New thinking -- the delight of making it work

The excitement of light

Acrylic on cradled birch wood

8 x 8 inches

Barbara Muir © 2019

I remember my dear friend George Shane from the Don
Valley Art Club saying that you don't really know if
a painting is working until you've put it away for
three months.

Sometimes you know right away.  Done is done, and
the feeling of exhiliration that comes from that can't be
beat.  But sometimes months or even years after you
started a work that you don't know how to complete,
the answer comes out of the blue (or red, or yellow).

It was that way with this sunset cloud painting.  The
changes I made were minor, but they made me happy.  I
am pretty sure it's done.  It is one of the views I might
get to see when we go to Nova Scotia.  The astounding light
teaches me over and over how incredibly beautiful nature is.

Have a rethinking your work day.

Supportive friends - and going to New York City

Artist Franco Kwacha  Mbilizi and I

at the opening of the ground floor

Amsterdam Whitney Gallery

in New York City in 2016

Last week I was invited to join the December 2019/January 2020
exhibition at the Amsterdam Whitney Gallery in
New York City.  So we hustled and arranged hotels
and air fare, and I'm going to the opening on
December 14.  If you're going to be in town (New York City)
please let me know and come on over.  I believe the opening
runs from 3 - 6 p.m. as usual, but I will check that.

Tonight I'm showing you a photo of me and the artist
Franco the Creator at the opening of Amsterdam Whitney's
ground floor gallery in Chelsea NYC in 2016.
I did not have art in that show, but was invited to celebrate
with the gallery director, staff and exhibiting artists.
I'm sorry I don't know the name of the artist in the work
behind us.

This photo captures my sheer delight at seeing Franco
there.  We have been friends since we met at an earlier
exhibition at Amsterdam Whitney Gallery.  Franco's work
is amazing -- both spiritual and hopeful, and apocalyptic
at the same time.

The Gallery Director -- Ruthie Tucker is one of the kindest
and most supportive people I've ever met.  Even though
I was not in this show, and neither was Franco, Ruthie asked
the TV interviewer Kristal Hart to interview us.

With Kristal Hart and Franco Mbilizi

being interviewed for MNN, Manhattan TV

in front of Wonder Water Image #6

at the new Amsterdam Whitney Gallery.

The painting had sold, and was not in the

exhibition, and still the gallery director

wanted me to be featured with Franco.

Into the smalls -- the source of some big work

It's a fine day sweetheart

Acrylic on cradled birch panel

8 x 10 inches

Barbara Muir © 2017

One of the paintings currently showing at the Heliconian
Club, until the end of November, started out as a small
painting.  Many artists I talk to talk about scale.  The
nice thing about smaller works is that they fit into smaller
spaces, and they are less expensive

The painting I'm showing you tonight is one I picked out
of my box of smaller works, and thought -- 'hey this is
a nice one!'  I have been working on the theme of the
beautiful fields we see driving to the beach in Nova
Scotia, or through the countryside to the store an hour away
to get some groceries when.  As the passenger on these trips
I am probably quite annoying because I am continuously
gasping and asking Steven to stop the car.  So much beauty

In fact I probably have enough photo reference to paint
for a long, long time.  But then there's tomorrow, and what
magic it might contain.

I love this painting, and the title too. And yes it's for sale
if you're interested.  :-)

Have an enjoying your work day.

The art of the card

Apples and Sunflowers
Acrylic on watercolour paper - glazed

3 x 5 inches

 Barbara Muir © (from the files)

Today was a dear family member's birthday.  There have

been two of them this week.  Working with a wonderful
printer I like to create my own card -- from photos and
my work, with personal, funny and meaningful
words inside.

It takes more time than looking at a card stand and picking
out the card, but it makes me happy to give an original
image and original words.

For a very loving message today I used this bright image.
It's a small painting that's been sitting on my dresser
staring at me and making me happy for the past couple
of weeks.  I thought I'd pass on that good emotion.

Today it got its turn, and was delighted to be on the front of
a card -- bringing warmth and happy thoughts to a very
cold and sometimes snowy, and very happy birthday.

Have a loving your family day.

It all starts with thinking -- how a painting begins

No Contest -- Nature Wins!

Acrylic on canvas

30 x 30 inches

Barbara Muir © 2016
SOLD ♥

I am at the planning stage with at least two paintings.

One is more formal and has required a lot of research,

which is not completely finished.  The other is out

there circling around my brain like the airplanes

circling the airport in Toronto, or the birds that

always fly off a building on St. Clair when I turn off the

street to head home.

Like those birds, my thoughts about a painting are 

many, beautiful and inspiring in my own head.  Every

time I see the birds (pigeons I think) doing their sky

dance I feel incredibly happy.  Even if one second

before they fly up I was sad or frustrated.

So my thoughts are trending in this direction.  Landscape

with a human element -- buildings, or city, or highway.

Not sure.  The main thing is this wonderful uplifting mood --

which leads to paintings like the one above.  That and love

of place.  And no question about it I love Nova Scotia.

This painting sold in New York City two years ago.

And as I'm heading back to exhibit there in December --

what works with the audience there fascinates me.

Have a loving your creative thoughts day.

Even more from the Heliconian Four Seasons In Climate Crisis exhibition -- on now

Four seasons: captions going clockwise: 

Blue and Yellow, 

A Good Day to Saunter, 

The Harvest and the Hunt,

and The Long Night

All four paintings are Acrylic on canvas

10 x 16 inches

Dougal M. Haggart © 2019

I wish I had thought of taking photos of everyone's work,
at the dramatic, and inspiring opening of the Four Seasons
in Climate Crisis Show at the Heliconian Club in Toronto,
35 Hazelton Avenue.  But at the time I was too entranced with
the dance performances, and musical pieces to think of it.

Although I may talk more about the exhibition -- it is
dealing with such a crucial theme -- I think this is the last
story about an artist.

Dougal Haggart created a lovely quartet of pieces representing
each of the four seasons.  Dougal explains that she, "grouped
4 small landscapes together linked by elements signifying the
season in the foreground of each painting." She adds that she
used her colour associations with the seasons -- "from no
colour in winter, to the exciting relief of the bright colour returning
in the spring."

The figure in A Good Day to Saunter is experiencing the
high heat of summer, and in  The Harvest and the 
Hunt the person is battling the cold winds of fall.

There is a delightful warmth to all four paintings.  Even in
The Long Night there is a well lit house in the distance
watched over by a white arctic fox on the hill. You feel
like you could climb down the hill and find some supper
and a warm drink.  That painting was inspired by an amazing
trip Dougal took north of Churchill, Manitoba in 2006 to see
 the polar bears. You can read about that journey and feast
on the photos here.

As we face a serious climate crisis, the paintings in the
Four Seasons in Climate Change Crisis exhibition serve to
remind us of what we will be losing if we don't save our
planet.

Have a caring about your planet day.

The Heliconian Four Seasons - another look

Artist Linda Briskin with her work Reclamation

A photo collage printed on vinyl

36 x 50 inches

Linda Briskin © 2019

To add to the drama of the piece

Linda placed rusting found objects

on the mantel beneath her work.

The Four Seasons in Climate Change Crisis, on now at the Heliconian
Club, is both a beautiful and disturbing exhibition.  Whether the artists
are painting or photographing the beauty they don't want to lose, or the
environmental issues at hand, the work is both dramatic and moving.

Linda Briskin's Reclamation -- a photo collage -- depicts
a commentary on how we are destroying the planet, and
an element of hope based on the earth's determination
to continue despite our excessive efforts to destroy it
through our habit of neglect.

As Linda explains, this is "a collage constructed from
more than 30 photographs, many of which were taken at
a car dump on Cayman Brac, a small coral island off
Grand Cayman."  She adds, "the geometry, textures and
colours of junked cars and rusted metal have their own
strange and grotesque beauty.  The green vines weaving
their way around and through the detritus are a reminder
of the earth's resilience and its capacity to regenerate."

In part Linda uses the vines as a symbol of the hope
that we as part of the growing and changing life of
humanity, will change our habits and grow new
ways of being conscious of and caring for our planet.

Linda leaves us with this heartening fact. "Every year
around 27 million cars around the world that reach the end
of their useful life are recovered for recycling. Over
25 million tons of material is recycled from old vehicles."

The collage Reclamation is powerful, and has the strange
beauty Linda describes. To see more of Linda's work,
check out her website here.

Have a thinking about the planet day.