Sketches of art, watercolor, photos, recipes, books, interviews, Jewish topics and Highland Park, New Jersey

I did a sketch/drawing last Sunday of the boy talking to the fisherman. You can see the first sketch and learn a little about the background of the subject matter: a colored pencil drawing. I keep thinking I should perhaps go back to oils to get more control, especially since I am working on human beings. But oils take a lot of preparation time just to get started painting. Maybe I will try ink and some watercolor. Or some other combination.

Meanwhile, thank you for reading/looking/commenting. If you like, you can take a stab at this question: What the fisherman is thinking?

It’s been a while since I posted a bit of art. I took a photo of a boy talking to a man fishing by the edge of the Raritan River. I decided it would make a nice subject for a painting, so I did this sketch with colored pencils. It has a similar feel to the watercolor I did last summer of two men relaxing by the Raritan River (presumably, they had been fishing at the Raritan River before relaxing).

When you look at the boy and man, what do you imagine is the relationship between the two? I’ll let you in on the setting: it was taken at the community Lag B’omer event (the 33rd day of the Omer, a day of celebration in the Jewish calendar) in Donaldson Park. I’m assuming the boy was there because of Lag B’omer, and the man just happened to be fishing nearby.

I also started working on an “urbanscape” – a painting of “downtown” Highland Park, basically a piece of Raritan Avenue. I’m not terribly happy with the composition, so I may put it aside or work on one piece. I have three busy weeks ahead, so I will have little time to do art for a while.

Happy Mother’s Day to those who celebrate. Happy Shavuot to those who celebrate. Enjoy a beautiful spring day, if you are lucky enough as we are in New Jersey to have a gorgeous one outside.

We are coming up on the Jewish holiday of Shavuot (starts next Tuesday night), and it is customary to bring flowers into one’s home. My azaleas are in bloom this week; who knows how they will appear next Tuesday when I am looking for blossoms to choose? My tulips have come and gone already.

On My Blog

- Notes on Newark and Declining Cities
- Notes on Lecture on Conflict between Jews and Muslims in France

Elsewhere in the Blogosphere

• A post on Hannah’s Nook (with a revamped header – do you like the header?) on The Social Palace: an industrial and communal residential complex in Northern France based on 19th century utopian socialist ideals.
• Susan Cooper produces wonderful podcasts of Spring in Her Backyard.
• Jeri shares a post on Writing Workshops: The Necessity of Critique. Speaking of workshops, our artist group that got started over a month ago has been meeting regularly.
• Lorri reviews a book Where She Came From: A Daughter’s Search for Her Mother’s History.
• On Websites for Small Biz I posted Benefits of a Business Blog for Small Biz. This post is in part preparation for my upcoming talk at the Highland Park Public Library on blogging on June 18th.

Any guesses what this is? The water is dripping/pouring down from the kitchen faucet. I have a glass bowl on top of an apron that is spread over my kitchen sink. I decided to take pictures of water. Good way to waste time when you have other important things to do that you would rather neglect and play with camera and water.

Decided to call this post “wet water” – but isn’t water always wet.

Thursday Challenge theme is WET (Beverages, Rain, Swimming Pool, Fountain, Puddle, Water,…).

Next Week: TREES (Leaves, Branches, Bark, Roots, Birds, Squirrels,…)

The eastern red bud tree on my block is in bloom. More about the purplish red blossoms of Eastern red bud trees are in this post.

I’ve been trying to capture a robin with my camera for the last month. I had a work meeting at Rutgers on the engineering campus last week, and amid all the concrete, grass and brick I found this robin.

This big yellow tulip has an insect inside. Sort of like two for one for Nature Notes.

Today my daughter and I found a plant nursery called Baker’s in Monroe Township, New Jersey. The people were nice, the prices were reasonable, and the plants were in good condition. We bought some pink begonias, some colorful snapdragons, a plant with variegated pink leaves that my daughter picked out, a pot of bright pink gerber daisies (again, her choice) that I hope will survive the summer on our porch, and one parsley plant that will probably get eaten by some animal that is not human. Have you planted anything in your garden this spring?

For more Nature Notes:

I love walking by my neighbor’s lilac bush at this time of year. I have fond childhood memories of sniffing lilac flowers at a bush near my home. Do you have any memories of lilacs?

This week’s Thursday Challenge theme is: NATURE (Rivers, Mountains, Rocks, Trees, Sky,…).

Next week is WET (Beverages, Rain, Swimming Pool, Fountain, Puddle, Water,…).