A series about being on the edge -- of a new life

Before the Dance in the White Dress

Part of the Dance series

Acrylic on canvas

24 x 24 inches

Barbara Muir © 

(Thank you to my sweet niece Chloé who posed for this one)

I have a painting on the easel and a canvas just primed,
but it will be a few days maybe before I have something
new to show you.  My Dance series including "Before the
dance", "After the dance" and "At the dance" paintings
was dedicated in part to my students, who I could see were
at the beginning (many of them) of the dance of adult
life.  And I wanted to wish them well.

Plus for a portrait artist, what could be more beautiful than
people dressed in party finery?  This painting of my niece
stays high on my list of work I produced in that series.
My niece was so beautiful, funny and intelligent.  She
had everything going for her, and yet it will be her birthday
on Tuesday, and she is no longer alive.  She died suddenly
in October of 2017.

Adult life as it turns out, is not that easy for some people --
it was not for her.  I find the painting and even the idea
of the series especially poignant tonight.  We -- the whole
world, are like young women and men on the edge of
life.  Our future, our very existence at the moment, is
a complete unknown.

We have got to take care of each other, help in whatever
way we can -- by staying healthy, by following whatever
few small pieces of advice we get from health authorities,
by recognizing how lucky we are for every day of our good
health.

Unlike the dance metaphor about good things to come (which
was my hope), the virus hitting the planet now predicts the
very opposite.  People talk about boredom.  But boredom
is a small price to pay to help not just ourselves, but
as many people as possible avoid this tragedy.

Have a taking care of yourself and the people you love day.