Starting again

 

Oil on oil paper. Red flowers. Inspired by an online video, but not copied from it.

I have not been painting for a few months. I've had medical issues I've been dealing with and decided to mount some oil paper and put it on my easel, hoping for inspiration. 

This is an Osprey on a branch, acrylic.  I found that I can't do detail work any more due to my hand tremors from Parkinsons. Even typing is hard.  I'm trying not to get discouraged. Meanwhile, life continues on.  I did enjoy painting the red flowers, that was more abstract.

Misty Day

 

Misty Morning (in Cascade Idaho). 8 X 16, oil on canvas panel. I couldn't figure out how to paint mist. I guess I will need more practice. Painted from my photo when I was at the Y camp in Cascade (see previous post).

My head has been preoccupied with health problems as my husband and I get older. I haven't been doing much painting, but when I do sit down at my easel and paint (sometimes I stand), I do enjoy it.

We only had 9 kids last night for Trick or Treat. That was sad. Now I have leftover candy to give away or eat. Looking forward to Thanksgiving at the end of the month.

Rainy Weekend at camp

 The YMCA had a Women's Wellness Weekend at their camp in Cascade, Idaho this past weekend. Unfortunately it rained most of the time. I still had an enjoyable weekend and it was nice to get away to the mountains since I live in the city. This was the dirt road to the archery site.

I could still hit the target. I did archery in high school, over 60 years ago. Many of my arrows hit, but then bounced off. One stuck in the target so I could get a photo.  Several went over the top of the target. I would definitely need more practice if I took this up again. It was fun to try it.

Luxury camping. The cabin had some heat, bunk beds with mats (I brought my own sleeping bag), indoor toilets and showers.  There were also yurts that did not have those facilities. The campers who stayed in the yurts had to walk out to another building for the toilet and shower. I was happy to be in a cabin with only 6 campers. We all had lower bunks. It was a 10-15 minute walk to the Lodge and meals, only a few minutes to walk to the barn where I took some classes. One was a guided meditation, excellent class. I remember doing that when I was seeing a therapist many years ago. Very relaxing and helpful.

Procrastination - unfinished work

 Study for larger work. I drew this in my sketchbook, used watercolor paints and started the pen and ink process. It has been sitting in my studio for a while.  I also did a palette knife painting of this image from Norway. I hope to get motivated to finish some art soon.

It was more enjoyable working with thick oil and wax paint and using a palette knife.  My view was from our balcony on the cruise ship (Sky Princess) to the coast of Norway.  The cliffs reminded me of the cliffs I saw in Alaska along the coast.

"Enjoying the view" was also painted with oil, but with a brush, not palette knife. It's an old memory, when we hiked Mounts Morgan and Percival in the White Mountains of NH. The view was of the lakes in that area.  I don't usually paint people and I was not happy with my daughter's image. I might try to adjust it a bit more.

North Sea

 

I took a trip to the North Sea, departing from Southampton in the UK via cruise ship (Sky Princess) to Norway and Denmark. I had never been to those countries before although I lived in Belgium from 1969 to 1974. During those years I was working as a secretary and did not have enough money to travel although I did make it to the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France and Spain.

The sea was calm, it was cool (a great relief from the hot weather in Idaho), and it was a comfortable experience.

Our greeter at the first port, Kristiansand. He looked a lighter color than the moose I had seen when I lived in NH. There are moose in Idaho too, but I have only seen elk here so far. We took a bus trip to a mineral museum. I found the scenery reminded me of Alaska, NH and McCall, Idaho. I saw lots of green trees and granite cliffs.  The museum was fascinating if you like rocks and minerals (I do). There were old houses with grass roofs and also a park/playground/lake for families.

View from the balcony of the ship as we left the port to go on to Denmark (I will post more photos another day).

Painting experiments

 

                            Koi fish at the botanical garden, Acrylic on canvas panel 11 X 14.

I had fun painting on a black background with acrylic paint. I've always enjoyed painting fish. I have some of my earlier paintings in watercolor of Koi hanging in my house. I think these have a good sense of movement. I liked the way the bright colors appeared on the black background. I enjoyed watching them at the pond at the botanical garden.  It reminded me of our trip to Israel in 2012 when we visited the kibbutz where they were being raised for sale.  Beautiful fish.

Sitting by the Snake River. 9 X 12, mixed media on paper. This was done in my sketch book with gouache, pen and ink. I also used a brayer (a type of roller). I was just having fun without making too much of a mess.  The woman sitting on the rock was another artist painting in watercolor a couple of years ago at the Swan Falls Park along the Snake River in Murphy, Idaho.  I have done very little painting with gouache, but I had a few tubes to play with.  I actually prefer painting with oils, but they take a long time to dry and I don't always have the patience for that so I decided to do some paintings that would dry quickly.

Memorial Day

 

Although we have lived in Boise, Idaho for 6 years now, we had not visited the Warhawk Museum in nearby Nampa.  They were open on Memorial Day and advertising a flyover. This was definitely a worthwhile trip. We enjoyed looked at all the war memorabilia, the engines and the planes. It made me think how essential mechanics were to the wars (yet how many people encourage their children to study mechanics?).

I found the cut apart engines interesting even though I had no idea what I was looking at. I am not a mechanical person.  I actually enrolled in mechanical drawing in middle school (1950s) and was told that girls were not welcome.  The teacher said he never had a girl in his classes and I was intimidated so I didn't take those classes.  Now we have women engineers and pilots. I'm glad things changed.

If you are vising Idaho, this is a good place to browse. I remember we went to an airplane museum one time in Nova Scotia and got to climb aboard an actual plane and look at the displays. That was a long time ago (2003). I don't remember the name of that place, but I think it was near Halifax. Here is an old photo I found on my computer from 2003.

Low tide with verse

 

I have always loved this verse. We sing it in Hebrew at the synagogue. I decided my last painting was a good background for it.

More information on this poet, Hannah Senesh: https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/szenes-hannah

Link to this print: https://linda-feinberg.pixels.com/featured/low-tide-with-verse-linda-feinberg.html

Painting and photos

 

We enjoyed a 2 week vacation back in NH in April. Took a ride to the beach, but it was Low Tide. Not that interesting. Anyway, I tried painting the rocks.  Low Tide, 8 X 10, oil on canvas board.

I took many photos of trees and ocean. Even though it was cold Atlantic Ocean water (42F), I saw people wading. Brrr....

And some photos from my recent visit to the Birds of Prey exhibit in Boise. The California condors in the cage are juveniles and are being raise for breeding when they reach maturity. The wing span was impressive.

This was the first time I had seen a real harpy eagle. He was quite vocal too.

Craft Fair

 My husband and I are sharing a table at this craft fair. It is a fundraiser for Women's and Children's Alliance in Boise at the Riverside Hotel.  We have not done any fairs for several years. We stopped when Covid started. I'm looking forward to it even though it is a long day for us. I will have cards and a few prints for sale. Joe has 8 or 9 books that he published. Some non-fiction, but most are thrillers (fiction). He will sign the books for buyers too.

Tonal Study

 

Tonal Study done with limited colors, yellow ochre, ultramarine blue, raw umber, burnt umber, sienna, white. Not sure if I really used any white. I was inspired by an online video from Nial Adams (bottom photo was my original).  Then I couldn't decide what to finish the painting with. I looked across the street in the evening and I've always admired the tree there no matter what season, so I painted the winter branches and fence, then added more bare branches. I'm letting this dry before I do any more details.

Oil painting on 12" X 16" canvas board.

At the gallery

 

I'm proud that two of my paintings were included in this gallery show. The exhibit will be up for the month of March. The Avianne gallery is moving to a new location in April, but the owner is waiting to announce it when the construction is finished. I am excited knowing that the new place will be accessible and my friends will be able to go there. The current location is up a flight of stairs (no elevator). That limits some of my friends and even I don't like stairs any more. Here are better images of the two paintings in the show: Monarch amid the mums and Spring flowers at Grace Church. 

Winter plein air

 

It was too cold for me to stand outside with my easel and paints (although the other artists did that). Instead I just sketched from inside the car. I will go back to this park (Pamela Baker park in Eagle, Idaho) when it is warmer and paint the view of the foothills.  I sketched the geese too, but did not take a photo of that sketch.

Ths snow in the park was mostly gone, but more will come soon. It is not spring here yet. This photo shows the other artists from the back. The group was having a good time despite the wind.

Working in my studio I decided to paint a small study in color from my drawing and the photo. I plan to go back to this park wen it is warmer.