Sunday, September 19, 2010

Transatlantic signals


Sunday with Fiona
Self portrait
charcoal on bond paper
11 x 14 inches
Barbara Muir © 2010

In recent days I've been overjoyed looking at
Sheila Vaughan's wonderful self portraits. The
last two have been in charcoal and they inspired
me. The transatlantic title came to me as I was drawing
my portrait before supper, thinking about Sheila
Vaughan in England. Tonight I drew myself in what I call my
"Karl Lagerfeld" glasses -- but Lagerfeld actually
always wears dark glasses. Mine are really men's glasses
from Joe, and although they look great on Steven,
(who has a pair too) they're a tad severe for me.
But I love how Mac Photo Booth flashes on glasses,
and you lose one eye to glare.

It's been a hard week with my friend coming out of
very difficult surgery. All of his friends are thinking of
him full time. There's a strong temptation to crawl
back into bed with a book and wait. But instead
Steven and I headed out to a funny movie. That was
an excellent plan. I hope you are having a wonderful
time creating art in your comfort zone.

Have a getting-into-your-comfort-zone day.

4 comments:

Sheila Vaughan said...

Thanks for the compliment Barbara - love the freeness in this charcoal drawing and the "blind" eye - that's fantastic. What an exciting and flexible medium this is!

Liza Hirst said...

I love this drawing, Barbara! And I love the glasses, the blind eye and Sheila's self portarits, too!

Barbara Muir said...

Hi Sheila,

It's true charcoal is fantastic, but I just don't know how to finish and store the drawings after they're done.
I don't like nasty toxic sprays.

I love your blue ocean scene.

Take care,

Barbara

Barbara Muir said...

Hi Liza,

I'd like to get better at capturing the strange light from the computer and how it bounces off glasses and faces. It's a totally contemporary light -- so it's a great combo, old medium, traditional drawing style and wham -- the new light illuminating not just faces and glasses, but in another sense illuminating our lives, filling them with new people and information.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxBarbara

Portrait Artist

My photo
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
I paint and draw on commission and for shows. To commission a portrait, or purchase one of my paintings please contact me at: barbara.muir@sympatico.ca
A major highlight in my career? Drawing Oprah Winfrey live via Skype for her show "Where in the Skype are you? Galleries: Studio Vogue Gallery, Toronto, Canada. The Amsterdam Whitney Gallery, New York City. Gallery at the Porch Door, Kingston, Canada. Your positive comments on this blog mean the world to me. I'd love to hear from you!