Thursday Challenge is: RAIN (Rain, Clouds, Umbrella, Splashing, Water Dripping/Flowing,…).
Umbrellas in the rain at the street fair in Highland Park, New Jersey: I am working on a watercolor of an umbrellas in rain scene. Look how gray the sky is, then look at the colorful, shapely umbrellas. No wonder artists love umbrellas.
I’ve been posting a lot of pictures of my May trip to Israel. Did you know that it rarely rains in Israel outside of October – March? That’s why rain in those winter months is so important to that country. Where I live in New Jersey, we take rain for granted. It’s supposed to rain today.
In late May when I visited Israel, I had the opportunity to visit two museums: Tel Aviv Museum and Israel Museum. Enjoyed both. This post is a review of those visits, and then some questions for readers about museum visiting.
Tel Aviv Museum
If you like 20th century art and/or you are interested in the history of the modern State of Israel, the Tel Aviv Museum has collections of artists from the pre-State era to contemporary times. When we (I went with Hannah Katsman) visited in late May, there was an exhibit of paintings by Angelica Schatz, the estranged daughter of the founder of the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design. She had a difficult life; she was Boris Schatz’s daughter by his first marriage, and his first wife took Angelica with her when she left Boris for another man. Her paintings were influenced by European painters of the 20th century. Angelica moved to Israel after her father’s death; she never really knew him.
A huge benefit of the Tel Aviv Museum that the Israel Museum did not have was the TA Museum has free wifi. So I was able to read about the exhibits online as we viewed them. Free wifi is a big plus for a museum.
Israel Museum
The Israel Museum is located in the center of west Jerusalem. It has more variety than the Tel Aviv Museum, and it is close to the Knesset (the Israeli Parliament building).
If you like studying prehistoric times or the times of the Tanach (the Jewish bible – stands for Torah – Neviim (Prophets) – Ketuvim (Writings)), the Israel Museum has a lot to offer. I remember seeing the bones of a woman from – how long ago? There are also exhibits of Judaica from around the world, such as the sukkah from Cochin, Southern India that was dis-assembled and re-assembled in the museum. There was a special exhibit about Herod, but as there was so much to see in the regular exhibits, we felt no need to wait online for the special exhibit. As I am using the Israel Museum website to research this post, I will add it could use some better details of regular exhibits and better navigation. It took me a while to find information about the sukkah from Cochin.
hallway inside the Israel Museum
The previous time I had been in the Israel Museum was in 1980 – the museum has grown a lot since then. What I remembered from 1980 was the sculpture garden. Unfortunately, the link on the website for the Billy Rose Art Garden gives an error. A big #Fail on this museum website! I had done some drawings in 1980 in the sculpture garden, in particular one of a woman fallen (Isha Nofelet). I can’t find anything about this sculpture in the excellent Wikimedia page on the garden. Here is one photo of part of the sculpture garden:
I would probably review the exhibits on the museum’s website the night before, to know what to expect, to make better choices and to get an idea about the details of the exhibits. When you are going to a museum with another person, each of you has your own ideas about what is worth seeing. If you know in advance you want to see or linger in a certain collection, it’s easier to say so if you have more information about the exhibits.
Tell us your experience with museums.
What is your favorite museum? Best features? Why would you recommend a museum?
View of Galil farms from top of Mount Meiron Israel, May 2013
I photographed this view while on the Peak Trail on Mount Meiron (or is it Mount Meron). You drive up the mountain, park close to the top then hike around the mountain.
The Jerusalem Chords Bridge was completed in 2008. It is part of the city’s new lightrail system, located close to the central bus station. The bridge is a modern take on the ancient David’s harp. The bridge was designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava.
The photo above is near the central bus station in Jerusalem, taken in May 2013. My cousin told me there will soon be a fast train from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem that will stop near here – but unfortunately, it won’t go through Beit Shemesh, where my cousins live (they do have a slow train from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem that stops in Beit Shemesh). I have more photos of the light rail and section of Jerusalem near the central bus station as well as the Ben Yehudah mall. Hope to show you in an upcoming post.
Thursday Challenge is HARD (Stone, Steel, Cement, Glass, Durable, Difficult,…).
Boy talks to Fisherman by Raritan River, watercolor painting by Leora Wenger 2013
I finished this watercolor painting of a boy talking to a man fishing at the Raritan River two weeks ago at the same time I completed the Highland Park Traffic watercolor. This watercolor belongs to a series of art projects that I have done on this theme. I’m going to replicate some older art river/fisherman projects on this post (so you don’t have to click back to look).
Here’s the drawing of the boy and man:
And here’s a colored pencil sketch of the scene:
Finally, this is a Raritan River watercolor I did last summer, of a similar scene by the Raritan River:
I have some ideas for a next watercolor: maybe a combination of an Israeli flag with jacaranda blooms, mabye an illustration of a therapists since I am working on websites for therapists, maybe another Highland Park scene – we shall see.
Thursday Challenge is “ABUNDANCE” (Wealth, Food, People, Love, Lots of Anything,…). Maybe this photo of my daughter holding coins should be called Small Change. But my feeling is that my family makes me feel like I have abundance. I took this photo for a website that I am working on for a new client. We picked a different money photo to use for the site.
Next Week: HARD (Stone, Steel, Cement, Glass, Durable, Difficult,…)
Fireworks on July 7, 2013 in Donaldson Park, Highland Park, New Jersey
Blog Awards Received
I want to acknowledge two blog awards received from two excellent bloggers. First, I was pleased to receive the Liebster Blog Award from the talented writer Jeri Walker-Bickett:
I am going to cheat a little and pass on the rules as they are posted on the Liebster Award (instead of doing both) to a few favorite bloggers.
About the Liebster Blog Award
Blogging can be a very solitary life, and sometimes encouragement is needed. The Liebster Blog Award is just that, a token of encouragement from a fellow blogger. A world without rules can lead to chaos, and the blogging world is no exception. In accepting this award, a blogger will follow the following rules. It is a way to “Pay It Forward” to other bloggers.
Answers to Jeri’s questions:
Who is your favorite author? My favorite author choice varies, but I will go with Aharon Appelfeld.
What is the strangest book you’ve ever read and liked?Maus by Art Spiegelman
Favorite social media site? You can circle me (Leora Wenger) on Google+.
Which blog do you read most often? I am afraid to answer this question for fear of offending anyone, but the three blogs that show up in my Frequent folder are: RamblingWoods, Jewaicious and Hannah’s Nook.
What would your last meal be? A depressing question: the last meal I was able to serve my father was chicken soup. So I’ll ask for chicken soup.
What is your biggest pet peeve? vague questions like this one
Where did your best vacation you ever take place? In 2008 we (my husband, my three children and I) visited Kfar Blum in northern Israel.
Who do you consider the greatest TV character? Archie Bunker
What one thing would you most like to change about yourself? self-doubt
If you have been nominated below for The Liebster Award and you choose to accept it, write a blog post about the Liebster award in which you:
Thank the person who nominated you, and post a link on your blog.
Display the award on your blog by including it in your post and/or displaying it using a widget.
Answer the 11 questions about yourself, provided to you by the person who nominated you.
Give 11 random facts about yourself. (Note: I skipped this; long enough already!)
Nominate 5 to 11 blogs that you feel deserve the award; who have less than 1000 followers.
Create a new list of questions for the nominated bloggers to answer.
List these rules in your post. (You can copy and paste them from here.)
Once you have written your post and published it, you then have to inform the bloggers whom you’ve nominated for the Liebster award. Remember to give a link for them to your post so that they can learn about it (they might not have ever heard of it!)
Reciprocation by the nominees is entirely optional.
11 questions for those who accept Liebster Blog Award from me
Who is your favorite author?
What is your favorite blog topic?
Favorite social media site?
Topic of your most popular blog post ever?
Where did your best vacation take place?
What is your strongest childhood memory?
What is your favorite online recipe?
Which topics do you talk about in person but avoid discussing online?
What is your favorite film/movie?
What is your favorite fairy tale?
Name a historical leader that influenced you.
And here are my nominations for the Liebster Blog Award:
(Some of those listed below have commented on my blog for years – a huge thank you for that).
I started this watercolor Highland Park Traffic several months ago when we first started our artist group. After a month or two of getting frustrated with the details, I put it aside. I finally decided to finish it yesterday and ignore the details that weren’t clear. So if it looks like the cars are swimming in a river of purple watercolor paint, so be it.
The scene is Raritan Avenue in Highland Park, New Jersey. And often it does look there is a sea of cars swimming on the avenue. Our little borough’s downtown has an old-fashioned look. There are also numerous senior citizens that live in the town. When I took a photo several months ago, I unknowingly captured an older woman with a cane. She reminded me a bit of my father, who walked with a cane in the last months of his life.
I am trying to decide whether to continue with watercolor or delve back into the more time-consuming oil painting. With oils, it is easier to rework parts of the painting. With watercolor, other than careful lifting, it is quite difficult to make changes once one has laid down the heavier colors. And unless you use gouache, there is no white paint, so it is important to leave the whitest whites blank paper.
Question for you: what pops out at you in this painting?
Not far from the home of my friend in Maalot Israel is a little forest. One can see flowers such as the blue globe thistle, Echinops adenocaulos – קיפודן מצוי.
Ma’alot is a city built on hill. My friend’s home has lovely views from her back deck and from the nearby forest. You can see there are lots of trees in the valleys and neighboring hills and villages on the far hills.
I have no idea what species is this big bird on a wire (a crow?). But he was bigger than the pigeons, sparrows or doves that I saw. All the birds I saw on my Israel trip were brown, gray or black – none were brightly colorful. I did look up a few birds from the Hula Valley and found some colorful ones shown.
In addition to featuring this buttercup on this Ma’alot Israel Flowers post, I saw buttercups on Mount Meron (Ranunculaceae, נורית).
I believe these large white bouquet-like flowers are Queen Anne’s Lace.
From the deck of my friend’s house, I could see sparrows, mourning doves and pigeons. I saw what may have been swallows flying above, but I wasn’t quite sure. Do you see the little sparrow in the large palm tree? I told my friend her back deck would be a lovely spot for birdwatching, and she offered for me to stay a few months to make my observations. Maybe one day I will take her up on her offer.
Here is a mourning dove hanging out on some sort of gadget. I don’t see these often in New Jersey, but I have seen them a fair amount in Israel. On my trip to Israel five years ago, I believe I incorrectly identified this bird as a pigeon (it’s a mourning dove). I’ve learned a bit about birds since then – I hope to have the opportunity to learn more.
