Portland, Maine (again)

Back to the beginning of the blog. My first post in 2008 was about Portland, Maine and our trip there to hear some music at One Longfellow Square http://www.onelongfellowsquare.com/.  This past weekend, we went back. This time to hear my son's band play in the same venue.  The band is a tribute type band to Steely Dan. They picked a play on words and are called Deely Stan.  http://www.deelystan.com/  The concert was sold out and we had a great time.

Of course, I'm a proud mom, but I think there were many people who were not related to the musicians and just loved the music. Lots of applause.  Jake (Freedman) looked so happy playing keyboards and singing.  I loved watching him!

I noticed that since I've been taking the drawing class this semester on portraits, I am really looking at faces differently.  I could imagine a series of woodcuts, or linocuts, with musicians and their instruments, or singers & microphones.  White lines on black backgrounds.  I was watching  the shadows on the faces (from the lighting at the show) very carefully.

We went back to the Portland Museum of Art as well.  Again, I was looking at portraits and faces differently.  The museum has an exhibit of prints up now. That's what made me think of the woodcuts.  Joe has been studying Impressionism (American, I think) with Kim Roth. He was looking at the Impressionist painting at the Museum in more detail this time.  A good trip.

Happy Thanksgiving to my readers. I probably won't post again until after the holiday.

Belle Feinberg, of blessed memory

Originally uploaded by LHFeinberg

Pencil drawing done in class with Jeanne Lachance. This was from a photo of my mother on her wedding day, January 27, 1935. Jeanne had us trying out Bristol Smooth (plate finish) paper. I did not like the paper and will try a different one on my next project.

I was happy with the result, though. This is my first drawing class where we have practiced on faces. I think I like flowers, landscapes and animals better, but I enjoy the challenge of the class.

I tried scanning and the original and using Photoshop.  I came out with some different results.  I posted the others on the Flickr website Flickr.

Deciduous Trees - can you identify?

Most of the autumn leaves are down and we are busy raking.  These trees at Dorrs Pond are still very beautiful, but I don't know what they are.  If you can identify, please let me know.  Thanks.

Honorable Mention

Picatso was my first "conceptual drawing" done for a contest in Manchester promoting the play "Cats". I was pleased that I received "honorable mention".  Some of the winners of the contest are professional illustrators and they certainly deserved to win.  I had fun coming up with the idea.  The French words at the bottom are a play on the "cat" theme, they say "The artist Picatso (Pichatseau) in open air"; the Spanish words on the "easel" say "el gato" - "the cat" -- just playing around with language.

I am actually getting to use some of my rusty French now as I am tutoring a woman from Algeria. We manage to understand each other with my broken French and her broken English.  I haven't really used the language since 1974 (when I returned to America from Belgium), so this is a good review.

Fall Color

Fall color is past peak now but still beautiful. This view is of Head's Pond in Hooksett. We walked the Kiwanis trail (along the abandoned railroad tracks - recycled for hikers and bikers to walk) on Sunday.

The maple leaves are from our yard. We have lots of raking to do this weekend. Good exercise.

Class Drawings

These are drawings done in my art class with Jeanne Lachance. The top one was done from a photo of a bust by Alan Colby "Jammont".  The bottom one was done in class from a bust of what looked like a copy of a Roman or Greek statue.

I had never been interested in doing portraits before this class, but I am finding it very challenging and helpful in my study of art.  I'm really looking at photos and faces in a new way.

Joe's Book

Joe's book got some good press in today's Union Leader, article by John Clayton:

Serendipity

Speaking of books, there's a little thing in the publishing business called serendipity, and it comes into play when you write a novel and your fictional premise suddenly becomes a shocking truth, a truth that results in global outrage, banner headlines and round-the-clock cable news coverage.

That's what's happening to Joe Smiga.

Simply stated, the premise of his first novel is this -- Iran has nukes.

That's the central storyline in "Behind the Lies," a prescient piece of work worthy of Tom Clancy, what with Hamas and Hezbollah and renegade Ayatollahs in control of Kilo-class submarines and, in a tribute to his adopted hometown, Joe has scripted a cliff-hanger of a naval battle with a destroyer called the USS Manchester cast as a key player in the drama.

Talk about lucky timing.

"Actually, I had it planned," Joe said, and, while I thought he was joking, he wasn't.

"I'm Jewish," he explained, "I've been reading the Jerusalem Post for years and for as long as I've been reading it, Israeli intelligence has been saying that Iran would have a nuclear capability by the end of 2009, so when I started writing in 2005, that was going to be my premise." And what was his reaction when President Obama held that press conference announcing that Iran has acquired "sufficient information to be able to design and produce a workable atomic bomb"?

"It's a terrifying reality, but as an author, I was thrilled," he said. "His remarks reinforced the title -- the truth 'Behind the Lies' -- and the fact that my book has a black President who's in his first term in the book strikes a chord with readers as well." If you'd like to be one of them -- readers, that is -- you can seek out "Behind the Lies" on the Amazon or Barnes and Noble websites, or if you're looking for an autographed copy, you can go to www.joesmiga.com.

John Clayton is the author of several books on Manchester and New Hampshire, including his newest title, "Remembering Manchester." His e-mail is jclayton@unionleader.com.

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Good+sales+in+this+weatherman%27s+forecast&articleId=b81784e2-9d3e-48a5-a5d9-7e2514f4e9a6

Artist Ziva Kainer

I usually don't put any advertisements on my blog, but since I am hosting the artist tonight for shabbat dinner, I thought I would put this up.  The reception Sunday is free and open to the public at the Jewish Federation building in Manchester (698 Beech Street).  We have a sister city program with a region of Israel called Hof HaCarmel (coastal, between Tel Aviv and Haifa).  There is an artist colony there, Ein Hod, and Ziva is part of that colony.  Joe and I did get to meet some of the artists three years ago when we were there. We hope to go back again in a few years.

Great Bay

Had a good walk at Great Bay Discovery Center yesterday (seacoast). We had never been there before. Interesting area (estuary), but walks were too short for us.  Dina and I took another longer walk later in the day around Dorrs Pond when we returned to Manchester. She goes back to Salt Lake City tomorrow. We've had a great visit and I'm sorry to see her leave.

Burning Bush

Fall is here. Love the colors and the crisp fall air.  I was disappointed at the presentation of my artist of the month award at the gallery -- it was behind stuff and hardly visible.  However, the picture of all the September artists is up for a little while at this link:  http://www.manchester-artists.org/html/artistOfTheMonth.html.  Picture taken by webmaster Tom Wright.  This is a good one.  I will be submitting another painting at the next meeting and hope to win a placement at a different location.