Last weekend we had snow. Here’s what I love. The second the snow was gone, and it was a little bit warmer (as in 8 degrees Celsius), my neighbour’s eight year old daughter was out today creating beauty and inspiring me.
Thank you to my neighbours for their lovely artwork!
Happy long weekend!
Have a loving your life day!
I thought I'd add this piece from a former blog. It's a story about my pet rabbit in
university -- Harold. She was a girl.
Have an enjoying celebrating day.
Beautiful Saturday
Photo
Barbara Muir © 2024
You’ve heard that before, (a picture is worth a thousand words), and probably thought is it? And in some cases yes. Clearly. I could describe the view of the lake from one of our favourite parks to you using perfect descriptive words. Maybe I wouldn’t use 1000, but here’s the point. No matter how many words I use you cannot get the feeling of the park as well as you can from this photo.
For me part of being a visual artist is the ability to describe something in a way that words may not be capable of doing. Not to deny the importance of words, and the beauty of wonderfully written books. I was talking to a fellow today about his fiancée's work on a novel. I am so impressed by authors who write the amazing books I love to read. Their work is much more complicated, and deeper than what I will create.
For tonight, please enjoy this beautiful view that we saw last Saturday at a park on the west end of Toronto.
Have a loving your life day.
I'm painting full time today. Very inspired by both my model, and the painting by John Singer Sargent that I'm referencing/honouring. It has been a pure pleasure working on this piece. I also have revised a painting from 11 years ago, and it will be going in the A Portrait By Any Other Name show at the Heliconian Club opening April 6.
The deadline for submitting photos for the show is tonight at midnight, so I am going as fast as I can. I came upon this post and I really like it. I'm so sorry Marko left the Don Valley Art Club, and said he was stopping painting. Here's the blog:
The night of this drawing, which is a few years back, our
model didn't show up. And one of the best artists in the
group -- Marko -- posed for us. Knowing how amazing his
work was (he drew like he'd been schooled in the
Renaissance) I was a bit intimidated to draw him.
Sometime after this evening, Marko decided he wasn't going
to do art anymore. I was devastated. He was a natural
born incredible artist. So now I'm glad I have this
drawing. I consider him to be a friend, though I don't
get to see him anymore. He was always kind to me, and
I feel I learned a lot from watching him draw.
Have a learning from your friends day."
The painting above is in our front hall, and reminds me every day that I have so many reasons to be happy. On this International Day of Happiness, let me share some of my reasons. It is a hard time in the world, and so many people are going through horrific war, hunger, terror beyond imagining. To my mind that makes it all the more important to recognize and be grateful for any happiness that we have.
10 reasons I am happy.
1. I am happy because I have a loving husband.
2. I am happy because I have a loving family.
3. I am happy because I have kind, funny friends around
the world, and I spoke to my friend in the Netherlands today.
4. I am happy because I'm an artist, and I love making art, and I've spent the whole day painting.
5. It's the second day of spring, and Steven and I went to the lake. It snowed today, and it was super cold, but beautiful and sunny at the lake and there were dozens of robins in the park.
6. I'm happy because on my walk by the lake with Steven, the sky
was a gorgeous blue and the clouds were amazing..
7. I'm happy because Steven and I have super ready made dishes for our
supper, and it's my night to make dinner (we alternate nights).
8. I'm happy because driving through the city streets today there's a whole different feeling, even though there was a scattering of snow. It's spring, and people are walking with a happy, if very cold, attitude. I even saw one fellow running in shorts at 2 below zero.
9. I'm happy that I've learned how to be happy, and am
still learning, and think I will learn more and more for the
rest of my life. And I'm grateful for all that you've
taught me on the subject.
10. I'm happy that we have a wonderful TV show that we're going to watch together tonight.
Have a loving your life day. Happy International Day of Happiness.
The happiest country in the world -- Finland. Canada dropped to 15th happiest
country in the world this year. And I love living here.
On this date I usually feature this painting, because not being a
math freak, Pi reminds me of pie, and Steven makes the best
cherry pie I've ever tasted. Because December and January
and February were rough, I ate way too much of every sweet, so I may
forego having pie today. Tempting though. We had a little
conversation about the math behind Pi at lunch today.
In 2022 this painting won first place, and I won a $500
in a contest with the San Fernando Valley Arts and Cultural
Center in California in a virtual exhibition. And that was
fantastic.
Have a deliciously-happy-Pi-day.
Tonight was not nearly as busy as the first opening of All That Jazz a wonderful exhibition at the Heliconian Club on until the end of March. I have a painting in a corner of the show, and quite high up. As you can see in the photo -- the piece of brown in the upper right corner of the painting is part of a decorative support for the roof of the former church that houses the Heliconian Art Club. So the challenge was how to get a painting with my work in the show. I had help today from my husband Steven van Schaik, and club member and amazing artist Nola McConnan, who is currently showing in New York City.
Between the two of them we finally got me at a height that was not too dangerous and you can see my work. For my friend Miranda in the Netherlands, and my friends in the Florence Biennale I am in the Happy People Pose. And behind me the bright painting of Colours of Joy.
I hope you'll get out to see the show this month. I'm still having trouble with Google, so I tried to post a photo of the show and it wouldn't allow me to. If I can put it in tomorrow I will.
Have a loving your life day.
I picked up a reference piece from my printer today, and he told me in no uncertain terms that I wouldn't get it done on time. I said I would. We'll see. We both laughed because we have a really good friendship. Our clocks jumped ahead by one hour on Sunday morning at 2 o'clock. It's funny how we all love it when we gain an extra hour in the fall, but don't like losing one in the spring. I'm putting this favourite painting on tonight, because I miss Paris. And I notice, that I can adjust to the 5 hour time difference pretty well when I'm there.
Here are my thoughts from a former blog slightly edited:
"At 2 in the morning on Sundy we moved into Daylight Saving Time.
Luckily for us we started moving into the new time
on Saturday -- setting all of our clocks, and machines that
would allow it ahead by an hour. So it was less traumatic
Monday, than it is some years when the time changes.
My mother, who had a Masters in Bacteriology did not
like losing that hour anymore than anyone else. So her
strategy was to change all of her clocks three days before
it happened. We couldn't go that far, but it helped that the
microwave and the car radio were functioning in the
new time for 24 hours before the switch. And yes
we still have clocks that are not digital.
I think of March as the Month of Change, and I found
this thought in an earlier blog that I thought I'd share:
"If you think you can't change remember how long
it took you to fall in love with your first born,
your niece, or nephew, your kitten, or dog, or
your beloved. In my case my affection was
overpowering and instant in every example
above. And you know that each time your
heart made that giant leap toward affection,
your entire world changed. So yes you can
change, and you already have while you were
reading this. So have a soothing drink of milk,
or tea, or hot chocolate, or wine if you need it,
and take yourself back to the canvas, or your
writing, or to bed for a little nap before you
start again. It's all going to work out just fine.
Tonight I am going back to a former blog post which seems even more significant today. I am still writing these cards, and Steven still wants me to continue. So I do. Why? That is love my friend.
"Kindness hit me as a principal requirement in my life when I
experienced such high levels of kindness at the 2009, and 2015
Florence Biennales. I've been lucky to be treated kindly for most of my
life, but people at the Biennale, as one of my friends described
it, raised the bar. They did everything they could to help
each other, and life long connections happened. We all still care
about the people we met there.
So I wondered -- what are your kindness practices? One of mine
is to write a note for my husband every night to leave in our middle
bedroom where my husband puts out his clothes for the morning.
Because I've been a night teacher for almost a decade, I am in the
habit of going to bed much later than my husband, and he gets
up much earlier than I do.
This practice started in January 2022, when both of our cats
-- the 14 year old Tortie point Siamese, Fiona, and the three
month old Tortie point Siamese kitten, Monet, stopped eating.
The kitten had gastroenteritis, and the older cat had a gum
infection.
I started writing the notes to let Steven know whether or not
they'd eaten their night snack, and then as they got better, I'd
write about what happened in the day, and thank him for all
of the nice things he'd done for me. And guess what happened?
He didn't want me to stop -- so I haven't. And he has saved every
one of these notes that I write on cards that feature my art.
What are some of the things you do to add more kindness to your life?
Have a loving your life day."
It was International Women's Day yesterday, and I thought I'd talk about women who are my heroes. I'm still having trouble with Google, so please forgive the spacing issues in my blog. I thought I'd look back on a blog from a few years ago about women heroes of mine. Some things have changed, but some if what I said then holds true. Tomorrow our clocks spring forward an hour, so it's time to go and watch a movie with my sweet husband, so we can get to bed in time to have an enjoyable day tomorrow.
Here's some of my former blog:
It is International Women’s Day, and I'm grateful to all of the
wonderful women in my life — starting with my mother. and my
sister, and extending to all the women in my family, all of my friends,
and all of the amazing women I’ve met in my working life in art and
in teaching. This year seems especially hard for celebrating with the horrific wars, severe climate change and other world issues. But that makes the beauty artists bring even more vital.
Today I'm going to repost a piece I wrote in 2020 about super art
show in Ayr, Ontario celebrating International Women's Day in 2011,
where I met artists who are delightful friends.
Let’s change the world!
Here it is --
