A day of joy -- Happy Thanksgiving

A line on roses

Black marker on Moleskine paper

8 x 10 inches

Barbara Muir © 2015

Today was the actual Canadian Thanksgiving Day.  We had
our celebration with the family on Friday, and decided we'd
have a special treat tonight at one of our favourite restaurants.

It was a beautiful and very cold day.  We sat on the back porch
watching the wasps who would otherwise be interested in us,
devour the maple syrup we'd put out for them.  Watching
them was mesmerizing and very relaxing, and we could have
watched the crew of about 14 come and go, and jostle for
position.  But we had places to go.

So we went down to the lake.  It was magnificent there -- big
sailboats anchored in the bay, blue water sparkling in the sunlight,
children playing under the trees, couples in love (like us), a
woman running by talking to her mother on the phone through
headphones and telling her that some of her behaviour caused
tension.  Seagulls floated in the air about us and we were as happy
as can be.

Then tonight we dressed up and went out for dinner.  It is supposed
to be very cold tonight so I cut lots of flowers from the garden and
brought them in -- now the kitchen looks so festive.

The roses in tonight's drawing, could be an Inktober drawing but
I did it four years ago.  To me roses are celebratory, and although
we don't have any at the moment we have a lot of garden flowers.
Happy Canadian Thanksgiving.  October in our family is packed
with celebration.

Have a loving your life day.

Happy Thanksgiving

The only important message on this weekend here in
Canada is Happy Thanksgiving!  Families and friends
all over the country have spent the weekend gathering
together to express our gratitude for the bounty of
the harvest, for each other, and for the planet.

I love Thanksgiving because it includes everyone.
It is not about religion, it's about gratitude for what
we have, and sharing a meal with the people we
care about.  There are no gifts other than food and
good company.  It is a wonderful holiday.

I am taking a break today, so for now best wishes for
a very happy day on the last day of this long weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving.

So grateful for artist friends and our community -- an art weekend

Me with the artist Jennifer Hinrichs and her

beautiful work The River, (see below).

The River

Acrylic on canvas
30 x 30 inches

Jennifer Hinrichs © 2019

On Thursday night we stopped in at the Aird Gallery in its

new location at 906 Queen Street West.  My friend Jennifer Hinrichs
had a piece accepted into their juried show Paint which runs until
November first.  The gallery was packed both with paintings, and
with eager art lovers -- always a treat to see.

It's a wonderful show, so if you can make it, go and take a
look.  The gallery is in the basement of the building, and they are
hoping to expand.   It's in a great area with lots of restaurants and
all of the good things the city offers.

Jennifer's piece River makes you want to do what the young girl
in the painting is about to do -- find some water to swim in
and jump in.  Oh for summer!  It's cold tonight and the thought
of a hot summer day is a treat.

Today we went to the Art Gallery of Ontario, had a delicious lunch
in the Member's Lounge, and went to see the Rubens exhibition.  I
loved the quote they had on the wall, and thought "right on Rubens
 -- good attitude!" Rubens said, "I confess that I am by natural instinct
better fitted to execute very large works than small curiosities.  Everyone
according to his gifts; my talent is such that no undertaking, however vast
in size or diversified in subject, has ever surpassed my courage."  He
wrote this in a letter to William Trumbull dated September 13, 1621.

I'm not fond of his paintings of sad religious images with figures lying
in agony bleeding, but I do love his portraits and needless to say, the man
could really paint. And size did not scare him.  He was telling the truth.
Some of the works are very large in scale.

Home to my own humble studio, and time with the family again.
We went for a walk in the park, and enjoyed the art of the natural
world, and the beautiful moon tonight.

Have a loving art, and a Happy Thanksgiving weekend day.

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving -- the gift of family

Today's flowers from the garden

Watercolour and black marker on 

watercolour paper

6 x 9.5 inches

Barbara Muir © 2013

Tonight we had Thanksgiving dinner with our growing
family.  The youngest person at the table was two
months old, and no she did not have turkey.  It
was a delicious meal and wonderful fun.

At one point a song played that my mother had
especially loved, and I suddenly wished so badly
that she could have been here to watch her family
laughing, dancing and singing.  My mother
died on (Canadian) Thanksgiving Day six years
ago.  I'm putting this painting up because it was the
first painting I created after she died. For me the painting
was the beginning of the possibility that I would
ever feel joy again.

And of course I have.  I am lucky to be a happy
person at heart.  And I am blessed to have a joyous,
loving family, and very grateful for that.  Most
Canadians will celebrate later in this long
weekend, but tonight was the only time our
whole crew could meet.

Happy Thanksgiving weekend.

Inktober -- My mother's sewing -- my father's art

Cutting a pattern

Black marker on paper

5.5 x 8.5 inches

Barbara Muir © 2019

In some ways in a family of artists my father was the most

prolific.  He had a very serious period as a photographer in
black and white images that he printed himself in his dark room,
and could have easily gained fame from the quality of those
photos.  Plus he was a pretty good, self-trained painter.

I based today's Inktober drawing on a wonderful photo of
my mother cutting gorgeous fabric -- perhaps for a dress.
As I've been thinking about Botticelli, and Florence, I
think the link here is that the fabric was no doubt Italian,
and perhaps Florentine.

My parents went to Italy for six weeks when I was a girl,
and left us with a woman, who might have been a drunk, but was
certainly mentally ill.  Children were too much for her.
She waited on the front lawn all day the day my parents
were expected to return.

The fact that my mother's great grandmother was Florentine
was never discussed in our family.  A cousin of my
father's was into family tree information, and found that
out to my great delight.

I learned how to sew very well from my mother, but have
not continued that skill.  As for my mother -- she could,
and did make anything.

Have an enjoying your story day.

10 reasons to be happy

Untitled (Work in Process)

Acrylic and acrylic ink, and 

marker on canvas

11 x 14 inches 

Barbara Muir © 2019

I took a little break from Inktober today, although the painting I'm
showing you started with an ink drawing on canvas. 10 reasons to
be happy -- is an exercise I used to do with my psychology class,
and it always created a great mood. We need that right?

1.  I talked to some wonderful artist friends today, and
exciting plans are in the works!

2. Toronto has declared a Climate Emergency.  I
know that sounds like a bad thing, but it isn't.  It means
that the city is recognizing Global Climate Change, and we
may begin changing how we do things as a city. Terrific news.

3. I had time to work on my larger painting today.

4.  I did some work on the painting I'm showing you
tonight, which is a work in progress.

5. I sat on the front porch with Steven when he came home
from work, and we watched the magical end of day light
in our neighbour's golden leafed tree.

6. It was Steven's turn to make dinner, and dinner was
delicious.

7.  We are having Thanksgiving dinner with our family, which
is wonderful.  I love Thanksgiving.  (This is the Canadian one,
which is about the harvest.)

8. The Fall Blooming Anemones in our garden are hanging
in even though it's been super cold at night.  They are eight
feet high and a beautiful cloud of white flowers.

9. Even though our entire street is under construction, I got
a parking space in front of our house!

10.  You make me happy every day, and I'm so glad I know
you, and that you comment on my blog, and make me feel
like I'm part of a community.

Have a finding reasons to be happy day.

Thinking about Botticelli -- carry on Inktober

Drawing of Botticelli's Madonna of the Veil

black marker on paper

5.5 x 8.5 inches

Barbara Muir © 2019

Today was a great day for painting.  I got clearer on
where I'm going with the piece I'm working on, and
that felt wonderful.  It is not ready to go public, so
I turned to my very old friend Botticelli, and
did a drawing of his Madonna of the Veil.

The drawing in no way reflects how amazing the
painting is. I love how Botticelli creates such
beautiful halos, and that they slide over the rest of
the world, taking precedence.  Still I had fun doing
the drawing, and I think the care required working
with ink, is making painting seem relatively easy.

Have an enjoying learning day.