A day in Tel Aviv

Fabric store on Nachalat Binyamin, Tel Aviv
 
Grandma flew home early Wednesday morning and the family is in a funk. Even with the rain and snow and leaky guest room we managed to have a pretty great time. I'll try to get some pics up from our travels over the next few days.  I don't know if it's because I'm new here but I just find I can't get enough of the view. The gritty cities. The rugged hills. The markets. The cafes. The graffiti. The museums. The shops. (The museum shops). I just find it all overwhelmingly inspiring. On Tuesday last week my mother-in-law babysat for the kids in the afternoon allowing us to spend the whole day in Tel Aviv (with the baby). We started out at Nachalat Binyamin, an open-air craft market downtown. Then we had lunch at HaMitbachon (the little kitchen) which specializes in home-cooking. We had the beef cous cous and eggplant spread on fresh baked bread. Yum. Then we walked a few blocks to a particularly charming neighborhood called Neve Tzedek, one of the first neighborhoods in Tel Aviv which is currently enjoying a renaissance. Boutiques, cafes and restaurants o'plenty. And the buildings, home to the rich and famous of Israel in many cases, have all been beautifully rennovated. And since it was the day before Purim, many locals were out in their scary/silly/skanky best. Here are a few of my favorite corners. I'll be back soon with some shots of Jerusalem too.


Purim party posters
 

Merav Danny, Nachalat Binyamin


Daniela Dori, Nachalat Binyamin


Osnat Shavit, Nachalat Binyamin


Ribbon store, Tel Aviv


Hamsas, Neve Tzedek


Ginger, Neve Tzedek


Gritty corner of Tel Aviv


Ayala Bar Shop, Neve Tzedek

Treasured

I made my first ETSY treasury today while on a break from painting. I've been meaning to make one for a long time but it used to be kind of painful and difficult and life's hard enough without waiting til 2am to snag an open treasury spot. I'm up late enough a it is. And let's just say that I'm not planning to apply for a merchandising job over at Anthropolgie or anything, but I'm happy with how it turned out. Plus, these are all works by folks I really like and in some cases absolutely treasure.

Go here to see the whole thing and then click on everything and leave us some love.

Who's who:
Maya from Spring Tree Road makes the juiciest hand-spun yarn you'll ever see. And her photography is terrific. She even wrote a little tutorial on her blog to get that macro lens look without having a macro lens.

Valentina Ramos makes gorgeous pen and ink drawings. And lately she's doing all kinds of 3D stuff that I am loving. Plus she's bursting with positive energy, if you're into that kind of thing. She's addictive.

Michal is someone I actually met (!) in Israel. She sells at a biweekly open air market in Tel Aviv and everytime we visit I buy something from her. This time I got up the courage to introduce myself and we gabbed about ETSY because she'd just opened a shop. There's just something about colored enamel and silver that makes me giddy.

Rachel is one of those rare people you come across who fills you up with her words and thoughts and her gift for capturing moments. We've been meaning to do a trade now for months but I simply cannot choose.

I don't know Stephanie but I love her work. We have similar trajectories, at least the American moving abroad after college and meeting a local and staying for a while part of it. She's been in Germany for 13 years (maybe more now) and I left Israel after a five year stint. Anyway, I was introduced to Aimee through her blog so if I ever make it to Munich I'm going to buy her a big fat strudel.

And then Jen. Polaroid toting, wine sipping, book making Jen. I love the simplicity in Jen's work. It's like she's a Scandinavian trapped in America. Plus she's funny as all get out. And she loves a good adventure which makes me think that there's a chance we will meet one of these days...

Aimee. Aimee and I have exchanged emails longer than some of the papers I wrote in college. For real. She is genuine, brave, intuitive and hilariously funny - all of which comes out loud and clear in her magnificent doodles.

Amy from Elemental is a metalsmithing mama and her comments on this blog continue to crack me up. She's also inspired  me to take baby environmental steps so I, and mother earth, owe her a debt of gratitude.

I met Catherine at a local craft fair. My kids were close to breaking half the stuff on her table so we had to scoot along but I loved all of the little birdies and insects that she incorporates into her work. She even has a plate with cockroaches on the top. I love a potter with a sense of humor.

I just ordered two or Pixie's prints and when I get my act together I will frame and hang them in my studio. Pixie is honest and authentic and he work is so full it's overflowing. Plus her emails are spit out my coffee funny. And I don't miss a blog post.

I don't know PolishedTwo but I have one of her necklaces and I love it.

And Lori. I love Lori's style. I love her attitude, her openness. She once sent me a card of a woman in prayer pose and I return to that image when my chakras get out of line. Go look at her shop and get some happy.

There are four more in this treasury that I couldn't manage to nap in the screen capture. But if you go to the link you'll find them. One is mine. Hi. Two others I don't know but I admire their work. Laura George was suggested to me in what I think is a new part of ETSY favorites. I guess they suggest artist based on who you've already added as a favorite. Neat. And Nina In Vorm is someone I came across through Aimee. Finally there's Jane who's blog Spain Daily is one of my favorites. She's an expat living in Spain and has a great eye for catching daily life where ever she is in the world and a big heart for connecting lots of other cool people. You will love her too.

In motion

I've been on a painting hiatus for lack of space because of the studio/murphy bed project and, more recently, lack of motivation. The unintentional time off has left me questioning my abilities, passion, commitment, drive. This piece was commissioned by a friend whose only direction was to capture pieces of the natural world in motion. I'm enjoying painting it and grateful for the inspiration my friend has gifted me in this exchange.

The Locals

 Art work by Allison Strine

In the last few weeks something crazy has started to happen. Local artists have started coming out of the woodwork. Or maybe I've opened myself up to being found. I got an email from a woman named Melissa who is very well known in the ketubah making community. Her work is beautiful and she is the master of search engine optimization. You google any kind of Jewish Gay Interfaith Multicultural Buddhist Polygamist Ketubah and she will have a landing page with some general info and the links to her real website. It's genius.

So she found me on ETSY and she emailed me! And she lives five minutes from me and wants to have coffee! Which we're still trying to plan.  So I emailed her back telling her how flattered I was that she would reach out and how I really admire her work and she wrote back more nice things and soon we're swooning over each other and once we can finally get coffee on the calendar we'll meet and I'll tell you all about how great she is in person. Did I mention she moonlights as a jazz singer?

And then the very same week Marcy from ETSY Chai, the Jewish ETSY team that I'm on, emailed to tell me that she put me in a treasury and would I be interested in meeting because she lives about twenty minutes away. OF COURSE! So we meet and she's adorable and makes wonderful pottery and does a lot of craft shows and we might even do a show together this October and have side by side booths!

But wait, there's more. I went to see a Jackie Greene concert in Santa Cruz last Saturday which was UNBELIEVABLE. My brothers have been obsessed with this guy for years and I finally get it. He's AWESOME. My oldest brother was leaving for Mexico for two months and this was basically his going away party. And while we're hanging around waiting for Jackie to roll my brother introduces me to a girl from his soccer team named Laamie who it turns out reads my blog! And she was so excited to meet me because she's also an artist and has two kids the same ages as mine. But she was so modest and it turns out that she is quickly becoming the next biggest thing in assemblage jewelry and fashion design and recently scored a contract with Anthropologie! Hello!??!

And it also turns out that the woman who is renting my brother's place while he's gone is a big time jewelry designer who lives eight months out of the year in Indonesia sourcing and designing her pieces and the other part apparently living in my brother's house! Go to her website and you'll see a picture of OPRAH wearing her earrings! Then go to her story page and you'll see a picture of her with a giant grin which my brother says is because she's sleeping in his Tempur-Pedic bed. I don't know this girl yet, but she's only one degree away so it's only a matter of time.

And then yesterday I received a beautiful print in the mail from the wonderful Allison Strine whose talent and humor is a daily inspiration to me. I actually reached out to her! Misanthropic me!  So this lovely print arrived yesterday which maybe explains why so many wonderful artists are finding their way to my little corner of the world. I guess my creative slip is showing.

Peace emerges

"Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal."

- Martin Luther King Jr.

The tree in this piece forms the letter shin with its branches, which in Hebrew is the first letter of the word SHALOM and can also symbolize the name of god. It emerges from the chaotic wilderness on earth and lifts toward a peaceful sky. A sky full of promise.

The Other Happiest Place on Earth

Before we got married my husband and I traveled around the world for nine months. I would send very long emails to my people every couple of weeks. Once, while we were in Kathmandu, I wrote the mother of all emails about our journey through Thailand and then the power went out. Bye bye email. So me and the Welsh guy at the next terminal spent a few minutes cursing Nepal and the fucking ox that probably just tripped over the city's main electrical power line. And then we met my husband for a drink and I wrote an even better email the next day.

So let's just say that a lumbering ox named Blogger just deleted the blog entry I'd been writing for the last 45 minutes. Somehow the whole thing got erased just as it was auto-saving. Thanks for nothing auto-save. But let's assume that this version will be even better than what I just wrote. And I'll be able to write it in only ten minutes. Blind typing.

And let's also assume that my New Year's resolution was not to write in my blog every day. Obviously. Or even once a week at this rate. But I've been away visiting family in New Mexico. And I have a million stories to tell from the trip which is why I haven't been able to write because there's too much to write and isn't that always how it goes? So I will get through the stories slowly and probably not chronologically because that would feel like work. And I'm lazy.

I will tell you that on this trip I discovered heaven. Until now I've only really had a clear vision of hell. It's muggy in a way that leaves my hair permanently frizzy; there are thousands of two year olds  having tantrums; it is very dusty and full of state employees; I can only wear polyester; I always have my period and there are many, many cats. But, until now, I did not have as clear an image of heaven. My happy place, if you will. The place where I could go when I needed to shut out everything. There have been contenders. A lake by a mountain. Too many mosquitoes. A tranquil beach. Sand in my tushy.

But on this trip I found it. It's called Jackalope. Feast your eyes on this treasure of trove of handmade. Handsewn. Handcut. Handcarved. Handpainted. Handed over from an assembly line in China. This is a giant warehouse of chingaderas (little fucking things). Paper cut flags, oil cloth by the yard, lanterns, pottery, blown glass, worry dolls, day glow skulls, Frida magnets, baskets, furniture, embroidered everything, anything you could possibly need for a Dia de los Muertos celebration, carvings, lucha libre lunch boxes and sombreros.

 

And you bet your culo I bought my daughter one of these little embroidered dresses which I, against my better judgment, let her wear to preschool her first day back and which came home in a baggy smeared with paint. But I washed it out and she is ready to reprise her role as Frida for Halloween 2010.

And lucky me, I got to share heaven with two favorite women, my mommy and my sister in law. We left our husbands at home with our kids and spent the afternoon patrolling the plaza, drinking Mexican hot chocolate and finally arriving at this marvelous retreat. And as we are admiring a stack of woven carpets, I hear a faint cry. Mommy. That must be in my head.

 

But behold! It was not in my head. It was my kids! And my niece and nephew! In a wagon! Apparently their fathers, not knowing where we had ended up, had taken all the kids to see Alvin and the Chipmunks but it was sold out and in an act of desperation they came to Jackalope because not only does this place have every tchotchke known to man, it also has a petting zoo where you can feed donkeys. And a glass blower. Well you don't feed the glass blower. Just the donkeys.

And I thought, huh. Who invited my kids to my happy place? But there they were. Jumping around, screaming with glee and nearly bowling over a row of three foot St. Francis de Asisis. But I was very happy to share my happy place with them. And happier still when their father took them home in a separate car.

Woman of Valor

I'm warning you up front that this is a lengthy entry.

This is a piece that I created this week. The inspiration comes from Eshet Chayil or Woman of Valor, a twenty-two verse poem with which King Solomon concludes the book of Proverbs (Proverbs 31). The poem describes the Woman of Valor as one who is energetic, righteous, and capable. It is obviously meant to honor women, and I'm sure that back in the day it was maybe even progressive. But I have to say I'm not crazy about all of the verses. So I came up with a version more suitable to the complex lives of women/mothers today. The original is in italics, followed by my interpretation (in bold).

An accomplished woman, who can find? Her value is far beyond pearls.
Accomplished women are everywhere, just open your eyes King Solomon! Geez.

Her husband's heart relies on her and he shall lack no fortune.
Her husband relies on her to do the taxes and get a nice refund check.

She does him good and not evil, all the days of her life.
She does him good and only thinks evil thoughts when he leaves his socks by the door.

She seeks wool and flax, and works with her hands willingly.
She seeks quality jeans at a good price and a manicure would be nice too.

She is like the merchant ships, she brings her bread from afar.
She only shops locally and her bread is multi-grain organic.

She arises while it is still night, and gives food to her household and a portion to her maidservants.
She arises when the alarm goes off, pours the cereal and longs for a personal chef.

She plans for a field, and buys it. With the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.
She co-signs on the house and has a nice Merlot to celebrate.

She girds her loins in strength, and makes her arms strong.
Her loins have not been the same since she had the babies but she has strong arms (from carrying them all the time).

She knows that her merchandise is good. Her candle does not go out at night.
She's still smoking hot even though her boobs are droopy.

She sets her hands to the distaff, and holds the spindle in her hands.
She's not great at sewing, but she's taking a class on Mondays.

She extends her hands to the poor, and reaches out her hand to the needy.
She donates to her friends who do Team in Training.

She fears not for her household because of snow, because her whole household is warmly dressed.
She lives in California where there is no snow and her household wears flip flops in winter.

She makes covers for herself, her clothing is fine linen and purple.
She actually once made a duvet cover out of two sheets and it was really awesome. But not purple.

Her husband is known at the gates, when he sits among the elders of the land.
Her husband is known at the mechanic, where he likes to look over everyone's shoulders.

She makes a cloak and sells it, and she delivers aprons to the merchant.
She buys her coat on eBay and sells it for $10 more on Craigslist because it's too small.

Strength and honor are her clothing, she smiles at the future.
Bring it.

She opens her mouth in wisdom, and the lesson of kindness is on her tongue.
She opens her mouth and mostly has nice things to say unless she's grouchy. And then she writes in her blog.

She watches over the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness.
She watches over the ways of the household, including all the damned laundry.

Her children rise and praise her, her husband lauds her.
Her children rise and want breakfast, her husband pretends he's sleeping.

Many women have done worthily, but you surpass them all.
Many women can have it all, or some modified version of it all.

Charm is deceptive and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears God shall be praised.
Charm and beauty help a lot when the mind goes.

Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.
Give her a little time to herself to recharge and see just how amazing she is.

They had me at so...

The other day I was delighted to receive a tiny squishy envelope in the mail. I opened it immediately thinking it was any early birthday something or other or maybe someone else had a baby or something else equally intriguing and I found this yummy little cloth envelope with a lime colored button on it...
Naturally I opened it up. And inside were even more little buttons and a spooly thread thing and a secret note...


So I took out the note and there was a little message telling me that I get 15% off my next purchase at Anthropologie for my birthday because I have one of their affiliate cards (I bought something there once for 70% off, though I have been in the store many times to touch things and imagine what it would be like to have enough disposable income to actually spend $200 on a sweater).


How much are they spending on this birthday campaign? Yowza! And have you ever seen their catalogues? It's like a photography coffee table book. That's why the damn sweaters are $200. But this is the cutest friggin pouchy thingy I have ever seen so you can be sure that at some point between now and the end of September I will be in Anthropologie buying something for 70% off plus the additional 15% off for my birthday.

Special thanks to my son for being my hand model.