End of the world as we know it (and I feel fine)

Been doing a lot of drawing lately, but a textual post this time, SVP.

As the end of the world approaches, along with tectonic movements in my close vicinity, here are some lessons learnt in the past year.

Teaching is the best way to learn. 
The more time passes, the more I appreciate the gift I got from my teachers, be it Naomi for Tai Chi, or Shir for the drawing. furthermore I realize how much teaching gave them a chance to re-examine their skills. hence I just started a drawing teaching adventure.

Any movement is good if you use it well. 
Be it Job, Family, Location, A movement is a chance to wake up and see yourself bear (pardon the pun) before diving back in, did lots of it this year.

Friends are important.
Having someone to share your reflections, problems and just plain freestyle with is great,
And sometimes you receive such great gifts, in such a casual manner, that you can't even start expressing a thank-you for. (but thank you anyway :)

No risk, no gain.
When you finally take a risk your afraid of, you will probably either lose less than you imagined, or gain more than you expect, happens numerous times lately (mainly the latter).

Life is what happens to you when you'r busy making other plans.
Totally true (even if are shot by a madman in NYC)


So, these are the five, the two are animated poems I adore by Bill Collins:

Forgetfulness

Walking across the Atlantic

See you at the other side of the (yet another) end of the world.

Me.

Waterlillies at the orangery

 

 

 

 

 

Clowntime is over

The boy finished another week of circus, here are some snaps...

Kids waiting to perform

Two trapezes and the boy

Three trapezes

Four trapezes

A kid walking the rope (I am proud of this one... :)

Two rope walker

Two walking on a big ball

Two walking the balls and pass a ball 

On the ball juggling a scarf

Two chinese plates  

Two chinese plates II 

Three spectators

Scarf juggling

Scarf juggling

Juggler

Diabolo

I once knew a lady from Bezalel street

No, no book-ends, just unfinished books.

When I was much older, I bought a small wacom-pad, and toyed with the idea of illustrating a children's book.

I came across these this week, and wanted to share em, talk about the ideas behindem, and dedicate this post to my friend Miranda who blogs about Paris to her Italian friends.

---------------------------

There is a great children's poem by Yoram Taharlev, about...

A lady from  Bezalel  street, that decided to go out on a sunny day, with a small dog and a basket, and a flower at the shirt, 
And she said how lovely

Suddenly she sees a lamp at a shopping window, and says: just a lamp like this is what I am terribly missing!

So she comes out of the store, with a dog, and a basket, and a flower, and the lamp she was terribly missing, and says: how lovely

But than she sees a vase that she really misses in her apartment, she buys it

Now she has a vase she can decorate her house with...

• And than a Mandolin, to entertain her friends,
• And than a parrot in a cage, to sing to her when she is sad.
• And than she is thirsty, buys juice, but everything falls and breaks, 

and the parrot gets free, and sings for her... so she won't be sad...



Never got to finish it, but I really enjoyed the process and the ideas so much, I wanted to share it.
So here are some ideas I found interesting:

• When looking for a visual I liked Carmen Miranda, since she has the basket on the head, and both hands are free to hold stuff.
• Every page contains:
• Her and all her possessions drawn
• a photographed scenery
• A small piece of text, so parents can read with their kids just a few words on each page.
• Lots of white, so the drawing is part of page, and not just an illustration.
• She always remains the same position, but all her objects change and grow all the time. (you can see at the last one she is dragging the lamp), so the life is in the consumption-objects. 
• Each object has a single color (that changes from page to page)
• The idea was that the text-page will be black, but that the part in it that is in the illustration will be blue at the text-page as well.
• And a naughty note: the vase turned to a boys-pop-group holding flowers (, and if you look carefully, the dog there is certainly a male as well.)

Hope you enjoyed this blast from the past!

Till nextime!

P.S.
Just found a lovely illustration with all the words here

Hard Rain's gonna fall (50th post)

To celebrate the 50th post, a new 5 and 2.

5 Photos, and two sketches of my dad.

Till nextime!

Taken on the beach, August 2011

Amir Lev clouds

Whiter shade of pale

Natural surroundings August 2010

Rain, damnit!

50

One Liners

My beloved drawing mentor suggested an exercise:
- Try a complete drawing without lifting the pen(cil)

Here are some results,

N-Joy and Till nextime.

A garden corner

Strange shop, with lotsa this-and-thats in boxes

Same shop, other thisNthats in the window

Parisian street

Wood logs begging to be drawn

Bike taking the train home.

Art&$: Minority report

Had no time to publish in a while, but sometimes news are too breathtaking to let them pass you by.
Just read a piece of news that made my heart skip a beat:

- A controversy in the art world!
- Someone 'Ruined'\ Improved an original Rothko
- Criminal is quoted as saying "I added value to it".
(You can read the news in English, Hebrew of French right here: English Hebrew French)

I remember how mesmerised I was once in Buffalo-N.Y staring at a huge Rothko and being grateful that art exists, and I am equally grateful for these 'vandals'.

Look (or listen) - Art's function is to wake you up from the constant daily sleep, from the brain's routine, and transfer you to reality, be it even for a moment, but what happens when art becomes the routine?

What happens when people see a Rothko, Matisse, Monet, and that's exactly what they see?
Not the clash of colors and shapes, not the struggle form with the eye, but the name of the artist and the price tag.

I am moved to tears by art, but paying 86.9 Million for a "Rothko" is not art appreciation, it is speculation,
And shit happens.
And if you buy art 'cause it moves you, be ready to get moved when it is destroyed.

As for me, you'll find me at the museum, appreciating both the Mona-Lisa (well... mainly the line of tourists in front of it) and Duchamp's Mona-lisa with a mustach.
(BTW - if someone would put a false signature on Duchamp's rendition, will he be a criminal? an artist? both? neither?)

And one more thing - in the video of the Rothko you can see a small bit of the restoration process, which made me imagine the difference between the brush-strokes he made, the "Criminal's" brushstrokes, and the restorator's brushstrokes.

Now, all three remain forever on the painting, which one of them would you find most different.

Yea, yea, I know you don't care, but as Laurie Anderson once said (god, I love that woman!):

When I do my job,
I am thinking
About these things,

'Cause when I do my job,
That,
Is what I think about.

SHana Tova, etc.

A list of unsorted wishes for the newyear.

N-Joy