Happy Thanksgiving

I finished up my fall art classes with a fun painting of the November sunrise from my back yard.  I may add some birds to it and a bit more texture.  I am also taking a series of 4 classes in December from the same artist, Kevin McCain.   He is a good teacher and I am learning a lot.

I think this version of Hopewell Rocks (New Brunswick, Canada) is done. I'll let it dry for a while in case I decide I need to change anything else.  12" X 16" canvas panel. on my website

My old house in fall. 9" X 12".  Just a little study I made for myself.  I had difficulty with painting shadows and need to practice that more.  This was my house in New Hampshire. We are living in Idaho now, but plan on visiting family in NH next summer. We'll take a drive by of the house and see if the buyers have changed anything.

All of these paintings were done in my class. I used Winsor & Newson Artisan oil paints (water soluble).

Happy Thanksgiving to all.  We keep being asked "Why did you move to Idaho?".  Our answer is always the same "family".  We are having 18 here for Thanksgiving this week, mostly family and a few friends of family. I don't have to cook much (which is good since I can't stand on my feet too long yet). Everyone is bringing something and I'm providing tables, chairs, plates, silverware, and an appetizer.  Looking forward to it. I'll have plenty of help cleaning up too.

So I'm thankful we managed the big move this summer and I'm thankful for my wonderful husband who has been a great caregiver while I have been healing from knee replacement surgery.  I have two more sessions of physical therapy, then I'm done with that.  I am able to walk somewhat and will keep going to the gym and working out that new knee. I'm hopeful that I will be able to hike and dance again in the spring.  Healing takes time and I am a bit impatient.  Winter won't be as severe here in Idaho (as it was in NH), but we have already had frost. I'm ready for it.

Mother Love -- Rosh Hashanah 5776

watching the mother cuddling her toddler

brought back memories of my own children

now fully grown, one just married,

the others content with their lives

somehow a hug from a grown man

is not the same as reading a story

to a toddler on your lap

but I am proud to see my adult children

 leading their own successful lives

the phone calls, the texts, the e-mails

let me know of their love and caring

whether near or far

as I pray in the Chabad tent again this year

I am grateful for another year

another chance to fulfill my purpose

even though I’m not sure what it is

“Hineni” – I am here

although my prayer is very different

from the liturgical one

but year after year I continue

my monologue with the divine

knowing that I also have the divine

within me

©Linda H. Feinberg

Note: my poetry is still available on Amazon as inexpensive e-books. 

Happy Holidays

Whatever holiday you celebrate, I wish you peace and creativity. This prayer is available as a video you may enjoy listening to and watching, with Judy Collins and Richard Stoltzman:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRejYkJOYJM
If you like the image above, it is available on my website. I have two different images there with the same prayer.

We are celebrating the 8 days of Chanukah (also spelled Hanukkah) now.  It is interesting to see the various spellings when taking a word from a different language (especially one with a different alphabet) and trying to put it into English. I've also had a good laugh this year seeing all the parodies available online with Chanukah prayers (some new/some old) set to popular music.

We will be having 10 for dinner tomorrow evening, some will be celebrating Chanukah for the first time.  I wrote a little poem thinking about that.

Chanukah – 2014

What brings us together on this holiday?

We come from many different places,

cultures and religions

but we have all settled in America.

My father came here 100 years ago from Minsk,

my mother’s family came from what is now Ukraine,

others at the table came from the Philippines

and still others were born in America,

but their families came from Poland and

other European countries.

Yet we gather here to light these Chanukah candles,

join in a festive meal, perhaps sing a little,

pray together a little and get to know each other.

What brings us together is love,

the respect we have for each other

and the love of our children for each other.

My hope at this time is that this love

will go out into the world

spread its sparks around

and help make a difference.

Chag Sameach.

©Linda H. Feinberg
(Chag Sameach is Hebrew for Happy Holiday)

Limited Color Palette

View from the Noon Peak Trail

I'm still playing around with a limited palette. This is the same one that I used in the painting a couple of weeks ago, of the view from Jennings Peak. The difference is that this time I tried the same colors with Winsor & Newton Artisan water mixable oils.  I felt the result was better. I was able to get better darks with the oil paints. I used ultramarine blue, cadmium red, phthalo green, cadmium yellow light and white.  (I didn't have viridian in my oil colors so I thought the phthalo green was close enough to try the same experiment.)  This is an 8" X 10" oil painting on canvas board. You can buy a card or print on my website.

I did finally put up a few drawings and one painting on ebay.  Only about 20% of art listed there sells, but I thought I would give it a try.  This is the link: http://www.ebay.com/usr/avisiblevoice

My cousins have started some genealogy, trying to go back a few generations.  The photo below surfaced. It is apparently my paternal great grandmother's brother.  We have the name "Rabbi Y'Shia Stebsa Dion" with several different opinions.  "Dion" apparently is a word for judge.  We're not sure if Stebsa is a name or a place, or a variant of one of those.  "Y'Shia" may be short for Yeshayahu. Meanwhile, I keep looking at the photo and thinking it would make a good piece for me to go back to pencil drawing practice. My father's family came to America from Minsk (now part of Belarus) in 1914 and we don't have much information, other than the names of his parents' siblings.

I'm also working on a small canvas with just the seagull and rock from my last post. It needs one more layer of paint (acrylic). I will put that up next week.

Cottonwoods at Arches

Finally finished this painting. It is acrylic on stretched canvas, 16" X 20".  I loved hiking at Arches National Park, seeing the massive rock formations and spending time with my daughter in Utah. This was really the first time I paid attention to the cottonwood trees and the aspens.  Their fall colors are different from the fall colors I see in New Hampshire. I took lots of photos and had a hard time choosing which ones to paint. I may do some more in the future.  Meanwhile, I have started on a painting of Arethusa Falls in Crawford Notch, New Hampshire.  Maybe I'll have that done to post in a few weeks.

Just for play, I wanted to work with some bright colors.  I remembered how pretty the butterflies were in Costa Rica last year on my trip.  I decided to paint some in a less detailed way.  Usually I paint from my photos, but this one was just from my imagination. This is acrylic on canvas board, 8" X 10".

I am glad that the craft fairs are over for the season.  I sold a couple of originals, several prints and lots of cards.  It is hard work setting up, being there for many hours, then breaking everything down.  I didn't do as many this year as last year.  I do enjoy talking to everybody who stops by my table. There are lots of interesting people in New Hampshire.

We have about 10" or so of snow on the ground now from two storms. The winter sunsets are beautiful and so are the sunrises. I'm not so enthusiastic about the snow shoveling as I get older, but it is good exercise and I'm grateful that I can still do this.

To purchase a card or print of this image: Cottonwoods at Arches National Park

Arches National Park

I had a wonderful vacation last week in Utah. I spent 5 days with my daughter. We hiked in Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park (in Moab, Utah). We also walked to the Liberty (?) park and visited the Tracy Aviary near her house in Salt Lake City.  I posted the Arches photos and will do the others soon. You can click on that link to see the rest of the photos.  I loved the fall colors of the cottonwoods and aspens.

NHIA - watercolor study

This is an 8" X 8" watercolor study of the New Hampshire Institute of Art (NHIA) building on Concord Street. I was just playing with colors.  I learned that I don't like drawing straight lines. I did them in pencil first, then ink (on 140 lb CP paper). I was thinking of doing this as a larger painting with acrylics on canvas, but I don't like it enough to continue.

I also learned that I really prefer painting with acrylics and I plan on preparing two canvases this morning with some undercolors, one very dark for a bright painting (possibly of the emerald green lizard I saw in Costa Rica) and another just of the standard neutral gray. That will probably wind up as another trail painting. I still have some larger canvases in my studio, but haven't decided what to do with them yet.

I am getting over my fatigue from all the Passover preparation (cleaning and cooking). It was wonderful celebrating with  family & friends again, but as I get older I find the preparation very tiring. Still love this holiday.

We watched a NH Public TV (Channel 11) "Windows to the Wild" program last night about hiking north of the notches in Pittsburg. Since we love going up there every few years, I think we will try some of those trails the next time, if not this year, then next year.  I bookmarked a website with more information.

Art Process

It is definitely harder to design a painting that is coming out of my thoughts and feelings, rather than a landscape or still life that I can see.  These are the shapes that I have come up with after making several designs, pictures follow.  I am not sure that this is my final design, or if I will change it while I am painting.

Below is my first original idea, just sketched on newsprint. I was thinking about my family and how we passed on our love of music from generation to generation.  My father used to listen to classical music and opera on WQXR radio in NY during my childhood. We also had a record player and I took classical piano lessons.

Then I passed my love of music to my children.  They took music lessons in school, one on clarinet, another on saxophone, another on piano and guitar.  I continued playing piano.

I added more information, music notes and some of my thoughts on sketch #2, which was done on white sketch paper.

I wasn't happy with sketch #2 so I started a new sketch #3 with more changes.  I wanted to keep the curves and flow.

I took out the castanets and maracas (I might put them in again on the final, I am undecided). I added some color notes. I moved the clarinet and saxophone down a little. This is the design I am working from for the painting.  You can see the shapes better in my outline sketch done in ink on tracing paper at the top of the post.

And finally the musical inspiration.  This section of Chopin's Funeral March is very beautiful, not sad or somber like the beginning. My father always loved this piece when I played it and I do as well. Two of my children have continued as semi-professional musicians and are involved with bands.

The underpainting is done and I hope to start my actual painting today. This will be an acrylic painting on canvas mounted on board.

Soulmates (updated)

we two are one

soulmates joined on this journey

as I wrote in my tenth anniversary poem

so many years ago

we two are plus five

bringing our children together

they give us places to go

and people to see

both near and far

we two are two

celebrating our creativity

brainstorming ideas and titles

enjoying our separate interests

and sharing them with each other

the angels are still watching over us

still joining with us each Friday evening

as we sing to them

welcoming the Sabbath

blessing and being blessed

coming in and going out in peace

may we have many more songs

and many more years together

Happy anniversary my love

©Linda H. Feinberg

Author's note: I looked at my 10th anniversary poem (when we were renewing our vows) and thought it was a good time to update it.  Joe and I are celebrating our 23rd anniversary this month.

a lifetime ago

a lifetime ago a slim brunette fell in love
with a brash young man
they married, had children
and twenty years later fell out of love
a common tale, but true

the story doesn’t end there, though
she got a second chance to love
met a man with a good heart
someone who loved kids
and loved her as she was
accepted her and encouraged her
to grow, develop, change and improve

now they’re seniors, but still together
still in love and growing old together
on this journey we call life
each problem looked at
as an opportunity and blessing
to give and receive love
to be there for each other
until the angels call them home

©Linda H. Feinberg

Clark's Pond, Auburn, NH

We are leaving tomorrow for a weeklong retreat, but we took a nice walk yesterday with our neighbor's dog, Sonny. If you have been reading this blog since last winter, you may remember my winter painting of Clark's Pond with that bridge. I used that painting for holiday cards.

I am working on finishing up a painting of Dahlias. The flowers and leaves are all done, but I'm not happy with the borders. I tried another experiment yesterday and that was worse than the first one. I hope to have time to work on it some more today, but I also have to pack, that includes all my gear for the craft table during the week. I'm just bringing a sketch book and notebook with me on retreat. I don't plan on doing any painting while we are away. I have some words and images in my head for poems, so I hope to have the time and inspiration to write at least one.

Here are some more views from the trails on the other side of the street (hiking and biking trails). I found the uprooted trees interesting. Lots of water lilies and pickerel weed in the pond. (I did colored pencil drawings of those in the past and they are somewhere on this blog too.)

Boston

Blown glass art by artist Dale Chihuly

Wonderful trip to Boston with our Idaho family. Jeanne had not been there before. If you have not been to the Dale Chihuly exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts you are really missing a wonderful museum. We also toured the new American art wing and saw many other parts of the museum. It was too big to go through in one day.

As it was a very hot day, we joined up with Seth, our Boston tour guide, for a trip down to the harbor and a wonderful dinner.

That's Joe and Joe! Joe Smiga Sr (NH) and Joe Smiga Jr (Idaho)in the museum.  Joe and Seth Freedman, Joe and Jeanne Smiga at the harbor. then Linda Feinberg and son Seth Freedman.

Acrylic painting experiments2

I'm not sure if this painting is finished yet. I plan to bring my last few acrylic paintings with me to my July classes. I'm hoping the teacher can help me with finishing them, then I will varnish them.  This one is acrylic on canvas panel. I painted it from a photo of Joe fishing at the First Connecticut Lake in Pittsburg, NH (that's at the top of the state of NH on Route 3 that continues on to the border station with Canada). I think I need to work on the background trees some more. I'm not happy with them. It is 11" X 14"

I was experimenting again, this time with acrylic paint on 300 lb cold press watercolor paper, using the acrylic paints like watercolor (transparently, with water). You can buy sample packs of various watercolor papers online. This came from a sample pack bought several years ago at cheapjoes.com. I had not used all the sample papers up and had some left. It is 11" X 14" too.

I didn't like my initial pass through with the pigments thinned with water so I left the water and sky that way, but I used the pigments without water for the other parts of the painting. It is looking better, but not done yet. I still need to darken the area behind the gazebo. Then, I'll think about it some more. I think the water needs to be darkened too. I found that mixing the pigments with white to make them opaque did not work well on the paper, so I just used the pigments as they came out of the tube.

This painting was composed from two photos taken years ago in New Brunswick, Canada. It is the view from the hotel room in Chance Harbor. We did see a beautiful sunrise there, but the pictures I took were of a later time in the day. I was trying to remember what the sunrise would look like. I think I need to add more rose color to the sunrise.  I'll keep working on it.

Self portrait in progress

I volunteered 3 hours yesterday at the Manchester Artists Association gallery, but no one came in.  I brought my sketchbook with me and spent some time fixing a sketch I had done last year of my daughter (not showing that one). I'm still not happy with it since there was too much shadow on her face (she was standing in bright sun and squinting too). I'll leave that one in my sketchbook.

Then I decided to have some fun. I started the portrait based on Zentangles, which are just repetitive designs in pen and ink. I hope to work on it some more this week and maybe finish up my Noon Peak painting this weekend. 

I also visited the student art exhibit at the New Hampshire Institute of Art and dragged Joe there too so he could see all the talented students we have in Manchester. I think they'll be taking that exhibit down soon since the semester is over, but it was very enjoyable.

No Heavy Lifting (band name)

I haven't had time for blogging or art, but this is my last full week of work. My business will be sold at the end of the week and I should have more time for my other interests then.  It feels really good to know I am retiring soon.

My oldest son (at keyboard) and his band did a fundraiser for a friend going on a Bike and Build trip soon. There were 3 bands playing and we had a good time.  Of course, I thought his was the best!  I used my new camera to take some videos, but I don't know how to compress them to post here. More stuff to learn, but I'll have time to do that too soon.

cross country skiing (poem)

 

colors sing to me

the whiteness of snow like Chopin

an etude in shades of gray, blue and brown

a glissando on my skis to warm up

the angels watching over me

so I don’t fall

the sound of the snowmobiles

breaks the serenity of the moment

hiding the winter warblers song

but the machines pass by quickly

leaving behind a nasty gassy smell

soon we reach a bridge

the snow beside it

covered with animal tracks

mostly dog, some deer

and moose too

the other side has open water

reflecting trees, evergreens,

birches and oaks

all at peace in winter

I stop to take photos

then look up to see

my love waiting for me

at the bottom of a big hill

and decide to turn back

wimp that I am

but we’ve both had

enough exercise this day

our hearts warmed up

no matter how cold the air

the bard compares his love

to a summer’s day

but my love is beautiful

as this frosty winter’s day

 
copyright 2011 Linda H. Feinberg

Shakespeare, Sonnet 18, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”

Drawing of Seth

My attempt at another portrait. This one is my son Seth, done in pencil and graphite in my sketch book. The actual photo I used as a model is one he e-mailed me from a concert he did with his band. It is up on his Facebook page (Seth Freedman). When I learn more about painting, I would like to attempt this one in color.  Right now I'm still working on flowers, though. They seem easier than faces.

Drawing of Jake

This is a drawing of my son Jake that I started quite a few months ago. I think it is finally finished. It is graphite & pencil, done in my sketchbook, not on any kind of special paper, just a practice piece. I did the drawing from an old photo of Jake playing the keyboard. He was concentrating on his playing (which is wonderful, mostly jazz, you can listen at Deely Stan website). He no longer has the beard and keeps his hair very short now.  I can see some smears from my fingers at the bottom, I'll have to be more careful with the next drawing. Graphite is messy and smears easily.

I hope to work on a sketch of my son Seth next. He sent me a good photo of him performing with his guitar on stage. That will be a challenge too, not just a face, but the torso, arms, microphone etc. Should be interesting.