Friday, February 5, 2021

The mighty Clementine in the Month of Love


Clementines dancing in 
the sunlight
Acrylic Ink, watercolour,
marker and watercolour crayon on
watercolour paper
9 x 12 inches
Barbara Muir © 2021

A surprising fact I found out this year about the delicious Clementine,
is that eating them reduces your stress.  I told this to a neighbour up the
street with two young children schooling online during lockdown, while she and
her husband work from home, and she said, "Good.  I think I'll go home and
eat three!"

They are also beautiful, and I've painted so many paintings of them.  This
sketch was partially inspired by the book Beautiful Oops by Barney Saltzberg
which I shared with a young artist in our family the other day. 

Before I started the drawing I didn't check whether the marker would bleed when I 
painted over it.  It did, and if I hadn't just read the book Beautiful Oops, I might 
have stopped.  But I ate a clementine, calmed down and kept going.  Magenta is
not my favourite colour, but I like what happened.  And experimenting is
particularly fun in this time of Lockdown.

In Toronto we are almost finished clementine season.  Even though it's
snowing outside, I think that means we're moving closer to spring! I love
the fruit, how it looks, the taste, and hey! All good.

Have a making something day.

4 comments:

Evelyn Oldroyd - painter said...

I love the spontaneity of this painting and if there are "oops" it looks like it was meant to be. I remember to embrace the oops and eat more clementines! ;)

Barbara Muir said...

Evelyn Thank you so much. You are so kind. Yes. It seems perfection
doesn't help. I'm addicted to clementines, and they do really help!

XOXOXOXOXOXOXO Barbara

Verna said...

Everything about this post is lovely! Magenta is not my favourite colour either, but it sure worked out well for this painting :)

xoxoxo
V

Barbara Muir said...

Thank you Verna,

During the pandemic I‘m trying to break on through! So the colour surprise was a
learning exercise! So much fun! Love your work!

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO Barbara

Portrait Artist

My photo
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
I paint and draw on commission and for shows. To commission a portrait, or purchase one of my paintings please contact me at: barbara.muir@sympatico.ca
A major highlight in my career? Drawing Oprah Winfrey live via Skype for her show "Where in the Skype are you? Galleries: Studio Vogue Gallery, Toronto, Canada. The Amsterdam Whitney Gallery, New York City. Gallery at the Porch Door, Kingston, Canada. Your positive comments on this blog mean the world to me. I'd love to hear from you!