The week of the lemon and Happy Easter

 

 Memories of California

Acrylic on canvas

8 x 8 inches

Barbara Muir © 2011

I thought I'd post this painting I did two years ago of lemons
because it seemed like the perfect symbol of the last week.
I can't remember drinking that much hot lemon, in a long
time. I hope you had a great holiday weekend.  We did, and
as I was cleaning up my room after the great egg hiding
caper, I found a little drawing I did in a journal the
year Christopher was born.  I think it's appropriate
that I was writing soppy poems about freedom, right
before we decided to make one of the biggest decisions of
our lives -- to have children.  And tonight when everyone
went home, I thought -- that's what my children have
given me -- the freedom to love and to work at loving
well.  I could not have become the person I am trying
to be without them. 

 I think my sister started this practice of blindfolding little kids

and leading them to the treasure then taking the blind fold off.  

(It was a pin the tail on the donkey idea, with presents at the end)

So we picked this up too when our kids were little, and still 

do the same ritual on Christmas and Easter.  

Today after the blindfolds came off they saw their 

beautiful Easter baskets, and then the hunt was on, 

all of it is very funny at this point, because they are grown up.  

(Megan, Christopher and Sam -- ready to go and find chocolate eggs.)

So happy Easter and Happy Passover, and Happy whatever
you celebrate. I am grateful that you are out there, it makes my
heart soar like this little bird from long ago.

Bird in Flight

ink on sketchbook paper

8 1/2 x 11 inches

Barbara Muir ©

Harold and the blue eggs

 

Harold and the blue eggs

Acrylic on canvas

8 x 8 inches

 Barbara Muir © 2013

I was thinking about Alyson Stanfield asking for bunny
pictures and I painted this painting of my rabbit Harold
sitting in the tulip garden with blue eggs.  Harold
was my rabbit when I was in university.  I don't
remember how I got her as a pet, but she (yes she
was a girl rabbit) was lovely.

I found out things about rabbits that I never knew --
such as rabbits growl, and love being held and patted.
They do eat carrots and all hard vegetables, but
will eat tubes of paint too.

Happy Easter everyone and Thank you Alyson for
sending me down memory lane. I enjoyed painting
my old bunny and remembering how crazy life
was in my university days.

Have a hunting-for-eggs day.

Spring weekend -- winter memories

Winter Memories

iPad Drawing

8 x 10 inches

Barbara Muir © 2013

Happy whatever you are celebrating this weekend.
I am not religious, but my children (grown up) love
the Easter egg hunt.  So much so that our married
son Christopher and his wife Megan, will visit on
 Sunday for the egg hunt at lunch time, and again for
the ritual turkey dinner in the evening.

Every year I think maybe this year they won't want it,
but who am I kidding, it's one of the funniest days
of the year.  We hide pounds of chocolate around the
house and Christopher, Sam and Megan gather all of
it in baskets.  Lately Megan has been finding the most
chocolate, which is fair because she loves it
more than anyone.

Today I'm painting and I wish everyone a wonderful
long weekend whatever you're doing on this
lovely spring day.

Here's a little iPad drawing of a beautiful house near
my brother's house down a country lane in Chelsea,
Quebec.  I'm sure the last time I drew it there were
far fewer trees.  It's starting to look like the magic
princess will have to find her way through the forest
to save the prince.  I think my brother lives in a
paradise, and actually so do his neighbours in the
yellow house.  The snow is melting in the countryside
around Toronto, and is all but gone in the city.  It
was very beautiful this winter in Quebec.

Have a happy-spring-weekend.

Happy Birthday Wing -- and Happy Weekend everyone

 

 Wing photographing himself with his portrait.

Water Image #4 Wing at the beach

Acrylic on canvas

24 x 24 inches

Barbara Muir © 2013

My client Wing is in New York City today, the lucky
guy (one of my favorite cities in the world), so I thought
I'd show you this picture of Wing in my kitchen
photographing himself with his portrait.

Sometimes I take a portrait to my clients, but most
of the time clients come and pick up their commissioned
work here.  Either way it's always an emotional exchange.
I am excited because the work is done, and I have put
my heart and soul into it, and the client is excited and
happy because our collaboration has made an idea come alive.

It's so gratifying in ways I can't even describe when
a subject loves the painting, and Wing did.  I am
almost over this cold/flu bug, and every improvement
is so welcome.  Wing's happiness and the sound of
robins singing in the spring today made me
overjoyed.

Have an enjoying-happy-results day.

Hurray -- my portrait goes home

 Water Image # 4 Wing on the beach

Acrylic on canvas

20 x 20 inches

Barbara Muir © 2013

SOLD ♥

My client came to pick up his portrait today.  Wing Lee
works as a costume designer/cutter/sewer in the film
and TV industry.  He is a very good artist himself,
so it was doubly nice when he saw his portrait and
broke into a wide, happy grin.  My painting is a well
deserved present to him from himself for his birthday.

Kim Rempel talked on her blog today quoted Iris
Nowell talking about abstract art, and "allowing the painting
to possess you."  I felt that way about this painting
even though it's not abstract.  I felt myself sink
into the photos of Wing's face I was working from,
hearing the conversations we'd had in my mind,
and coming to a visual image that came from an
almost subconscious understanding of my subject.

Wing is a very happy person -- he chooses to be
that way, but he is soulful too and is very
knowledgeable on a wide range of subjects.

Props to Wing for a joyous experience creating this
portrait from start to finish, and to Kim for
her thoughtful blog.

Have a happy-ending day.

Set the timer -- half an hour will do it

 Reading on the dock

Work in progress

Acrylic on canvas

24 x 24 inches

Barbara Muir © 2013

(I didn't get much more done

here today.  I've been working on

another portrait -- but I'm happy with

how it's going --still mostly

blocking in and underpainting.)

I am sorry to report dear readers that I am still, still,
feeling not that great.  What to do?  There is work
to be done, and I'm the worker.  I often think
of Robert Genn's advice to paint a little bit
before bed.  For night owls like me that is
great advice, unless the morning starts at 5:30
a.m. as it does for me on Thursdays at the moment.

But I have another solution to the problem of
existence when something like a cold hits. Work in
small doses, and set a timer.  Today I can get
through exactly half an hour before flagging.
And you know what?  A lot can happen in those
short bits. 

Have a figuring-out-what-works day.

Low energy and good times

Constant Companion

iPad drawing

8 x 10 inches

Barbara Muir © 2013

I am still under the heavy cold.  I'm trying to work,
but have to rest often.  And I have just the right
amount of energy for Twitter.  About a month ago
I bought a wonderful book Mrs. Queen Takes The Train,
by William Kuhn which I can highly recommend.

Today I was looking at Twitter, (I don't every day)
and I saw that William Kuhn responded to me when
I recommended the book to one of the people I follow.
After reading his deliciously written, brilliantly
researched book, he is one of my heroes.  So that
was definitely very cool.

True -- hot lemon remains the order of the day, but
it's a good day.

The picture is of my cat Fiona.  To anyone who says
cats aren't sensitive I say you haven't met my cats.
When one of us is ill, Fiona is right there.   And is
soon joined by my other cat Timbah.

Have an enjoying-life's-good-books day.

By the sea -- the power of water

  

Essence (Work in progress)

Acrylic on Birch panel

5 x 7 inches

Barbara Muir © 2013

I am an ocean person.  Does that make me sound too
hippie, crunchy granola?  (I could really use some
right now, and I have been called a hippie often enough)
  No.  That's not exactly right either.
I love the city, and seeing funky fashion, even though
my own wardrobe is minimalist.  (Wardrobe is a pretty
upscale word for 10 pairs of paint smeared jeans,
and a drawer full of pilled black cashmere sweaters.)

But the ocean is where I go in my mind for relief
from endless tasks, and at the moment a nasty cold.
So it makes sense that I am back working on paintings
about people near water.

Here's a little painting -- a work in process, called
Essence.  It is the essence of everything I love about
Nova Scotia -- the ocean, the tide pools, the gorgeous
red sand -- and here it is distilled into bands of colour.
More to come.

 View of a recent trip to our favorite beach in Toronto.  Sorry
I don't know the name (or even if it has one.)

(I didn't want to bore you with my 500th hot lemon --
but I'm taking that and aspirin for the endless headache
and feverish feeling, and I'm off to bed.)

Have a dreaming-about-the-ocean day.

Earth hour -- beautiful stars and still [sic]

 Celebrating Earth Hour

Black marker on Fabriano notebook paper

6 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches

Barbara Muir © 2013

I'm going to keep it short and sweet tonight.
Steven is a bit better, and I am dragging around.
Tonight was earth hour, and we had dinner
(made before the deadline) by candlelight,
then stepped outside for a minute to see the
night sky not marred by human light.  Many
people had their lights off.

We missed going out to dinner with friends,
and this has got to end.  Dear art universe --
poof -- make me better.  Thank you.

Have a feeling-wonderfully-well day.

The hot lemon saga

 Hot lemon on a silver tray

watercolour and marker on 

Arches watercolour paper

10 x 6 inches

Barbara Muir © 2013

I'm not a fan of lemon pie, I don't like lemon in my chicken,
but I do love hot lemon when I'm sick, and I love
lemon in ice tea in the summer.  It is one of the strange
parts of an artist's life, to be drinking the hot lemon you
just finished painting -- after warming it up in the microwave
because it was stone cold, hours cold.  But hey!

We tend to draw and paint the known.  I'm working on a cool
portrait, but of course am sworn to secrecy until my
client picks it up.  But here's the blog hot like my hot lemon
waiting for my appearance.  Okay.  I do still have
a cold.  I am still slogging on.

Wonderful news on all fronts though today.  My son Sam
the actor won his modelling contest and was one of six finalists,
and my son Christopher was the cinematographer on
a wonderful movie -- Extra Ordinary -- about  Downs
 Syndrome. 

Have an enjoying-what-you're-doing Saturday,
P.S. This painting is for sale. if you want it please
write to me at the sympatico email address above.

When life gives you lemons -- make hot lemon!

Napping with the cat

Watercolour and marker 

on watercolour paper

9 x 12 inches

Barbara Muir © 2013

A winter cold is blowing through our house this
week.  Steven has been hit harder than me.  I
am relying on Cold FX and "taking er easy eh!"
But one way to identify a mean cold in our house
is the trail of cups of hot lemon.

My herbalist gave me the recipe a few years ago,
and it really does make our sore throats less sore,
and and our coughs less earth shattering.  In Toronto,
and probably in most of the world, you can't just
shut down and do nothing unless you're at death's
door. "Busy" has to be your middle name.

 So we are carrying on.  I think a great resort
with meals (the requisite hot lemon) and endless
snacks served by room service every day would help.
Add to that an endless supply of excellent
novels for about two weeks and the combo
would do the trick, but that's not going to happen.

Who knows?  Maybe we'll be dancing like mad
fools in a couple of days, and high fiving one another
because it's over.  We're better.  We can get back to
strong coffee, and an even more hectic schedule.

Meanwhile.

Slice a lemon to get three decent sized slices
Boil water.
Into the biggest mug you've got add the
lemon slices, two dashes of cayenne pepper
(take 'er easy with the cayenne eh), and
at least two teaspoons of maple syrup.
Pour the boiling water over the lemons, syrup
and cayenne to fill the cup.
Cool for a half a minute.  Drink.  Feel better.

The image tonight is a little watercolour sketch I
did of Steven trying to recover with the cat.

Have a making-hot-lemon day. 

Happy International Happiness Day and Check out my Happiness Blog

 Ready for Joy

Acrylic on canvas

24 x 24 inches

Barbara Muir © 2011

Hi everyone,
I painted this painting two years ago for a show for International
Women's Day, but it seems equally appropriate for International
Happiness Day.  I have taught a school success, motivational
psychology course (part time) at Seneca College, a community college
for 8 years. Essentially this course teaches students how to
be happier, so that they can succeed in school and in life.

I was hired to teach it because I'd developed a course
called The Path of Change, with two friends, the artist
Jennifer Hinrichs, and the Financial expert and CFO
for many charity organizations, Susan Harnett.  We
taught that course to City of Toronto employees,
to artists groups, and to the community at large,
with profound effects on people's lives.

Over the years I've studied happiness and techniques
to help people get happy.  So I'm delighted that the United Nations
is making the connection between happiness and development.
This is indeed a joyous day!  Nic Marks of The Guardian has
written a compelling article on the subject.  International happiness
day: why it's a serious global issue.

Lately there's been a lot of negativity about the happiness
movement.  That's okay.  People who are deeply interested
in the promotion of happiness, know very well that we
are not all happy, that there are reasons to be horribly sad
about world problems: war, famine, racism, sexism, poverty,
environmental degradation.  But we also know that on an
individual level working on being happier has huge positive
ramifications both for our own lives, and the lives of all the people
 around us.

 One of my missions in life is to help my friends, family,
clients and even random strangers have a better day, week,
month, year life.  That's why I started my Happiness Blog called
Smile First.  I may change the name because it will get confused
with Dentistry sites.  I don't plan to write on that subject as often
 as on my art blog, but I will when the mood hits me. Check it out here.

I try to create images that are joyous with my art and to spread
happiness with my life. In most ways it is working for me. That
doesn't mean I don't get grumpy, speak in haste, or get sad.  It
does mean that I am working on it, and that I know deciding to
be happy whenever possible is both a brave and excellent choice.

Happy International-Happiness-Day!

Working through a cold

Reading on the dock

(Work in progress

Stage 1 and 2

Drawing and blocking in colour)

Acrylic on canvas

24 x 24 inches

Barbara Muir © 2013

I seem to be on the edge of a cold.  And have definitely
tried to take it easy.  But the urge to paint, and the need
to paint won out.  After multiple cups of hot lemon,
maple syrup and cayenne pepper I worked on a commission
and this painting.

This is the beginning stage.  I have blocked in most of it,
and made some decisions about colour.  I'm working over
a very bright pink ground.  I like a combination of texture
and smooth, so I worked in the dock planks in palette
knife.  I'm still making decisions about placement and
have just begun the face.  But I'm happy with it.  It
has the mood I was trying to get.  That cheery summer
mode is a strong pull today with the snow coming down
outside.  Still I loved the snow today.  It's supposed
to snow in March in Toronto.  But the weather's been
so crazy lately because of global warming that we forget
what normal is.

More to come. 

Have a feeling-like-enjoying-myself day.

This is the 1400 mark! Thank you!

 

Thoughtful

Black marker on watercolour paper

9 x 12 inches

Barbara Muir © 2013

If my records are right this is my 1400th post.  I
could tell you 1400 reasons why blogging has
been miraculous for my art career -- and will
 from time to time in the next 1400.

Once again thank you for being here with me.
I've been having discussions today on the effects
of the Internet and easy access to information
on knowledge.  In my case I know I learn so
much about art reading your posts every day.

So here we are.  Another lovely milestone.
I'm posting a drawing I've been working on --
which is an exploratory sketch for a portrait
I'll be painting.  My subject is much better
looking and will be his gorgeous self in the
painting.  But I enjoyed the depth of emotion
I felt drawing him.  In a way drawing is close
to poetry and deep into feeling.  Ideal
preparation for a portrait painting.

Have a celebrating-your-milestones day.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

 Lucky Shamrocks

acrylic on birch,

5 x 5 inches

 Barbara Muir © 2012

Some small part of my family on my mother's side
immigrated to Canada from Ireland and settled near
Perth, Ontario.  They had originally been French Hugenots
and fled France because of religious persecution.  So...
is this why my family celebrates St. Patrick's Day?
No.  We just like festivities.  The house is decorated,
the champagne is cooling in the fridge, we're getting set
to buy groceries for dinner, and the children (all grown
up now) will come over and get silly treats.  Then
we roll on through the calendar to the next celebration.

I did this little painting last year.  It was so warm last winter that
we could purchase this fragile flower in March.  I didn't see any
this year, and it is freeeeeezing out today.

Have a Happy St. Patrick's Day.
P.S. We did have a lovely dinner and toasted the day.

Flowers and the flower shop

Happy spring (Work in progress
stage 4)

More lights and darks

Acrylic on birch panel

5 x 7 inches

Barbara Muir © 2013

I love the shop where I buy my flowers.  When I'm
not painting portraits or landscapes I paint a lot of
flowers, both in still life settings and on their own.
The flower store I love in Toronto, is Yang's  at
132 Avenue Road where I buy so many flowers
for my paintings, that we have come to know one
another, and are friends.

My painting goes way up on the wall for now at

Yang's Flowers

Today my dear friends there put one of my paintings
on their wall, and asked for a bigger one to display
and sell.  If you are interested in picking up a flower
painting by me, drop into their store and check
it out.  Ask for Lyn, Annie or Min, and they will
either sell you the painting that's there now on the
spot, or contact me for you, or give you my card so
you can call me yourself.

 

The store is packed with spring flowers

The painting on the wall

August market flowers
Acrylic on canvas
12 x 12 inches
Barbara Muir © 2010

Woo Hoo.  I'm posting the next stage on the little
Tulip painting tonight.

Have a loving-the-people-who-sell-your-flowers day.

Dreams of summer

 Derbyshire wildflowers

(work in progress)

Acrylic on canvas

8 x 8 inches

Barbara Muir © 2013

I think it might have been June when Steven and I
last went to England in 2006.  A beautiful time of
 year, and our friend Kathleen lived in Sheffield.
 We spent a weekend with her, and one memorable
 event of the weekend was travelling by bus to a little
town outside of Sheffield where there was a cave
and a small waterfall.  We were weary travellers,
and I think we slept on the bus, but on the way
home Kathleen pointed out the woods rushing by
the window which were carpeted in a breathtakingly
beautiful mauve flower.

Although I don't usually paint from memory, I'm trying
it with this work in progress.

Have a remembering-awesome-beauty-and-friendship day.

Pi Day -- and polishing off the Pie painting

 

Stand Back for the Pie

Acrylic on canvas

24 x 24 inches

Barbara Muir © 2013

Today March 14, 2013 is Pi Day and in honour of this
great day I went back to my pie painting and finished
it off.  It is (I think) now complete.  Not much has
changed since I first posted it, but little changes have
happened that make me feel happier.  So I signed it.

According to the Huffington Post Pi Day is named after the
Greek symbol π which is the ratio of the circumference of
a circle to its diameter. The first three digits in Pi are 3
 (this is the third month) and 14 (the fourteenth day)
= 3.14 or Pi.  What better day to eat pie if you get the urge.
 And any way you slice it you will not be alone in your
pie indulgence.

I live with a mathematics fiend, (Steven) who has been
known to sleep with a Calculus text beside his bed at the
ready should he feel like reviewing it with his morning coffee.
He also makes a mean cherry pie -- the point of the
painting. The pie.

Have a deliciously-happy-Pi-day.

Model and mood -- the love of portraits

Missing you -- write again 

Black marker on watercolour paper

9 x 12 1/8 inches

Barbara Muir © 2013

Tonight's drawing is of one of my favorite models --
Shaniece.  I'm sure I've written before about how she
"gets it."  She loves having fun, and is cheerful and
upbeat, and kind.  But when she poses she goes into
character and maintains that mood faithfully for however
long she poses.  She is a portrait painter's dream.
I thought of her because some of the discussions I
had today with experts in my field were about models.
These talks made me miss Shaniece, and that inspired
my drawing.  I may have even drawn this pose before,
but the photo spoke to me.  I haven't painted the pose,
but I hope I will one day.

Thank you Shaniece -- you totally rock.

Have a thanking-the-people-who-pose-for-you day.

Small changes = Aha! and the happy artist

 

Snow on Cherrywood

Acrylic on canvas

8 x 8 inches

Barbara Muir © 2013

This little painting is one of several that's been
cooking all winter.  I finished it, and something
bothered me.  Other projects took up my time and
then it hit me one day -- it's the blue car on the street.
It has to be red.  Presto -- pop -- done. 

A friend in my art group, Peter, says that sometimes
all that's needed is the smallest of changes.  And I
know he's right.  In the city this look is gone --
maybe for good this season.  The huge, rock hard snow
 drifts of last week have almost disappeared, and I saw my
first dandelion, peaking up through a bit of remaining
snow today.  Those guys definitely work right through
their winter holidays. 

When I began this just looked like a landscape -- the
one out my front door -- now with the muddy season
upon us, it looks romantic.

Have a loving-the-place-you-live-in day.

Stand Back for the Pie -- and the taste of summer condensed

Stand Back for the Pie

Acrylic on canvas

24 x 24 inches

Barbara Muir © 2013

I started this painting at the end of January.  We were deep
in winter, and I wanted the feeling of summer to be in
my studio.  It has been a great project, but I think I am
finished.  I may see one or two more things I want to
adjust tomorrow -- but I am happy looking at it.  It says
me, and my life.

This is what a summer table in my kitchen could look
like -- glutted with flowers, reeling with the pure
joy of all the bounty the summer offers.  And then
sour cherries are ready, and Steven, my sweet husband
bakes a pie.  This is usually an annual event, but last
summer our tree did not produce, and we were
desperate.  If you know someone in the Toronto
area who grows sour cherry trees, and expects to have
too many please let me know.

Cherry pie is a taste I love, that will always make me think
of my mother who baked one for me from the cherries
in our backyard at a different house when Christopher
was born, and of Steven -- our pie man.

When the first pie (he usually bakes several) is set
on the table, everything else moves back and lets
the pie take a bow (something the peonies find almost
impossible to do) -- but nothing beats Steven's cherry pie.

Have a-loving-the-thought-of-the-taste-of-summer day.

The freedom of the quick sketch painting

 

 More later

Art group sketch

Acrylic on canvas

12 x 16 inches

Barbara Muir © 2013

I've been meaning to post this for a few days now.
I did this quick portrait sketch with my art group
last Tuesday.  The challenge for me was getting
something done in about an hour.  So here she
is.  The model had wonderful hair and looked
lively though she was posing absolutely still.

I learn a lot from these sessions from the other
artists there.  The paintings are usually pretty
textural because I paint one over another, over
another.  These are most definitely sketches,
not finished work -- and all the more fun to
do because that's true.

Have a letting-yourself-play day.

The Lost Hour and the feeling of spring

Happy spring (Work in progress)

Stage 3

Adding lights and darks

Acrylic on birch panel

5 x 7 inches

Barbara Muir © 2013

People (my family) do not react well to time changes -- jumping forward
or backwards through the time loop.  That's why we moved
our clocks ahead last night --a whole day ahead.  On Monday
morning we will not be zombies, we'll be old hands at the
new time -- and the lost hour.

Happy spring (Work in progress)

Stage 2

Blocking in the colour

Acrylic on birch panel

5 x 7 inches

Barbara Muir © 2013

I can never understand how the animals switch to the new
time with no warning, and were ready for supper
tonight one hour early.  Well if Zoey, Timbah and Fiona
can switch so easily, what is our excuse?

Happy spring (Work in progress)

Stage 1

Orange Ground, and drawing in

charcoal

Acrylic on birch panel

5 x 7 inches

Barbara Muir © 2013

I started a little painting on a birch panel of some lovely
tulips in a pot I bought today.  They are easily one of the
cheeriest flowers going.  Here are a couple of the stages.

Have a being-a-joyous-time-traveller day.

Happy International Women's Day and always drawing

Hi everyone.  Happy International Women's Day, and I
hope it was a good day for all of us. We spent the evening
with my husband's mother, who is a very special woman.

Pie

Black marker on Fabriano notebook paper

6 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches

Barbara Muir © 2013

(I am working on putting a pie in

one of my paintings and this

drawing is prep work.)

I've missed you, but somehow been caught up
in the details of painting, organizing commissions, and
whew a week's gone by.  So today I am posting some of
the sketches I've done in the past week.  Whatever else
is going on, in every still moment my pen is working
at capturing what I see.

Tulips in a Victorian Jug

Black marker on Fabriano notebook paper

6 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches

Barbara Muir © 2013

(Spring is coming -- Tulips

will be coming up soon.)

Have a celebrating the women in your life day.