Well worth seeing

Portrait of my father
black marker on bond paper
7 x 9 inches
Barbara Muir 2010
(I'm happy for my father that
the Canadians won Olympic Gold
in Hockey tonight. He was a
major hockey fan, and would
have been shouting out instructions
and gesticulating wildly as he
watched the game today. He
would have loved that we won
the Gold on his birthday.
Here he is sitting in his favorite
chair, outside in his favorite
place his home with a view
on the Ottawa River.)

While I think of it last night we saw a great film
Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon in Invictus.
What an amazing movie. The election of
Barack Obama was a significant moment in
history, and so were the fantastic events in
this movie about Nelson Mandela and
South Africa. At school I look out at a sea
of faces from places all over the world, and it
breaks my heart to think that people would
actively dislike another person -- anyone in
that room -- because of the colour of their skin.
What a stupid bunch of people we have been
all over the world in that regard. The movie
tackled this theme in a respectful, kind and
moving way.

It is my father's birthday. It feels like he's been
dead a long time. The world has changed so
much since he left it. I miss him, and would
love to be able to bring him into my classroom
and introduce him to my students. I think he
would be proud of me and how I work, and
I know he would be delighted that I am doing
so much painting, something he loved to do
himself. Happy Birthday Father wherever
you are.

Have a-giving-your-neighbour-a-hug day.

Instant

A serious talk
Skype drawing
charcoal on bond paper
9 x 12 inches
Barbara Muir © 2010
(Before I start a commission portrait
painting I frequently do sketches
and drawings to "learn"
the subject - either live,
or from photos. My friend
Tamara has a beautiful face
and a difficult one to capture.
During a recent conversation
she lit a cigarette. I said that
this was the only way she could
ever have a cigarette and talk
to me. We'd need to be
thousands of miles apart.
(I don't smoke.)

I grew up in the age of instant. My mother like many
of the women of her generation was thrilled with
"instant mashed potatoes", instant coffee, shirts that
didn't need ironing, the entire smorgasbord of
convenience foods. She was a great cook, but was
delighted to be able to use these foods for
shortcuts.

Now the rage for instant has become so dominant
that kids have trouble sitting still in school, because
they're used to keying in whatever music or videos
they want to see on their computers. Microwaving
food, instant bank machines, the list goes on.

But when you apply the instant mania to art the
concept loses some of its appeal. It is possible
to create a painting quickly on a small surface,
I know that myself. But for the bigger, deeper,
more intensive, work, instant just doesn't cut it.
The blog world is excellent for demanding
product. I think that's good for artists. It has
been a wonderful discipline for me to know
that people are out in the world waiting to see
me create something.

But it's also hard if (as it does) work takes time
to gel, doesn't come together instantly --
floats around in the brain for months before
manifesting on canvas or paper -- eludes the
artist. Then, when the idea does congeal
it is complex, doesn't permit speed, needs
a lot of work, fast work some days, slow
meticulous detail on others.

This is a concept I'm wondering about right
now because I want to spend a while on my
paintings - hire models, work out poses, think,
and think, and think until I get magic. Or
not think until something pops into my head
and hits the canvas. Constant work on a small
scale is like the daily short runs before the marathon.
Each one has its own meaning and value, and
counts in larger explorations.

Have a working-on-your-inner-art day.

Snow at last

Tamara talking
Skype sketch
black and grey marker on bond paper
11 x 16 inches
Barbara Muir © 2010

I am an Ottawa girl although I've lived longer in
Toronto than I did in the Nation's capital. But
we grew up with snow -- lots of it. Before global
warming Ottawa used to experience a whole
lot of the white stuff. They still have more than
we ever do, but it's not the same. As a child I
was sent outside in my snowsuit to play with my
brothers from dawn until dusk. A huge pleasure
was making forts. We dug them out of the snowbanks
by the driveway. Someone had to shoo us out
of there when my father was coming home from
work. But I distinctly remember three children
being able to get inside with snow bank above
and below. We fancied ourselves to be arctic
people.

Toronto? Forget it. A few centimeters of snow
fell today and everyone was talking about it.
well who can blame them, this winter has been
a winter in temperature only. Neighbours were
out with their snow shovels, people were
warned to stay off the roads. I didn't get out
north of the city, where the weather is always
wild compared to Toronto's tame weather.
But here in town this was not a storm. It
was so warm that the snow was melting
quickly into big slushy puddles. It's the first
time all winter I've had to wear my high
lined rubber boots to wade through first the
snow, and then the melting stuff.

I felt grateful to my Mom and Dad today for
raising me where the weather was dependably
undependable in winter. Grateful to my
driving instructor who taught me to drive in
winter, and grateful to that inner Ottawa girl
who found the whole idea of being stopped
cold by a bit of snow funny. Sorry Toronto.

Have an enjoying-your-weather-and-your-inner-
weather-personality.

A small celebration

For a small weekday toast
black and grey marker on bond paper
11 x 9 inches
Barbara Muir © 2010

The other day I bought a tiny bottle of Veuve
Cliquot to celebrate that my paintings were home
safely from Florence, Italy and the Florence
Biennale. Both Steven and I had so much work
to do that we toasted with one glass, and then
put the bottle away.

Tonight is the start of Reading Week for me.
My classes even did count downs 10,9,8 etc.
Of course I'm not on holiday, but working on
as much painting as I can squeeze into the week.

So today I went to my favorite art store, and
bought drawing materials. I recently saw a
cool drawing somewhere -- maybe in the
newspaper that used black marker with
grey marker and I thought that would be
interesting to try. So I bought a grey wide
marker to try it out. Tomorrow I'll go
back and get the lighter grey I was envisioning.

It is a cheery idea. I toasted all of you. The
candles burned down at dinner while we
talked and laughed, and the backdrop was
some amazing tulips which are nearing the
end of their perfection.

Have a trying-out-that-new-idea-and-celebrating day.

Book or portfolio?

Inside the images are a good size and
the printer did a great job reproducing them.
The stock is high quality and has a nice feel to it.




The cover -- just my name
on heavy semi-gloss stock

Sometimes a leap forward in how you present
yourself can happen almost by accident. I
was rushing to get ready to go to the Florence
Biennale, working from a huge checklist
propped up in the kitchen that I'll show you
sometime when I overheard the word book.
A friend of mine had printed a book for the show.
Yikes! This was Monday, I was leaving Wednesday
night. How could I get a book?

The answer was my wonderful local printer,
who I just adore. I phoned and asked if he
could make me a book on Monday afternoon.
He said bring me a disk. I did, and by Tuesday
evening I had the "books" in hand. They are
just over 8 1/2 x 11 inches, and there are
32 images inside. I did not title my work,
or print sizes, because there wasn't time.
I did include my artist's statement and blurb
in English and Italian, plus all of my contact
information. On the front cover I used my
name, on the back my blog address.

Pow! That book (and I've had more copies
made since I returned) impresses people
in a way no portfolio ever did. They believe
in me because I'm in a book. Which is a
bit crazy, but hey -- it's also true.

By the way Liza Hirst has just put out her
second volume of her paintings. I own the
first one, and fully intend to get the second.
I treasure her little book, which has 100
fantastic paintings in it.

I guess that's next.

Have an aren't-you-worth-a-book day.

A quick study with friends

Man in red
Art Group Sketch
acrylic on canvas
12 x 16 inches
Barbara Muir © 2010

A young friend of mine suggested preparing
several canvasses ahead of time, so that I
could head out to my Tuesday night art group
whenever I felt inspired. I did.
Tonight I had a very little time with my art
group. But the model didn't show up, so
one of the club members graciously offered
to pose. He held the pose expertly, and
perhaps because I know him I dashed down
a sketch.

His face in the actual pose was very
serious, but his kindly nature twinkled from
his eyes. I didn't get time to capture that --
I was more interested in the play of light,
and could soften the chin a bit, if I want to
put more work into it. But I think I've
captured the sweetie pie side of this fellow.

I'm absolutely exhausted in a good and happy
way. So it's time to call it a day.

Have an enjoying-whoever-you-paint day.

Early morning tomorrow so more tomorrow

In the kitchen
acrylic on canvas
36 x 26 inches
Barbara Muir

I don't know if you've seen this painting before
but it's one of my favorites. I've been marking all
night tonight, catching up so I can concentrate
on painting, and I am caught up! Yay.

This is a painting of my friend Jennifer in our
kitchen. It's a big 36 x 36 inch painting from a
few years ago, and I painted it mostly in one
evening while she posed.

Have a super-enjoying-your-life day.

P.S. Yesterday was like spring. I sat on the
back porch with the cat. Today it has been
snowing all day and Torontonians cannot
drive in snow. Crazy.