Silence! -- or singing, dancing and painting

Listening
Acrylic on canvas
16 x 20 inches
Barbara Muir © 2010

I went to paint with my sweet art group tonight.
I am so crazy about these people, and haven't been
able to go for months. So I dragged my tired self
there and was amply rewarded. The model was
beautiful, and I was energized and revitalized
by seeing my friends, watching them work, and
by the snatches of conversation I heard while I
was working, and the funny discussions I had when
I wasn't.

I cannot forget how at O.C.A.D. my art school, there
was an atmosphere in some of my classes controlled
by one or two people who were painting the figure
in three sponge impressions. One, two, three --
done. Brilliant really now when I think of it, but
at the time I felt like I was hostage to Beethoven and
Bach and an air of seriousness far beyond what is at
all necessary to produce magnificent art. So I say,
dance, sing, talk, and you will still make paintings --
maybe every bit as good as the three sponge print
style of figurative work my fellow students prepared.

Have a singing, laughing, painting day.