Thank you to a wonderful writer

The Writer's Life

Acrylic on canvas

30 x 30 inches

Barbara Muir © 2013

I’m posting this painting tonight, although I sometimes show it for
Mother’s Day. The painting has extra resonance this year when all
of us are working at home, including many mothers of young children,
and babies. But tonight the reason I am showing it is to thank Auralee
Wallace, the beautiful writer in the picture. 

My mother died seven years ago today in 2013, on Canadian
Thanksgiving Day that year.  The week before my mother died
I was in an art show with three works called The Times Table Series,

featuring Auralee Wallace and her family. Auralee knew that I was going
through a very hard time, and helped me by sending so many lovely
photos of her family. The series focused on things that happen
in a family's life around a table. Auralee and I both taught English at
Seneca College, which was where we met.  Now Auralee is a prolific author,
and if you click on her name at the beginning of this sentence, you can check
out some of her novels.

People talk about the healing power of art. I know that painting this
series certainly helped me to have hope for the future at a very sad time.
I'm remembering that time now with gratitude for Auralee's kindness.

And the picture is even more evocative because, so many of us are trying
to balance home and family life, plus work, in one space. 

What I learned from my mother's death is that love is the answer,

and in a whole lifetime we will never have enough time to be with the
ones we love. So let's enjoy it now, and spread love in the world.