, New York
and Florence, Italy.  It has connected me both virtually, and
in actuality to artists and curators all over the world.  It
is the absolute best.

I don't live my life for the statistics on my blog, but I
know that there's a connection between attention on the blog
 and other social media, and sales. So I do pay attention from
 time to time on how the statistics are going. For me part
of living the life of an artist, is that we want to make a
living by making art.

In December 2018 I had had 400,000 hits in 10 years.
Not bad.  I was happy about it.  Now I have had 50,000
hits in 6 months, and that's a pretty dramatic increase.
I'm well aware that all my favourite celebrities have
millions of hits, but this is impressive for me nonetheless.

I just want to say thank you very much for every bit of
attention you give to my blog.  Your comments, and
interest in my work mean the world to me, and send
me into the studio and out into the greater world to
be the artist.  An incredibly miraculous life.

Have a loving the life you lead day.

Thinking about cherries -- and our trees

Studio cherries

Acrylic on cradled birch panel

5 x 7 inches

Barbara Muir © 2014
SOLD ♥

About  week ago there were finally cherries for sale in
our local supermarket.  I love that fruit, and even
though they're being sold as sweet cherries, they
aren't.  They're a bit sour, like the wonderful
sour cherries we used to grow in our backyard.
Here's the thing, that cherry tree died of a bad fungus,
and apparently we cannot plant the same kind of
tree in the same spot.  It's a small yard, and there
are only two possible places to plant trees, one is
occupied at the moment.

I will investigate that further.  Because our apple
tree is also in trouble from a different fruit tree
plague, and we should take it down.  But
it continues to fight to survive, and the birds love it,
and I don't think I can take it out again this year.
It has leaves and blossoms and is not hurting any other tree.

Do you have these dilemmas in a small city yard?  The
good news?  The newly planted morning glories
are blooming.  It is the month of bloom.

Have a loving the nature you see day.

Wishing you a great week in The Month of Bloom

Sunday Pansies

Acrylic ink, watercolour and marker

in watercolour paper
5.5 x 8.5 inches
Barbara Muir © 2019

Yesterday we bought three big morning glory plants.

The day before we got planters to cheer up the back
porch -- a lovely place to sit and do nothing.  That was
the theme of the day.  Our son and his girlfriend came
over and we sat in the lovely day mostly in shade
enjoying the company.  The clouds were spectacular.
Steven made tea and served cookies.

That was Sunday.  That and the sound of birdsong,
and this painting of pansies.  Oh and Steven planted
the large (about four feet tall) Morning Glory plants
and that made us happy.  The plants are usually much
smaller, but these will cover the rusty chain link fence
between ours, and our neighbour's houses in blue.  I
will love that.  Miraculously the neighbour on that side
likes the low fence and the feeling of space it gives to
both of our yards.  Tonight is is 6 degrees celsius outside
with a terrific wind -- not normal June weather, but
the new normal is abnormal.

Have an enjoying the work you do day. 

There are always drawings -- in the Month of Bloom

Prom

Black marker on bond paper

5 x 8.5 inches

Barbara Muir © 2019

Creatively it feels like there's so much going on.
But tonight it's late and I'm a bit tired.  So I'm
showing you a drawing I did this past week of
someone going to prom.  It's based on one of
my father's photos, and seems totally appropriate
to June, when people all over North America and
probably the world are getting ready for prom,
or the year end dance and party at their school.

I hope you have a good one if you're going to prom,
and for the rest of you, I hope you get your dancing
shoes on and enjoy yourself.

The Month of Bloom is my tentative name for June.
I might change it -- but the evidence of a world flowering
into gorgeous summer is everywhere.

Have a getting on your dancing shoes day.