Missing you too much

 Under the strange light

Black marker on bond paper

12 x 14 inches

Barbara Muir © 2011
(The light is the triangle
shape above Larry's head --
it seems to have a shade
shaped somewhat randomly (but
very artfully) from white plastic
and glows very brightly in the photo).

Lately I've been working on big projects.  Plus
it's summer, and the garden and people celebrating
seem to intervene with blogging.  But I miss you
when I don't write here.  Isn't that a strange
phenomenon built out of our brand new world --
missing people you may never have met?  So I
do.  And I miss all of you who I have met too.

Out of missing my friend Flora in Nova Scotia,
came this quick Skype sketch of Flora and Larry
from some pictures I took during a Skype call over
a year ago.  It's strange how creating an image
can make me feel connected, but it does.  I've
drawn Flora's face so many times that it's almost
like shorthand.  But there the two of them are,
so far away, yet showing up in my sketch book -- again.
Painting is like that too, only better in some ways.
When a portrait is right, I start talking to it.  The
moment I look the person in the painting in the eye
and begin to chat about life to her/him, we are nearing
the end of the painting process.  If he or she stayed on
the wall in my house, we might continue to have
brief chats from time to time, when I passed by
the painting.

As it is, I pop into the studio, look at the painting,
and say, "You're coming along, you're probably going
home soon, don't worry, everything will be fine," then
I add a highlight along the nose.

So I hope all is well with all of you.  And to Flora and
Larry: take it easy and thanks for posing for me today.

Have an enjoying-the-photos-of-people-you-love day.