Painting fun and inspiration

I enjoy the Psalms while praying at Sabbath services. This time as we were chanting in Hebrew, I also studied the English and could see my old painting "Along the way to Eilat" in the background. When I came home, I cropped it and put the words on top. While the Jewish new year does not start until mid September this year, I have already been asked about new year cards so I combined the two thoughts.  The trees in the background are date trees, the mountains are in Jordan. The bus took this road through the Negev (desert) on the way to the southernmost tip of Israel which is a big tourist destination now (Eilat). To view the card better, click to enlarge. 

I have not been painting much since I returned from vacation. I decided it was time to clean off my painting area, feeling that it would be more inspiring to work in a tidy area instead of the big mess I had there.  I took photos of my paintings that I painted while on vacation in New Hampshire.

This was just a fun experiment with acrylic paints on a leftover piece of matboard. "Fireworks"

My friend decided it was time for me to try pastels. We rode around Exeter (NH) for a while and came to a nice scene. I have not done pastels before so I think I made a big mess. Anyway, it was fun and I enjoyed the morning outside.

My attempt at painting en plein air (outside) at my friend's back yard. I don't think my little oil sketch is worth developing further, but it was good practice.

On another day, another good friend drove us to Deerfield (NH) and we decided to try to paint the silo. The farm house itself and outbuildings were falling apart so I'm guessing most of this farm is not in use. The white bundles on the left side of the painting are wrapped up hay bales so the land is probably just used now for hay. Again, I don't think this little sketch is worth developing further. I did get a bit of a tan from painting outside.

I really admire artists who can do this kind of painting.  These were 2 hour sketches and I thought they were dreadful but I enjoyed trying something new (so not a waste of time).

To finish off the week we tried paint pouring. The top one is my Jackson Pollock style lizard. I put the scales and face on later.  I don't know what to call the others. I did see a face in the one on the left so I painted that on. I'm not sure what I see in the other one. Maybe a swimming something.  This is a great fun activity to do with thinned out acrylic paints.