Private exhibit

I was invited to decorate a bare wall and have an exhibit in a business in Boise near the airport.  The paintings will be up until the end of the month. While I am flattered that someone saw and liked my paintings, I don't really expect to sell any.  I also left some prints there just in case someone would like a print.  I filed today for a seller's vendor ID since Idaho has a 6% sales tax.

Meanwhile I have been painting, both serious and non-serious fun paintings.

My nebula was just a fun acrylic painting, 16" X 20" from a website. I painted black paint over an old painting that I didn't like (no point in wasting a good new canvas just for me). I have done one other painting from this site and found watching the instructor was as much fun as the painting. The Art Sherpa. These are free lessons available on the internet.

This oil painting was very challenging even through I simplified the composition from my original photo of Bown Crossing farmer's market.  "Market Day" is 10" X 20", water mixable oils on a stretched canvas. I bought a new canvas for this one. I did not have the size I wanted in stock.

I am feeling sorry for my friends back east with all the snow storms and happy that we moved to Boise. It is warm today and the crocuses are up already. I hope spring is really here.  Going to take a nice walk outside soon.

Idaho Exhibit

My first exhibit in Idaho went well. I was proud to be juried in and surrounded by excellent art. I submitted 3 paintings for consideration. I was surprised that the juror picked my bridge painting since the image is from Manchester, NH, not Idaho. The exhibit is run by the Treasure Valley Artist Alliance which I joined last month.  I'm looking forward to meeting the other artists in this area. (Photo from Facebook courtesy of Joe Smiga)

Meanwhile I felt like having some fun. I was inspired by a contest (which I did not enter) for a self-portrait. I decided to make mine inspired by Van Gogh.  I couldn't quite figure out his brush stokes, but I did have a good time playing with paint.

My hand surgery (trigger finger) went well and I am slowly healing. I won't be able to paint again for about 10 days.  My daughter visited from Salt Lake City and we had some good walks and talks together.  My knee is healing and I am able to walk for about 1 hour now. That is a big improvement.  I was getting depressed thinking I would always be in pain and not able to walk more than a few minutes at a time.

I will work some more on this katydid when I can paint again.  I bought four 4 X 6 panels with different surfaces to experiment with.  I started this one with watercolor pencils, but was not happy with the illustration.  I went over the image with oil paint. Still needs work.

This will be the first time I am exhibiting a painting in Idaho. I'm excited to be meeting other artists. I haven't been doing much writing or painting, but I'm enjoying my first experience of a mild winter. I'm happy that we moved here closer to family and it is a big relief to be away from shoveling snow and dealing with ice storms.  We plan on visiting family and friends in NH during the summer months when it is ridiculously hot in Boise.  (It's a trade off since I don't like heat, but we do have central air conditioning which makes it bearable.)

Meanwhile I'm playing with small canvases until after my hand surgery next week.  I bought Lukas water mixable paints to try out and they seem to be a bit smoother to paint with than the Winsor & Newton ones. I bought a set so I don't have as many colors, but it will be convenient for plein air painting since it came with a carry box. 

I am working on a self portrait now that was inspired by an advertisement for a contest. I am not planning on submitting it, but took on the challenge and I'm trying to make it in Van Gogh style, inspired by his portraits.  I'll post it when it's done. It was fun to start on this morning.

Spider Web

Spider Web

sunlight sparkling on dewdrops

on the spider’s web

if her web is broken

she builds a new one

a good lesson for me

sometimes I’m fragile and emotional

but I still have the strength to rebuild

© 2017 Linda H. Feinberg

Idaho and Oregon

The elk were browsing in the foothills of Boise, Idaho. We got a few photos from our daughter's deck.  I drove the curvy downhill road back to the city and worried that I might hit one, but they weren't on the road.

No real snowstorms yet here, but we have had frosty mornings.

View of Hells Canyon from the lookout point.  My painting doesn't really show the canyon so I should probably come up with a better title. Water mixable oil, 9" X 12" canvas panel.  I only have two more classes, so I need to come up with another subject for my next painting.  Thinking about winter and snow. Also thinking about painting a nocturne (night scene). I have to make a decision by Friday.

We took the long way home from our granddaughter's house in Oregon and drove through Hell's Canyon. It was interesting. The cattle roam free (open range) and we had to watch out for them on the narrow roads.  We stopped on the way in Joseph, Oregon, another interesting place to visit. Lots of statues and sculptures there.

Happy Thanksgiving

I finished up my fall art classes with a fun painting of the November sunrise from my back yard.  I may add some birds to it and a bit more texture.  I am also taking a series of 4 classes in December from the same artist, Kevin McCain.   He is a good teacher and I am learning a lot.

I think this version of Hopewell Rocks (New Brunswick, Canada) is done. I'll let it dry for a while in case I decide I need to change anything else.  12" X 16" canvas panel. on my website

My old house in fall. 9" X 12".  Just a little study I made for myself.  I had difficulty with painting shadows and need to practice that more.  This was my house in New Hampshire. We are living in Idaho now, but plan on visiting family in NH next summer. We'll take a drive by of the house and see if the buyers have changed anything.

All of these paintings were done in my class. I used Winsor & Newson Artisan oil paints (water soluble).

Happy Thanksgiving to all.  We keep being asked "Why did you move to Idaho?".  Our answer is always the same "family".  We are having 18 here for Thanksgiving this week, mostly family and a few friends of family. I don't have to cook much (which is good since I can't stand on my feet too long yet). Everyone is bringing something and I'm providing tables, chairs, plates, silverware, and an appetizer.  Looking forward to it. I'll have plenty of help cleaning up too.

So I'm thankful we managed the big move this summer and I'm thankful for my wonderful husband who has been a great caregiver while I have been healing from knee replacement surgery.  I have two more sessions of physical therapy, then I'm done with that.  I am able to walk somewhat and will keep going to the gym and working out that new knee. I'm hopeful that I will be able to hike and dance again in the spring.  Healing takes time and I am a bit impatient.  Winter won't be as severe here in Idaho (as it was in NH), but we have already had frost. I'm ready for it.

Fall musings

It's a beautiful cold crisp clear day in Idaho today. My knee is slowly healing after knee replacement surgery. The stitches come out tomorrow and I have a very ugly scar. I'm going to physical therapy twice a week.  Having surgery, prescription drug negative reactions, pains and aches reminds me of my aging and also my earlier years when I was in a bad marriage and struggling with depression.

I have had little motivation to paint, but started a new painting of Hopewell Rocks, New Brunswick anyway.  I need to get help with color mixtures next week when I go back to class. As I start feeling better and get back to doing things myself, I hope I will paint more.  As it is, my wonderful husband has to drive me everywhere since I can't drive for a few more weeks.  I do try to wake up each day with positive energy, but it has been hard.

Hopewell Rocks is really interesting. The tides change on the Bay of Fundy with great force and an alarm sounds so the tourists go up the ladder before the tide comes in.  It is also possible to boat around the big rocks when the tide is in.  When we went there years ago, we were in time to walk around the rocks at low tide. You are actually walking on the ocean floor, not just a beach there.

After looking at hundreds of photos on my computer, I decided I wanted to paint a picture with people in it, something that kind of tells a story.  I had done a acrylic painting on paper of this area many years ago, but decided to try this in oil paints as I am in an oil painting class now. There are many interesting rock formations there and I could make a whole series if I felt like it.

I had done a sketch of this scene in pencil at one point, but the puppy ate a good part of it. Luckily, I had already made a photo before he chomped it. I used a projector to enlarge my original photo for my canvas. That was easier than doing a grid.

I also had a good start on a painting of my old house in NH in the fall (I'm only a little homesick as I'm enjoying our new house in Idaho).  I still need help with shadows and some details to finish this one.

I noticed that the oranges and reds in New Hampshire are much brighter than the leaf colors in Idaho, but it's still pretty here too and the sky is clear now.  We had many days during the summer with hazy, smoky skies from the wildfires in Montana and Idaho. That seems to be finished now.

I have a list of easy hikes nearby so once I can walk better, you will start seeing more photos, sketches and paintings from Idaho.  I'm looking forward to exploring my new home state.

Classwork and old paintings

Now that we have unpacked and settled down somewhat in our new Idaho home, we took a brief trip to Idaho City through the foothills outside of Boise.  I decided to try a painting in my Friday morning class with Kevin McCain.  This is water mixable oil paint on canvas board, 9" X 12". I think it's done now. At least it's done for me as I got tired of working on it.

I have been mixing colors and testing them on a paper for my next class project. I'm going to do a fall painting of my house in Manchester with the bright New England colors of fall. I've never painted an image of my house, so that should be interesting.  It is just for me. 

I have been giving away paintings to my family here. One of the desert to my daughter who moved from Mojave to Boise. Another of the horses from Mojave for the granddaughter who moved from there to Oregon (and still has some of the horses).  Another granddaughter loved my phony Van Gogh painting that I did from an internet video and my other daughter loved my sci fi type painting with multiple moons.  So now, I need to do some paintings for myself, and later on some that can possibly be sold.

View from Sharon's house in Mojave.

Gregory and his mares

sunflowers Van Gogh style

Many moons

This one was based on real scenery as seen in Valley of the Fire State Park. I just changed the colors and added some moons.


Interruption: Mac was staring at something so I got out my camera and took a picture of the squirrel on the fence who was staring right back at him. I'm not sure what he has in his mouth since we don't have acorns and oak trees by this house. The squirrels here in Idaho seem to be a little different in color from the gray squirrels in NH. Very cute though.

Rosh Hashanah 5778

This new design and others for the Jewish new year are now available on my web site. The new year of 5778 starts at sunset on September 20th.

Here is a link to my gallery with Jewish holiday designs: https://linda-feinberg.pixels.com/collections/jewish+holidays

May it be a sweet year for all.

Online classes

I signed up for wet into wet oil painting classes with Alexander Art. I learned that I don't have the patience for this technique.  I wasn't happy with any of my paintings and they take way too long to dry. The paint is excellent though as are the brushes and I will probably get some use of these items in the future.  Meanwhile, I signed up for regular oil painting classes near my new home and those start next week. I'm looking forward to the classes and meeting some new people.

Here are some of my failures from the classes. I also learned that I don't like painting from other people's photos.  I like to paint what I have seen in my travels. That way it has some meaning for me.

I was glad I had leftover canvas to experiment on so I didn't waste good materials. I just taped up some to a board. The trees lesson (above) just taught all different kinds of trees.  I did pick up a few techniques that I will use in the future.  

The mountain with clouds was on an old board that I gessoed and painted.  I couldn't get the technique right with the palette knife. I was very unhappy with that one.

The mood painting (3rd up from bottom) was kind of fun and I wouldn't mind doing something like that in the future. Again, I just taped leftover canvas onto a board to practice.

The top one I actually used a stretched canvas to see if that would help my attitude, but it didn't really.  I used the palette knife on that one too and it was a little better than the first mountain painting, perhaps because that was canvas and the other was a board. I would have to practice a lot to get it to look better.

Meanwhile I've pulled out some photos from our recent drive on Route 21 to Idaho City and also from our previous trip to Canada (Waterton in Alberta). I hope to do a better painting of one of those when my class starts next week.  I didn't feel that the online classes were a waste of my time or money as I did learn some new techniques and I have some supplies to work with in the future.  I've taken other online classes in the past and felt that they were a better match with my level of art and my patience.

On the positive side, some of my past customers found me and ordered Jewish new year images and cards.  It was nice to feel appreciated. I made this image using a photo of the glass mezuzah I made in a class last year.