Wednesday, December 30, 2009

a moment in time

just a moment in time
seeing the toddler’s face in my mind
transposed onto the handsome man
at the keyboard
smiling and joyful as he sang
and played for the sold-out crowd

the toddler with perfect pitch
singing along with the piano tuner
in our small Belgian apartment
and the musical youngster
who did not want to continue
piano lessons and switched to clarinet

piano lessons started again in college
his own choice this time
full circle, generation to generation,
two grandfathers whose love of music
was passed down to parents
who kept the music going
to the next generation
just a moment in time


©2009 Linda H Feinberg
Author's note: I saw this image in my mind while watching my oldest son, Jake Freedman, playing  keyboard with his band in Portland, Maine in November. It was a beautiful image.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

David Feinberg 1935



This is a pencil drawing done from an old wedding photo (1935) of my parents. It was very challenging. I posted the first drawing of my mother earlier. This one was done with Faber Castell pencils on Bristol Vellum paper. I liked this paper better than the regular Bristol (smooth). I enjoyed the class with Jeanne Lachance and hope to study again with her, but maybe not portraits! I still prefer to draw animals, flowers & landscapes.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Cape Cod before the storm


We had to cut our havurah conference visit short as a big storm was moving in. We left after dinner Saturday night. Very few people chose to stay.  Easy drive home as the snow had not started yet.  As usual, we had a wonderful time, but this is New England and it is winter now, so we understand.

If you look closely in the fifth (3rd down on left) picture, you can see either geese or ducks flying. It was very overcast and I couldn't tell from the formation, but I thought they might be geese.  I did see ducks and seagulls on the water, so perhaps they were ducks.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Chanukah



Hope my readers are having a happy Chanukah.  I am very busy this month and next with my bookkeeping service, so I don't usually have time to post to the blog.  However, I made this card which has been well received and I've had several orders.  The photo was of a sunset seen from my house. I played with it a bit in Photoshop.  I didn't feel like using the standard picture of a hanukkiah (the special menorah/candelabra with 9 candle holders for Chanukah.)  I liked the sunset colors, they remind me a bit of the colors of the flames from the Chanukah candles.  The words are from the prophet Zechariah and are part of the liturgy on the holiday. 

I did a craft fair a couple of weeks ago and some of the people were surprised to see texts on my cards from Jewish, Christian and Apache sources.  If the words speak to me, I like to include them with my artwork.  I think the meaning is more important than the source.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Pen and Ink



I worked on this pen and ink drawing some more, putting it away several times, pulling it out and tinkering.  I think it's done now.  (See post of August 20th for earlier version).  My scanner is not big enough for this paper (11" X 15") so I took some photos.  I had some difficulties with getting a good picture.  Finally, I took the drawing outside and tried a photo in the bright sunlight. That seemed to help a bit.

The drawing was from a photo I took at the Alta ski area in Utah in June while hiking with my daughter.  The mountain is called Devil's Castle. I was about 8,000-9,000 feet up, so I think it is probably about 11,000 feet at the top.  Even though it was June, the tops of the mountains still had snow on them.

The drawing is on Arches 140 lb watercolor cold press paper. Initially I thought I might use some watercolor on it. That's why I used that paper.  But now I think I will leave it as a pen and ink drawing.  I don't want to ruin what I did already.

I liked the scenes in Utah so much that I played with some of my photos with Photoshop and made some small cards with them.  I'll have a craft table on Sunday and will put them out.  Hope to get some positive comments along with some sales.