Tuesday, January 12, 2021

Talking to friends

Untitled (work in progress)
Acrylic ink and ballpoint pen
on watercolour paper
8 x 10 inches
Barbara Muir © 2021
(I'll try and get a better photo of
this tomorrow.  The pinks are more
vibrant.)

Talking to my artist friend Flora Doehler today reminded me of why
I miss being around artists so much. She asked me what inspired me to
use red in my backgrounds, and that made me remember the wonderful
art experiences I used to enjoy with my Seneca College English classes, when
we'd visit the Art Gallery of Ontario. The students would pick a painting
to study, and write an essay about that artist’s life, and how it related to the
essay we were studying.

I got the idea of using a coloured background like red, or my more
frequent rust background in my art at that time, from staring at the work
of the Group of Seven. I don’t know which artist in particular used to use
burgundy behind his forests, but even though I’m not a fan of the colour,
I was excited to see how it made the foreground painting pop.

This painting is coming along. Not quite finished. I can see things I would
change if I did it again, but the excitement of this piece was painting from
live flowers, and they may have one day left.

It was a good day in art, I worked at more than one project all day, thoroughly
engrossed in the process, and happy as can be. Given the news, Ontario going
into a state of emergency because of COVID-19, and very sad problems with
our neighbour to the south (America), you could say that was a miracle, and
I am grateful. Thank you to my friends for the inspiring conversations. Stay
healthy, stay safe, and stay creative.

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