More pictures from the show

Saturday night's opening was a blast.  Joyce Fournier,
the Gallery Director at Studio Vogue Gallery, sent me
some pictures today that will give you a bit of the feeling.

 Me (left) with Mick van Leur and Raylea Lambert

Here's a picture of me with Raylea Lambert and Mick
van Leur who feature prominently in my painting Love
on the High Line.  It was great to see them and many
collectors, friends and family at the show.  Really fun.

Fun at the opening of Faces and Places at Studio Vogue Gallery 

In this picture people are having fun talking, and drinking the
wonderful wine the gallery served. Two of my paintings are in
the background.

Guests having an animated chat in front

of Gill Cameron's beautiful paintings.

 Gill Cameron and her husband Bruce Harbinson with some of

Gill's lush paintings of Tanzania in the background.

Me in front of my painting On the Road in Fredericton

On the Road in Fredericton

Acrylic on canvas

36 x 48 inches

Barbara Muir © 2011

In this shot I look like I felt last Saturday -- tired

from painting hard and delighted to be there.

Thanks again to everyone who came out.  If you

couldn't make it we're having another party at the

gallery on November 24th from 6 - 8 p.m.

 We would really love to see you then.

Have an-enjoying-art day.

Great show and my son's birthday

Gill Cameron (right) with me, Barbara Muir just before the opening

The show opening the other night was awesome.  If
you missed it and live near or in Toronto, please
come out on November 24th for a second reception.
My shots of the opening did not turn out, so I'm
waiting for other people to send me theirs. But we
were very lucky and had a good and happy crowd.

Here's a shot of Me with Gill Cameron in front
of her painting of Mount Kilimanjaro.

Today's my son's birthday, and it's the first time we haven't
spent either the day, or the day before together.  It's a very
strange feeling all 'round.  But he's in school 5 hours away
by car, and I had an opening this weekend.  It's a wrench at
the heart when you can't be together for your children's birthdays
even when they're growing up.  So next weekend we'll have
a little party when he comes home and make it up to him.

Happy Birthday Sammy.

My painting, Watching you paint,
Acrylic on canvas
30 x 30
Barbara Muir © 2011
as seen in the gallery window across
the street.

Have a living-the-life-of-an-artist day.

My friend Ken

Pugwash's Garden Man

Acrylic on canvas

24 x 24 inches

Barbara Muir © 2011

Here's the final version of my painting of Ken Lander
the fantastic gardener in Pugwash.  I added in the
ocean bay you can see from Ken's driveway on Highway
6,  also known in Nova Scotia as The Sunrise Trail.
Ken lives there with his sweetheart Maxine Johnson,
and Maxine sent me super reference photos for this
painting to add to my own.  I've know Ken almost since
we began visiting the province when Sam was four.
I hope that my delight in our friendship with Ken and
Maxine comes through in the painting.

If you're in or near Toronto,  and would like to see a great show,
please come out to Studio Vogue Gallery, 216 Avenue Road,
on Saturday between 5 and 7 p.m. We'd love to see you.

Faces and Places

Paintings by Barbara Muir and Gill Cameron

Studio Vogue Gallery

216 Avenue Road, Toronto

Opening November 5,

November 5 - 24

Have a going-to-an-art-party day.

What else is new? An art show and a glorious day

On the road in Fredericton

Acrylic on canvas

36 x 48 inches

Barbara Muir © 2011

Check out last night's post to see the entire show that
opens this Saturday between 5 -7 p.m. at Studio
Vogue Gallery.  Gill Cameron and I are showing
paintings I think you'd love.  So if you're in town
drop by to take a look and say Hi.  For the
rest of the week I'll post paintings that are in the
show.

Here's one that you haven't seen.  I met this young
lady in the parking lot of an Atlantic Superstore
in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada.  We were
on our way home, and travelling on to Quebec City --
about a 14 hour trip from our place in Pugwash.
On that glorious day we were listening to a great
audio book in the car, The People of the Book by Geraldine
Brooks. It was one of those books you wish would never
end, and we were transfixed.  You can find out what inspired
the author here.

So we stopped for coffee and a bathroom break at the
Superstore and were off.  Just as I got back into the car
I saw this great looking girl hop on her bike beside us,
and I asked if I could photograph her to paint her for an
upcoming show.  She said "Yes!" eagerly, I took the photos,
gave her a postcard of my New York show, and here's the result.

It's a big painting that I've dreamt of painting ever since
that day.  What was wonderful was that the girl's
name was Hannah, and the central character in the
all consuming book was also Hannah.  Plus the girl was
just the epitome of youthful confidence and joy -- a
subject I love painting.

Thank you Hannah.

Have an-enjoying-the-kindness-of-strangers day.

There is so much to tell you! The show opens on Saturday

Our show at Studio Vogue Gallery 

Barbara Muir and Gill Cameron

Watch, enjoy, and come on out.

Life has been crazy, busy, wild exciting and hard
work in the past week-- but the show is up at  Studio
Vogue Gallery, and our opening is Saturday between
5 and 7 p.m..  Please come out if you're in town.

Today my dear friends Davide Tonizzo and Sandra
Pacitti worked on a video for Gill Cameron and me that
gives you a good idea of what you'll see when you come
to the opening (we would love to see you there!)
Sandra is a wonderful writer, and Davide a superb designer.
So Davide put the film together and Sandra helped suggest
improvements.  Thank you so much to both of them.

 

 Sally Chupick and I ham it up in my kitchen

The other day Sally Chupick who runs The Gallery
at the Porch Door in the lovely stone porch of her
farmhouse was visiting Toronto and dropped in for a fun
talk about art over coffee.  What a treat.  She was so kind
about my messy, little house, my art everywhere and my
work.  It was just a delight to see her.  One of the nicest things
about being a blogger is that we create delightful mutual
admiration societies based on our work, our writing,
and the commentary.

My thanks to Joyce Fournier at Studio Vogue for doing
a beautiful job hanging our show, to Gill Cameron for
showing her beautiful paintings with me, to Davide Tonizzo
for creating this little film, to Sandra Pacitti for her help, wisdom
and humour.  And my thanks to Sally Chupick for showing my
work, being a kind, supportive friend and for her wonderful
art.  Oh and most of all my thanks to Steven loving me and
for understanding and tolerating the upheaval and mess of
an artist preparing for a show. 

Enjoy the video.  I will be showcasing (pardon my pun) work
from the show for the next few days. 

Have an the-world-is-an-amazing-place day

Halloween is the greatest

 Love on the High Line

Acrylic on canvas

36 x 48 inches

Barbara Muir © 2011

It's been a stressful day.  So much going on, and many things
that could go wrong, doing so in a kind of domino effect.
Lack of sleep from excitement could be part of it.  I love
Halloween.  I think it's brilliant of us, especially in northern
climates (for goodness sake there was snow in the Maritimes
this past weekend) to designate a day for silly.  Some people
get their trousers in a twist (get upset) about the message,
but the message here is incredibly simple -- let's have fun.

So we have orange pumpkin luminarias lining the walk to the house,
and a big pumpkin carved with a cheerful smiling face.  Our next
door neighbour jumped out cackling at me in her perfect witch's
costume, complete with green face and hair and surprised me. Then I
laughed so hard.  Her porch is super decorated, skeletons and lots of cobwebs,
carved pumpkins all down the steps.

I was walking along earlier today dashing from one errand
to the next, my neck tense when I saw a woman
walking along with a young boy in a giraffe costume.
The boy was so blissfully happy, and his mother beamed at
him in delight.  Suddenly I caught the mood,  started smiling
and couldn't stop.  It's been a lovely day ever since.

The painting I'm showing you today is called Love on the High Line NYC.
You can come out and see it in the wonderful show Gill Cameron and
I are having at Studio Vogue Gallery 216 Avenue Road.  The opening is
this Saturday between 5 and 7 p.m. 

I don't have any Halloween pictures to show you, but I'll put some
in tomorrow.

Have a loving-the-idea-of-a-day-for-silly day.

Coming down the home stretch on the High Line

 Love on the High Line (detail)

(work in progress)

Acrylic on canvas

36 x 48 inches

Barbara Muir © 2011

Painters working on large projects are not
necessarily good companions.  Obsession is
certainly part of what powers the bigger stuff.
You go to sleep and wake up consumed with what
is next?  Wonderful and terrible things happen in
the world, and they are secondary.  The main
thing is the work.

I like to think of myself as a kind friend, a caring
person, but I admit -- I can inhabit another world
at times, and that's the world of painting.  I am
lucky, but those around me might want to wave
their hands in front of my face to check that
I am present.  Thank goodness for walks with
the dog and Steven in the brilliant autumn, for
excellent novels to pull my brain away.  For
friends and their calls, visits, stories, interest.

Here's what I've been working on -- still needing
changes here and there -- but clear enough that
you can see what's happening.  It is 4 feet by
three feet.  I have loved every minute of painting
it and began thinking about it the moment
I saw this photo of my friends sitting on
the High Line in New York City.  It has the
conviviality, and little cosmic high you feel
visiting New York, as though just by being there
you're part of something bigger -- and you are --
you're in one of the most vibrant cities in the
world, and feel a bit like you've just had the
best champagne.  You are happy, giddy, goofy
and plum pleased with yourself for getting there.
All of that is in my painting, loosely interpreted
from the Facebook shot I was given permission
to work with.

Have a loving-what-you're-working-on day.