Author: Lynn Holbein

Amy’s House

I’ve been hired to do lots of house portraits on commission, but this was a gift to a wonderful therapist who helped me through the emotional angst (aging, vulnerability) surrounding my double knee replacement last year. I gave Amy this portrait of her house just before Christmas, when the red and green seemed seasonal, and the summer flowers a colorful memory and a hope for next summer. 

A Wonderful Anniversary

Today is the one year anniversary of my double knee replacement. For nine years before my surgery, I had increasing trouble with my knees, including five arthroscopic surgeries, and I was headed toward a cane and a much more sedentary lifestyle. Now I’m 100% pain free, in my 30th year of taking yoga classes, and Bruce says he has to hurry to keep up to me when we walk together.

I am incredibly indebted to my supportive family and friends who got me through the months before and after my surgery. But most of all I am so grateful for my wonderful husband Bruce who dealt with not only my pre-operative limitations and post-operative healing, but also with my “wackiness” as I suffered emotional ups and downs especially pre-surgery.

I am deeply indebted to orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Phillips, New England Baptist Hospital, Lasell Rehab, and Pro Sports Physical Therapy. We are so blessed to have access to modern medicine!

Museum Sketch

Our son Andrew and I have always enjoyed visiting art museums together, and starting in fifth grade I would call him in “sick” once a year, and we would go out to lunch and visit the Museum of Fine Arts. Though he is grown and married now, we still try to go to a museum once during the holidays. Yesterday we visited the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. The courtyard was full of poinsettias. I did the drawing, and then the guard said I couldn’t use watercolor in the museum, so I retreated to the library to add the paint.

It’s really interesting how making a sketch of something makes you pay more attention and improves your memory of a place and an event — a sort of meditation. 

Painting and Sharing

I have been painting in watercolor for over 20 years. I first discovered painting as an antidote to “being in my head” too much, a way to connect with and appreciate the beauty of Creation. Sketching what’s in front of you is also spiritual and meditative, bringing you in touch with the present moment, accessing what is called “flow”. But, like any skill, painting is also often frustrating, it takes a lot of practice, and there  are lots of failed sketches and paintings in my recycle bin.

Many of my friends who paint want to win shows and become commercial successes. Those goals don’t resonate with me. I’d like to sell paintings in a modest way. But most of all, what gives me joy and motivation is to share my sketches and paintings with you.

Christmas Bird Count

Yesterday was the annual Christmas Bird Count, when birdwatchers across North America dust off their binoculars to do a bird census. My friend Linda and I did not brave the 4:30 owl count, or even the 6:30 regular count; we arrived at the Newton Cemetery, coffee in hand, at the civilized hour of 9:30. With rain falling on top of Saturday’s snowfall, the birds were scarce. But I made this little sketch, using pen and charcoal pencil (with a tissue to smudge) of a little island with birch trees in the middle of the pond.

Red Geraniums

I found this in an old sketchbook, which had lots of crap and this one painting worth saving. It takes a lot of failure to produce a little success!
What I really like about this is the slightly messy approach — a little pen mixed in, and overlapping shapes. Notice the pale pink leaves in the upper middle — paint dropped into a previously wetted shape. The magic of watercolor!

Wild Iris

Our wonderful local library has a stream next to it where wild iris are blooming now. Today I got a chance to sketch them. Sitting on the grass in the sunshine drawing these lovely flowers felt like a little bit of heaven. 🙂 Lynn