Jazz at the Corner

Fall colors on the balcony
markers

What do you know, summer is so much history by now, I'm all wrapped up and ready for the strange cold winter. Because it's not really winter, we forget how cold it can actually be.

In February I will have an exhibition in a gallery, and I still don't know what works will be shown. the idea is probably just to present myself to the public rather than choosing a theme, which is alright by me.

Khayat Orchard, oil on wood


Khayat Orchard, oil on wood

A lot of ideas are zooming in my head and not enough time and energy to perform. But I do manage to do some work. Recently I got into the habit of drawing the musicians in Cafe Hapina ("Corner Cafe") - where I had my "Khayat Orchard" solo exhibition two years ago.  They have jazz every Tuesday. The regular show belongs to Yair Loewenson, who hosts different musicians every week. 

The rest is silence. I have one or two surprises up my sleeve. Just wait a while longer.

Dances with Cranes

"Work in Progress"
oil on canvas, about 72x133 cm

Summertime, and the living is unbearable. Thinking about the guys out there on the scaffolding, building homes for the more fortunate,  helmets covering heads sweating away melting under the naked sun.
I have been a member of various groups monitoring safety at construction sites, and as much as the fight is taken seriously, nothing yet has changed in the statistics. People die building homes for us. People die unnecessarily, out of negligence,  carelessness or sheer cold decisions to cut expenses right there.
For my part, I hate building taking place nearby; the pleasure of the outside is gone; it's dirty, hard to breathe, noisy all day and when the work is done (Twenty-two floors on top of three commercial ones), will probably block my winter light in the morning-noon, which is all the light I have in winter. 
But hey, progress, cities, urban renewal and the like. I'm not against all that.
I found out the building site was actually a treasure den for interesting subjects to paint. The colors, blue-turquosie sky and yellow-orange cranes, bright red railings and yellow vests, sometimes a green arm of yet another crane, blue vertical lines of ladders. Celebration. And the human element - people doing physical work, they seem so elegant, young and full of energy, united in their  coordinated movement to create a rich, complex modern dance.
Then, I read a book that had a description of cranes in it. Not this kind of cranes, the real thing. And guess what, cranes are noisy, and they dance as well. And after their job is done they all migrate - a huge group of them, darkening the skies, hundreds of thousands of free birds keep going and going until they find a place to settle, winter or summer, same routine for thousands of years. Are we lucky to be people? Why do we threaten nature so much? How come the summers now are so much hotter than in my childhood?
Cranes do not need to be saved, but most of nature does. And people.

"Horsemen of the Apocalypse"
oil paint and scratching on plywood, 53x73 cm

Moon and Craneoil paint and scratching on plywood, 37 ⌀


watercolor, 18x12 cm

watercolor, 28x23 cm

watercolor, 46x31 cm

watercolor,  26x32 cm

watercolor, 47x29 cm

markers, 16x20 cm


markers, 15x20 cm

markers, 24x30 cm

The Old and the New
markers, 20x27 cm



Setting Sail
Watercolor, 30x47 cm

Out in the City of Haifa

Summertime. Leaves are dark green and grey. The light too cruel and direct, and I rise early to get before everybody else does to the nearby Binyamin Garden, a local green lung slowly turning into a charming spot. The people there, mainly Russian and Arabic speakers, hard working or unemployed, find their way into my paintings without ever noticing it. They go about their happy business with daily contentment. I am a temporary intruder.

These trees make a wonderful shade, may they live long and prosper. The rest of the garden is olives - not big enough yet.
Here is an oil painting I just finished. It's based on photos I took in winter. The color of the path is plain grey in reality.
Plywood 49x65 cm

Below is a small marker sketch of two cats. Following an idea I picked up on the web, I used watercolor paper prepared with gel medium. Strange results. The paint stays on the surface and doesn't sink in, so it can be moved around, like Winsor Newton promised their Pigment Markers would do if I used their own paper.

Another time same place, markers:

The card players, markers

At the end of the journey I go down to the market. This is Haifa, up or down. Down many stairs that lead me to the main street of our busy neighborhood Hadar.
And right before the market I notice these two beauties, so colorful I just have to draw them.

... and then you go down here.

Ah yes the market. Same street, two views.

Lower still. Downtown, Harbor street (Hanamal), on July 14th they had a cheerful French Revolution party.

A favorite spot downtown, not as colorful in reality but nice enough...

Portrait Made Easy

After the third "Yefe Nof" fair is over, I am happy to say that for the first time, I had some success, because I didn't participate this time. Why bother with framing and hanging when you can draw portraits for fun and even get some bucks for it?...
Discovery: people love to sit for a portrait. They love it better if it's a double portrait with their loved one. Too bad there are not so many people in Haifa - I could get rich.
Discovery #2: I'm rather good at it.
I am posting just a couple of pictures here due to privacy issues and the poor quality of the photos I took on the spot. Eyal is an exception because, of course, he is a friend, so he let me scan the image at home.

Except for Eyal I never got to paint less than two people in one painting, so I was really happy that I brought a few larger sheets with me. There were couples, small children and a breastfeeding mom! She said it would be the only way to keep him from bouncing about.

I already knew markers were "my medium" but I was still amazed at how easy it was.
Between "real" sessions we the artists were drawing one another. And lately I have been painting and drawing quite a lot of people, -  cafe sitters or people on the train, or standing in line at the post office, with or without details (sometimes you have to work fast and even then they go away faster). 

One of my friends, Michal, artist at work (drawing me while I draw her):

Yvonne Helmrich is a gifted friend who lives nearby and makes delightful paintings. At work too, here:

Another Yvonne, not much of a likeness, but a nice drawing:

Another artist friend, Sari Doveh. From photos, - a very different approach and to be honest I would really prefer to work from life. It gives you so much more information, such as color and character. Sari has a fascinating face and I made a few more drawings and paintings of her.

And then there's these guys, which I believe started it all.  I have worked over a month because it was from photos and not very good ones, and I know these people too well. ...
Oil 26x36 cm.

Under Glass

Recently I have been framing my own artwork, and following advice from someone I bought the wood from, I decided to cut my own glass - which would save me money in the long run. I had in mind about 40 small to medium frames.
Cutting glass works like magic once you get the right tools. It is incredibly easy and I have a small obsession with the whole issue now.
You probably haven't heard, :) but I sold a painting earlier this year in an exhibition in Gate 3 - this painting:

It's oil on acrylic glass 45x110 cm. I made 3 in the series, this is the second of 3 panorama paintings of my back yard.
This one is the first (and favorite).

Most people liked it because of the transparency, I am sure. A lot of people came to tell me they liked it; eventually when someone bought it I wasn't there, and they just called me from the gallery to let me know.
I too like transparent, and the new glass madness is overwhelming. First of all, the feeling of having conquered a certain fear; the sound of the cutter scratching; the fragile, subtle and yet cruel properties, the weight and feel of the material; and I can tell glass likes me, because I keep finding it everywhere now. Sometimes it is too thick to frame with and then I use it as paperweight, or to cut paper on. (This is my first cut glass - a crooked shot, but a straight piece)

Last week I took a break from framing and went to the Khayat Orchard to unwind and sketch a little. A friend who went with me made a wonderful watercolor I wish I had taken a photo of. And I made these three marker drawings.
 And then went home and framed them one by one.

 

After the curator for the Cafe Hapina exhibition picked the works, I felt free to resume my work in oil, which I have been neglecting for a while in favor of framing. Lately I have been experimenting a bit, taking for instance my marker drawings as basis for larger works in oil, sometimes using 3-4 drawings for one oil painting.
This is the first experiment, oil on wood 21x88 cm. I love these unusual proportions, just like the acrylic glass earlier. I just found the wood and it gave me an idea.

You'll get to see my frames when I report from the exhibition in a month or so.