The last of the Nasturtiums

September's bliss

Watercolour and marker

on Arches watercolour paper

6 x 10 inches

Barbara Muir © 2012
(I know it's November. Lol.)

I went into the garden today to pick what I'm pretty sure will be the last
of the nasturtiums, and I am so sorry they are going to probably be
finished tonight if it dips below zero.  They are such a wonderful
flower -- so joyous, so easy to take care of, and you have to pick
them so they will bloom.

So right now our kitchen table is filled at one end with small white
cream jogs boasting very happy nasturtiums.  I have been prepping

paintings, and painting all day.  It was a beautiful day here, and
I enjoyed every minute of it.

Have a loving your life day. 

Remembrance Day

Canada Bereft
One of the sculptures at the 
Canadian National War Memorial
at Vimy Ridge in
France.

This Remembrance Day I feel sorry for all of the people --
soldiers and civilians -- who have died, and continue to die
in wars.  The last time I checked there were 32 conflicts 
going on currently. It feels especially sad that we haven't
learned that wars don't work -- they just kill people.

I think of one of my students in a writing class, when we
wrote journals about a perfect day.  He described a 
perfect day in the war in Afghanistan.  How his division
attacked a village.  He was 19 years old when he joined
the army.  As he was reading in front of the class, he
almost cried shouting, "it's not the Highway of Heroes,
it's the Highway of Murderers," and ran out of the classroom.

As a girl I was an Ottawa School Patrol (school crossing
guard).  We helped people cross the street.  And we got to
go by bus down to the war memorial on Remembrance Day.
We marched wearing our school patrol white belts with the
soldiers and police. We felt so special. I'm glad I didn't
grow up to be a soldier, and my thoughts are with my
student today who did.

Have a working on peace day.

Grateful for my website

 

Some images -- not all on the

website. I need some help
getting it up to date now, and
that will happen in the next couple
of months.  I wanted to 

put a celebratory piece up for you tonight.

This was an incredibly exciting event for
me -- getting a website.  

I first went public with my website on November 3, 2021, and it is a wonderful thing.
People who want to see my work, don't necessarily want to read my blog, and some
people don't want to look at Instagram.  So there it is. https://www.barbaramuir.com
-- wonderfully organized, and a clear way for people to see what I do.

I am over the top grateful to my son Christopher for organizing it, designing it,
and just helping me all the time with my questions about how to handle my sites.
Thank you to everyone who helped me with the website, and to everyone
who has visited it to check out my work, buy my work, and promote me
as an artist.

Have a loving your life day.

Another painting for the Off The Wall show

 

Country sunset

Acrylic on mounted 

birch panel

5 x 7 inches

Barbara Muir © 2024

Here is another painting for the Off The Wall show opening on 
November 30 at the Heliconian Club, 35 Hazelton Avenue.
The show is free of course, and there will be delicious treats!
Plus if you want to buy a painting the prices are sale prices --
very reasonable, and you can take the painting home with you
if you buy it!  A super event.

I love the happy mood, colour and texture of this one.  Wishing
you a good weekend. Don't let the news get you down.

Have a loving your life day.

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband

 You can't keep a good man down

Acrylic ink and acrylic on canvas

36 x 48 inches

Barbara Muir © 2020

We had a very sweet family celebration for Steven today.
His actual birthday was yesterday, but ever since we found
out that his real birthday was November 7, which is our son Sam's
birthday too, we've either celebrated on the 7th, and 8th, or on both.

We discovered when Steven's mother (now gone) was
living in Ottawa, that there had been some mix up when Steven
was born, and his father recorded the wrong date. His mother
explained that the date on his birth certificate was correct.

Our solution?  As Sam's birthday was November 7, and 
Steven had celebrated on November 8 for his whole life,
we kept that tradition

If anyone deserves two birthday days it's this guy -- such
a kind, generous human, and the love of my life.  He 
is the best.  Happy Birthday Steven.

Have a loving the people in your life day.

Happy Birthday Sam

After the Dance

Sam sketch

Acrylic on canvas

30" x 30"
Barbara Muir ©

Today is my son Sam‘s birthday. We are so happy that he was born.
He has been a wonderful person for all of his life, and we wish him
an amazing day today, and a fantastic year!

I’m showing you a painting that I did a while back. Sam was a wonderful
model. I painted all day today again, working on a larger piece And when
I have time on some smaller pieces for the off-the-wall Show. 

Have a loving your life day.

* Computer issues stopped this from publishing yesterday.  Happy
Birthday Sam!

Happy Birthday to my Mother

Isabel Muir

(My mother)

by my son Christopher Muir

Christopher Muir © 

(It took a lot of convincing to

get my mother to pose for

this shot. She didn't

like to be photographed, or

to be the center of attention.

My image is a photo of the photo,

which is why there are reflections

on it, from the glass.)

My mother is dead, and I miss her
every day.

This is my mother's birthday.  I don't believe in heaven, and neither
did she, but she does live on profoundly in our hearts. 

My mother was a gorgeous beauty -- never aware or confident
of that for reasons I will never understand.  Because today would have been
her birthday if she were alive to see it, and I've thought about her
all day.

My mother was brave, resilient and always looked for joy in small
things.  Even blind, with a serious lung disease she asked me to
help her fill out cheques to dozens of charities.  Not large amounts,
but the thought of helping people was uppermost on her to do
list.  I miss her every day, but especially today. She would have been
saddened indeed by today's news, but as always she would have 
risen above, and gone on to keep contributing to people's happiness
in the world, any way she could.

Have a loving your life day! 

Back to my art group

Art Group Sketch
Maybe Work in Progress
Acrylic on canvas
16 x 20 inches
Barbara Muir © 2024

Tonight was so fun.  With set up, and take down, I might have had 
40 minutes total to paint.  The model was beautiful, and an 
excellent model.  The best.

It's a treat to be around amazing artists, and to see their work.  So
wonderful.  So that was tonight.  I've been painting all day -- it's
break time.

Have a loving your life day.

Small and Beautiful

Flowers for you #2
Acrylic on birch panel
5 x 7 inches
Barbara Muir © 2024

A friend urged me to join some painting contests today. I know it’s a good idea.
Right now though I’m working on getting quite a few paintings ready for the
Off The Wall show at the Heliconian Club, 35 Hazelton Ave. in Toronto, opening
on November 30, from 2 to 5:30 p.m. I hope you’ll be there. It's free, and of course
there are treats. Plus the top price for the paintings in the show is $200 and most
of mine will be $100.

That means you could drop into the show, fall in love with a beautiful, small painting,
pay for it, and take home a gorgeous gift for the holiday season. Yes, you can take it
home that day! That’s why it’s called Off The Wall.

I’m really looking forward to this show. I think it’s going to be fun. The work will
be available to be sold at all of the Heliconian events in the month of December.
So if you don’t make it to the opening, there will be a lot of other opportunities
to get yourself a beautiful, small painting. I really hope I get to see you there.

Have a loving your life day.

Happy Birthday Sally the dog

Sally the dog

Acrylic on canvas

5 x 7 inches 

Barbara Muir © 2014

It's our dog Sally's birthday.  We will sing to her and give her a
special treat. We got Sally, who turns 12 today at a very sad time
in our lives. Our almost 14 year old dog died that year in
September, and my mother died a couple of weeks later. 

We needed a dog, and visited the Humane Society adoption
Center, and chose Sally.  Well in fact she chose us. She was a skinny
dog lying on a ripped blanket. When I sat down on the floor beside
her cage, she pulled my purse into the cage, and that was that.  Steven
found me sitting on the floor crying looking at Sally, and the rest has been
12 years of loving this beautiful animal.  She no longer looks like this
painting, but she is even more beautiful in our eyes -- her family, and she
loves our family.

Sally was one year old when we got her, and we were her fourth
owners.  Tonight when we sing Happy Birthday to her, she will sing
Happy Birthday to herself, and get two cookies and something good to eat.
In the last couple of weeks we've been worried that she's losing her sight,
and maybe her hearing, but she hasn't lost her sense of fun. 

Have a loving your life day.

Cats on Saturday night

 

Our cats
Monet facing us, and
Fiona facing Monet 
curled up on our dog Sally's bed
Photo

Barbara Muir © 2022

Tonight I was going to talk about the Nasturtiums in the garden -- how it's 5 degrees Celsius
(33.8 Fahrenheit), and how I don't want them to die, as I've been picking them every day
with great pleasure for a couple of months, and they're beautiful. Plus I've painted some
very happy paintings featuring them.

Then as I was thinking this, our cats started vying for the kitchen heat vent. And scrolling through my
photos, I saw this sweet photo.  Our cats rarely cuddle, but they did when we went to Paris
last May, because they missed us, and they might cuddle again because of the cold.
Fiona is 17 (she's the smaller one) and Monet is 3, she's looking very tired in the photo.  

They are super affectionate with us. They love our dog Sally, and they do not like to see us

troubled about anything.  Tonight is movie night, and they will get upset that we are watching 

TV too long (kind of like overprotective parents).  At the same time they'll appreciate the

long, warm snuggles with us on the couch as we watch our movie. They are of course annoyed 

by the cold.  They love sitting on the back porch with us, but not in this weather.  And they don't

 go out without us.

Have a loving your life day.

International Self Portrait Day

 

For David Lobenberg

Self portrait
acrylic on canvas
12 x 12 inches

Barbara Muir © 2009
(I did this portrait for David Lobenberg's

June Paint Off in 2009)

You can read about it here.)

I learned that it was International Self Portrait Day today from the fabulous
portrait artist Jane French, who wrote about it in an Instagram post.

Wondering what to write about tonight -- I thought --Yes! Artists who paint
portraits -- and portraits are some of the subjects I like to paint -- frequently
have no model other than themselves.  So of course I've painted my portrait
more than once during my artistic life. This is one of my favourite self portraits. 
My husband Steven has it hanging above his work desk.

Funnily enough we almost never capture exactly what we think we look
like -- but this one works well for me.  There is a suggestion of a sense

of humour.  And I am grateful to be around kind and funny people 
most of the time.  So yes -- that is a quality I'm glad is there.

2009 was a very big year for me.  Lots of TV, newspaper articles, the
beginning of showing in International Art exhibitions.  And I drew 
Oprah live via Skype on the Oprah Winfrey show, so I also like
this portrait for the time that it captures.

Have a loving your life day.