Procrastinate NOW!

That is my all times favorite quote of Ellen DeGeneres: "Procrastinate now, don't put it off".

And I always follow this advice, diligently. As - well, Ellen's gotta be right.

Several months ago, I created this collage that was exhibited in a show at a big-shot hi-tech company. I made it especially for that show, and it ended up with a red label of "Sold". Almost none of my artist friends got to see it, as doing it for that exhibit was a very spontaneous decision, and it was finished at 3am the night before the deadline, hung in the morning and then sold within a week.

It was a good thing I took a photo of it, as I really liked it. It was one of those pieces you put a price on with the hope it won't sell. Well, that didn't work.

Then, a friend of my niece saw it on my blog, and asked if I would do a collage of her son as a gift for his Bar Mitzvah.

Flattered and optimistic, I said "Sure!".

She sent me photos and information on what he likes, and I sat down, printing a lot of images to use as collage material. Took me a while to select the reference image for the collage. I consulted Myrna, who has done her share of commissions, and she gave me the wise advice to make sure and do something that I will enjoy working on, as otherwise it can get very frustrating. "Find something that will entice your creative juices, and do the best job you can, as if it's for a show".

So I did.

I worked out an image that actually excited me, composed it on the page to make it interesting, design-wise, with tight cropping and some fun negative shapes. I was actually excited and all ready to get started.

Only, it didn't happen. My sister was visiting at the time, and we got absorbed in sightseeing and shopping sprees, then there was that vacation in British Columbia, and then... and then... excuses galore became very handy, while the canvas and materials got neatly stored in my studio cabinet to never see the light of day again.

That was almost 10 months ago...

Earlier this week, that friend emailed me that they've just finished painting her son's room, which now has "a green gray turquoise-ish wall", and she thinks the collage would fit beautifully on that wall. That is, if I am still up to it. Am I?

Um... am I?

Took me a couple of days to decide that yes, I am. I'm a strong believer in serendipity, and if this collage suddenly pops up now, maybe it's happening for a reason. It can get me back into collaging, which I love but haven't done in a while. And tackling a commissioned work can be an important learning experience. And, the commissioner, her son and the green gray turquoise-ish wall are located in Israel, so if I go for it I get to flutter my eyelashes and announce myself as an "artist whose work is internationally collected", which has a nice ring to it.

So what do I do to make all this happen and get eternal fame?

I blog it.

Smart move. Highly efficient and utterly practical.

But I hereby admit my fear. All artists know the dread of facing that white surface, and if you add to it that it's a new image, and then add the fact that it's the face of someone's beloved son, and it being a collage, which is trickier than a painting - well, see what I mean?

So, I'm scared. And hence I procrastinate. And hence I blog it, as it kinda commits me to do it, as I know for sure that some of you will keep bugging me about it.

OK then. That was the first step.

Now I should really start working on it.

But first, let me go rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic. Anything to not get into the studio...

Nationally Exposed

The Palette Magazine is my favorite art magazine. Written by two wonderful artists, Skip Lawrence and Christopher Schink, it is aimed at helping fellow artists push the envelope . As opposed to many art magazines out there, reading it does not entail getting attacked by countless renewal leaflets, and it has zero ads. (Yup. Zero).

Each issue is dedicated to a different subject, written in a fun cynical humor of the two authors, focusing on design, color, expressiveness and everything good about art.

So, the previous issue called for artists to send their self portraits. Several of us submitted our self portraits, and awaited the verdict with bated breath. The other submitters I know got an acceptance reply very fast, while I became an obsessive compulsive clicker of the "Send/Receive" button, checking my email every day, every hour. . .

. . . after two weeks, I've had it. with trembling fingers, I typed a polite question to one of the editors, asking him whatever happened to the four images I've submitted. He replied promptly, saying he is so glad I wrote, as somehow the portraits I submitted got misdirected. He then added "I've found your 4 images and captions—exactly what I need. Good paintings. At least one of them will be in Issue #28, due out around the end of December or the first of January.".

Good news, right?

And yet - due to my natural skepticism on such matters, I thought to myself "Ah, he must be saying that to all the girls", and kept my expectations on a cautious level. You live, you get rejected, you learn.

The busy holidays season came and went. A new year has cometh, and no magazine.

Last week, WackieM told me with excitement that her well-known painting has made the cover of the magazine (I am highly amused that she is still surprised by its success; what part of 'this is a very unique painting' is not clear?). I kept waiting. And waiting. And watching in disbelief as the postman was passing our house without approaching.

And suddenly, on Monday night, I see a message from a friend on my Facebook page, telling me how excited she was to see my painting in that magazine.

The next day, LimaB emailed me happily, informing me that mine indeed made it. A similar email followed from MembieK.

Cool, so I'm in.

But which of my four images made it? I called her for a thorough investigation, and was ecstatic to hear that it's my collage, which is one of my favorite pieces and definitely my favorite self-portrait.

Needless to say, the magazine hasn't arrived yet to our humble premises, so it was still all a hearsay - until MembieK brought the magazine to class today (thank you Thank You THANK YOU!) and I finally got to see it with my own eyes - and document it with LumiB's lens. This is the time to mention that MembieK also has a wonderfully expressive self-portrait in this issue.

Still no sign of the magazine. I am starting to suspect that the postman is boycotting our house (no mail whatsoever for 2 days now!). So I am still waiting. Who knows, one of these days the magazine may actually appear on our doorstep (or, more likely, in the mailbox). Hope springs eternal.

Oh, for the record: the quote underneath my self-portrait (the one at the top-left), stating "I loathe my face" is not mine. It's by Francis Bacon. I happen to live with my face quite peacefully, thankyouverymuch. Don't know why they decided to juxtapose it the way they did. Better check what quote they posted under MembieK's face...

And Now for Something Completely Different...

Our critique group is having an exhibit at a hi-tech company. The opportunity presented itself when someone from that company was at the gym with BearGal, they got into a conversation while being bored to death on the Stairmaster - - - and so the idea was born.

At first, I wasn't very keen on painting anything for that show, to say the least. Y'see, I used to work for that company, and, well... let's not dwell upon the past.

Then, a week ago, WebbieM emailed me about her needing to paint for that show. After I replied to her with a lengthy explanation that I am NOT going to do anything special for that place, and that the maximum I am willing to do is dig some artworks and toss it at their general direction, I thought to myself... like... we are showing at a hi-tech company... The JohnnyB is working for a hi-tech company... well - wouldn't it be fun to make a homage for his stressful time and create a piece of him in that context?

It would.

Spent hours downloading all kinds of chip-design related stuff and images (Google is a wonderful thing!), spent gallons of ink printing them, and was very happy with the pile of material I had to work with.

Then I got stuck. An essential stage in the artistic process.

On Tuesday night, came the muse. at 10pm, I chose an image of The JohnnyB which I have already done for his personal calendar, drew it on a canvas (a first! I always work on paper or matboard for collages), and started to collage, using pieces from the printed material.

My sister watched me, following the process from the start, through the stage of what-the-hell-do-I-do-now, and then went to bed.

By 2am, I was done.

Of course, it had to pass a preliminary review by The JohnnyB in the morning (as, after all, he is featured in it). He gave it a lukewarm look, filed an official complaint about his arm being too big (that's called foreshortening...) and claimed it is still unfinished. Yup, I married him for the ego boost.
I added some finishing touches with a brush, and rushed to the house of BearGal to deposit it in her trusty hands, and see if it would make it into the preview display they were about to hang that day, featuring some selected works.

And lo and behold - - - It made it in!

I guess it is finished, then.

Closing In

John Salminen's workshop, Day 3.

As BearGal likes to say, the first day of a workshop always start with an ecstatic "ah, this is going to be the best workshop ever!". The second day, you keep your optimisim with "well, let's wait and see". Then comes the breakdown, "what the hell am I doin' here!?". The next day is "hmm... I may still be able to save the painting", and the last day it's pretty much "I am soooooooooo outta here!".

Well, I jumped ahead: I wanted to be outta there on the first day, and what-the-hell was yesterday, big time! But - today was in fact really fun - we introduced collage into the painting. Some were appalled by the idea, pondering "Why would I want to cover parts of my painting with printed material!?".

As the instructor put it, "so you can say you did it!".

Honestly, I admire his patience. I guess one just has to adapt some serious survival skills when delivering many workshops to many people. Most of those who take workshops (and I know I'm optimistic here!) are open-minded and have a genuine desire learn; but there are always those who pay a bunch of money, dedicate days, energy and materials, schlep themselves to wherever the workshop is taking place - just to sit and do their thing, without paying attention to what the instructor says. Well, to each his own. It's quite amusing to look at the workshop participants and see how the same types keep occurring: the whiner, the rebel, the follower, the attention grabber, the one who never bothers to listen (but then bothers everyone around), the talkative (I am grateful to WebbieM for suggesting the use of an iPod, or in my case, an MP3!), the conqueror who keeps sneaking into your space - - - Ah, the joy...

So, after 2 days of gnashing my teeth and curbing the mutineer Aries in me that kept alluring me to throw everything to the wind (yup - I'm usually the rebel!), today came the reward.

I did a few collages with tissue papers I have dyed (one of them is The JohnnyB's favorite!), but never used magazines for that, so today was a very new experience.

The instructor told us the secrets to combining collage with a painting: start subtle, going with pieces that have the same value and color scheme as your painting. Avoid recognized symbols, words and objects. As tempting as they might be to use, they will distract from the painting itself. You want to enhance your painting, not let collage take over it - unless you want to turn it into a full blown collage. John delighted us with a story about a woman who took his workshop, did a great abstract painting, and then collaged an image of Snoopy in the center of interest. Why? 'cause her granddaughter loves Snoopy, and she wanted to give her a painting.
As a homage to that little tale, when my time came to get final OK on how I placed my collaged pieces, I found a pair of tacky green parrots in one of the magazines, and planned to put them in my focal area, just to see the reaction. But - we had to rush it, as a photographer from a local newspaper came to take some photos of the workshop for a cover story about our organization, so I had to give up on that, and just told the highly amused John about my vicious plan. Sometimes, it sucks when duty calls.

Anyway - I thoroughly enjoyed the collage part. I brought a bunch of magazines, and found a welath of pieces that had colors and textures that were just made for my painting - it was almost creepy how well they fit in, and added incredible touches.

Here's the current stage of the painting. There are quite a few pieces of collage in it - can you distinguish them from the watercolor paint? The JohnnyB could hardly tell most of them, even in close inspection.

Tomorrow the workshop is taking a turn: we can choose to work on our own thing, and the instructor will walk amongst his admirers and advise how to incorporate what we've learned into our work - which is the real challenge. I am extremely curious about this part!

ArtPact #27

(Originally published on August 18, 2007).

Actually, not quite an ArtPact. Just sharing what happens when you go back to what you think was a perfectly completed work, looking it again with criticizing eyes, and thinking "Uh Oh! This is sooooooo unfinished!".

This kind of sobering up usually happens when you are just about to enter the painting into a show. And, today is the deadline for entering the annual show of the smaller organization to which I belong. That one is not Watermedia-bounded, so you can enter anything - which means I can enter my very first collage, which I did about 3 months ago.

Now, this show required you to submit photos, which will be juried. If you enter 3, you are guaranteed that at least one of them will be accepted. And, that is my top choice.

I was about to take a photo, but something about the collage kept bothering me. Echoing in my head were the words of RabkieM, LimaB and WackieM (Oh yes, I hear voices!): "You should add line work in your collages!".

I kept refusing to do so, sticking to my one-medium-only purism, but last week I decided that without it, something is indeed missing. Putting the disappointed camera aside, I took a brush, dipped it in acrylic paint, and thoroughly enjoyed adding some finishing touches.

Luckily (if not miraculously), I stopped in time. Looking at what I did, totally loving the result, I was astonished by the difference that a few lines and touches of paint here and there can make. Apparently, being brave enough to take an OK painting one step further beyond safe can improve it significantly. (of course, some times it can totally ruin it... and in art, as in life, there is no undo!).

You be the judge of this slight makeover.

Before:





And after (the title is courtesy of The JohnnyB):

"Bored Meeting", Collage on matboard, 15"x19"

Wish me luck with the juror!

ArtPact #24

(Originally published on July 03, 2007).

Yestersay, I finally got over my block with FergieJ's collage, which I started 10 days ago and have been gracefully avoiding the subject ever since. I did continue it, but only to a certain extent, and it just sat there in my studio, giving me this I-am-not-finished provoking look.

Last Saturday, we had WackieM's last class (no need to sob - there's a good chance she'll be giving another 6-session monthly class, only this time it won't require going all the way north, but rather involve going south to QuiltieD's spacious house, which is only a 30-minute drive away).

WackieM gave us our summer assignment: each of us should look at the works of her favorite painters (yup, the sad fact is that we're only women in this class), and paint portraits as if they painted it, trying to imitate their style. It's a bit like all those artists you see at museums, standing with an easel and a beret and copying a painting. 'What's the point!?', you wonder?. Well, it's considered to be an incredible art lesson, as it forces you to really study how the painter approached and solved the problems in that painting. WackieM is taking it one step further: instead of copying a painting (which, to me, is kinda boring, plus I will look silly in a beret), we are to imitate the style with our own image. We started it in class, trying to do a portrait in the style of David Levine, a fantastic figurative painter. It wasn't the ideal setting for such a task, as we only had one book to look at, and his work was very new to us, so at some point, I just decided to use the earth-tone colors that are typical to him, and see what I can come up with.

It was fun to paint again, after 2 months of collaging, and I kinda like the sketchy result, (even if it does have a somewhat Neanderthal look to it...). I am looking forward to this summer assignment - should be tons of fun to do!!

And, last evening, I finally worked seriously on finishing the collage, and photographed it this morning.
Again, the color gets quite screwed up in the photo. Apparently, in a collage the effect is even worse than in a painting.

And yet: Voila!

"At The Drawing Table", Collage on matboard, 14"x21"

Not sure it's 100% done, but it's close to the point of looking complete. It's a real fun one to work on.

ArtPact #23

(Originally published on June 21, 2007).

"Oh no, not another ArtPact!!!", I hear some of you groan. "Three ArtPacts in 8 days? Is the woman crazy or what??!??".

Well, I'm back in the swing.

In the past week, I was seriously going through the usual post-visit Blues, which always involves a lot self-questioning, especially the contsant pondering "So - where do I belong?". It's far from being fun (Ha - what an understatement!). And yet, this time, it took me less than 10 days to get back to the drawing table.

I think I am getting better at this self-reboot thing.

Or, perhaps, it is the fact that our critique group meets once a week. This really drives you to paint, as almost everyone brings something to show, and you don't wanna be the only one sans a masterpiece, or at least some piece. Oh, and also, this coming Saturdays is the last class with WackieM, and though I can always excuse myself with "Well, I was in Israel", I don't want to go without homework.

Regardless of the reason - my studio got into the good kind of mess this evening; the mess that comes from working.

WackieM's previous class was just 2 days before I flew, and the subject was combining head and hands. Hands are truly difficult to portray, so I went for a relatively easy reference photo I took of FergieJ. Caught her in the middle of a workshop, several months ago. It's a cool photo, that captures her expression and really shows off her face. She is usually sweet and fun and cheery, but that workshop got to her, so it seems, and I got a glimpse of a more serious side of her.
In class, I started off with a simple drawing, focusing on where the hand meets the face (yes, I know... it looks like she is getting hit in the face with a fearsome communist fist... told ya: hands are hard to do!). I then proceeded to do a full drawing (which turned out a pathetic disaster, and thus shall not be posted. Hey, it's enough that I posted my lame attempts at plein-air...).

This image was simmering in my head the whole week, and today I decided that I really need to get my act together - so I started a collage (Yo, MichaelBains - you wanted more collages? There you go!).

Did a simple drawing on the matboard (I do my paper collages on matboards - a very nice surface for that medium), in order to have some guiding lines and shapes.

Took out my "palette" of the countless tissue papers (I now have over 60 different colors!), made my color decisions, and started to block in shapes.

I forgot how much fun it is!!!!!

As opposed to the previous collages I created, this time I did make sure to watch the direction of every piece I glue on, so it flows in a way that reads correctly. I also tried to be more careful with overlapping the pieces of paper - as these also matter.

Hmm... sometimes, the more you know more, the harder it gets.

Another thing which is very new to me: I reached a point where I was not quite sure how to continue - so I stopped. Which is a major achievement for me, as I usually rush to finish (remember? Aries = immediate satisfactions = me).

Not this time. I decided to let it sit for a while, let it dry (another thing my paintings/collages are deprived of...) and allow myself to continue tomorrow, when I am not so tired and when my eyes are not all bleary.

So, that's how it looks now. Obviously unfinished, with bits and pieces sticking all over, uncovered areas and many decisions to make. Thar's how it will be shown at the critique meeting - actually, they might give me some ideas of where to go from here. I like the way it looks now, but it definitely needs more work.

To be continued.

It's gotta be ready for Saturday...

ArtPact #21

(Originally published on June 12, 2007).

I'm back.

- - - We're back.

Landed Monday morning, after a very long last day in Israel and two endless flights (never, EVER take the morning flight from Newark to San Francisco! NEVER!!!! It's full of elite-status business travelers, namely selfish pretentious smug jerks who take all the space with their enormous multiple carry-ons and you end up being forced to check-in your carry-on with the precious and fragile stuff you carefully put in it. WTF happened to "one normal-sized carry-on bag per person", Eh???).

We're now working on recovering from the jetlag. The JohnnyB woke up at 3:15am yesterday, improved with waking at 4:30am today (and hopefully will reach normal time by next week...), while I seem to be doing fine, so far, waking up around 6:30am or 7am, and even that is just 'cause The JohnnyB is waking me to say Goodbye before leaving to work.

Our visit was filled with family, Hebrew, places, wonderful food, grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreat coffee (Ah, nothing like Arcafe!!!). We even had great beer at the Golan Brewery (I leave it to The JohnnyB to blog about this one).

On the other hand, it turned out into one of those visits that became family-confined, and so, unfortunately, of all the wonderful friends I have there, we only met with two couples. :-(

Lesson to be learned for the next visit.


Anyway - in a previous ArtPact, I said I created a collage that I could not post. I made it for my sister, from a photo of her with her very first grandson, when he was 10 days old (this tiny baby is now a very sweet bright 4.5 years old). I gave it to her the first day I arrived to Israel, and - here it is, soon to be framed and hung on her wall.

Hey, I can now say that my art is collected internationally... ;-)

ArtPact #19

(Originally published on May 14, 2007).

Yup - after many months of scraping what to post as an ArtPact, I am suddenly on a creativity spree.

Is it the spring that's sprung?

Is it the fact that after all the stress and lack of time, I decided to make time and put my art at the top of the priority list, while I can?

Or is it actually time pressure? I mean, next Tuesday I am leaving for 3 weeks in the Promised Land, and I only have so many days to be in my studio, of which I am making the most!!

On Sunday, I created another wonderful collage (which I cannot post here, as it's a surprise for someone in the holy land). But, in between collaging my self-portrait and that surprise, I kept feeling that it really is unfair that I neglected my favorite man... you see, it's been over 8 long months since The JohnnyB got the last page for his personal calendar, and this project got shamefully and shamelessly abandoned.

So, today, I made the page for May... May 2006, mind you, as he never got his May page (I know, I am lame!). Since I am hooked on collage now, and my studio is all covered with painted tissue papers, screwed-up brushes, paints, stamping tools and gloss medium (the latter is used for adhering the tissue paper to the surface on which I am collaging, and is then used to keep me busy trying to peel it off every part of my body) - I made a collage of him. Poor The JohnnyB, he got really allergic to something in the air since last weekend, consumed his Claritin pill every morning, and spent most of this weekend alternating between being miserable, cranky and napping.

"Spring Napping", Collage on matboard, 5.5"x7.5"

Now, on that calendar, each painting/sketch/collage is accompanied by a proper calendar page, with photos of the monthly theme. As this collage was drying in the sun (it was 4:30pm when I was done!!!), I sat at our nice shiny desktop, in order to create the calendar page, with the very same software I always used for that fun purpose.

It was then that I got a nice reminder that we now have Windows Vista, whose greatest hobby is to crash for no reason. That's actually not quite accurate; it's not that Windows Vista itself is crashing. Just certain applications.

Like the new and improved(?) Windows Mail (what used to be the highly stable Outlook Express), that now crashes at least 4-5 times a day, just 'cause it can, and I keep forgetting to save the Emails I compose after every 2-3 sentences, which enriches our usually-quiet neighborhood with loud juicy multilingual curses. OK, so I got used to this. But today, as I was trying to create the calendar page using the previously reliable MS "Picture It!" software, it kept crashing, as if we have Windows Vista or something - Ah, wait, we do have this delightful new product, lucky us!!!

I was way too pissed to go do it on the laptop, so - dear The JohnnyB, the full calendar page of the month of May '06 will wait, perhaps until I am back from Israel, or perhaps until Vista is stable (Ha!!! I kill me!!!).

Hasta la vista, Vista!

ArtPact #18

(Originally published on May 12, 2007).

"You are stalling", she said.

Y'see, after a lot of hesitation, I finally jumped in and did the first painting of La Sagesse. I was very intimidated, as it's a great photo and very easy to screw-up. So, NOT painting it would make sure I don't. But then again, I do want to paint it... Typical for a first painting - I guess there's no way to avoid this.

"I'll make several versions of it", I told myself and The JohnnyB, and went ahead with the first version. As expected, I turned out copying what I saw, clinging to the photo, trying to capturing every little bit that's in it, rather than creating my own painting from it.
It was frustrating, and I could not tell what's wrong with it, so I just stopped, and - being very frustrated - I decided I might as well have some fun, and did two in my sketchy-line style with some light washes, which I have recently started to explore. It was fun. Not yet what I want, but - it's also about enjoying the journey.

On Thursday I went to our critique group meeting. It was a very reduced-forum, only the three of us: WebbieM, RabkieM and myself. It was actually quite pleasant, and each of us ended up getting a lot of attention and critique of her work.
WebbieM nailed down what was wrong with my first painting: I was using hues & tints, and then tones.

OK, a quick lesson in color: 'hue' is pure intense color, out of the tube. 'tint' is the hue mixed with white or water to lighten its value, and 'tone' is the hue mixed with its complement to create neutral grays. Confused? Wait - let's also add 'shade', which is the hue mixed with black. Hues and tints tend to be more intense and bright and cheery, while tones and shades are tuned down, more grayish and a bit more moody. Somehow, all my paintings end up with tones and shades, and I keep trying to get to cheery, but that's not part of the lesson, and not what you are paying for.

So, I was using cheery hues and tints in the sky and ocean, while the figures and their shadows were all tones. Doesn't quite feel right. Then, RabkieM pointed out what was wrong with my sketchy one, and I was very grateful for their help.

After the meeting, I was telling RabkieM how weird it is that I cannot bring myself to paint portraits since I started taking WackieM's advanced portrait workshop, and instead I'm doing figures and other stuff.

RabkieM gave me a reprimanding knowing look and said, "You know what you are doing, don't you!?".

"What?", I asked with angelic eyes.

"You are stalling".

"Me? stalling?", I faked insulted astonishment (like, Duh...).

"Yes. I am only saying this because I do the same. It's just like doing the laundry or washing dishes or finding little house projects instead of painting. You should be working on your self-portrait, which is the homework we got from WackieM, not escaping to this beach scene!!".

Ah, I really hate it when people are right.

I went back home, and proceeded to work on the first La Sagesse painting, keeping in mind WebbieM's comment. Yup, the 'after' painting (the one on the right) looks more unified. Not quite a bright Caribbean beach, more like a beach on very hazy day, or at dusk, but hey - at least it has a consistent mood.

But RabkieM's words kept echoing in my head.

And so, the next evening, I decided that she really is right. A couple of weeks ago, The JohnnyB took a photograph of me in the same pose of the self portraits I painted from life at the workshop. I printed that photo, dug out all those tissue papers that I prepared a month ago, got the guts to finally tear them up (the first tear broke my heart, but once I got over it, I proceeded to slash them, pogrom-style) . . . . .

. . . . 4 hours later - I came up with this:

"Self-Portrait #3", Collage on matboard, 19"x16"

I was having soooooooooooooo much fun, it must be illegal in some states!!
And now I am hooked on collage!!

So - I owe a big, Huge, IMMENSE Thank You to RabkieM.

The Beach Boys can wait....

ArtPact #14

(Originally published on April 14, 2007).


Well, kinda.

As planned, I spent most of my birthday doing what I like.

My grand sleeping-in idea did not work well, as The JohnnyB felt obliged to wake me before leaving to work, and then some early birds from the holy land decided to call me and disrupt that plan of mine.
Still, one of them was my incredible niece, Lilush, whom you've kinda met through her portraits, who chatted for a while and then put the monosyllable Nitzku on the phone, for a fascinating conversation.

This cheeky kid (2 years old in May) is fluently composing full logical sentences. Only thing, he is limiting himself (and his audience) to one syllable of each word (on rare occasions, he's upgrading to two). Talking to him is serious left-brain challenge, as it's all about deciphering, and it's hysterically funny.

It was the first time for me to talk to him, and I did pretty well, despite my uncontrollable laughter.

He monosyllabled me (in Hebrew, of course) about the pigeon he saw that day, then abbreviated a Lilush-guided "Happy Birthday", then informed me that he did not give the Anguses any hay, and then, on a complete tangent which is so typical to our family, suddenly cheered: "Tafta!!!!" (his version to 'grandma' in Hebrew). His mom and myself transatlantically corrected him that it's not Grandma, but Nava, which he repeated with sheer disappointment, grunted "No Grandma, Nava?!", then assured me - yet again - that he did not give hay to the Anguses, and retired to his business (which - at the time - was dancing in front of the television while wearing a green bowl on his head. Yup, definitely belongs to our family!).

Anyway, once this fun discussion was over, and the non-Tafta-Nava was left to lick my wounded ego, I got up and spent several hours painting tissue paper.

"Why would you do that on your birthday, of all days???? ".

'cause this week, WackieM has demoed how to prepare your own collage paper, and two days later, ShinyR brought an incredible collage which she created with her self-prepared papers - and that was it.

I got hooked.

Went to the art store, spent $50 on liquid acrylics and white tissue paper, and spent 3 hours dyeing 20 sheets of that.

And so, on my birthday, I continued this obsessive quest, and dyed 20 additional sheets, with some more daring colors and some texturing.

It was so much fun, someone should illegalize it.

And, the results:

- One big stain of phthalo blue (one of the most staining pigments) on our backyard cement, which shall forever remain there

- Two shamefully dirty hands and fingernails (as I discovered, those fluid acrylics don't come off easily, despite all the scrubbing).

- Three colorful purplish drips on the carpet in my studio (I hate this carpet anyway)

- Forty sheets of some stunning papers (which this image does not even begin to show in their real glory).

And also, one very, very exhausted - but extremely ecstatic - Nava.

So, that is my ArtPact for today.

Preparing my own pallette of papers, about to start texturing and stamping some of them, and then start using them to assemble paintings.

After I was done cleaning my studio and the backyard and the trail of splashes all over the neighborhood, I did my best to look civil and neat (worked pretty well, as long as I kept my hands hidden...) and went to the reception of our show.

The JohnnyB came later, straight from work.

And - yet again - you didn't come!!

See, I sent an Email invitation to about 40 people, and the only one who bothered to come was DaskieM. She even brought her son, ToughyD, an emerging art critique, who announced the painting by ShinyR to be the best of show, and informed me that he liked one of my paintings there ("April Moon"). As I was basking in the positive feedback of a cynical 8-years old macho dude, he quickly added that he really, totally and utterly didn't like my other painting.
Y'know, I appreciate honesty, but at that moment, between him and The JohnnyB (who joyously exclaimed he doesn't like that painting either), well... I was almost longing for some phony enthusiasm :-)

To our dismay, we were mostly artists at the cafe, hanging around by the fingerfood for 2 hours, waiting for more guests to show up. At least I wasn't the only one gazing at the door with disbelief.

For those of you who did receive an invitation and didn't bother to do anything about it, what can I say (actually, I can say a lot!)... It's a great show, and - come to think of it, it's your miss. Big time. And don't worry, I won't be bothering you again with invitations.

As for DaskieM, you truly made me happy by coming!!! (even if you, too, don't like my second painting in that show :-)

And so, at 7pm, we all left the place, The JohnnyB and I had dinner at Shalimar, a restaurant that always brings tears to my eyes with its excruciatingly spicy yet amazingly tasty food, and I crashed to bed, tired beyond belief.

I did say I wasn't planning on a fancy birthday, Eh?