I had an epiphany about my painting...and then about my life

I realized the other day, while I was working on a new painting, that my best work, the work that has the most depth, is usually accomplished by painting a new painting on top of an old one.  Why is that?  because what inevitably ends up happening is that I leave parts of the old painting visible in the new painting.  It is almost unrecognizable in the sense that the intention of the old painting is usually completely covered up--but small details, layers of color or shape, are woven in.  In doing this, the painting takes on more layers, more detail and usually a sense of freedom or etheriality.  The weaving of layers is an essential accident of my best work.

When I realized this I had two thoughts almost simultaneously--the first thought was I need to start doing this intentionally.  I decided to start creating "underpaintings" as a part of my process.  Many artists do this, at least with color washes--they paint a solid color or color wash onto their canvas before they begin a painting.  This way, when they paint, they are responding to a unified color throughout the work (instead of the stark white of a blank canvas).  My under painting idea is similar, but rather than wash the whole canvas in one color, i create  a very quick abstract image with multiple shapes and sections, and fill them in with paint or collage.  In doing this, essentially, I"m setting the stage for color play and shape integration by creating pieces that may or may not be woven into my final painting.

This is an underpainting--quick shapes and colors filling the canvas

My second insight was far more personal:  I have moved many times over the past few years.  I find it most striking when thinking in terms of my children and their lives.  My 12 year old son has lived in 8 homes during his life.  That is 5 states and 2 countries.  Considering I lived in the same state for my entire childhood until I graduated college, this moving around thing has been a surprising twist to my life that I could not have even imagined when I was a kid (I had never been on an airplane until I was 11 or 12--my son did his first cross Atlantic flight/move when he was 9 weeks old).

Moving around a lot has added shape and color to my life in ways that I'm not sure I can even explain or fully understand. And while many of the moves have been positive, there have also been challenges.  I certainly did not expect to move from Pennsylvania to Michigan with my boys last year only to move again this year to Maryland.  And while new is exciting, and we might like to think of our life as one big adventure, I am frankly over the adventure.  I would love to settle down, find a home, build a life and let my roots grow deep.

But back to the layers:  I realized, each time I move, each time I become part of a new community, I grow.  I create, or uncover, a piece of myself--and, like my paintings, I realized that as I move on, I become my best self by layering and weaving those pieces together.  SO while the moving has had its challenges, I also know that I am becoming the person I am supposed to be--growing, layering and learning as a result.

Dreaming of Home  36"x48" Mixed Media on Board

This painting, measuring 36" x 48" is the result of painting on top of an existing painting.  It is called "Dreaming of Home"--with each home representing a state or country I have lived in with my family: Michigan, New York, Israel, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,Michigan again and Maryland.

My New Book is Here!!!

My new book, Make, Create, Celebrate! Jewish Holidays Through Art (Behrman House, 2018) is here!!! It took me over two years to develop from concept to final product, which includes the book, a leaders/teachers guide and a series of how-to videos.  In many ways this is the book I always wanted to write, and it is a direct result of the work I have been doing in my Jewish Learning Through Art workshops.  It is part Jewish holiday resource book and part art journal.  It is written for 4th to 6th grade, but I've used parts of it with adults as well.  I am so so thrilled with how it turned out, and I am so excited to share it with you!

Click here to purchase your own copy of Make Create Celebrate! Jewish Holidays through Art

The publication  of this book happens to coincide with another big move for me.  I will be moving to Annapolis Maryland this summer, and I CANNOT WAIT to get to know our new home, meet the people of Maryland and bring my Jewish Learning Thru Art program to this awesome city.

Communal Collage Making and Class Legacy

Working with kids never ceases to amaze me.  I am continually impressed by their creativity, their insights and their talent.
A while back I spent an artist residency at Claysburg Kimmel High School, working with a group of seniors on a mural that will be their legacy to the school after they graduate.
We had a ton of fun and despite the serious senior-itis they were all experiencing (it was their final project before graduation), we got a lot done.

We started our process by talking about their class and what message they wanted to leave behind as they moved on.
They talked about how they were all individuals, coming from different backgrounds before starting school together.  Being a small rural community, most of these kids have known each other for most of their lives, but school has been their rock keeping them together.  They are now ready to move on and off into different directions.

From this conversation we talked about the metaphor of the tree, and how the roots were their individual identities, the trunk was their time together in school and the branches were their future paths as they take what they have learrned and move on.
They loved this idea and we ran with it in the creation of our work.

They really wanted to incorporate all the members of their senior class in the symbolism, so they decided to include things like their class flower and articles from the newspaper. They also decided to include the names of the entire senior class in the grass around the roots of the tree.  They invited every member of the senior class to add to the tree top, and we created circles for them to fill in with oil pastels and watercolor paint. 

We explored the concept of mixed media and they did everything from designing the work to creating painted papers to finding newspaper images to drawing to painting to collaging.  They worked collaboratively and regularly engaged in critical conversations to make sure that the work was progressing the way they wanted it to.  they were able to self-evaluate and to change course when things went awry. 
I was so impressed with their dedication to the project and their ability to work together to make something amazing.
I loved working with this group and am so excited by their final piece.

A Year of LIving Creatively

Its been over a year since I made the commitment to making art everyday.   It has been incredibly empowering and has lead to some exciting developments.

One of the best things that has happened is that in a very real way, creating art has lead to more creating of art.  I think this is true of any practice--doing more has lead me to be more motivated and more inspired to do even more.  It is pretty cyclical that way.  And so, the more I create, the more I create.   

It has also been true that the more I create and put out into the social media universe, the more jobs and commissions I have received.  Last week I shipped out 9 (9!!!) paintings to new homes, and I have 5 more in progress that I am hoping to finish and ship out by the end of January.  I'm also working on a new book (details coming soon!) that I am very excited about.

Here are some simple principles that have helped me in my practice of making art every day.  

1.  Making art everyday does not mean finishing a piece of art every day.  It can be anything from doodling/drawing while relaxing at the end of the day to adding a layer or details to a piece of art.  most of my art takes many layers--I almost never finish a piece in one sitting.  so I am not looking towards completion--only working on the process.  

2. Finding my best time to work:  I am at my most creative and motivated in the late morning, so I do my best work then.  I find that if I get started around 9 or 10 in the morning, after getting the kids off to school, attending to emails and more mundane tasks, then by 10 I am ready to get painting.  If I hit my stride, I can work for a few hours before stopping to do other non art related work.  In doing art everyday I have learned that I have a pattern, and if I wait too long to begin, nothing real or productive will get done (unless I am on a deadline, in which case I push myself and end up creating on fumes--sometimes this pushes me to create my best work, other times it just feels desperate).

3. Having supplies at the ready: I know which supplies I use the most, and generally have them available when I get started.  This includes the paint colors I use the most, the brushes, canvases, cups for water (really--you have no idea how annoying it is to be ready to paint and not be able to find a container for water), and a clear working space.  I do like a good art supply run, but running out to the store instead of using that time to create is not so productive.  

Here are some of the pieces I have created this year:  

I have benefitted so much from creating art every day.  I can't wait to see what will happen next!

Warm and Cool "Pop Hearts" for Valentine's Day

I just love making art with kids.  This past week we held an art day at my children's elementary school.  I spent the day making art with the whole school and we had a lot of fun.
For the younger grades (kindergarten through third grade) project we made "Pop Art Hearts" by using warm colors (reds, oranges, pinks) and cool colors (blues, greens, purples).


I taught the kids about warm and cool colors and then had them create two pop masterpieces using oil pastels on white construction paper.  For their first piece, they created a heart and used at least three warm colors inside it.  Then they used at least three cool colors on the outside.  If they had time, they made a  second piece, using the same techniques, but by flipping the colors  (cool on the inside and warm on the outside).

When they were done, some of them used a dark color (dark blue, purple or black works well), to outline their heart, making it "pop" even more.  

As you can see, they each made something totally unique.  Each heart looks great on its own but they look even better together.  The school now has a bunch of colorful pop hearts lining the walls, getting everyone in the spirt for Valentine's Day.

Putting Myself Out There

Once I committed to living an "artist life" I had to then figure out what to do with this art that I was creating.  This is not such a simple task.  There is a big difference between creating art and promoting (and hopefully selling) art. 

Putting myself and my work out there into the public is very challenging for me--on the one hand, I am proud of the work that I do, and on the other hand, I am extremely nervous about the response.  I have finally, in the past few years, succumbed to the identity of artist.  This is what I do--its what I HAVE to do, what I am drawn to do,
And, living in a small town, whenever I get to show my work at a gallery or cool venue, I feel extremely lucky.

The Fraser St. Gallery in State College is one such venue.  It is on a little side street in this college town.  It is such a fantastic space--with cool people, great art, live music--it is arty without being pretentious.  I loved sharing my work there, and meeting all these other awesome artists from Central Pennsylvania.

Listening to the fabulous Riley Roth, and meeting the wonderful wood sculptor Jim Bright

Lots of the people who come to the gallery are also artists themselves

I never really get over the thrill of watching people view my work

Feeling grateful for the opportunity to share my work.  Thanks Fraser St. Gallery and Art Margaux!

Creating in Community

Our Baker Elementary School Art Mural is Complete!
I had so much fun working on this community art mural at my son's elementary school.  It was the first time I took on such a large project (5 feet tall and 12 feet long!), and at times it was overwhelming, but I have to say the results made it all worthwhile.

I am most proud of this project because of the many ways we were able to make this a work by and for the students.

There were many steps in the process.

First, I got my partners on board.  The school principal was with me from the beginning.  She helped me get a grant from the Altoona Area School District and allowed me to partner with the art teacher, even giving her a regularly scheduled spot in her day for working with me and the Art Club.

Once we made our plan, we set a theme: Making Our Community a Better Place.

I was able to meet twice with each grade in the school--first to learn and brainstorm together, and second to create our images.
Each student painted a picture using watercolor resist, and created something specific based on a piece of our theme---some kids focused on taking care of our physical environment, some focused on using their talents and abilities to improve community, and others focused on STEAM: using Science Technology Engineering Arts or Mathematics to improve our community.


As a result, you will find in our mural beautiful nature, homes and communities, recycling bins, animals, solar panels, windmills, waterwheels, athletes, artists, playgrounds, ambulances, firetrucks, and of course many children working and playing together to make their community better.

You'll also find Altoona specific images: Baker Elementary School, the Curve, Mansion Park, Altoona Fire, Altoona Ambulance, sports teams, and the Altoona Public Library are all featured.









Once every image was created, we met with the Art Club, a dedicated group of 5th and 6th graders to plan our larger mural.

The Art Club helped find find images to use.
They cut out all of the pieces from the very large pile of paintings created by the more than 370 Baker students.  They divided the images into categories (people, animals, nature, buildings, technology) and colors.

The Art Club then helped plan out our mural by sketching out design options.  Once we had a design in mind, the art club painted our panels into a simple landscape.

We took the cut images and laid them out over the panels attempting to tell a story.
we moved them around until we had a working image, and then used mod podge to decoupage each piece down.

When we finished, we put down an epoxy resin seal coating so the mural will be beautiful and protected for many years to come!  

I think the most amazing part of this mural is the way that everyone was able to come together, that every student in the school has a something of theirs in this mural, and the way the whole can be so much greater than the sum of its parts.  It is truly a communal work of art!