art

Nature Notes: Why Draw a Bird?

bird drawing
If you have a camera, why would you want to draw or paint a bird? With a camera you can capture all the details you need. Why learn how to draw?

When you are drawing, you concentrate on every detail of what you are looking at – the colors, the texture, the shapes, the depth, the values. And when I drew the bird (it’s going to be a cardinal – wait until I apply the paint), I learned about how the head, body, tail and feet are shaped. And I had to think about how to present the textures of the feathers.

Look forward to showing you the finished painting. Oh, and another reason to draw is your daughter (or son) might then take out her own piece of paper and draw her own bird. I just might show you the bird that my daughter drew as well.

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Nature Notes

Painting by My Daughter

painting by 7 year old girl
My daughter did this painting about two weeks ago, after our winter vacation.
What do you see?

Note: When I photographed it, the painting was curled; my daughter didn’t paint it with the curl at the top. Maybe I could have taped it down before photographing it. Next time.

Favorite Images of 2009

strawberry and red juice sycamore trunk Jill Caporlingua and my daughter carnations bouquet on black background Girl with Tulip in Watercolor pink umbrella against gray wall
Highland Park in Sepia  daughter in sepia with teal doing ballet

girls in pink doing ballet  
orange and yellow tulip in my garden, April 2009 Pink Azalea Bud Opening in April 2009 pottery
Sunset over the bay at Sandy Hook, New Jersey  

Yellow Tulip on Red Azaleas, May 2009  pink snapdragon
parsley beets noodles orange purple iris
flags U.S. Israel peaches at Highland Park Farmer's Market 

butterfly bouquet at Highland Park Farmer's Market Witch of Rapunzel in Metuchen
  pointing up a tree in autumn
ghoul gull Jacob Ladder
hamantaschen watercolor beach watercolor ink pumpkin watercolor sledding  lighting an oil wick on Chanukah

I would greatly enjoying reading which of these images strikes your fancy. Thank you!

Upcoming on Thursday: A Selection of Nature Notes Posts from around the Nature-Loving
Blogosphere. Nature Notes is a meme brought to us by Rambling Woods. Here are some of her favorite images of 2009.

Cow – Free Associate

cow
What do you think of when you see a cow? Or a drawing of a cow? Much thanks to Peter Paul Rubens for his help with the drawing.

My original reason for drawing a cow was a I had a chance to read the parsha (Torah portion) last week that was read today in the synagogue. My present reason for drawing the cow is in honor of Louis LaVache, who left me a nice comment on the previous post.

Your turn.

Stars and Stripes Watercolor

Detail of Parshat Vayeshev Painting 2007
Detail of Parshat Vayeshev Painting 2007

With a name like stars and stripes in the title of this post, perhaps you were expecting something else? What do you see in this painting? It is a detail of the invitation we used for my older son’s bar-mitzvah in 2007.

If you don’t know the story (or can only guess the stripes), here’s a link to the parsha.

What’s in the Drawing?

ship
Can you tell me what is going on in my daughter’s drawing? I will post the text above the drawing by Wednesday in a different post. Enjoy chatting about the drawing.

Sheep: Free Associate

sheep
Free Association Game: What do you think of when you read sheep? Or when you look at the above image? (or both)

Please leave your thoughts, ideas, associations in the comments. As always, vulgar or obscene comments will be deleted. But the truth is, I’ve never gotten any vulgar or obscene comments…

Not necessary to play the game, but if you are curious, read the difference between a lamb and a sheep.

Jacob’s Ladder Watercolor

ladder_jacob

“behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it”– Genesis 28:12

How does one depict an angel? How does one depict the earth, the sky, the ladder? I skipped putting the main subject, Jacob, in the painting. Maybe next time. If I were to depict Jacob, he might look like this man.

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