Finally, I am getting back the main reason for this blog: posting sketches of my art. Above is a scene from a neighborhood of Jerusalem called Yemin Moshe – it overlooks the Old City. I purposely chose a limited palette for this watercolor. The composition and the drawing are about where I want them to be. I will probably return to this subject and depict it again. I left the areas white that I might in the future make into a very pale gold.
Yemin Moshe was built at time before cars. There are now places to park behind the houses, but one mostly walks up and down stairs to tour the neighborhood. We visited Yemin Moshe in 2016. It is quite picturesque (and pricey as well).
When I post these watercolors, I think of the first words of the famous Naomi Shemer song:
“The mountain air is clear as wine
And the scent of pines …”
Looking forward to doing more watercolors, landscapes or portraits. Have you ever painted or drawn? What are some of your favorite subjects to depict?
Purim is on Sunday. It is one of my favorite Jewish holidays – it gives me the opportunity to be creative. The other details one needs in order to get those creative juices flowing: time, energy, inspiration.
Every year for Purim since my children were little, we have decorated oatmeal containers, filled them with treats to eat, and given them out to our friends. The giving out of food gifts is specific to Purim – it is call Shaloch Manot (or Mishloach Manot) – literally, sending of gifts. This is the first year none of my children are available to help me – the two eldest are no longer living at home, and my daughter started high school with a rigorous academic schedule, a school play and a Shakespeare mini-competition. So I decided to work on the containers on my own.
Here they are so far:
I did not use any photographs as I have in the past. I covered each one with my Purim wrapping paper. I did use my Esther points at Haman watercolor illustration that I made last summer. I decided it needed something green. So last Sunday while my daughter was working on her computer on an assignment that she did not like and wanted my company, I decided to work on my computer and create a mask with some green. That’s the mask on top of this post.
Explanation of the mask: part of Purim is dressing up. It’s not at all a requirement, but many children and some adults do enjoy this part. Purim also has themes of “hidden” – there is a custom of eating kreplach, for example, which is basically a wonton (and a wonton has “hidden” meat). Esther had to hid her identity in order to save the Jewish people. When one wears a mask, one is hiding a bit of oneself.
Back in July we attended a performance in Rutgers Gardens. Well, maybe performance isn’t the right word. We were told as we entered the woods on the edge of the gardens that we were Alice. Then we met characters such as the Cheshire Cat and the Red Queen. This table displayed the tea party. I really liked the set up. What do you see? I see a tablecloth that looks like a chess board. And teacups. Thank you to reThink Theatrical for a fun evening.
The Dormouse and Mad Hatter were right next to us. In the photo you can see the March Hare approaching. The large green chairs are part of the regular Rutgers Gardens display.
A friend posted her colorful teapot on Facebook this summer. I was inspired. I had a busy summer of work and family events, but while riding as a passenger in a car on the way to see my daughter perform in sleepaway camp as the Wicked Witch of the West, I produced this teapot sketch:
A few weeks later while in a hotel room I did a colored pencil sketch of the teapot:
I am a fan of fanciful teacups and teapots – to sign up to read more of these posts by email, please click on the teacup in the sidebar of this blog (should be down at the bottom if you are reading on a phone).
Thank you for visiting – I plan more sketches in the future!
I started this sketch of Esther pointing out Haman to Ahashverosh of Persia way back in December. It is based on an old painting – if you want, you can look it up. I liked the idea of the boldness of Esther. Is she someone to emulate? Can we find evil and point it out? Even if it means risking out lives?
The story of Esther is told at the Jewish holiday of Purim, which usually falls in the early spring. So you would think December would be enough time to finish a sketch? Mind you, this isn’t a full-scale oil painting, although I think portraiture (especially three people) is much easier in the medium. Well, December rolled in January and February, when I went with my daughter to Israel. Then I got offered some great website work when I returned … I am still working quite a few hours a week for a school at Rutgers University. Fast forward … daughter went to camp, husband took son to college orientation in Maryland. I’m home alone … what do I pull out, but this painting! Started it again. The first time Haman turned out like a blob of black. I intended to give him a three-cornered hat instead of the Dutch feathered cap in the painting I used as a model. Maybe next time.
I will now spend a bit of time poking around for inspiration for a new watercolor sketch. Suggestions welcome.
Portrait of a Young Man, watercolor on paper by Leora Wenger 2015 January
More in my “young man watercolor portrait” series – I have to enjoy my sons while they are home! One son is “visiting” from college, and he is applying for internships, so who knows when he will get a yes and off he will go again. My other son is applying to college and programs in Israel, so he, too, won’t be living at home forever. When they sit at the dining room table looking at a laptop or a tablet, at least they don’t mind too much if I paint them.
Hope to post some bird pics next week. Coming up soon is Shabbat Shira. Maybe I will even write a new post on Why does one feed the birds for that parsha? (and of course, if one starts feeding them, one should continue, right?). I noted on that old post from 2010 how to attach the suction cups to the window; one came down yesterday, and I had no luck. Maybe I’ll bring it inside and follow the instructions (soak in hot water, dry, rub with them, then attach).
Meanwhile, would love to hear any reaction to my watercolor.
I did two more watercolor portraits last week. The emphasis here is on form and color – I’ve not spent too much energy on achieving likeness. I’m hoping that I will continue to do a few more portraits, but it’s hard to get ones that are satisfying. I did a few drawing portraits, but nothing I liked enough to share.
I did the bottom one first, then I painted the top watercolor portrait. These paintings have more color than the previous ones I painted.
I did several watercolor paintings of this exercise: ” “Use a graphite pencil to draw a few lines … do notice the lighting hitting the face… Take your watercolor and add a few large shapes. Let dry; add other colors on top…play with different color and texture combinations.” I posted three of them in reverse order of when I did them (I did the bottom one first). Watercolor exercise is from the book One Watercolor a Day.
All of the remaining three portraits on this page are different depictions of my husband. The top one is not – he was a visiting friend. Our friend liked his portrait so much that he asked if he could keep it. So I scanned it into the computer and then presented the watercolor to him. Wonder if he will hang it in his office?
This is the first one I did – it has the least amount of color. Plus, I realized the exercise was really a portrait, and I had done the whole figure. What I really want to focus on here, in this bottom watercolor, is the book. Do you see the splatters of red paint along the spine? This book is a chumash (one of the five books of the Torah). It happens to be part of an edition of volumes that was presented to my father z”l as part of being honored by the Highland Park Kollel. That gives it special meaning, and I am happy to see my husband using that volume as part of his weekly learning.
I think I will do more watercolor portraits. By the way, if you come visit on a Sunday or weekday and start to read a book or your laptop, I might take out my paints, pencils and watercolor paper and start to paint you. You have been warned.
A continuation of my posts of watercolor exercises from One Watercolor a Day, here is a watercolor inspired by American Arts and Crafts patterns. Quick summary of the textiles pattern watercolor exercise (the book has more details and suggestions): “Choose a few elements of a textile print. Create small thumbnails, mixing up elements to come up with something new. ”
I enjoyed this exercise, though it did take a fair amount of thinking and time. Copying great art works is always a valuable exercise in general: one sees more carefully when one has to draw, paint or design a copy or similar image. I went to the library and took out some books. The first batch had Tiffany glass, but the exercise said textiles, so I went to the library again. This time I actually did find a book called American Arts and Crafts Textiles (other suggestions were Japanese or Peruvian textile inspirations, for example).
Here is the one of the six above that I liked best, mostly because it made best use of the medium of watercolor (note the background):
The design is part of a 1911 Richardson Silk Company pillow kit.
When you think of textiles and patterns, what comes to mind? Have you ever seen Arts and Crafts designs and found them inspiring?
Finally, I have a little more time for watercolor painting. This is exercise 24 in One Watercolor a Day: Playing with Patterns – “Paint an element in one color and its different values…Create a square, then tile it…do a simple repeat.”
I created the initial illustration in Illustrator. Then I flipped the pattern both vertically and horizontally, so you have four versions of the tile. Next I printed the graphic on watercolor paper. I mixed various shades and tints of purple watercolor on my palette. I painted using thin watercolor brushes. Once the painting was dry, I scanned it back into my computer and cropped it with Photoshop.
For fun, using Photoshop, I decided to add a little more color (changed a bit of the purple to pale blue). I also added something that looks like a watercolor effect. It might be fun to reprint my Chanukah Pattern Watercolor in black and white and then paint it in multitude of colors. Or perhaps just a palette of blue, red and yellow. Both look a little messy to me, but they are just exercises.
What do you see in the above illustration? Does this look like a flat design armchair? (I looked up armchair – it is truly one word). Does it remind you of any particular profession? What does it evoke?
I have been redoing my website, the main part of my site in which I sell my web services such as WordPress training and small business web development. I decided a little illustration would be nice for my new Services page. Of course, the illustration itself is the hard part … I already fussed a lot over the illustration for the home page.
So one idea is to have little balloons or circles with flat design illustrations that represent some of the businesses or organizations for which I do websites. Maybe one might look like this:
Or like this:
I may just toss the circles all together. Meanwhile, I need to come up with a few more flat icons / illustrations to put together in one illustration. Ideas: pen and ink, camera, piles of books, light source from a lamp …
Anyway, that’s what I’ve been fussing over today (in between helping various clients with various issues). The main question for you is: Does the arm chair illustration remind you of any particular profession? Or can you think of any professions I might illustrate with a simple flat design of some sort?
