Loved the movie

Cat on an office chair
acrylic on canvas
8 x 8 inches
Barbara Muir © 2009
(New photo taken in daylight.)




The original charcoal sketch on the canvas ground
done while Fiona, our Tortie-point Siamese
cat was sleeping. I used the large
charcoal sticks my friend Noreen Smiley
in Pugwash prefers. They were great
for indicating value.

I went to see Julie & Julia last night with Steven and our
friends and loved the movie. The movie chronicles
the real life story of a woman writing a blog about cooking
through Julia Child's first cookbook, Mastering the
Art of French Cooking. It felt a bit personal. True
the New York Times hasn't come knocking on my door,
but I have had the more than thrilling experience of
drawing Oprah in a live taping, and all of the media
interest since has been phenomenal. Let's face it,
all of that happened because of my blog. I've said this
before, but it's true.

I feel almost exactly the way the character in the movie
did -- grateful, surprised and delighted. In my case
I was encouraged to begin blogging by my dear friend
Flora Doehler in Bear River Nova Scotia, and launched
into the practice by my wonderful son, Christopher,
who is a technical wizard (I so am not). I don't think
I've ever had a melt down over the blog, but my husband
has suffered me typing the thing, and entering my
photos late at night when he's trying to sleep in the
bedroom which doubles as my office.

Like the character in the movie, I have the most
wonderful and supportive husband, and friends.
And like that character I am making new friends
through the blog world all the time. Unlike her,
I have no intention of stopping, because I am
committed to the daily blog, and trying to produce
art daily too -- which I admit gets to be a smoother
exercise as time goes on.

Toronto is being swarmed by
wasps. This is normal at this time of
year, but a bit worse because of the
garbage strike. If you put out dishes
of sugar in water, they go to the sugar water
and leave you alone. Be warned they
drink that sugar water like it's
champagne at a wedding, so you need
to replace it frequently if you want to sit outside.
Yes that's our back porch, and yes it needs
sanding and painting. We have not had time.
I hope we do before the snow flies.

Reviews from friends and family on the movie are
mixed. Check out the Vanity Fair piece on Julia
Child too, because her love story with her husband
is the stuff that movies are made of.

Have a loving-the-blog-world day.