Waiting For A Fare

I traveled to Morocco a couple of years ago. This trip made a tremendous impression on me. The sites and smells, the land, the people and their animals were unique and new and drew me into their embrace. But, as an artist what held me in its grasp, were the colors and patterns of the country.

Shortly after we arrived in Marrekkesh, we attended an event called Fantasia. We went with our fellow visitors on a long bus ride out of the city, into a dark countryside we were unable to see in the pitch of the moonless night. We knew we had arrived when we pulled into a brilliantly illuminated courtyard with a majestically tented entrance. We entered through a maze of walkways lined with riches intended to dazzle us, and they did. The inner courtyard was grander still. All around were elegant buildings and brightly colored tents.

Along the curb in that courtyard stood a camel hitched to a post. On the camel's hump was a draped seat, enclosed by a canopy and sumptuous draperies. The camel's owner leaned against its back, waiting to be hired for transport. When I looked at him, I knew he had been together with the camel a long time, as the resemblance was clear.

Why is it people look so much like their animals?

The painting "Waiting For A Fare" 30' x 24" acrylic on canvas. Available June 7 & 8th at Flatbush Artists Studio Tour, on the web at: www.flatbushartists.org for map. I am location #1.

Floral Hill

As life gets to be more and more hectic, the need to carve time into my relentless schedule becomes even more pressing. It's times like these that I frequently work on my small collages. these works are comprised almost entirely of papers that I handpainted. Using mostly torn pieces gives the work an organic feel, to both edges and shape.

This piece at left is part of my Environment series. The pieces in this series come in small size (usually 9" x 6"). The works in this series are not representational but rather gives an impression of land and sky, the water and shore, as do all the pieces in this series.

Most of the collage is done on white paper as the base but this piece includes a unique paper that is gouache on a teal base paper.

Floral Hill depicts the sky, hills and sea. The media are gouache, watercolor, paste paper and oriental paper. It is signed with my chop which is my name in Chinese. The price is $75. It can be purchased at my studio during the Flatbush Artists Studio Tour, June 7 & 8, www.FlatbushArtists.org.

Teaching Artist

Every artist is a teacher. By creating works of art, we are teaching others new ways to see, the way we see the world. But not all artists are Teaching Artists.

Teaching Artists go into schools, senior centers, after school programs, etc. for a limited period of time and create a learning and creative experience for their students. These workshops, or residencies as they’re called, give the students just a taste of the art making experience in their short time. It may relate to the school curriculum or it may be a pure studio experience.

The residency I’ve just started teaching is in a wonderful school in the Bronx. A public middle school, it is housed in a building it shares with Bronx Prepatory High School. I need to tell you how impressed I am with this school. The teachers are mostly young, friendly and very committed to the educational process. Frequently, when I’ve been in the office, I overhear colleagues having strategy discussions on how to approach teaching a particular unit. I’ve been in many schools and take my word for it, that’s pretty unusual.

I’m teaching 6th graders, sometimes a tricky age. These children are (mostly) well behaved, interested and responsive. I already love teaching at this school.

My one snag is that the trip to South Bronx from Brooklyn takes well over an hour. To get there before 8AM classes begin is a real stretch for me. To while away my travel time, I sketch my fellow subway riders. One page you see here. What do you do to while away the time while you're traveling?

On The Road

It’s nice to visualize going to new places, setting up an easel and immortalizing the new setting before me. Nice to imagine but, to date, I have never had it happen. Whenever I travel, there are demands on my time. Just getting there—wherever there may be—is time consuming & almost always, a hassle. Even in the car when I’m not driving, it’s a good time to have conversations with family members that I might not have had, had we not been strapped into a metal box together for hours on end. Such was the case recently when we went to Cleveland to celebrate Passover.

However, this time I was determined. As you can see by the painting, I was successful. My “Eclectic Electric Water Man” was done on travels from the Poconos to Cleveland. The painting is 10”h x 7” w and done in watercolor.