Lake Louise

 

Lake Louise, Oil, 20" X 24". I think this is finished now, but I will wait a few weeks to post it to my website until I am sure and happy with it.  I had a large (for me) canvas that I picked up 2 years ago at a sidewalk sale and kept thinking about what I would paint on it. Finally I took the plunge.  I loved the colors of the lakes in Alberta, Canada, colors from the glacial silt.  We took a trip there several years ago and I enjoy looking at my old photos.

Meanwhile, I submitted three other paintings for a "monochrome" show at the Meridian library and two were selected. They will go up at the end of the month.  One that I posted last time (Monochrome etude #1) although I personally liked #2 better and my older acrylic 8" X 10" painting of Rabbi Y'Shia.

Traveling and Landscapes

I finished my painting from our June trip to Canada. Athabasca River, oil painting on stretched canvas, 16" X 20". My website now offers T shirts, tote bags and some other items as well as cards and prints. Fine Art America has partnered with Pixels.com to print these items.  This view of the river is right before the water falls. I loved the trip to the Canadian Rockies (Alberta) and will probably paint more views from my photos. (Click on image to enlarge)

Meanwhile, my son's band was playing on a boat in Portland, Maine. I had never done a harbor cruise before and this was great. I've been to Portland many times (great museum there as well as fine restaurants and interesting downtown), but just cruising around watching the boats, old forts, lighthouses was very enjoyable.

Portland Harbor is also an oil painting on 16" X 20" stretched canvas. I enjoyed working with these colors too, quite a change from the colors in the Athabasca River painting.  This is the first time I've attempted an oil painting of a harbor with boats. I liked the way it came out. I did a small acrylic study of the sailboat first (image below). Then I decided I liked it enough to attempt a larger painting, but I liked the full scene for the larger painting, not just the sailboat.

Portland Harbor study, 8" X 10", acrylic on canvas board. I find that I'm enjoying working with the water mixable oil paints more as I get used to them, but I still like the acrylics too. Many times I use the acrylic paints as an underpainting. That helps me with colors as well as composition.  In composing the scene for the larger harbor painting, I moved the small boat in front from my photo (using scissors and tape on my printout, not Photoshop!) and placed it off center. The original photo showed it too centered for me. I also print out my photos in black and white as well as color. That helps me both with composition and values (light/dark).

In between the serious paintings, I also played with paints, trying a night scene on paper.

Night Study, acrylic paint on Strathmore acrylic paper. This one just came out of my imagination and some views I had seen on the internet. While Manchester (NH, my home town) is on a river, it certainly doesn't look like this, day or night!  I liked the way the sky came out, but that's about it for this painting.

Then I tried a self portrait, using the water mixable oil paints again, this time on Arches Oil paper. The nice thing about doing a self portrait is that I could make myself look much younger. The hard thing was mixing the colors. I need to learn how to make shadows better with these paints. Anyway, it was a fun experiment and I learn something new each time I paint. I'm just posting a little clip of this one here as I really don't like the full portrait.

By coincidence, thinking about my last posting on titles, Jason Horejs posted a good video on the same topic recently.  http://reddotblog.com/art-marketing-minute-video-creating-compelling-titles-for-your-artwork/

I bought a used pochade box (portable paint box) from an artist friend. These are very expensive to buy new, but I wanted one for plein air painting (painting outside). I would like to practice a bit before our next trip to Israel (next year). We will be staying at Ein Hod (an artist's village) for a full month and I plan on painting outside, not just from photos. I definitely need more practice with that. I've tried it out in my studio, but not outdoors yet. Looking forward to that too.

Finished Paintings

Sewalls Falls Bridge

Concord NH

Acrylic on canvas board, 11" X 14"

I had one leftover 11" X 14" canvas from a class. I thought this bridge would look good in that format. I cropped my photo with Photoshop and played with some of the artistic filters to decide how to paint the bridge.  I decided that less detail would work for me.  This is acrylic on canvas board.

There is an easy walking trail at the Sewalls Falls Multi-Use Recreation Area in Concord. The trail runs along the Merrimack River.  It continues to a second parking lot and another trail that goes to Concord Rotary Island Park.  We walked this trail in July last year and the shade from all the big trees was much appreciated.  There was a little beach further on and we met some friendly dogs and people there too.

http://linda-feinberg.artistwebsites.com/featured/sewalls-falls-bridge-linda-feinberg.html

View from West Rattlesnake

Oil on stretched canvas, 8" X 10"

A small 8" X 10" oil painting on stretched canvas.  The trails on West and East Rattlesnake in the Squam Lakes area of New Hampshire have beautiful views. They are easy to moderate for hiking and many families bring their children up there to have a little exercise and a picnic.

I am getting more comfortable with the water mixable oils (Winsor & Newton Artisan), but still haven't tried a larger size canvas.  I did an underwash with transparent pyrrole orange (acrylic). The colors are a little brighter than my usual and I like them.

To purchase a card or print of the scene above: 

http://linda-feinberg.artistwebsites.com/featured/view-from-west-rattlesnake-linda-feinberg.html

Rabbi Y'Shia Stebsa Dion

Acrylic on canvas board, 8" X 10"

I finished my sepia painting of the rabbi.  After some good comments from other artists, I decided to make the right side lighter (the way it looks in the photo in my post of Jan. 22nd). I also worked on his beard a little more.  I'm happy with the result now and I probably won't try another portrait for a while. This was very challenging.  Acrylic painting on canvas board, 8" X 10" with limited colors, titanium white, burnt umber.  I did a very light burnt umber underwash on the canvas before I started the actual painting.

To purchase a card or print of the rabbi:

 http://linda-feinberg.artistwebsites.com/featured/rabbi-yshia-linda-feinberg.html