Chanan Mazal - Jerusalem Art Blog

2011-10-11T11:13:00.000+02:00

Still Life: Breaking New Ground.
Group show at the Flinn Gallery in Greenwich CT, exploring 5 artists’ differing approaches to the genre. Oct 27 – Dec 7, 2011
Opening Reception – Thursday, Oct 27 6 – 8 PM.
Artists’ Talk – Sunday Oct 30, 2 PM.
Greenwich Library, 101 W. Putnam St. Greenwich CT

Just half an hour from NYC, I look forward to meeting anyone in the area!

The Flinn Gallery is a non-profit, education oriented exhibition space that presents art in all mediums from a wide range of periods, visions and techniques. Located in the Greenwich Library, the Flinn has a developed a fine reputation for introducing innovative artist since 1928.

2011-06-09T13:53:00.002+03:00

On June 24 I will be opening a show of my recent works. The title reflects my fascination with surface tension in painting: Painting was by definition 2 dimensional, but in reality, it is anything but that: Paint has body. Paper and canvas have texture, little mountains and crevices. And all patterns and repetitions indicate movement.

I will plagiarize a lovely comment on my Facebook page, that expresses my goal:
"Your works are so vibrant and somehow contain movement in each, I don't know if I 'look' at your paintings as much as 'watch. Very aptly named show." (Thanks Ruth)

If you are in Jerusalem, please come by!

2011-03-02T16:02:00.004+02:00

Pencil, watercolor and gouache sketch of the Jerusalem Mountains near Kesalon, June 2010

Bottles 2010 - by Chanan Mazal

2010-11-28T15:28:00.001+02:00

Bottles 2010 - by Chanan Mazal
Originally uploaded by Mazalart / Chanan Mazal

2010-11-18T12:31:00.002+02:00

Online slideshow portfolio of my recent work

Self Portrait as Starving Artist

2010-10-21T14:05:00.001+02:00

self portrait as starving artist
Originally uploaded by Mazalart / Chanan Mazal

Oil, early 2010, two short sessions

Self Portrait as the Statue of Liberty

2010-10-21T14:04:00.001+02:00

Self Portrait as the Statue of Liberty
Originally uploaded by Mazalart / Chanan Mazal

Oil, Spring 2010

2010-10-19T13:04:00.002+02:00

Gouache is the Cinderella of painting media. So versatile and so underestimated. Unlike the previous post, with works on canvas, these colors look accurate, at least on my screen.
The bowl was painted in June, and the bottles in October. The latter has since been interpreted in canvas. Both began with wild, quick yellow green brushstrokes, covering the entire frame.

Original gouache paintings by Jerusalem artist Chanan Mazal

2010-10-19T12:57:00.002+02:00

Acrylic on Canvas, painted in June 2010.

2010-07-19T14:00:00.003+03:00

Cypress Trees - by Chanan Mazal
Originally uploaded by Mazalart / Chanan Mazal
This painting signed the beginning of a very productive few weeks before my recent trip to the USA. I investigated approaches to this cypress tree theme, over and over. My ulterior motive for posting this again, is that it is a link to my flickr.com page. Links are supposed to be good for Google results, so I wish myself search engine success.

2010-06-27T12:04:00.001+03:00

Cypress Trees - Acrylic on Canvas, by Jerusalem artist Chanan Mazal.

ברושים בשדות - ציור אקרילי של האומן הירושלמי חנן מזל

My first larger painting of Cypress trees on canvas. Based on my first gouache painting of this series, it was created in calmness. The trees and fields have inverted color perspectives. The trees are lighter, warmer and purer in the foreground, the fields are the opposite. This confuses our perception of depth, flattening the image. Distance is restored by both the decrease in size of the far trees and their placement on the top of the canvas.

My subsequent paintings in this series became more expressive, freely painted and layered. Even wild.

2010-05-31T12:32:00.001+03:00

Old Farmer with his Date Palms

A return to my doodling days. Pencil. I drew this 5 years ago.

2010-05-31T12:30:00.000+03:00

דאס קליינער איז מיד

2010-05-13T11:38:00.006+03:00

Still Live in Browns - Gouache painting by Chanan Mazal, Jerusalem

Ah! The richness of mud pies! The "ugliest" of colors lead to the loveliest of color discoveries.
ציור גואש של חנן מזל
46 x 61 cm (18" x 24") on 100% cotton Arches paper

2010-05-13T11:30:00.004+03:00

Unmatched Chairs - Gouach painting by Chanan Mazal

כסאות לא תואמים - ציור גואש של חנן מזל

46 x 61 cm (18" x 24") on 100% cotton Arches paper

2010-05-13T11:24:00.002+03:00

Yellow Table - Gouache Painting by Chanan Mazal

I am constantly fascinated by flattening perspective via color and pattern, and breaking the hierarchy of objects and background, even in such clearly defined objects such as here.
ציור גואש של האומן הירושלמי חנן מזל
46 x 61 cm (18" x 24") on 100% cotton Arches paper

2010-04-11T13:37:00.007+03:00

Bronx Crossing - Original gouache painting by Jerusalem Artist Chanan Mazal.

An emigrant's childhood memory of going to visit his Grandmas in the Old Neighborhood: Carsick in the back seat of the 1956 Oldsmobile; admiring the George Washington Bridge; Mickey Mouse' water tower, and loosing my hearing, while bumping over the cobblestones under the screeching Jerome Ave El train.

ציור גואש מקורי של חנן מזל, ירושליםזכרון ילדות
46 x 61 cm (18" x 24") on 100% cotton Arches paper

2010-04-11T13:35:00.007+03:00

Farewell to the Old Country - by Chanan Mazal

זיי געזונט, דער אלטער היים
George Washington Bridge, with the world's largest US flag on the New Jersey tower, and the Little Red Lighthouse (ah, memories of kindergarten) surviving under the NY tower.

Original gouache painting by Jerusalem Artist Chanan Mazal. 46 x 61 cm (18" x 24")
ציור גואש מקורי של חנן מזל, ירושלים. זכרון ילדות

2010-03-21T14:08:00.009+02:00

One weeks work - original gouache paintings by Chanan Mazal, Jerusalem
46 x 61 cm (18" x 24") on 100% cotton Arches paper

Original gouache paintings by Chanan Mazal, Jerusalem.
ציורי גואש של חנן מזל, ירושלים

2010-03-14T14:25:00.010+02:00

Cypress Trees by Chanan Mazal

Original gouache paintings by Chanan Mazal, Jerusalem 31 x 41 cm (12"x 16") on 100%cotton Arches paper
ציור גואש מקורי של חנן מזל, ירושלים

2010-02-14T12:15:00.003+02:00

Gouache 26 x 36 cm, by Chanan Mazal
Once again, I used my recurring symbols of olive trees, the round, teraced Judean Hills, the walls of Old Jerusalem and a flat yellow-orange sky, to experiment with patterns rhythms and enlivening musty colors. Alas, even after photoshopping, the colors are off.)
ציור גואש מקורי של חנן מזל, ירושלים

2010-02-14T12:02:00.008+02:00

Ink Drawings
25 years ago, I knew that that india ink was my medium, but never devoted myself to it. I find the expressiveness of the flexible quill, and the warm black washes, to be close to my soul. And it is much less expensive than psychotherapy.
Back then, in my foolish youth, I used rapidographs - fixed thickness technical pens, for drawing. How awfull!

The model was set up by others in my drawing class and had a lot of drama: A somewhat androgynous wooden doll ( I made it more girlish) an rather overly macho plaster cast, and an umbrella handle.

My first ever drawing using white ink. Next time I will dilute the ink more. I wanted to redarken sections with black ink - but ran out of time.

2009-12-15T14:27:00.010+02:00

New Giclee Prints by Chanan Mazal!
23 x 30 cm. Signed and numbered, edition of 200
Please contact me for purchasing. Available framed as well.
הדפסים חדשים של חנן מזל

2009-11-27T13:31:00.005+02:00

Pomegranates, Oranges and Figs
Acrylic on canvas. Sold
More of the fruit series - two with an ancient association with the Promised Land, and one modern. (Actually they are native to India, and not to Florida and Sicily.)
Each fruit was painted over a ground of it's complementary color. The figs were a greater color challenge, as they ripen from green to purple.

2009-09-22T13:23:00.007+03:00

Love Thy Neighbor

My new series of small giclee prints will be published this week. Most of my recent work has been on paper, and I completed many that I was happy with. Choosing which to print was hard. In the end, I chose mostly painting that I did several months ago.
The newer paintings, like this one incorporate lettering and very thick textured layers of gouache.

2009-08-19T16:10:00.005+03:00

אלטע היים
"המולדת הישנה" ציור שמן של חנן מזל
The Old Country
Oil on canvas by Chanan Mazal
71 x 111 cm, 28" x 44"
George Washington Bridge, NY-NJ.
My signature circa 1961, is copied from the inner cover of "The Man Who Didn't Was His Dishes", by Phyllis Krasilovsky

2009-07-28T12:15:00.004+03:00

Greeting Card Designs

My greeting cards are now distributed by Palphot Ltd. Last week, I completed a collection of 20 new cards, which will be printed within the next few days. I added this preview of a few styles. (Sorry, the blog program wouldn't let me add more to this post.)

I have been experimenting in abstraction, monochromatic palettes, large areas of color, and in general, breaking old painting habits. Alas, these canvases are hard to photograph in a way that looks half decent on a computer screen. Even when seen "live", subtle changes in lighting, can tun them dynamic, deep, flat, or just into a mass of shiny reflection. Sorry for not posting them, until I figure out what to do with the photography.

Yet, this work in oil paints has had a wonderful influence on my gouache illustration work:

Unlike aquarelle, gouache can be used in layers, taking advantage of the thick textured brush strokes and papers. When working with little water, the brush bristles only catch on the bumps and ridges, leaving the undercolor revealed in the little "valleys", as may be seen in the Bar and Bat Mitzva cards.

My use color had progressed as well. After a hiatus of several years, I had rediscovered the sophisiticated and quite beauty of muddy colors. When placed next to a bit of purer shades, they never cease to complement each other. And these neutrals are tricky chameleons: The same batch of color can look green when painted next to gray violet, an then rich purple when painted by lime green. We may not notice it happening, but the visual cortex in our brains tries to make sense out of it all. Quite engaging!

2009-06-11T15:03:00.005+03:00

I have painted many canvases, and designed dozens of greeting cards recently. But I have also been delinquent about posting any images here. I beg your pardons.
The intensive card work in gouache has given me opportunities to experiment with less conventional color palettes.

Mud colored gouache, 15.5 x 23 cm

2009-04-27T15:19:00.004+03:00

Archeology of My Current Painting:

Undercoat - all complementary colors. I was happy with my choices.

Strong! Good depth and vibrancy. The "empty area" in the center works well.
I like the open contours of areas of color

Too busy! The universal use of dabbled paint and pattern flattened the painting.

Looking for contrast between "noisy" and quite areas.

Present coat of paint.

I'm not sure if it is done yet. I liked the freshness and excitement of it's second coat of paint, and the quite sophisticated colors of the present coat. Sometimes I wish that I could go back and make a clone of the painting as it was, so I could have both!
חג שמח

2009-04-22T17:16:00.003+03:00

Layer 100
It's almost done. I guess. Please compare to earlier stages of this painting in earlier posts, Layers 4 and 8.

2009-03-30T17:04:00.004+03:00

Amulet based on traditional folk art, gouache 31 x 41 cm.
"For he will give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all ways." Psalm 91

Mizrach
"From the rising of the sun, till the going down thereof, the name of the Lord is to be praised." Psalm 113.
Gouache, 31 x 41 cm

2009-03-26T17:37:00.002+02:00

Mizrach
Gouache, 26 x 36 cm

2009-03-22T10:28:00.005+02:00

Layer 4

Layer 8

I have reworked this painting repeatedly. Every so often, my brain tells me that something is logically wrong with the composition, and patiently destroy its passion. They, after 3 sessions of progressively graying it. I though paint at it in a frenzy. These shots were taken after frenzy. It is currently still at Layer 8. I ain't 100% happy with it. I miss some of those black attacks visibly in Layer 4 .... but should I just leave it as it is? If I attack the painting with blue black, will I not know when to stop again?

On Thursday, I started a new one, based on the same little pencil sketch that this one was. I think that I will include the bunch of pomegranates that appear on the lower right of the earlier stages, and some of the curved motion.

2009-03-18T10:56:00.001+02:00

Bouncing On Jerome

Bronx memory. Bouncing on the Jerome Ave. over cobblestones and abandoned trolley tracks, in the back seat of th 1956 Oldsmobile. Uptown to Grandma Polly, downtown to Sadie. Getting a glimpse at the roaring intestines of the subway cars, after they belched forth from the depths of Manhattan.

2009-03-16T12:22:00.004+02:00

דאס קליינער איז מיד
Dos Kleiner Iz Mid
The Little One is Tired
His temper tantrums aren't any milder today. Part of a series of Bronx memories, visiting both Grandmas. 1956 Oldsmobile - Two Toned. I just read that the paint colors were copied from women's underwear fashions. White roof, pastel body. How silly Americans are - I thought that cars were for going from here to there!
Oil, 60 x 70 cm

2009-03-15T12:52:00.001+02:00

Pomegranate Rays

Oil, 120 x 140 cm, 47 x 55 inches, Dec 2008
I reworked this over months, finding that what interested me most was the relation between the foreground and background. There is a lot to learn from artists like Dufy and the Viennese, who freely moved between fine art and the decorative arts.

2009-03-12T18:37:00.002+02:00

Jerusalem with Bird
Illustration work, gouache, 26 x 36 cm, to be printed smaller.
That dark green could never exist here, even if we had rain the past 5 years, and not this drought.

2009-03-04T14:35:00.004+02:00

If I Forget Thee O' Jerusalem

I painted this 2 or 3 years ago, but just scanned it now. Gouache on Arches Watercolor Paper, 35 x 50 cm, Framed.
Any buyers?

2009-02-23T16:53:00.001+02:00

Study of Feet

I need to draw more!

2009-02-16T12:27:00.003+02:00

Shir's Hands

I thought that I would be drawing a full model. (I was making up for a class that I had missed, and sat in on another.) Little did I know that the challenge would be even bigger. Hands. This actor has the big expressive hands and toes like fingers

2009-02-10T15:11:00.005+02:00

Sketches for a Shoah Memorial

Drawn in pencil and eraser, yellow "charcoal" pencil and white chalk

2008-12-24T15:32:00.004+02:00

Softly Spoken - Experiment in Low Contrast

Oil on Canvas, 60 x 70 cm

Often the strongest statements are understatements.

I had to adjust this in Photoshop, to reach the quiet colors. The camera saw right through the grayish thin layers of paint, to capture the stronger shades below.

2008-12-23T12:11:00.003+02:00

Les Boulevards de Paris
oil over acrylic antecedent, 70 x 80 cm

After writing my previous post, I decided to translate the name of this painting into French.
This is FINAL stage (oops, unsigned still).
Le kaki, c'est une couleur jolie, n'est pas?

2008-12-23T11:26:00.003+02:00

Experimentation in Contrasts
Oil over acrylic undercoat, on canvas, 120 x 140 cm.
Folks, it's finally done.
This painting has gone through so many alterations and altercations. Or as the French would say, "boulerversements".
Big and graphic, with contrasting round red shapes, and angular green ones; fussy with warm cold contrasts within the reds; loss of contrast between patterned and flat areas; focus on the background purple "negative spaces"; refocus on the objects, the "positive spaces"; discovery of the contrast between the brilliant reds and the mud reds; muted contrasts; finally creating contrast between "big" and "small" areas of color.
I would post a slide show of the stages, if I could figure out how to.

2008-11-27T11:20:00.002+02:00

Paris Streetmap
Oil, 70 x 80 cm
Reworked from an older "sampler" type painting. I had randomly, rapidly painted branches of pomegranates, and then placed a grid of masking tape over it. Each rubric was over-painted differently. But as usual, I didn't know when to stop, and the result was riotous and overly colored - but with no true color investigation. Yesterday, I worked and scratched, painted and etched, until the rays of khaki appeared, defining my Paris Boogie Woogie

2008-11-24T20:15:00.003+02:00

Commissioned Painting

After making many revisions, I am quite happy with the color balances and harmonies, the naive perspective and the clarity of the pattern filled surfaces.

Most of the interesting shades were created by combining opposite colors, especially sap green with carmine, and Naples yellow with purple. Actually, a bit of Naples yellow in everything. In the final version, I used metalic colors sparingly.

The Hebrew lettering remains to be applied. The painting was commissioned in memory of a lovely woman, who died suddenly in the prime of her life. The sellected verses reflect her noble character and values.

2008-10-07T14:55:00.003+02:00

Self Portrait 7.10.2008
pencil, 35 x 50 cm
I started this intending to work in a very stylized, cubist manner. I skipped getting the proportions right, and tried to make my face look like a Frank Gehry building. Well, the final result may not look much like the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. That shimmering construction of metal got lost under the debris of eraser dust and pencil smudges. But I like it and the way I used the background so effectively.

2008-10-05T16:34:00.005+02:00

Jerusalem Hills 4.
Aquarelle, 51 x 36 cm
After doing the previous painting in this series, I decided to carry the idea of a "picture frame within a picture frame" and the dynamic arches of stripes to the extreme. I love the contrast of the static and moving elements. And indeed, in reality, the rigid verticals and horizontals of the man made buildings, and the emphatic verticals of cypress trees and date palms, do indeed contrast with the flowing curves of the terraced hills and valleys.

2008-10-02T13:38:00.004+03:00

Jerusalem Hills 3
Aquarelle, 51 x 36 cm
I seem to be getting better at these. I have another one almost done. I'd like to work larger, but this size paper block fits nicely into my bicycle basket, and I enjoy taking them home to work in the evening.
I 'm working on another similar picture, in which I took these design elements to a greater extreme: I used the contrasts between the rectangles and curves; soft horizontals and strong verticals; framed images inside framed images, and angles of stripes, to make a wild painting.
Check the blog soon to see the results!

2008-10-02T13:24:00.002+03:00

I drew this shortly before a trip to the Czech Republic. I am quite interested in Cubism, and how the movement influenced more popular art, design and illustration in the following decades. Then I hit Prague. The Czechs adopted the Cubist aesthetic with a greater enthusiasm then elsewhere - even if at times is was only hijacked by their special talent for surface decoration. Anyway, who would have thought that Cubism could be so charming? I Loved it!
If you do get there, go visit the Museum of Czech Cubism (Kubismus Cesky) on Celetna St in the Old Town. It is small and wonderful, with a lovely coffee house on the second floor. (Go for the decor, but be warned, for all of those with an affection for good European coffee, Czech coffee is lousy. We should send Israeli baristas there to give them lessons. Perhaps I should suggest that to my son?)

2008-08-07T17:23:00.007+03:00

Sketches for a Commission

I'm sure that there will be more revisions. I haven;t worked with a detailed sketch in ages. I am enjoying it. And pencils are such a delightful invention

2008-08-07T17:18:00.002+03:00

Wow! My Largest Yet.

Oil on canvas, 120 x 140 cm, 17" x 55" inches
.
Forth layer - but is it complete yet? Hmmmm. I'll sit on it for a few days.

2008-07-14T00:11:00.002+03:00

Self Portrait in Gray #2
Oil on canvas, 50 x 70 cm

2008-07-09T23:12:00.004+03:00

Self Portrait in Gray #1

Oil, 70 x 100 cm.

I painted this before and after sunset, on a top floor, next to west facing window. Ouch! The light and shadows danced all over my face, the first half of each session, the sun hitting hard from the left, and then the electric lights hitting softer from the right. But I stuck it out!

I also had a wonderful discovery: I had washed and forgotten my favorite brushes at my studio. So I "made do" with the ignored ones, including an unused soft round one. The lovely brushwork on the neck and chest was a gift that the brush gave me, in appreciation of the opportunity that I offered her, to proove herself. :-) Thanks Brush.

2008-06-30T11:44:00.002+03:00

Sampler, Layer Two
Oil over acrylic, 70 x 80 cm
What fun using masking tape!

2008-06-30T11:34:00.003+03:00

Olive Tree
עץ הזיתֿֿ

Acrylic, January 2007, 70 x 80 cm.
This was my first canvas this large, and I approached the fabric with awe. Painting it was a real learning experience, and very gratifying. I learned the advantages of the paint, which can be lyered over and over, but has a poor covering quality as compared to gouache, with which you was get nice strong graphic shapes, as I wanted in the leaves, and as I was soon to learn with oil paints, which are so much richer. But only acrylic can allow the wonderful three dimensional work, such as I did in the tree trunk. I used modeling paste. And the pattens on the bottom. In oil, I would have to wait forever for each layer to dry.

2008-05-22T23:24:00.001+03:00

2008-05-22T22:56:00.001+03:00

2008-04-07T20:59:00.003+03:00

An artist from Iowa City commented on this watercolor:
"Wonderfully bright. A happy scene, full of growth." (Thanks Phil)
Anyway, that is what I hoped to express. Growth.

I think that I will ask him to borrow that line, for its name.

I particularly like the accordion effect on the bottom left.

2008-03-18T23:51:00.004+02:00

I've been working a lot on self portraits - I'm always available to pose. This one I like a lot.

2008-03-11T02:47:00.003+02:00

Excercize. Self portrait in chalk. Working in negative - that is drawing the light instead of the shadow, was innitially a challenge for my brain. I will work more on self protraits (Heh, I'm always available to sit! On the other hand,, the choice of compositions and expressions is limited by the placement of the mirror and by my concentration.)

2008-02-11T17:58:00.002+02:00

Pomegranates
Another small canvas. I am happy with the results.

2008-02-11T17:49:00.002+02:00

Zig Zag
I used color to create the effects of perspective, even when the preliminary drawing is totally flat. I hope to do this with greater intention and experimentation in another painting. The idea is so appropriate for Jerusalem - a city that can be viewed from so many angles, physically, symbolically and spiritually. The Cubists used multiple points of view, to investigate depicting space. Maybe I will use it to investigate meaning.

2008-02-11T17:43:00.002+02:00

I have started working on very small canvases again. Because the can be finished quicker, I feel free to experiment with variations on color palettes, transparencies and 3D pyrotechnics.

2008-01-31T15:58:00.002+02:00

Self Portraits

The first, pencil drawing is quite accurate - especially to mey eyes, since I am used to viewing my asymetrical face mirrored left/right. My eyes are somewhat enlarged, as they appeared reflected through the lenses of my eyeglasses.

I enjoyed applying color to the second quick sketch

2008-01-23T13:48:00.002+02:00

Self Portrait

2008-01-23T13:38:00.002+02:00

Once again, I played with a minimal pallet of, and maximum of pattern, textures, and contrast between matte and reflective surfaces. I used paints containing mica and grains of stainless steel. When photographing the painting, I had to choose between capturing the colors accurately, or capturing the reflections. Oh well. I have a lot to learn about photographing art work.
The oversized figs are surrealistic in dimension, which is by the fact that the background is so broken into little elements and its silvery colors.

2008-01-23T13:35:00.002+02:00

Fresh Figs in Baskets II

I started this painting and the previous one, the same Friday. I finished cooking and cleaning early, and went to the studio for an hour and a half before Shabbat. (It usually takes me a long time in the mornings, to begin thinking creatively - and then, all too soon, the day is over. Perhaps a tighter schedule works better for me.) The results were good. I knew exactly what I wanted to do with the other fig painting. This one needed lots of reworking.

2007-12-31T16:36:00.002+02:00

Fresh Figs in Baskets
תאנים
Once figs were the plebeian fruit. The grow easily, without much water. Even more important, the fruits ripen over a long period. One tree can give fresh fruit over a long period - exactly what makes them so problematic today. You have to send your Thai worker to comb each tree every few days for months.
And you can dry them for the off season. And tie them in rings for desert caravan. (I'm filling space about plebeians again.) Then Haute Cuisine discovered figs.
Anyway, I love them.
Anyway, thanks to Haute Cuisine - or to my talent, this painting was one of the most talked about at my showing at the URJ Convention in San Diego in December.

2007-11-27T17:19:00.000+02:00

2007-11-25T23:02:00.000+02:00

Nefilat Apa'im

2007-09-25T15:56:00.001+02:00

Morning Light

This is the first of a series of sleepers, the largest, and one of the more introspective.
Once again, I contrasted black and white, with color. Contrasted 2 patterns of two cooler complementary colors, with a large area of one warm, contrasted delicate lines, with bold. Contrasted round geometrics, with razor straight. Contrasted happy sunshine, with lonely melancholia. Contrasted flat symplification and abstraction of the human figure - with one small, expressive, detailed and multidimensional area: the sole of the foot.

I like it.
And was afraid of reactions.
And have waited several weeks till I posted it.
I mean - I'm a JUDAICA artist. Will this surprise my clientèle?

2007-09-25T15:49:00.000+02:00

Still working on it.
I grayed out some areas, and made the image more comprehensible and coherent. Never underestimate the POWER of grey.

2007-09-18T17:33:00.000+02:00

Still Unnamed

I experimented with the pallet knife. I always use a long narrow one, but I found that the wide ones, both big and tiny, gave me the desire effect.
It it done?
Dunno.
I'm debating whether to add some sort of visual arrow, pointing in from the bottom right corner, cutting across the 3 parallel leaves.

2007-09-17T13:58:00.001+02:00

Well, it doesn't have a name yet.

(Why does it need a name? Kinda presumptuous. I guess it's to keep the gallery owners from getting confused. So the price list makes sense.)

Anyway, this is my HUGE Black and White Pomegranates Painting.

And just to proove how much I've been working at it - or to view the way my Devious Design Mind works, I'm posting a progress report.

It ain't done yet.

2007-09-02T15:17:00.002+03:00

Black and White and Red All Over
Final Version.
While the colors in this post, are perhaps a bit too blue, they are more accurate than the golden cast made by the halogen lighting in the previous post.
Photoshop for both of them.

2007-08-21T12:12:00.001+03:00

The Power of Black and White
הכח של שחור לבן

I played with opposites. Black and white patterns are by nature, quite colorful. By multiplying textures, inverting positive and negative spaces and playing with the moods that shapes suggest - the artist can suggest color to the brain.

Not content with this challenge, I then played with the contrast between gentle colored patterns and objects, and the starkness of the black and white ceramics. Which is stronger? I had to work hard to balance them.

Then I added another trick question for the viewer's brain. We tend to seek out light. But what is the most brilliant - the dirty white, or the reflective silvers and golds?

Ha! Confused you! Now go find your way in the picture, with the arrows and tangents pointing in all different ways.

2007-08-16T11:23:00.001+03:00

Pomegranates - Unnamed

I sold this painting - one of my favorites, when still unnamed. I described it as being influenced by the Wiener Werkstätte. So at the risk of sending my very Israeli pomegranates into Exile, I might name it "Vienna Pomegranates".

Painting it (a great learning experience) was tremendous fun. I schlepped the canvas home each evening under my arm (If I was one cm shorter, it wouldn't fit) and painted like a Whirling Dervish until 2 or 3 am.

Unfortunately, my broken camera, and my lack of experience, do not allow a better view of the layers of color, textures and reflections. As I type this, I am kicking myself for not getting it professionally photographed. But as usual, my best works are made under pressure. I finished this beauty the night before my flight to exhibitions in the US, framed it in the morning, and schlepped it on the plane.

Sold, to a private collector US

2007-08-15T13:52:00.002+03:00

And Your Children Shall Return to Their Borders
ושבו בנים לגבולם

The original was painted in goache, and has been printed by giclée.
The painting contains a mixture of significant historical and schematic buildings.

2007-08-14T17:13:00.001+03:00

Tzuf Devash
צו"ף דב"ש

The Tzuf Devash synagogue, belonging to the Moroccan community within the Old City of Jerusalem, survived the Jordanian occupation as a hollow shell. As it is hidded away inside a courtyard, the gem is not well known or visited.

I began the painting, both inspired by the beauty of building itself, the pioneering spirit of its builders, and with an ambition to make the acrylic paint do 3D pyrotechnics. I chose a very rigid symmetrical composition, to counterbalance the finger painting. The plants at the base were added much later, to provide a restful break from the symmetry.

2007-08-14T15:21:00.001+03:00

Afula Synagogue
בית הכנסת הגדול - עפולה

The road to Afula plows straight though the Jezrael Valley. Very unusual in this hilly country. Hence, it is called the "Ruler Road" and Afula - "The hole at the end of the ruler".
At the very center of the hole, lies one of the most charming main streets in the country, with a wide avenue of huge palm trees and benches running down the center. So much love was given in Afula's building!
At the head of the avenue, stands the Great Synagogue, Bet Shalom. It was built in 1928, and hasn't lost a bit of it's beauty.
This small painting as one of my first on canvas, and I'm keeping it as a souvenir. I battled with the paint medium, as I had only worked with goache and aquarelle for many years.

2007-08-14T14:55:00.001+03:00

The Halutz
החלוץ

Once again, dared to use a human figure.
The pioneer is no longer young - but as the Bible said about Moses, Lo nas lekho "His vigor was unabated". The literal meaning is stronger; "his moisture had not fled" i.e. like the inversion of the English expression, "a dried up old hag".
Anyway - back to my vigorous Halutz. His look is a bit ironic, a bit affectionate, and certainly taking joy in the fruits of his labor. The Land of Israel is blooming. He looks at the cynics and "Post-Zionists" with a smile, like a good natured grandpa, chuckling at the little ones' childish antics.

As usual when I draw men, the pioneer looked a bit like me at first. I get stuck in the self portrait mode. Then I gave him a personality of his own. Under the skin tones, I painted a base coat of gold and bronze. The result is luminous - "bronzed by the sun" and a bit heroic.

2007-08-14T14:43:00.000+03:00

Curtain Call

Every so often, I just have to get away from anything didactic. This cabaret singer/dancer/actress is my most recent escapade. I enjoyed her grotesque, yet expressive and feminine posture. And her bittersweet stare.
I used a rather limited palette, but flittered silver, pearl and gold generously. The colors were deliberately muddied, but on the jet black gesso, even mud becomes luminous.

2007-08-07T13:27:00.002+03:00

Israeli Story
סיפור ישראלי

I've always loved architecture, and I've always loved history. Like for the classic small child, who always draws face-like houses with two window/eyes and one door, houses embody for me, the souls of their residents. And they have souls of their own as well.

This painting tells the biography of Israeli architecture, during the romantic period of the first Aliyot. It begins with the local Arab vernacular, nouveau Shtetl elegance, and the red tile roof of Provence. The black basalt comes from the Kinneret. The pink stucco from the coast.

Sold, Private Collection, USA

2007-08-07T13:07:00.003+03:00

Trampist
I don't know what I was feeling when I created this character. He's a sort of Jewish Midnight Cowboy. Part Hippie, part "Pushtak" (the 1970's Israeli "greaser") part Pilgrim Seeking Truth, and part clown. For certain, he is infused with the Israeli Wanderlust. Having just barely established roots, he is out hitch hiking, by the palm trees leading to the old terminal at Ben Gurion Airport.
Is he my alter-ego?

2007-06-28T14:56:00.000+03:00

Homecoming
ושבו בנים לגבולם

Zionism and the Land of Israel are of course major themes in my artwork.

As always, I have an interior battle between painting what I, as an artist, am interested in painting, or have something innovative to say - and painting what I feel customers and collectors want to buy.

Often the two pulls, pull in the same direction. Integrity and Income unite. Sometimes they don't. I paint what I think will sell. And I'm usually wrong. If I don't find it interesting, neither do others.

My "Zionist" artwork is often inspired by an idealistic fervor. In todays "post-Zionist" bon ton, it is almost embarrassing. And sometimes... I just wanna paint! And experiment with a brush. And Israel is such a lovely subject for just painting.

Above Painting: Homecoming

Jeremiah portrays Rachel the Matriarch as crying for her children, as they are led to exile. He then comforts her,
“And there is hope for thy future, saith the LORD; And thy children shall return to their own border.”
I painted Rachel׳s Tomb and an ancient olive tree - a symbol of tenacity, as they witness the Ingathering of the Exiles. They are surrounded by new homes and villages growing in the Land of Israel

Acrylic

2007-06-27T17:01:00.000+03:00

I would like to invite anyone close by, to two showings of my artwork in the USA this summer.

Torah and Tradition
Originals and prints, acrylic, goache and giclée

July 1 - 26
JCC on the Palisades
4 E. Clinton Ave
Tenafly NJ
201-569-7900

Opening (and opportunity to meet me)
Sunday, July 8, 1 - 3 pm

People of the Book
Giclée prints

June 24 - August 14
JCC of Northern Virginia
8900 Little River Turnpike
Fairfax VA
701-537-3065

2007-06-26T00:04:00.000+03:00

I have been painting like a whirlwind since returning from my art shows in America this spring. Did I write "whirlwind"? Well, if breaking my own rules is included in the meaning of that phrase, then I've been working like a tornado.

Rule #1 is start with a good composition. Make several thumbnail sketches, with variations on the theme(and usually use the first, freshest).
My older serious works were created after painstaking, detailed and researched compositions and iconography.

Rule #2: Don't make too detailed plans. Some spontaneity and the unexpected corrections of small mistakes, makes more interesting art.

BREAKING THE RULES

Pomegranate Carpet - first image

First I threw a few pomegranates down on the canvas. No Pencil sketch. Just Random.
Then I started filling in the blank spaces. With more and more and more pomegranate like shapes. Circles have no direction> The are notoriously troublemakers in compositions. The delicate and not so delicate crowns didn't always help, because I positioned some of them wrong.

NOW THE HARD WORK BEGAN: Making it a coherent and pleasing piece, after such a difficult start!

I knew that I wanted this painting to be rich, tactile, riotous. I wanted to flaunt the rules of genteel decor, just as I flaunted my own old rules. And make Jewish art fun.

MORE OF THE SAME

For the past two months, I kept planning to move on to other subject matter - perhaps architectural, Israeli history, or even making the bold step to re-include human figures in my professional paintings.But the Pomegranate Games kept calling me back. I've learned so much while at it.With each painting, I set for myself a new goal, or creative restriction, or experiment in technique. The sizes vary greatly. The color palette less - that is, the raw colours, as they come out of the tube.

About paint tubes: who needs a brush all the time? Tubes can sometimes do a brave job, all on their own. So can fingers - but wait a minute - this stuff can be carcinogenic.

The Month of Tishrei - second image

... Experimenting with a new long, narrow and soft watercolor brush. Using it for scroll work like drawing, contrasting heavy solid painting with graceful light lines. Role reversal: fiery summer red retreating into the background, calm gentle green leaves forward. Tension/calm. Tension/calm

Bell and Pomegranate - third image

The largest canvas in this batch.

Again, I used the anti planning strategy. I just threw some stale pomegranate stencils on the canvas. But rotated them. Topsy Turvy. I even rotated the canvas constantly while painting it, and couldn't decide which way it should hang. We had a vote at home. The results were split along gender lines.

I told the framer to put two wires on the back - so whoever purchases it, can turn it around, have two paintings for the price of one.

However - the final result was anything but dizzying. Somehow, with some help from color and transparent glazes. this is the most tranquil painting of the lot.

My Love's Pomegranate - the newest pomegranate, sixth acrylic in the series

I kept the basic composition simple and banal - to see just how exciting layering and tactile textures and transparencies can be. Standing ground on their own.