Show stopping

Watercolour study of cats
watercolour on watercolour paper
6 x 9 inches
Barbara Muir 2009

The painting tonight is a little watercolour study. I
I have been working on a large commission and
can't show it to you yet.

Today was my day to sit the Don Valley Art Club Show.
It's a pretty great show, and the thought of spending
two hours watching the paintings in that high ceilinged
gallery was a happy one. But little did I know how
happy. You may know by now that I have a mission
to try and enjoy my life. I am incredibly conscious
on one level of time ticking away (maybe because I
teach time management), but also in part because
very good friends are coping with hard illnesses, and
in the course of the work I do both as an artist and
at school, I hear about a lot of pain, in the search
for joy. So that's the back story of my unrelenting
push towards the positive.

But today was filled with surprises. I had exactly 15
minutes to go to the Brickworks Farmers' Market,
after dropping a painting off at the Central Artwalk
show, to be held this year in a superb gallery at
the newly renovated Wychwood streetcar barns.
Painting successfully delivered, we hopped it to
the market because I had to get to Todmorden Mills
by noon to watch over the show that opened last night, and to be a
"roving sales" person. Yes I had my Converse sneakers
on, and I needed them!

In my allotted 15 minutes at the market I rushed over
to PegAn to buy a new bouquet (more zinnias) and then
to Alyson to get freshly made pizza for lunch. I bought
glorious big, beefsteak tomatoes from a fellow who owns
a farm near Picton, Ontario, then hurried to Steven
waiting in the car. He dropped me off at Todmorden and went
biking (slowly) with the dog running behind him, down the
river path. At the show I met the wonderful watercolour artist,
Maureen Wood and her good friend Kim. Maureen's work
features richly coloured flowers. I had such a great time with
Maureen, her friends and family members, and my other friends at the
Todmorden show that the time flew by. It was fun talking to guests looking
for paintings -- the whole experience was a pleasure.

Have a Saturday-was-great-can't-wait-until-Sunday day.