My notebook

 

I have been playing with acrylic paint in my mixed media notebook. Once the paper dried I also decided to try my calligraphy pen and ink. Unfortunately my hands are too shaky (Parkinsons)  to do the Hebrew lettering well any more. That is sad, but I can still play with the ink. I was just experimenting with colors and mark making. I used a palette knife, plastic type spatula brush, bottle top and brushes. Fun to paint while listening to "Joe Cool's Blues" with Wynton and Ellis Marsalis on an old CD.

The top letters are one of the morning blessings thanking God for freeing the captives. Unfortunately, the Israel-Hamas conflict is continuing and the captives are not free. I pray for them and all the injured souls on both sides.  The bottom letters are just me practicing the Hebrew alphabet.

I enjoy listening to music while I paint. 

Happy Spring. This is a tree in my neighborhood. I noticed it has early blossoms every spring. I don't know what kind of tree it is, but I enjoy seeing it on my afternoon walks.

This one was watercolor in my notebook. I added more ink so it looks a bit more finished now. Based on my photo from summer vacation. Coast of Norway as seen from the cruise ship.

L'Shanah Tovah

 

Wishing all my readers a sweet, healthy and joyous new year 5783. The Jewish new year starts at sunset on Sunday, September 25th. The Jewish calendar is a lunar one and this is also the new moon.  The rabbis picked this from the Torah readings, first day of Tishri. It celebrates the creation of Adam and Eve and our world. The 10 holy days until Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) are a time of reflection and returning to ourselves. We listen to the call of the shofar (ram's horn) as our ancestors did in the past.

There are many videos online about the holiday and the shofar. I liked this one. Shofar blowing

Another Summer Month

Doe and fawn at Municipal Park in downtown Boise, Idaho. I went there to paint with the plein air painters group.  I was surprised to see deer in an urban park, but I guess it is near enough to various rivers and the foothills for them to wander around. They were used to the children and did not run away even when kids came fairly close. This park is also a nature center and a good place for kids to learn about nature.

There were fish in the pond, but I didn't come to go fishing. I made such a mess with my last oil plein air painting that I decided to just sketch with watercolors.  I took photos of the last few outings and will go back to them later to make more paintings.  Here are a few:

This is my setup with my new Sienna pochade box.  This is a little better than my last box as it has a side panel to hold brushes and water, but it does not have a carry handle which I find strange. The professional plein air easels and tripods that the other artists use are very expensive and I wasn't sure I would continue with this kind of painting.  I really prefer to paint in my nice air conditioned studio.  I'm still getting used to the hot summers in Idaho.  We have been here 3 years now and I'm starting to enjoy going around looking at stuff.

The art group also did a trip to a lavender farm in the next town. I just did some sketching at that one, but plan on doing some actual paintings from my studies and photos.

Good morning

I haven't been doing much painting this summer, but I started taking a few classes again. This is an oil painting I finished in my class, Sea Stacks and Orcas (Kenai Fjords, Alaska). You can look at my Alaska photos in the last two posts and see that I combined two different photos into one painting. It is 14" X 18" on canvas.  I will post to my website later this week.

Meanwhile, it is very hot in Idaho. I took a short walk this morning with a friend to a reserve nearby. Even the ducks were resting.  The top photo shows the foothills around Boise in the background.

This is not an abstract painting, but an underpainting. My son is a diver and took some beautiful underwater photos. He gave me permission to use one and I will be working on it in class this week.
It will eventually look something like the photo below. I will probably do this one in acrylic paints. The moray is peaking out so I might call it "peak a boo" like the game we play with babies.

I am looking forward to fall. While Idaho is very hot in the summer, I do appreciate it in the winter. I don't have to struggle with the ice and snow the way I did for 40 years in New Hampshire.

Alaska, Part 2

After our 6 day land tour, we boarded the Celebrity ship, Millenium in the port of Seward, Alaska.  We learned that there was a big earthquake in Seward in 1964 and tsunami. They rebuilt the port and lots of cruise ships were there.  Our room on the ship was very comfortable, food was excellent (we ate at the buffet most of the time), but as an introvert with social anxiety I was not interested in the drinking and gambling.  I did enjoy the shows and walking around in the ports.  The photos above show Juneau (which is only accessible by ship or plane, not road).

Our next stop after Juneau was Skagway and we learned about the Klondike Gold Rush in the 1890's. I enjoyed the museum and the video at the visitor center.  I bought Jack London's book and reread it. It was more meaningful now that I had seen this place. I had read these books over 50 years ago and did not really remember them (Call of the Wild, White Fang).

The mountains all around these places are beautiful as is the rest of Alaska that we did get to see. Crows and ravens are very noisy. Lovely flowers in gardens. We watched a fun show in the theater on the ship with great dancers and singers, disco music. I miss dancing and hope eventually I will be able to do that again.

We stopped at Icy Strait Point and walked into the village, Hoonah. We watched carvers working on a totem pole. It takes them 6 months to carve the images using only hand tools. They only make poles that are commissioned.  I met and talked to a couple of other artists too.  I liked the car sticker with the "I'm not lost, I'm exploring."   That's how I've felt since we moved west and there is so much more to see.

We toured a canning museum (fish canning). I saw some crabs and starfish in the shallow water.  They looked pretty much the same as the ones I used to see in the east.  I couldn't imagine living here in the winter with hardly any sunlight and temps 20 below.  The houses and school looked nice and well taken care of.

Our last port was Ketchikan. We walked around and enjoyed another museum and more totem poles.
We learned the story of the "Married Men's Trail" which apparently went up the hill to the brothels and was a quick route to run out of the brothel if there was a problem.  We did not go into the brothel museum.  The next day on the ship was the last one and then we arrived at Vancouver.  We had a four hour bus ride to Seattle to catch our plane, then back to Idaho.  Vancouver looked interesting and I hope we get to go there for a tour in the future.