Finding Inspiration in Yafo Antiquities Museum

This was written in 2015 after a trip in Israel and sightseeing in WA. I don't remember why I didn't publish it. I am looking for inspiration for my quilting stitches. Usually I use the same color thread as the fabric that is going to be quilted. Deciding how to quilt a project is the usually the hardest decision that I make. Perhaps looking again on my focus in this blog can help. I tend to use a lot of color in my work. That is why I am so intrigued with color on color work in art and in nature.

WA, USA

Modi'in, Israel

I never know where inspiration will come and why. Usually for me it's the beauty or the message. This time the art was folded paper and it was mono colors. Shapes, shadows and light was used to create the majority of the work displayed. This is the nature of origami type art. Though not all of the art was folded paper, it was all made out of paper. Some collage work too. I was especially interested in the collages. After all, I make collages in my own studio. I love making collages. I have my 6th graders in Sunday school making collages by the end of the year and they love it. I also like origami, but collages is my thing. So, how surprising was it when I fell in love with the art that was all based on folded and manipulated paper of the same color. I think that I will try this out in fabric. I love the affects of shadowing. I went around Israel and here in WA state taking pictures just looking closely at objects with basically one color. I now appreciate the beauty of shadows and light.
The following pictures were taken at the Yafo Antiquities Museum jaffamuseum.com. In 2015 they displayed art based on paper. It was beautiful. Here are a few of the intriguing works of art based only on one color. They even had a faux quilt in white on white. There is a close up of this piece. I highly recommend this museum on your next trip to Israel.

Appreciating The Small and Wonderful Things

Stop and smell the roses.  According to Wiktionary it means: To relax; to take time out of one's busy schedule to enjoy or appreciate the beauty of life.
Lets not forget the small beautiful objects that make up the whole. I have recently been photographing small things and small parts of the big things. Just looking at them are inspiring. It helps me remember the small wonderful things in my life and to be grateful for them.

A cactus growing in Celebration Park in the NW.
Not sure how it got there.
Totally and beautifully out of place, yet thriving.

We all live lives with a lot to think about, yet adding the smallest of details of warmth, love and beauty can relax us and remind us what it is all about. For me it is family and the yearning for peace. If we stop to smell the roses I believe that we can all start to relax and really care about each other.

Flowers in the Defiance Park NW

My art starts with one small idea and often just one color at a time. My hand dyed fabric for my Oseh Shalom piece was on my design wall for many years. I kept it there do to its colors and simplicity. It reminded me of the beauty within before I even work, just the beauty of colors. I also cut it to two pieces, one was a gift for my sister and O.Sh. will debut for sale in my next craft show coming in October.
I now need to dye another piece of fabric to go on my design wall. I want  to look and be inspired by the beauty of simplicity in one piece of dyed fabric before I get to work. None of my current pieces seem to fit the bill. I just might take one of the photos above and print it on fabric just to remember to smell the roses.

Oseh Shalom
Mixed Media Art Quilt

Once again in Israel

I was in Israel, the second time in less than a year that I am fortunate enough to be able to travel there.

I went because my husband and myself thought that it would be good for our kids to see me again. Who knows why we felt that way. But I cannot refuse an opportunity to see my adult children and to be in Israel.
Why does this place have such a hold on me? Even coming in to land I feel elevated just seeing the coastline and being within Israel boundaries once again.
I don't know if I can describe everything that I feel about Israel, but I will try to get a few points across. I still have lived most of my life in the country. I speak Hebrew with an accent and that never bothered me. I always felt very proud of the fact that I learned the language the hard way and can even read and write it fluently. But a language crosses border especially now with the internet and international TV stations.

The Western Wall. Always an inspiration.

I always feel inspired in Israel. I take many pictures and as an artist I never know how they will influence me in the future.

Residential building in Holon

A new high rise in Tel Aviv

Coming into Modi'in. Residential towers.

I always feel at home in Israel matter where I am. I don't mind the heat and I would rather live in a hot climate than I cold one.

Me in a second hand book store on Allenby St.

The best part of Israel: My family

However the real feeling is that I just love Israel. Everywhere I go I feel inspired to do more art and to live creatively. The landscape is my home. And of course there is no substitute for walking around Jerusalem. I like walking around cities and looking at the local architecture and Israeli cities I like the most. The best part of Israel are the people. Everybody seems to care about each other, though there are times that I just want to walk on my own. I love the way people will just start talking to each other, if it is on the beach or at a bookstore. Here I have emphasize that speaking to each other at bookstores I really like. I discovered Rom Oren because of several people who love to read got very excited when I said I was looking for a Historical novel. They all heard my conversation with the saleswoman and  were convinced that I would love The Red Scarf and they were right. That just doesn't happen to me in American book stores.
Yet I just don't think that says it all. So I will leave it at this. I love Israel and I am inspired to be who I am by Israel. I hope to return to live there someday and I hope that you can visit and fall in love with Israel too.

Tel Aviv My City

My eldest daughter in Yafo. T.A is in the background.

I would like to tell you a few things about my favorite city. I long to live close enough to walk around the city regularly. My city is Tel Aviv, Israel. Yes, I like a lot of cities. I know that most people would consider Jerusalem to be their favorite city at least in Israel. I do enjoy visiting Jerusalem and I am a patron of the Jerusalem Museum. (I especially like the archaeology exhibits). However I love the atmosphere in Tel Aviv. When I am in Tel Aviv I feel at home.

Tel Aviv is a diverse city. There are mom and pop shops next door to big international names. On the side streets you can find modern buildings squished into spaces in a way that you can think that maybe they were always there. Some of them perhaps were and are refurbished and built anew. As you can see many businesses and home owners get very creative when it comes to the outside of their dwellings
When you get to Yafo you can see older structures that are beautifully built with their large stones and bricks. The newer buildings are there but they try to keep with the spirit of the ancient city. Yafo is a beach city and you can see the Mediterranean when looking west peeking out between the buildings.
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And then their is the sea. I cannot body surf like I can in the Pacific coast of California. The sea is calm and relaxing to swim in, yet you still need to remember that it is still an ocean and know how to deal with an undertow. Once in a while there are jellyfish that can be quite painful if just merely touched by one. Fortunately, they don't allow you to swim when they are in shallow swimming water. The coastline is breathtaking. As another example of diversity; I can walk along the "Teyelet" (boardwalk) and see all kinds of people and hear many languages. The list of languages that I heard on my last walk on the Teyelet was Hebrew, English, Arabic, French, Spanish, Amharic and one other that I could not recognize. It is the summer and many people from other countries as well as Israelis are visiting Tel Aviv. There are impromptu booths selling rainbow kites that many people enjoy and they add to the landscape beautifully.

St performer dancing with fire

I got to be in my favorite city with my 3 adult children, it does not get any better than that! We walked on the Teyelet all the way from Tel Aviv to Yafo. We also took a slight detour and crossed the street to the old train station. It has turned into an outdoor mall and we had some fun and saw some street performers.

  There are many more things to do in this beautiful city. When in Israel don't forget to give her a chance.

New products and a new type of product.

I have a new type of product. I originally thought that my customers would be fellow quilters and fiber artists. Indeed a small few were. The majority of people online and offline that purchased "Blessings on Fabric" got the piece framed. I am of course delighted that they want to hang my work on its own on the wall. However it made me think that I should make a finished product. So, here it is. It is backed using Eco-Felt. That is a polyester felt that is made from recycled plastics. I am very pleased that I can use something that also stays in line with my values. I use an iron on fusible to stick both layers together. This laminates the fabric so it should not fray on the sides. 

The next problem that needed solving is how to hang it and make it lye flat against the wall using only one nail. I use a metal bar that is easy to cut to size and applied velcro to it. (I only need one side of the Velcro) I just put the bar on the felt the Velcro makes it stick to the felt back and voila. 

I added my twisted threads and some hand stitching as I felt each piece needs it.

You can see the twisted threads on top bulge out. That is where the nail will hook on to it.

I enjoy making sacred art and love having it displayed in my home. I hope my customers will enjoy having Judaica, and it will help make their homes into a peaceful place to be with their families and loved ones.

Saying goodbye once again to Israel and my children

This is my last day of a 6 week trip in Israel. So much to think about. I did not do many things that I had hoped to do. The important things like seeing my children and their homes I did. We were planning a trip for a while but when we got the date for Segev's "Chomta" well it was decided that we would fly during Sukkot. 

I am always sad that I have to leave. I miss Israel a lot when I am not here. We had to leave but now I wish I could live here again.
So much about Israel speaks to me, but most important my family. Beyond that, I feel always at home here. I like walking around and seeing how much building is going on everywhere. When I visited the Jerusalem museum I took a guided tour about archeology, they were all women and I had so much in common with them. When I was in Eilat and staying at a suite, the people there got so excited when I said that I was visiting one of my children that lives in Eilat. They asked where they all lived when I told them they sighed in relief, great they all live here in Israel. You must be so proud of them, he asked and I replied of course. I love that attitude, family is what keeps us grounded here in Israel.

Third and Final Installment of Living With a Conscience

This discussion I plan on bringing together for my "Devar Torah" before we begin the Pesach Seder at my home this year. I want to bring in a discussion of counting the Omer. I will discuss the practice of using the 7 emotions and practicing them. The link that I provide is from Aish.com However I chose them because I liked their layout and explanation the best. I do not feel that you need to be Orthodox to practice this. I see it as a tool to make us better people. For those of us with a conscience I think that it is something that needs to be nurtured. Judaism has many ways of doing this but counting the Omer is in my opinion a perfect fit and it is coming up so I thought it is a chance to discuss it and tie it in with what is going on in my mind.

Mirrium II Dancing and Full of Hope

My childhood was laced with missed opportunities to help me. Yet there were a few adults that attempted and even succeeded to intervene and made small but significant differences in my often sorry life. What was different between those individuals that wanted to help me and the others that knew but couldn't bring themselves to interfere. Were they asleep? I know sometimes you need to function, sometimes you need to get the job done. 
For instance; I know using fossil fuels are bad but we must get to work, bring in groceries and etc. So when can we put our conscience to rest and when do we need it. Can we develop an awareness of who we are and set the boundaries? Can we learn to use the car less and plenish the Earth in other ways. Perhaps support industries that are "Green". The point is there are times where we need to rest our moral thought in order to function. Maybe put it on a low light. The problem is that we forget it is there or worst we are afraid to use it. We just go to sleep morally. People don't realize that they can and must use the conscience it is what makes a difference. The other issue is having the personal strength. Sometimes we cannot bring ourselves to do what is right. 
Sadly, my mother had the personal strength. She never  considered the other person's feelings at all. I remember her getting in arguments with people at restaurants and retail stores. She would file a complaint then return in a few days to see if that person still worked there. If so she would go to management and demand answers. A typical statement was; "I will not rest until this person is fired". Often it was something trivial that she wished to cause such harm in someone's life. She claimed it was principles put I am definitely sure that it was the lack of them. But one thing is for sure she was empowered. 
That is what I wish for the rest of us. To be empowered to do the right thing. It can be difficult if you know of a child at risk, it can be considered interfering yet we must do it. What about a co-worker getting the blame unfairly, what about helping someone looking for a job. Can we go to our employer and help that person get that position. I know there are times when we can't or shouldn't, yet most of times they are missed opportunities to help out.
I suggest that we use this year counting of the Omer to empower ourselves. 
For myself every time I do a Tikkun or work on my conscience I am taking baby steps forward in the world of damage that my mother and others like her have caused.
Going back to my original statement, no I don't yet understand why most of us care so much about each other. However, yes I am glad that we do and I embrace it. I also plan on using this period for a self Tikkun. That way I hope I will be empowered to continue do help others when I see an opportunity.
Finally I would like to leave you with one of my favorite quotes form our Jewish texts. Empowerment is being for ourselves and of course the rest will be easier.

“If I am not for myself, who will be for me?

 If I am only for myself, what am I? 

 If not now, when?” 

Pirki Avot, 1:14, Hillel

Happy Passover!