New business card

I had leftover business cardstock paper from my bookkeeping business. No reason to waste it, so I created a new business card for my art business, using my most recent painting. Bookkeeping business is under agreement, but no closing date set yet. I am hoping to retire by the summer.

Dorr's Pond

Took a walk Saturday. 24 degrees F that morning. Spring is very slow coming. Maybe next week. The geese were out on the soccer fields. The snow had melted there since it is open to the sun. The paths around the pond were still icy so we did not walk in that direction.

writing letters in my head

I take a little break from reading

to get a snack or cup of tea

close my eyes for a moment

and rest my mind from concentration

suddenly I’m writing letters in my head

the monkey brain at work

always chattering away

for a quiet person I seem to have

a lot of noise going on there

thankfully no one else hears it

I tease my husband

and laughingly tell him

he is full of words pouring out

page after page in his novels

but my words just float around

quietly in my head

sometimes they make it

to a poem or letter

but more often they just disappear

other words appearing in their place

or conversations go on in my mind

I assume between my id and ego

but I hear them as my mother

or father giving me advice

only it’s really me in that place now

as mother and matriarch

when I’m tired of listening

I turn on music

or go back to my book

it is still a struggle to

stay in the moment

be present to others

but as a creative person

I know it’s also a gift

and I am thankful for

the gift of words

copyright 2011 Linda H. Feinberg

Sunrise on the 2nd day of spring in NH

It's a good thing I like snow! Luckily, we didn't need to shovel this small amount and it will melt quickly.

We have several squirrels that visit every day and eat the sunflower seeds we put out on the railing.

Twin Falls Bridge

I'm pleased with the way this is coming out. It was easier to work with the oil pastels in the little bits of time that I had available. No messy cleanup, no paint brushes or palettes to worry about.

This is the bridge in Twin Falls, Idaho. Painting done from photo taken on trip several years ago.

Work in Progress

No time for blogging this week. I'm really looking forward to the sale of my business and retirement in a few months. Meanwhile, I am working on art in bits and pieces.

This is an oil pastel drawing/painting on cold press watercolor paper. I started by following the directions in a book, but gave up after a while and I'm just proceeding on my own now. The book is "Oil Pastel Step by Step" by Nathan Rohlander. He recommends gesso on the paper, then a mixture of matt medium & ultramarine blue as a base before doing the painting. He didn't explain well about the blue and I think I had too much blue and should have had more matt medium, less blue. Anyway, it is getting covered up as I use the oil pastels.

The image was of a bridge in Twin Falls where there were people parachuting (gliders?) off the bridge. It was an interesting place to stop and take a break on a long drive from Boise (Idaho) to Salt Lake City (Utah) through the state of Nevada.

Red Rock Canyon (finished)

I think this painting is finished now. I just need to varnish it. I added a few more yucca leaves and made the tops of the mountains more irregular. One of my painting friends suggested that the tops shouldn't be so rounded. Thanks.

in the mirror

hair white as snow

hips still sway

shoulders move

feet tap and legs go

dancing to the beat

my body feels the rhythm

and I’m young again

 copyright 2011 Linda H. Feinberg

Red Rock Canyon (acrylic)

This is an acrylic painting on Richeson's uncradled painting panel (8" X 10"). I put on 2 coats of gesso. I found it easier to paint on this surface than on canvas. The painting is from a photo I took in Red Rock Canyon, Nevada last spring. I'm not sure if it's done yet so I'll wait awhile before I put varnish on it. Obviously I'm not trying to be realistic, but I thought it was a good impression of what I saw while we were hiking there. I think the plants are called "Yucca".

Here are two earlier versions as I was working on it. I thought it would be interesting to keep a record for myself.  I had a hard time with the red rocks which are not really red or orange. I finally dulled them down a bit with a blue glaze.

This is my beginning. The one below is a bit further along.

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?”