Happy Summer!

It’s the longest day of the year, and the first day of summer. Time to break out our sandals. Here’s loose sketch of my green Teva’s on our red and green rug.

Rooster in New Orleans

In New Orleans near where our son lives, there is a rooster who makes it his job to wake up the neighborhood, often getting loose and patrolling the streets to make sure everyone can hear him. Here is my photo of him, and a drawing using watercolor pencils.

In New Orleans

We are in New Orleans visiting our son Andrew, daughter-in-law Eva and year-old granddaughter Maggie. They moved from Brooklyn to New Orleans in April. Here’s a quick sketch at a nearby cafe. And Maggie’s solution to beating the 90 degree heat is to sit in her kiddie pool, drinking smoothies.

Where is this?

Our friend Keith said, “I know just where it is. It’s the coastline of Norway with the mountains behind. The red is the people and towns just barely hanging on at the edge of the sea.”

As I paint, I imagine looking across the lakes of Vermont and New Hampshire where we vacation every summer.

What do you see?

A Favorite Cafe

Sketching on location rarely produces great art, but it’s a fun way to be in the moment and really tune into your surroundings. I have a small sketching kit so I can “grab and go.” I love cafes like L’Aroma in West Newton. Last week I visited a wonderful cafe/bakery called Flour and spent a lovely hour munching and sketching.

Lemon

Painting a single object like a lemon is not as easy as it looks. Getting the highlight when the sun hits, and the curve, and the shadow side take practice. Luckily, with acrylics, you can make mistakes and change things. I like the background, which looks like copper, but is actually the product of several different colors on top of each other. The whole little painting, actually, is on top of another painting that didn’t work.

Community Garden

In the South End of Boston last week, I saw this half block community garden in the midst of an expensive gentrified neighborhood. There was a sign on the gate telling how neighbors could sign up for a plot. I took a quick photo on my phone, went into a coffee shop and sketched it.

Cyclamen

People say to me, “Isn’t watercolor the hardest medium? Acrylics and oil are so much more forgiving.“ My response was always that for me watercolor was like being an only child. It’s all I’ve ever known, and so I it feels normal to me. But as I’m learning to paint with acrylics, I’m starting to see what people mean. It’s crazy how with acrylics you can change things over and over. This little painting went through many stages.

The Baby Carriage

A black and white postcard with this photo caught my eye. I loved it, so I translated it into paint, using just two colors, French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna. Together they make varied shades of gray and beige.

Finally Spring

Spring, belatedly, has arrived in New England. On Tuesday, my friend Betsy invited a couple of us over to paint. This bouquet of flowers were picked fresh from her garden.

Matted original 11″ x 14″ available for $95.

Grapes in Red & Green

These Muscat grapes are a delicate pale color. It’s so much easier with acrylics to paint a dramatic background, so I tried it here with red and green. Red is the opposite for green, which makes it more exciting; a similar background, green on green, is more restful. I prefer the red; which one do you like better? The drip was an accident, but I like it.

Walking for Hunger

For the last 39 years, on the first Sunday in May I have gone on the Walk for Hunger. The money raised from sponsors like you benefits food pantries and soup kitchens across Massachusetts, and the 1 in 10 residents here who sometimes go hungry. Here is a sketch I did of the Walk. If you would like to sponsor me, click here, and thank you!

My sketch for the 50th Walk for Hunger, and my 38th Walk.

Peonies II

The brushstrokes in acrylic (which has the consistency of toothpaste, though you can thin it with water) are much more textural than watercolor. The main difference from watercolor is that with acrylics (or oils) you can paint light colors on top of dark, and add white even at the end, which makes it much more forgiving. In watercolor, white is the white of the paper, and you can’t paint, for instance, yellow on top of dark blue, because the medium is transparent.

Spiritual Diversity

We have been in Chapel Hill for Easter, where spring is in full bloom. This painting celebrates two years since our daughter Kate (Rademacher) published Following the Red Bird, a memoir about her faith journey. We raised our three kids Unitarian, a non-dogmatic faith which honors all world religions. In the last dozen years, my husband Bruce has become Catholic,  Andrew is Christian (attending African-American churches where he plays gospel piano and organ), Kate has become Episcopalian, and Christopher and I are still Unitarian. Did I mention our son-in-law practices and teaches Tibetan Buddhism?

A new medium!

I took a terrific workshop this weekend with Lisa Daria Kennedy, who (having survived cancer as a young adult) resolved to create one painting every day — and she’s done it for 10 years straight. I have only ever painted in watercolor and she teaches acrylics — also a water-based medium, but quick drying and similar to oil in appearance. Learning something new is exciting and frustrating. Here is one of the paintings I made in the workshop, of peonies.

 

Definition of Success

Isn’t this one of life’s great truths?

Winston Churchill, who was a serious amateur painter, may have been referring to watercolors. Prince Charles is also a watercolorist, and has published two books on the subject. In England, “watercolour” is a very popular pastime.

Remembering Paris II

On our trip to Paris in 2011, we stayed on Ile Saint Louis, an island in the middle of the Seine. I sat in the park at the end of the island and made this sketch using a pencil and watercolors. Sketching creates more long-term memories than snapping a photo, and I can still remember that day and the bench I sat on.

Starbucks Customers

Watercolor pencils, which “melt” when water is applied, were used for this sketch. I love drawing people, and it makes me sad how many artists are afraid to include them, and instead create paintings which are depopulated. But faces are challenging — and you can see that most of these people are drawn from the back, and the cashier facing forward doesn’t have facial features.

Spring to Greens

It’s officially spring now, so it’s time for every painter to start practicing a variety of greens. If you look outside on a summer day, and the lawn, bushes and trees are all green, where do you start? Here are some of my green mixes — some from blue and yellow, some start with green and add yellow, a touch of red —  plus a few fun figures.

Crow

“The Genius of Birds” by Jennifer Ackerman describes recent research showing how much more intelligent birds are than the negative connotation “bird brain” suggests. Crows are particularly smart, and can make and use basic tools.

Last Visit to Brooklyn

Our son Andrew, his wife Eva and baby Maggie are moving in two weeks from New York to New Orleans, so this is my last chance to visit them in this vibrant city. While Eva is in New Orleans interviewing for teaching jobs, I came to help out. Here’s a sketch of a wonderful local coffee shop, and a photo of Maggie at 11 months.

Woodpecker & Hawk

Flickers are one of our biggest species of woodpeckers. They are beautiful with ornate plumage. My painting is inspired by a photo in the Audubon magazine.

I took this photo of the Cooper’s Hawk who showed up at our bird feeder yesterday, looking for lunch! Needless to say, its lunch flew away.

Staying Green All Winter

Houseplants are so wonderful. They add oxygen and remove CO2 and pollution from the air. They are an oasis of green on the grayest indoor days. This one, on a shelf in front of our window, has an interesting thread hanging down which made a fun sketch.

 

Sketching at Meetings

Sketching at meetings is a good way to stay “present.” It’s counter-intuitive, but instead of daydreaming about the past or future, it’s a way to notice what is right in front of you, while also listening. All you need is a scrap of paper and a pencil.

Last weekend I was at a restorative justice training, and I did these sketches of some of my fellow participants.

A Day in the Life …

This month is the three year anniversary of my double knee replacement. It has paid off wonderfully, I am pain-free, and most days I meet my 7,000 step Fitbit goal. At the time, though, it was an act of faith, and I thank God for modern medicine and the wonderful men and women who provide it.

Here’s my “Day in Rehab” I created three years ago, with a set of pens someone had brought me.  If you can pinch it open, you will see the PT stands for “Pain and Torture,” and OT for “Occasional Torture.”

 

Soft and Hard Edges

The secret of watercolor’s special effects is that water attracts water. If you put some paint into a dry area, it will stay put. If you add it to an area you have previously wetted with plain water or another color, it will bleed and spread. You can see examples in this abstract.

Amaryllis

The amaryllis bulb we bought before Christmas is now in full bloom! A delicious thing to paint on a January day.

I plan to offer some originals for sale this year. Today’s painting is 9″ x 12″, and the original is available for $100 by contacting me at lynnholbein@gmail.com.