Happy Canada Day weekend! Awesome day -- heavy rain, and happiness!

 And then there were seven

Acrylic on canvas

8 x 8 inches

Barbara Muir © 2012
SOLD ♥ 

(I did not have a final photo, so had to

borrow this from my Facebook file.)

Sold this beauty today and felt delighted that the person
who bought it has loved it for a whole year and decided
to get it now!  Great feeling as an artist.

I have not been on the blog this week because I am
working really hard on a few commissions.  Not
kidding.  But it has been an art filled week. I
have been cheering myself on with endless
rules like,"this is positive Thursday."  And
today was "fabulous Friday."  I spent a lot of it
in the car running errands and not as much
time in the studio where I belong.

But still the day was filled with wonder.  A perfect
yellow bird flitted into my garden to land on a
tall blade of grass. On my travels I saw walls of
wild flowers by the road in every colour. The rain
came down in torrents, and the stalled traffic
gave me lots of time to study the roadside trees
-- so deliciously full and green (and wet).

Produce Canadian Flag

I saw this hilarious produce flag in Loblaws,
our local store.  People didn't even notice
the shape (tired at the end of a working week),
and had taken some of the produce.  But still
the theme is there.  This is our national flag
in tomatoes, garlic and red pepper. Art is
everywhere.

Have a Happy Canada Day weekend.

Obsessed with Tuscany

At the wedding in Tuscany

Acrylic on canvas

12 x 16 inches

Barbara Muir © 2013

I've been painting all day, but I'm working on a
commission, and I can't show you  what I'm doing
 -- yet. Tonight I went to my art group to discover that
 Marko, a great artist in our group, was posing. Perhaps
 the model didn't show up -- I never found out. Marko
struck a kind of moody Beethoven pose.  And he has
the hair for it.  But Marko is probably one of the
nicest, kindest people I know -- and the farthest thing
from moody.

Yellow it seemed to me was the complete opposite
of moody, which explains his shirt. His tie was
somewhat blue, so I put them together and it
immediately felt right.

It's a dream of mine to return to Tuscany.  In fact
it's one of my dreams to live in Italy for a year. At
my art group I've been inventing the backgrounds
lately.  That's why in my painting Marko is not in
our plain, Toronto studio.  He's in Tuscany at a
wedding and has just stepped outside for a break from
 the dancing, but someone snapped his picture.  That
was my thinking.  Thanks for posing Marko -- another
wonderful night with my friends in art.

Have a going-with-your-dreams-in-art day.

Bernie Taupin felt the love at the Liss Gallery tonight

Imagining Columbus

Mixed Media on canvas

Bernie Taupin © 2013

Hi everyone.  I went to a fabulous opening tonight for
Bernie Taupin.  The place was rocking with a great
musician as you walked in.  And what an excellent and
prolific artist Taupin is.  Huge abstract canvasses filled the
gallery.  There must have been about fifty paintings.  My
favorites were the really bright coloured paintings (I
know you are surprised), but he paints in subtle hues,
in gray scale, and in black and white.

The canvasses were leaping off the walls to be signed
on the back by Taupin and dedicated to the buyers,
then put back on the wall for the remainder of the
show.

 Me with Bernie Taupin at his packed opening

Taupin himself is incredibly considerate and kind.
He went around posing for photos with all of the guests
eager to get a picture with this artistic and musical
icon.  When I asked if I could take his picture, he
said did I want it with him.  I hadn't thought of that
and was surprised, but eagerly agreed.  Isn't that
lovely!

The crowd at the exhibition were also delightful people.
Among others I met a great photographer, a writer
for the New Yorker, a former ballet dancer/make-up
artist turned abstract artist, a man who among other
things imports beautiful wood flooring from Tuscany.
So the talk at the show was very upbeat and
fascinating. We had a great time.

When I came home my son wanted us to listen to
"Can you feel the love tonight?" A Sir Elton
John/Bernie Taupin song.  Well that was my borrowed title.
Because Taupin must have known that people enjoyed
his artwork tonight

The show will be on until July 6.  If you want a
painting by this wonderful man, get in there fast,
they were going like hotcakes.

For more details read last night's post.

Have a buying-art-by-the-greats day.

Bernie Taupin, song writing partner to Sir Elton John for more than 40 years is showing his art in Toronto at the Liss Gallery

Bernie Taupin

Black marker on drawing paper

10 x 12 inches

Barbara Muir © 2013

Entre Voudin

Bernie Taupin ©  2013

When I was invited to cover the art show In Other Words --
 a collection of paintings by one of the most famous lyricist/
 song writers in the world, I was more than thrilled.  Bernie
 Taupin has been the song writing partner to Sir Elton John
 for more than 40 years.  So many of the moving moments

of those past 4 decades have been affected and made hugely
 memorable by Sir Elton John's voice and music and
Taupin's words.  Candle in the wind, I Guess That's Why 
They Call It the Blues, and Daniel are only a few of the hundreds

of notable and internationally, well loved songs Taupin has written. 

Bernie Taupin and Sir Elton John

Now Toronto's Liss Gallery is featuring works from another
side of the artist. Taupin is also an incredibly talented painter --
working out in abstract art, images that are another expression
of his incredibly creative, and expressive, artistic voice.  

Beginning June 15, the gallery will feature Taupin's
paintings until July 6.  This weekend the artist will make
two special appearances at the gallery.

Taupin says, “Canvas to me is simply the visual extension
of what I have spent my life creating through words. The
imagination, in my estimation, is the most powerful tool
the artist possesses enabling us to conjure up beautiful
distraction for the ears and eyes."

This video -- The Art of Bernie Taupin is a delight.
Click here to watch.

Make sure to check out Taupin's art while the show is on.  

Have a visiting-great-art-shows day.

See my work at The Gallery at the Porch Door just north of Kingston

 

 My paintings (see the paintings with the blue on the labels)

in the exhibition at The Gallery at the Porch Door.

Sally Chupick, owner/curator at The Gallery at the Porch
Door sent me this photo of my work on display there.
Sally has a great eye for design, and I was so thrilled to
see how the work looks in her gorgeous gallery.

If you're in the Kingston Area visiting the market, or
any of the historical buildings, the university, or
the waterfront, or Fort Henry, make sure to take
a 15 minute detour up Sydenham Road to
Elginburg, turn left at the light and stop when you
reach the gorgeous limestone farmhouse where Sally's
gallery is a complete treat.  Sally is a truly generous
and warm host and you will be so glad you decided
to drop by.

Check it out, and please tell her I sent you!

Have a visiting new, fun places day.

Pushing the positive

 In the kitchen by the lake with tulips

Acrylic on canvas

41 x 18 inches

Barbara Muir © 2013

I seem to be on a story kick at my art
group -- which is fun.  I pictured the model
tonight in my kitchen, and the kitchen
at the edge of a lake.  I admit I am hankering
for Nova Scotia and the ocean.  And my inner
child is missing those summers at the lake.
Yep.  I don't have spring fever (God knows
it was bad enough being sick for two months
in the spring), but I do have summer fever.

Summer always seems to be a busy time for
work and creativity -- but part of my brain yearns
for time by water.  That's the upper left side of
the painting (which according to a talk I listened
to yesterday is the wealth and abundance part of
the work) so I say bring it on! True I already feel like I
live in abundance -- and a lot of that is because
I get to talk to you, and see your wonderful
art.

Thanks to Christina -- our wonderful model this week.

Have a dreaming-of-life-by-the-lake day

Meeting wonderful Sally Chupick and listening to the Hay House World Summit

 The Happy Yellow House

(complete)

Acrylic on canvas

6 x 6 inches

Barbara Muir © 2013

(available this summer at

The Gallery at the Porch Door)

What a super day! I met my friend the fabulous artist,
Sally Chupick, who is the owner/curator at the Gallery
at the Porch Door, just north of Kingston, Ontario at the hotel
where she was staying at in Toronto.  There was
a fire on the upper floors of the hotel just before
I arrived.  It was under control when I got there,
and this is what's so special about Sally.
The only thing she was worried about was me!
Plus she is so positive that she suggested we go into
the hotel bar on the first floor and have a coffee.  We did
and the conversation was exciting and fun -- the fire not
even part of it. 

I marvelled at Sally's positive attitude when I got
home.  Her kindness and optimism fit perfectly with
 the talks I've been listening to in the free online Hay House
World Summit.  A key belief of Louise Hay is that
our thoughts can change our lives.  I am a major
believer in that idea.  And I've listened to so many
ideas today about how to get closer and closer
to the ideal life I envision.  But as Mike Dooley
would say, I already am living the life of my
dreams.

Today I listened to the amazing story of Anita
Moorjani, who had fatal third stage cancer,
whose body had shut down, and the doctors
declared dead.  In her between death and life
state she had a clear vision of her father who
was dead, and decided to return to
life and within weeks she was cancer free and
back to vital health! Very inspiring.  Like the
Irises in my garden.

 Irises

Have a loving-the-life-you-lead day.