Sad day today 9/11

stretching out my arms

     to float on the water

carried away in my dream

     gliding silently

past birches and sumacs

to rest in a cove

     but only for a moment

for life flows on

never stopping

     never yielding

through the rapids

     and onward

while I search for

     another moment

          in still waters

Psalm 23

He leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul.

This is an old untitled poem written after my divorce in the 80’s. I put it in a collection called “red poppies and green clover”. There is also a free download of a 1990’s chapbook on my website.  Life does go on, but we remember the past and learn from it. Sad day today.

Koi (work in progress)

Acrylic painting in progress. Koi swimming in pond at Red Butte Gardens, Utah (Salt Lake City). From photo taken in 2006. I'm going to stop at this point in my painting and wait until I start classes again next month. I'm not sure what else I need to do to make this look better. I keep fiddling with it and I think if I keep doing that, I might make it look worse! This is a larger canvas for me. I am getting more confident as I learn more (12" X 16")

Idaho 2011

Wonderful trip to Idaho to visit family. This picture was taken in Idaho City. I posted the album with more pictures on Picasa, in my web album

The synagogue was moved from downtown Boise to another area where they built an adjacent school and administrative building.

I teased our son that the only animals we saw were the stuffed ones at Cabelas! Finally, toward the end of a long loop on a dirt road through the mountains, we did see a black bear.

Beaver Brook Falls

I think this is just about done now. I will bring it with me to class in September and see what the teacher says. I am happier with the changes I made. Always tempted to keep fiddling, but I will stop and give it  a break.

secrets

dancing cloud watches the wind

blowing the clouds

maybe snow tomorrow

dancing cloud hears

the beat of the drums

feet stomping in time with them

but her hips would rather sway

to salsa rhythms

dancing cloud is quiet

and shy as she listens

to the girls chattering

all around her

she doesn’t know who she is now

but soon she will find her voice

and be heard

 

watching clouds moving

and changing shapes

she knows she is changing too

blending old and new

growing from girl to woman

a quiet feeling of joy inside

with her secret name

and she is dancing once again

copyright 2011 Linda H. Feinberg

Still playing with paint

Worked on my abstract painting of Beaver Brook Falls again today. I'm not happy with the right side shrubbery. I'll keep tinkering with it for a while. I like the rest of the painting. This was a very different way for me to work on a landscape and I enjoyed the process.

Just playing with paint today

I think I like this one enough to work on it some more and finish it. I used a palette knife and brush, odd colors, acrylic paints on canvas board. The original photo is from Beaver Brook Falls in Colebrook, on the way to Pittsburg, NH, but I abstracted it. This was fun to do today.

Another fun project. Just drip paint on the paper (either watercolor or acrylic paper) and then use an old credit card or flat palette knife to pull it down vertically. To keep white space, drip glazing medium first. I probably won't do anything with these, but I enjoyed making a big mess! Make sure you have newspaper underneath or something that's easy to clean. As you pull the paint down, it gets all over the bottom of the paper. You can use the pooled paint with your brush and paint with it. If the paint is still wet, you can use stamps or other items to make marks in the paint.

Havurah retreat in Rindge, NH

The annual retreat we attended last week was held at Franklin Pierce University in Rindge, NH. We also took a detour to Cathedral of the Pines which was nearby. The photo above is from the home of the  founders of the site. We enjoyed the walk around, the tower and sculptures, the beautiful gardens. They have services here from all denominations at different times. Even though we have gone to Rindge many times, this was the first time we went to this historic site.

This is a view of Mount Monadnock from our dorm room at FPU. We had a wonderful time at the retreat and enjoyed the classes as well as meeting interesting people from all over the U.S. and Canada. I took a class on "Jews, Jazz and Swing" and another class on "Giving Songs in the Night: The art of singing for consolation" - this was appropriate for the holiday of Tisha B'Av (Fast of 9th of Av, starts this evening, lamentation for the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem thousands of years ago). We also discussed the Hevra Kadisha (Holy Burial Society) and singing while doing the taharah (cleansing of the body). Joe took some classes that were a bit more intellectual, but I preferred to just enjoy myself and not think too hard while on vacation. I also did the "shuk" (marketplace) and sold my cards there.

That is Joe and a new friend, Natalie, on the trail down to the pond at Cathedral in the Pines. This is a trail made by the local Eagle Scouts. We found some delicious black raspberries and high bush blueberries along the way.

I don't know what these flowers are, but they were pretty. We enjoyed the gardens and the statues as we walked around. This is a beautiful site to visit.

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.