This lucky girl

Getting Ready To Dance

Pastels on Drawing paper

181/2 x 24 inches

Barbara Muir ©

This young woman, who modeled for me when

I was doing pastel drawings, has had a magical life. 

The connections between drawing and painting portraits,
and changes in mine and the models' lives has

been fascinating. I painted a portrait of one model
and placed her in Paris hoping she'd get to travel there.
Now I believe that she'd already traveled extensively.
But a few years later I was invited to exhibit in Paris.
Something I could never have imagined, but had
dreamed about since my first trip to Paris after university.

In this case maybe drawing the model shown above
signaled the start of a completely different life for her.
She met and married the man of her dreams, had two lovely
children and a happy life --  friends, exciting travel, and
wonderful work opportunities.

Though I might be mistaken, I'd like to think I had something
to do with the unfolding of her story.  At the time
she was into dance, and that's why the pose is athletic.

Have a changing people's lives day.