Coffee, tea and look at your art!

The Chisholm family
6 feet x 3 feet
acrylic on canvas
Barbara Muir © 2010
(The paintings now hang in a pristine
modern living room, with brilliant light --
so bright the paintings were reflecting the
light in this photograph -- and white
walls like and art gallery. I was
delighted to see them when I had tea
there a few weeks ago.)

I do love visiting my clients and seeing where
they've put my paintings. When I'm creating a
piece my whole obsession is with what I'm painting.
But I'm lucky that during the commission process
I often form lasting friendships with my clients,
so when I visit I am thinking more about them, than
about the art I've painted for them. So it's
touching to learn where people have hung the
work, to see how much thought and care
goes into those decisions.

People often ask if I'll miss a painting when it's
gone. I do feel a small lurch when I pack a
painting up and send it off, either into the
client's car, or into the mail. But I still
have the experience of painting it, and the
gratification of pleasing my client. Plus I
sometimes borrow the paintings for shows
down the line, and then I get to see them again.

Still I love walking into a friend's house and
being told to look at the painting I may have
painted years before. "Ah yes, so there it is.
Hey!" That's a very sweet feeling. My thanks
to all of my clients who've given me that
privilege.

Steven and I climbed up our
cherry tree tonight on two separate ladders.
There is enough fruit in that one tree
for hundreds of pies, but we picked
enough for three -- 12 cups of cherries.
Each bowl of pitted fruit shown here
will become a pie.
I'm hoping we make two pies and a cobbler.
Sour cherry recipes anyone?

Have a knowing-you-are-appreciated day.