Happy Chanukah

I don't usually paint this kind of design, but I was asked by our synagogue to come up with something for their full day "Feast of Torah" celebration.  They printed the design on a magnet. There were workshops, prayers, singing, menorah lighting and latkes of course. It was fun.

I joined a local art group called "Art Mingle" and they came up with the idea of making a series. I took a photo of the Sawtooth Mountains in Stanley (Idaho) and divided it into 4 paintings. That will be my series. It was fun planning this. I'm naming the paintings "Call of the Mountains".

I played with acrylic paint one day and just did some abstract colors. Now that I have been working with oil paints, I have come to prefer them for most of my painting time. I think abstracts are not for me, but I liked playing with the blue colors.

Today I decided to pretend I was painting outdoors (it is below freezing in Boise, winter is here) and I imagined I was back in New Hampshire in the fall.  I made a little 2 hour oil sketch.  I liked the image and will probably work on a detailed one in the future.  This is a conservation area, Madame Sherri's Forest in NH. I didn't do a preliminary sketch on the canvas so it is not too accurate, more of just an impression.