Please pass it on....

Please feel free to email a link to my blog to anyone you know that might be interested in the Israel Art Project. Of course, my goal is for people to see my paintings and form a reality based understanding of the history of attacks and violence, that led to the building of the walls in Israel, and to the conflicts that continue to happen. Suicide bomb are not a great threat anymore, because of the wall, but that makes it no easier for those who have lost children or been permanently disabled already.
And of course the rockets keep coming in southern Isreal.

There are two other paintings posted here so far, and if you refer to Day 4, that is the post that includes the painting, "Bolts Keep Spinning". I would like as many people as possible to see that painting. In this post I am including another one that that I did some time ago, a painting of the bus stop where Liron's sister and friend were killed by a suicide bomber.

Day 9

I decided to post a couple of little pet portraits that I painted very recently. The watercolor, Savannah the cat, is 5x7" and the oil painting of Samson is 6x8". I do these on a commission basis for $89 plus shipping.

the link to the video

http://www.chromaonline.com/chroma/media_library/multimedia

Can't seem to make it work, but if you are interested, please try copy and paste. Joan

Day 8

I won't be able to blog again until after Labor Day. We will be in Rhode Island for a week, and I plan to do a painting a day there so should have a lot of new images posted soon. Hopefully I'll also get some good photos of the ocean, and of birds and nature in the local nature preserves for future painting reference.
I gave another private drawing lesson today, did some research on web sites related to terrorism, and watched a very exciting instructional video on the web, on creating luminous paintings by a contemporary painter named Mikel Wintermantel. The video was suggested to me in an email I received from Chroma paint, a company I represent as a free lancer occasionally helping to market their paint; they make a very special and wonderful type of acrylic paint. Anyway, I got really psyched about this artist's work and hope to take a workshop with him someday soon. Here is the link to the video. You might enjoy it if you are an emerging or new artist.

Day 7 Image

Day 7

Short blog today. I had to take some pictures down from the wall in the bird feeder store (a little art show I had of bird paintings), none sold. They were up there for two months.

Then I gave a private beginner's drawing lesson in my house (odd, you may think, that she gives lessons when she is just learning to draw!), but as it turns out, I have done everything somewhat backwards in this career. I have been teaching beginners' art classes for a few years, and it turns out that I am a pretty good teacher. I would not call myself an advanced artist, but the basic concepts of drawing, watercolor, etc. are not that difficult to convey to students and I really do LOVE the teaching. I study a lot of how to art books and take courses to get ideas for curriculum. It doesn't hurt that I have a master's in art too. I'm embarrassed to tell this, since I am no where near at a master's level, but I was lucky to get into a program because the program was so new, that it needed students pretty badly. I won't mention where. I did it to make myself paint, since I was not inclined to do so naturally...always found it very frustrating...but that is another story. I had just days before starting the master's program, taken an early retirement from a social work position in a men's prison. I was eager for a career change and looking for something I could do into old age.

Anyway, I gave a private lesson today, and then had to go to a focus group meeting at the school where I teach a couple of short classes each session, the Brookfield Craft Center, This is a committee that is meeting to help improve the financial health of the center. So it was a full day for me, and NEVER would I have done any art work today if not for this blog. But ...
I had promised something every day, to myself and the blog, and so, I did the re-drawing of the glider. Here it is. I think it is improved, but still could have used more time and patience. I did it without a ruler. Maybe I'll do it again with sharper pencils and go slower.

Certainly no Israel work today. Not much in the health department either.

Day 6

Really good day today. Barb came over and we worked on the drawing assignment...looked at each other's work, and gave helpful suggestions : ) We plan to continue drawing cube based objects, since neither of us has it quite down yet. As you can see, the glider glided right off the page; it's not supposed to do that! Again, it's a matter of discipline, plan the location of the image on the page, save the details for the end. Hopefully this practice will fill a gap for me so that I can create a good drawing or plan, prior to doing an oil or watercolor painting.

We also worked through some of the book on brushstrokes and left the other half for homework. We did things like loading the brush different ways, preparing it for different types of strokes..kind of boring and seemingly basic, but I think for me it increased my awareness of not being lazy and then sorry. 'Do it right the first time' has never been my motto, but it seems like a sensible idea!

I plan to work on a painting tonight that my aunt asked me to do of her two great grand daughters at the beach. It's a challenge, but she deserves my best try.

No work on Israel today.

Health: Mostly low fat eating today. Still, very little exercise. Barb and I did take a walk to the lake to take some pictures of boats and water for ideas for paintings.

Plans for a yum dinner of stuffed fillet of sole (pre cooked and bought from Omaha Beef, a new indulgence) with corn and fresh tomatoes from the garden.

Day 5

Busy day. I taught art at the Easton Senior Center today. Good class, lovely people, one of the highlights of my week every Monday. Most of the students do watercolors, each in their own style, and bring in ideas for paintings they want to do. I critique their work as we go along, answer questions as best I can and make some suggestions. It seems to work for everyone. Sometimes we have class lessons; we did a little work on rules of perspective in recent weeks.

I rushed home to get the dog to the groomer in the afternoon.
I did draw for a little while sitting in the Big Y cafe waiting to pick up the dog, but by the time I got home I was pooped (bad choice of doggie type words).

Tomorrow morning, I'll post some of my pencil drawings done in the last week. Tomorrow afternoon, I meet with Barb to work on oil brushstrokes.

I got a few reactions, very positive, to the Israel painting I posted yesterday. Somehow I thought I would get more emails about it. But maybe it is too upsetting or offensive to people...not sure.

Day 4

Artwork: will post updates on this later. I worked today on a piece for Israel.

Israel: New painting to view, as promised! The blog is working...I'm working...still slowly and in small steps, but I can show you the new painting now. It is called "Bolts Keep Spinning...". This painting is acrylic paint on paper, and will be mounted to a large board. It is 36x64" in size.

It is based on a photograph taken by a physician in Jerusalem, showing the damage inflicted by a bomb with bolts in it. The title of the painting comes from a statement made by a victim of a similar bomb, who said that the bolts continue spinning inside the body. I learned this from a CD that was given to me by the Elharars, the couple who created and continue to run the Organization for Victims of Terror in Israel. The CD is called, "Civilians in the Battlefield," and is a video of victims telling their stories.

My daughter was so nice to try to put a countdown, flip calendar into this blog for me, but the thing doesn't seem to be working.

Health:
Hmm...kids were visiting, I made fresh blueberry pie with crumb topping...end of story. Will try to manage the rest of the day better. It is still beastly hot and humid.

Day 3 and 4

Painting:
Yesterday was really Day 3, but it's evening so this is 4 also. Yesterday, I gave a private drawing lesson to a beginner,and that took up most of my energy for the day.. After that, I made tabouli from some wonderful parsley I found at a farmers' market.

I didn't have time to do any art work today, but I had a phone meeting with Barb, and we discussed adding a 'painting a day' plan to the days we are not working on another art project. We are talking about the 6x8" format that many painters use for these 'learning' oil sketches, called 'pochades'. The point is to develop brush work, color skills, and composition skills. Barb and I are meeting next Tuesday to begin working on the brushwork book, and will probably begin a 'demo' from that book, ie copying the authors' step by step painting.

Israel: I picked up the painting I did of the bomb victim, the woman in the hospital, today, from Erna's attic, and plan to work on mounting it on a huge piece of Luan that I bought at Home Depot a week or two ago. It is painted in acrylic on paper. When it is finished I will post it for you all to see. I have decided not to post my old Israel paintings here, unless there is someone reading this who has not seen them yet. E.g. the picture of the bus stop in Afula, the picture of a fishing boat on the Sea of Galilee, the young Israeli soldier in Jerusalem...the old paintings already posted a while ago. If anyone wants to see them, please comment here, and I'll be glad to send you those.

Health:
Up 2, down 2, sounds like a box step dance...but it's my weight. I'm holding but need to do better than that. Went to a meeting today, and that is the situation. Writing down what I eat is KEY! Yesterday, I did some weeding and a couple of exercises, (including special deep knee bends that are supposed to not hurt the knees) and today, both knees hurt so much I am having trouble walking. By the way, this section may include a lot of whining...so just skip it if it gets on your nerves.

Day 2

Painting:
Barbara and I have met one time so far to organize and begin our work together for our self teaching painting program. We have chosen two books to work from, one on brushwork and one on basic drawing. I began reading the drawing book from page 1, and following the instructions. The assignment was to draw straight lines, which is funny because I have been drawing and painting for quite a few years already, and never did that simple thing. In fact I considered it a weak area of mine (drawing straight lines), so was glad to have to just DO IT, and find the approach that worked best for me.

Of course, straight lines are pretty important, being related to drawing all sorts of cubic, cylindrical and conical shapes, before modifying them to more organic shapes...in fact, in drawing everything. It's a classical skill, to draw straight lines and then soften them. And of course, very important for linier perspective. Our first week homework assignment (which we gave to ourselves) was to draw as many cubic/rectangular shaped objects as we could from observation. I worked on a picture of a glider on my deck, and it went off the page and I had trouble with the perspective. So I'll do it again, on a day it is not POURING RAIN! for a change! I've also been doing some pictures of boats and cars. All important for city scapes, sea scapes, etc.

Israel
Rich, my husband, and I bought a large piece of luan for a painting I made on paper of a woman in Israel with bolts in her back from a dirty bomb. I am going to do something different with this picture. I had to buy bloody red spray paint for the luan and Rich has to glue a piece of wood to the back, so that we can hang it, and also for some support to prevent warping. I will be working on finishing this piece.

I will post a picture today from the paintings I've already done. It's called, "Liron" and is very large, probably about 5' high...I don't have it here and forgot the measurements exactly. A neighbor has been letting me use her attic for painting and storing the Israel pictures, and it is there now.

Liron saw her sister killed at a bus stop in Afula, the town in central Israel where they live, when they were going to school. This was some years ago. She was five then and is now about 15. There have been a lot less suicide bomb attacks in recent years, really hardly any, since the wall was built. No one likes the wall...but it is serving the purpose of protecting the children.

Liron had gone for a soda, and was coming out of the little grocery when the bomb exploded, killing her sister and a friend and other youngsters at the bus stop. I met Liron and her parents when I visited Israel in Dec. '06. They family runs an organization for victims ...they say that the problems are never over after something like this happens to a family. Helping others was the only way they could find to go on, after Maya, their older daughter, was killed at age 17. It was Liron, who was then only 5, who watched as her family was falling apart and said to her parents that Maya would have wanted them to find a way to go on.

I've decided that as part of my blog, I will collect donations for their organization. I'll will give more information about that later, in case anyone wants to help them financially. I have to find out how to do that.

Health:
I went to the diabetes doctor yesterday, and she was very proud of me. Having lost 25 pounds so far, my numbers were looking really good...blood sugar has gone down to normal, just as they said it would with just a 10% weight loss. Now I have to work on my energy level, which is still very low.

Goals: Learn to Paint, Finish Israel Project, Improve Heatlh

Day One:
I was inspired by Julie and Julia. This is not my first blog, and I give my daughter credit for suggesting that I blog in the first place (a year or two ago), but it didn't make sense to me until I saw the movie. Now I think I understand. I want to use this forum to set goals for myself and reach them, and these are the objectives that I am putting forth:

1. Teach myself to paint, so that in two years I can produce oil paintings that I consider professional, that I feel in control of, that have a theme and consistent style, and that comprise a body of work that I can approach galleries with. The plan is to work with my friend, Barbara, an artist in a similar life situation to mine, meeting weekly and giving ourselves assignments each week, to teach ourselves to paint.

2. Complete a long languishing project and thereby fulfill a promise. The project is to paint a body of work about terrorism in Israel. This grew out of my own feelings of my anger at a biased media, that chooses to show pictures of pain and suffering caused by Israel, but not the photos of suicide attacks perpetrated by terrorists, or the Israeli children terrorized and injured by rockets, i.e. to show the pain and suffering caused by hatred and violence against Israelis. As we all know, a picture is worth 1000 words. Think of a news article explaining Israel's actions as self defense, completed with a photo of a mourning, anguished Palestinian Mom with an injured child in her arms. What opinion would you form? The subtle but consistent promulgation of this prejudice is not fair. No one, Israeli or Palestinian, should have to suffer the pain of their children. It's not fair to create more hatred in the world for the Jews, who in my opinion, would like to live in peace with everyone, as we do here in the US. A more honest and balanced picture should be created. More about this project, and the obstacles and the paintings already done, later. The goal is to add five new paintings in the next 6 months. That would make 10 with what I already have.

3. For all this, I need to be healthier. One of the things that has slowed me down very badly is my heatlh. I'm now 65, and have a lot of aches and pains, diabetes with neuropathy in my feet, I don't sleep well, and am still overweight, although I have lost 25 pounds so far and it has helped some. I had polymyalgia rhumatica for two years of the last four. I have very little energy, and don't feel much like doing stuff. I know this is very boring, but I'm really writing this for myself, so I'm going to put this stuff on here as part of the picture. I really need more energy and strength to do the art work. So my goal is to lose 25 more pounds in the next 6 months. I'm slow....I'm a really compulsive eater, out of control. I am using the Weight Watchers program, working with the point system and going to meeting, as well as using Alli to help lose the weight, and with all the slips, it's taking a long time, but that is OK.

Enough writing for today. Today is Thursday. Before the end of the weekend, I will post some pictures of my art work, and the Israel paintings. I'll elaborate on my art background such as it is, and talk more about how the Israel project started and what happened so far. And I'll set some more specific goals for improving health.