The final piece of the puzzle

At the party (detail)

Acrylic on canvas

36 x 48 inches

Barbara Muir © 2011

Here's the last portrait detail from the family of
four I've been showing you.  I'm really happy with
the painting and I'll show you the whole result
tomorrow.  Next month I'll borrow the painting from
the client so I can photograph it properly both for
the blog and my portfolio.

We went to see Midnight in Paris yesterday, a romantic
and nostalgic Woody Allen show.  Like most of what
happened yesterday -- a day of long wait times, and
incredible surprises my trip to the movies was unusual.
Steven and I set out to see the new movie Horrible
Bosses.  Most of my bosses have been wonderful, but
the horrible bosses can stand out in your mind.  Once
I went on vacation leaving my job as Assistant Editor
on an art magazine for four weeks, and came back to
find that my job had been given away, and I was now
in ad sales.  Ad sales was a fraught position, because
the low budget magazine was always at least a month
late, and ads for art exhibitions really care that they
are out before the show.  Fussy I know but true.  I left
the magazine as quickly as my finances would allow, and
have been a bona fide freelancer ever since.  Ultimately I am
grateful to my quite horrible boss for everything I learned
on the job, and for pulling the rug out from under me so
I had to make my own, much more beautiful rug on my
own.

So I would love to see the movie Horrible Bosses, but
when we walked into the theatre it was standing room
only.  That was not for us, so we ducked across
the hall and ended up in Midnight in Paris -- a very
happy and delightful accident.

The girl in the painting today is Danielle, who is also
a dancer, and is studying art at the Ontario College of
Art and Design.  It is clear from my portrait that she
is a happy, confident and beautiful young woman. I
so enjoyed meeting her and working on this portrait.

Have a working-for-wonderful-bosses day.