Happy Holidays

Whatever holiday you celebrate, I wish you peace and creativity. This prayer is available as a video you may enjoy listening to and watching, with Judy Collins and Richard Stoltzman:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRejYkJOYJM
If you like the image above, it is available on my website. I have two different images there with the same prayer.

We are celebrating the 8 days of Chanukah (also spelled Hanukkah) now.  It is interesting to see the various spellings when taking a word from a different language (especially one with a different alphabet) and trying to put it into English. I've also had a good laugh this year seeing all the parodies available online with Chanukah prayers (some new/some old) set to popular music.

We will be having 10 for dinner tomorrow evening, some will be celebrating Chanukah for the first time.  I wrote a little poem thinking about that.

Chanukah – 2014

What brings us together on this holiday?

We come from many different places,

cultures and religions

but we have all settled in America.

My father came here 100 years ago from Minsk,

my mother’s family came from what is now Ukraine,

others at the table came from the Philippines

and still others were born in America,

but their families came from Poland and

other European countries.

Yet we gather here to light these Chanukah candles,

join in a festive meal, perhaps sing a little,

pray together a little and get to know each other.

What brings us together is love,

the respect we have for each other

and the love of our children for each other.

My hope at this time is that this love

will go out into the world

spread its sparks around

and help make a difference.

Chag Sameach.

©Linda H. Feinberg
(Chag Sameach is Hebrew for Happy Holiday)

Urban scene

I decided to try a sketch of an urban scene instead of my usual landscapes. I found that I didn't like this as much, probably because I find more inspiration in the trees, woods, mountains and lakes of my region (New England). When I travel, I tend to look for the same kind of scenery too.

Meanwhile, these buildings have stayed in my mind since 2006 when I was on a trip to Israel.  I found the apartment building in Tel Aviv interesting (photo below of actual building). I had taken a picture from the hotel balcony, so I was looking down at the scene. I was impressed with all the solar panels on the roofs of so many buildings in Israel. These are not as practical in our climate, but some people do have them (including my son).

I found that I do not have any desire to paint this scene, but I did enjoy sketching it in pen and ink (in pencil first).

We had a big storm here on Thanksgiving and lost power for two days. Brr.... It was very cold and we spent the third night at my son's house (he had power and heat). We were very thankful when we came home to find that the power was back on. I still like winter, but we do not have a fireplace or woodstove.  Several of our neighbors have purchased generators. Some photos below of my wintry neighborhood.

The snow was very heavy and broke some of the branches off the pine tree. We cleaned it up and now most of the snow has melted (until the next storm).

We have one more craft fair this weekend. I have been very disappointed with sales at fairs this year. I probably won't do many next year. I'm going to continue painting as I enjoy it, but I'll have to figure out another way to sell my artwork locally. My cards have been selling well on my website and I'll continue to post new work there as well. You can now buy cell phone covers and throw pillows with my designs directly from the website.