Blossoms and other paintings

I never did learn the names of all the beautiful flowers and blossoms I saw while on my vacation in Ein Hod, Israel. The village is built with old stones, stone buildings, stone walls etc. I painted the blossoms above in my studio from a photo, but I had also done a small study while there. I posted the new image on my website so that you can order cards or prints. Acrylic on canvas board, 8" X 10"

I played with Liquitex light modeling paste on the wall to make it look more three dimensional. I used Liquitex, Winsor & Newton and Atelier artist grade paints.

This is an earlier study I did while in Israel (from a different photo). I brought small tubes of Soho acrylic paints with me and I was not happy with the texture and quality of the paints.  I bought a set knowing I needed some for travel, but they were not really artist grade. The colors were pretty though. The study is 5" X 7".

 

In order to travel with paints, you need to have a data sheet from the manufacturer along with the tubes of paints in your luggage (to prove to TSA that they are not flammable). I requested one from Jerry's Artarama where I bought the paints and they supplied me with the document.  I gave the tubes of paints to an artist friend for her students rather than bringing them back.  I already had enough stuff in my luggage! Another friend advised me not to sign any of my studies, just leave them as studies. I did not have an issue with this in Israel, but I understand that can be a tax problem in some countries.

 

I am working on the bottom study now. I did the top one while I was there. I need to fix my drawing. I was a little too lax when I put in my shapes on my canvas and lost the second arch on the right. The small painting on the right is another earlier study done in Israel of the pretty blossoms on the wall.

 

The views in Ein Hod were beautiful. I found painting this very challenging and I'm not done with this 16" X 20" painting yet. I still need to adjust the colors a little, but I think I got a sense of the place.  Always more to learn.

 

To learn more about the history of Ein Hod: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ein_Hod

To learn more about the village: http://www.ein-hod.info/

 

We rented an apartment through airbnb, but I checked it out with artist friends first. It was a great choice! Please contact me if you would like details.

 

Birds and animals at Ein Hod, Israel

We are finally back from our month long vacation in Ein Hod, the artist's village near Haifa, in Israel. It was a wonderful vacation and I am still tired and have not completely adjusted to the time zone. Meanwhile, I took around 600 photos so I have organized a few to show here.  The birds were not terribly cooparative as far as my photography skills went, but I got a few photos. I wasn't quick enough to photograph the lizards I saw, but did manage to photograph one snake.

The cats walk around like they own the place. They are not really pets. Someone does feed them and make sure that they get neutered, but basically they are in the village to keep down the population of scorpions and snakes. We didn't see any scorpions there, but I checked our shoes every day before putting them on. The dogs also wander and are very friendly and well behaved. It is pretty safe in the village for them since the only car traffic is from the people who live there (there is a gate to come into the village, also a visitor's parking area outside the village for everyone else). I think the village has about 500-800 people living in it. To buy a home or apartment there, you have to be juried in as an artist or photographer.

The cats wandered around the back yard and patio

 I'm not sure why this mirror was in the alley, but the birds didn't seem happy with it.

 The bamboo grows very tall there. I watched this bird and enjoyed his singing.

 Ceramics from the Magal studio in Ein Hod. I bought a few small things there.

 The small doves seemed very similar to the ones we have at home.

 The little dog across from our apartment finally got used to us walking and stopped barking at us every time we walked by.  He looked like he is guarding the whole neighborhood in this photo.

 These two dogs barked at me as I walked by on the street. They were quite loud, but did not come out on the street. Other dogs I saw on my walks were friendly.

 This dove on the next rooftop was quite large, larger than the ones I see here. It was also very loud and had a different song than I am used to.

 A pretty calico cat was watching us as we sat in the cafe and had some coffee and snacks.

 Several people had chickens in the village. I also heard peacocks and roosters, but I did not get a picture of them.

 The cats came right up on the patio. We noticed that they liked to drink the water from the drain pipe after the rain.

 One of my favorite statues. There were so many it was hard to decide which ones I liked the best, but I like dogs so I took several photos of this statue.

This photo was taken at the Dado Beach near Haifa. Our friend took us there on our last evening so we could get some photos of the sea and the sunset. The village has warm and friendly people and almost everyone spoke some English. Now we are back to winter in New Hampshire, with cold temperatures and snow.  Next week I'll try to organize some of my flower paintings and put them up. I loved all the bright colors and pretty flowers (and so much green!) in Ein Hod in March.

Art and History

The old mail boxes at Ein Hod are now an art piece. I thought this was a good recycling use.

The time is going fast here, We had a wonderful guided tour of Haifa and Akko and learned more history of this area. Those two cities have mixed populations of Christian Arabs, Jews, Bahai's etc. and there are no nasty stabbings there like in Jerusalem.The Bahai gardens were beautiful.

We could see snow on the mountains in the distance, but the camera did not pick that up.

We saw the inside of a mosque in Akko, very beautiful.

We learned more about the sheik who was in charge of building this mosque. He was known as Al Jazzar, the butcher. He was apparently a nasty person. I don't know if that is true or not.

The shuk (market) was busy and interesting. I think the fish are mostly local as Akko is right on the Mediterranean.

Since Akko was an important port on the Mediterranean in ancient times, there is a lot of history there, from the Crusades, the Templars, the Mammeluks and more recently (last century), the British.

Templar tunnel (underground) connects several walkways under the city.

On Vacation in Ein Hod, Israel

I am on a month's vacation in the artist colony of Ein Hod, Israel. It is spring here and the trees and flowers are blooming.  I am surrounded by beautiful buildings, sculpture and art, some serious, some not.

We have been visiting friends and famiy in Israel as well. Yesterday we went to the Ralli Museum in Caesaria to hear a choir sing. One of my friends is in the choir. The museum was beautiful outside and in. The choir was great. Then we met one of the choir members who also knew another friend we hadn't seen since 2012.  We had a noisy felafel dinner in a noisy mall. It's almost Purim here and they had a show going on for the kids. Food in Israel is terrific. Lots of fresh fruit and veggies.

Israel is not like what is portrayed in the media. We feel safer here even though every apartment has a bomb shelter, than we would feel in the big cities in America.

I've only done a little sketching and some small paintings here.  I will do more of them when I am back home and able to work in my studio. I only brought some acrylic paints with me and small canvases.

Photos above are from Ralli Museum art (contemporary art from South American artists.

I have posted more photos on FaceBook and in my web albums. Google has taken over Picasa, but if you have a sign in for Google, you can see all the photos. There is a link on the right.

Yehiam painting progression

I am working on a 16" X 20" acrylic painting of Yehiam from my photos and earlier study.  I posted my smaller study in the last post.  This painting is on gessoed hardboard, not canvas.  I like working on this surface with acrylic paints. I think the landscape would look even better worked in oils, but I don't seem to have the patience to let them dry.  It's easier working in layers with acrylic paints.  I had a hard time making the rocks look old. I decided to use a sponge with some darker colors on top of the undercolor.  I also watched a video on painting stone/rock and came away with the understanding that I didn't need to paint each stone, give a suggestion of them.  I think that helps.  The photo was taken in spring and everything was very green.  The Mediterranean Sea can be seen in the background. The fortress is up high on the hills in Israel.

My first try at the undercolors and basic shapes.  I felt that the background trees were too dark, had too much blue.

Adding more detail and starting to fill in the dark spaces.  Again, I felt that there was too much blue and wound up using some black later on in the crevices and openings in the walls.

I'm happy with my progress so far and may switch off to something totally different for a while, then come back to this to finish it up.

More studies and one finished painting

This is a 9 X 12 acrylic study done from a photo I took in Israel in 2012.  The ruins are of a Crusader Castle overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. They are part of Yehiam Fortress National Park.  I liked the study enough so that I have started on a larger painting.  I have just started on the undercolor (photo below) so far and a little of the trees. I will work on it more this week.  I'm painting this one with acrylics on gessoed hardboard (not canvas). I like to experiment with different surfaces.  I cheated a little and borrowed a friend's projector to enlarge the painting. I didn't feel like doing a grid to enlarge it.

Yehiam study undercolor 16" X 20"

I had an exhibit at the Bedford NH Library during the month of January 2016. When I looked at one of my paintings, I realized that it had a small area that I wasn't happy with. Now that I have it back, I have fixed it. Here is the final version of November Day.

Meanwhile I have applied for a summer exhibit in a bank that is expanding and is looking for artists willing to hang 15 paintings for six months.  I have a lot of competition for that space, but I'm hoping that they will choose me for one of their upcoming exhibits.

On the personal front, I have a medial meniscus tear so I am having to paint sitting down for now.  I find that I prefer painting standing at my easel as I have more freedom of arm movement and I like to walk back and forth to the easel to see how the painting is looking as I make progress with it.  Hopefully, this will heal soon.  We are having a mild winter in New Hampshire, unlike the states to the south, so I am a little frustrated that I can't walk and hike as much as I used to do. I remind myself that "this too will pass" (famous wise words when the children were teenagers!).