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.
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.
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.
Thursday Challenge‘s theme is “MOVEMENT” (Shaking, Falling, Bouncing, Jumping, Curling, Sagging,…).
Next Week: CARS (New, Old, Sedans, Convertibles, Station Wagons, Sports,…)
And in New Jersey we have: snow! What a surprise (not). I decided to travel around the world via blogs and see what the weather is like elsewhere.
 In Australia, on Gemma’s blog – flooding |
 In Canada, EG Wow – snowy creek |
 In France, Ilana-Davita – cold, snowy park |
 In Israel, Batya – blue skies |
For more Nature Notes:
This is a lovely blue jay I photographed about one week before the storm. And this is the post I wrote last week about a calf, a swallow and the winds, but I never hit publish until Monday morning, right before going out to shovel.
Here are rose hips during the early hours of the storm on Sunday afternoon.
Our street during the snowstorm
Our street the next morning – lots to shovel
My neighbor’s tree
Piles of snow one day later
I’m so grateful I live in a tiny little borough that plows its streets. Yay to everyone in Borough Hall or the Department of Public Works who ensures that this happens!
For more Nature Notes:
The Highland Park Farmer’s Market is over for the season, but the memories remain.
This one of pumpkins is a bit more abstract than the apples photo. It’s also more washed out, but I like the painterly quality. Some of us have a hard time picking one, whether it’s an apple or a photo.
This week’s Thursday Challenge is FOOD (Farmers Market, Vegetables, Meat, Cooking, Restaurant,…).
Thursday Challenge theme is CONSTRUCTION (Houses, Streets, Commercial, Equipment, Vehicles,…).
I was going to do the house nearby that was wrapped last spring; but I went to photograph it, and I found the photos a bit dull. See result at the bottom of this post. So instead, here is a construction paper amusement park. It was created by my daughter when she had a “do what you want” day in her school art class.
See how the house looked “wrapped.” See how it looked with a mere wooden frame.
I love buying fresh produce at the Highland Park Farmer’s Market. On Friday I bought lettuce (two kinds), parsley, and broccoli.
My friend Linda Balavram will be having a recital this Sunday, November 21 at 2:30 pm at Congregation Etz Ahaim in Highland Park, New Jersey. She plays the bassoon and will be accompanied by pianist Kathleen Haynie.
When I was in college at Boston University, there were often free recitals by top quality musicians. How nice to have such a treat here in Highland Park!
Last Thursday, Veterans Day, I (along with other parents) had the pleasure of driving my son’s eighth grade class to a small gathering of Jewish War Veterans. We met by the dough boy (see bottom photo) in Highland Park, New Jersey, one half hour before the official Veterans Day Parade. According to my son, the way this got started was one year the teacher who organized the meeting saw some veterans saying kaddish (prayer for the dead) without a minyan (ten men). So she asked the school if she could arrange to bring the eighth grade boys. In the photo above, Rabbi Shostack of RPRY (far left) is talking with the students and the veterans. The 90 year old veteran on the right invited the boys to join them at a special prayer service the next day in Menlo Park. I kept thinking, but the boys have school the next day.
The veterans shared tales from World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. My friend David on the left (a father of one of the boys) recorded their talks. One told how he became a medic with only a high school education. Rabbi Poleyoff, who is a retired teacher from RPRY, talked about his service in Japan immediately after the Korean War.
This *is* a Ruby Tuesday post, so here’s a red veterans’ car!
These older women wore bright red uniforms. I didn’t get a chance to hear their story. They are standing in front of the Highland Park Doughboy (What’s a Doughboy?).
For more posts with red, visit Ruby Tuesday:
