Raritan Avenue Photo + Drawing

Raritan Avenue, Highland Park - photo on top of drawing
A continuation of my Raritan Avenue studies – here is a photo on top of a drawing. I worked on adding watercolor to the drawing today. I plan to post the watercolor in the middle of this week.

raritan avenue in black and white
This is same as above, converted to black and white. One can see the lamppost in the drawing doesn’t match with the photo – no matter, it matches in the “finished” watercolor.

Raritan Avenue Watercolor Sketch

Raritan Avenue in Highland Park, New Jersey, watercolor
Raritan Avenue in Highland Park, New Jersey, watercolor on paper by Leora Wenger, 2011

Last night I did this sketch of a block of Raritan Avenue in Highland Park, New Jersey. Can anyone who has been to Highland Park guess which block it is (between which street and which street)? I hope to do more – this one has a lot of grays and blues, and I used some yellow straight from the tube which seems to pop. That’s OK for a sketch, but I want to work on more details.

If you have been to Route 27 also known as Raritan Avenue, you will know there are usually tons of cars. I used photos from a few hours before the 2009 Memorial Day Parade, when the street was clear of cars.

Lemon Tree by Julie

Lemon Tree by Julie Zagdanski
My friend Julie sent me her painting of her lemon tree to post on this blog. Julie, who lives in Hashmonaim, Israel, writes: “All of the fruit on our three citrus fruit trees are ripe. We also have an orange and a pomelo tree.”

tree in Julie's backyard
This is one of the trees in her backyard. I took this photo in June 2008, when we visited her family.

See more of Julie’s art and photos on her new blog, Israel Inspirations Art.

All the Lonely Radishes

radish staring out the window
There is a concept called “anthropomorphism” – one attributes human characteristics to a inanimate object. Such as a radish.

So I am imagining this radish staring out the window, wondering when other little radishes will pop up in my garden. Perhaps you have your own thoughts or feelings for the radish by the window.

For more photographs with red, visit Ruby Tuesday:
Ruby Tuesday

Review with Watercolor Detail

detail from radish kale watercolor painting
Detail from Radish Kale, watercolor on paper, 2011 by Leora Wenger

On My Blog

radish watercolor painting sparrow pierre goes over waterfall
Purim 2011 chagall window painting coleslaw sauerkraut
Radish Kale Parsley Almonds

Elsewhere in the Blogosphere

  • This week Jill and I went to see Ilana Shafir at Rutgers. You can visit her beautiful website and read my review from when she spoke in Highland Park two years ago. Her daughter, artist Leah Zahavi, lives in Highland Park.
  • My friend Debbie wrote about the Rambam movie we saw last week. I wasn’t as enthusiastic as she was about the movie, but I thought the story was well-written (it was written by Robert Avrech of Seraphic Secret). Maybe I was a bit judgmental of the graphics; I would have liked a Shakespeare-like presentation instead of the stiff drawings.
  • Mason Resnick put a pasta recipe and photo on his wife Lori’s blog. Today I went to visit the Asian market in Edison he mentions, H-Mart; I bought some varied mushrooms and other produce. Maybe next time I’ll bring my camera and take a few photos for a blog post. I had a good laugh when I met another friend there, also there for the first time.
  • Rayna Eliana wrote a review of The Violin of Auschwitz.
  • Felisol talked about her illness, ME (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis). She related her difficulty with (and expense of) some alternative therapies. And then in the comments she speaks of how T’ai Chi, Qigong and Feldenkrais have been helpful, as have been her friends, family and prayers.
  • If you haven’t seen it yet, visit the Purim song by Maccabeats on Mrs. S.’s post. Esther is adorable, and the astronauts are cute, too. Catch the calendar scene.
  • I enjoyed Ilana-Davita’s creative question: Choose eight records you would take with you on a desert island.
  • Robin’s anemones are stunning.

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