Up to my ears

Mother and Child
Stage Four
acrylic on canvas
30 x 30 inches
Barbara Muir © 2010

At this point I am up to my ears in paint. I have
dreams, ambitions, high lofty ideals, but it's
like the beating stage of baking a cake. You
put the ingredients in a bowl, and you're pretty
sure it will be delicious, but you have no idea
how it will look. That's the stage I'm at with my
mother and child. I haven't had a great deal
of time to work on it today, so I concentrated on
the mother's face. I am not there by any means,
but I have started.

My son sent me a very lovely video today of
his girlfriend and her sister making a spectacular
cake. If I get permission to show it to you I'll
put the link in.

When I'm working on a little painting, it feels
like the painting flows into me, and I do it.
On a larger work I feel like I am 100% in the
painting. I've lost my gloves, a cheque, pens,
you name it today, because the rest of the world
is a blur. Whether I'm painting or not, the
painting is on my mind.

(Yes, I am lucky and I found everything... But
believe me on days like these I need the lists
I mentioned the other day.) It was a glorious
day, and I cannot say it often enough, I am
so grateful to everyone here in my home town,
out in the wider world, and in the blog world
for helping me stay on track. Thank you.

Have a wow-this-is-going-so-well-and-it's-almost -spring-day.
P.S. I never show a client a portrait while it's
a work in progress. I am fairly certain most
people would be shocked at the backwards,
forwards, this colour -- no that colour nature of
painting, so I turn the painting to the wall and
we go and eat cookies and drinks either juice,
pop, coffee, tea or champagne depending on the
day and the age of the sitter. But we're all friends
here right? I thought so.