creative jewish mom

A Few New Paintings In My Clothesline Gallery

Finding the time to invest in my painting process is the biggest challenge at the moment, and I have not added to my kitchen wall gallery in the last two weeks or so, waaah. The thing about painting, or deciding to try your hand at a creative practice of any kind is that it truly requires consistency, time and producing enough so that your skills improve over a shortish period of time. Slaveing over one painting isn't going to make you an amazing artist unless you happen to be Leonardo DeVinci, who carried the Mona Lisa around with him for years, though of course he was making lots of other art as well. As far a my goal of 100 floral paintings on paper with acrylic paint, I am now at #77 or so, and some landscapes have snuck in there as you can see, but I think I'll have to just let them. Hoping to find some more time soon to paint another 25 floral/landscape paintings, and then I'm going to delve into painting clouds! Maybe 100 of those, and then who knows? And just by the way, of those 77 paintings, many were painted over twice, a few went into the garbage, and most of them will look like the work of a beginner in another year or so, and that is exactly how it should be!

A Fun Craft For Tu B'shevat: Paint Blooming Trees With Q-Tips

The Jewish holiday of Tu B'Shevat, which is the new year for the trees, is on Sunday night, so now is the time to whip up some crafts to celebrate! Ah yes, and in case you are not familiar with this lovely holiday, which marks the cycle for fruit bearing trees, then you might be interested to know that it includes a Seder, which like Passover, includes four cups of wine! Of course one does not have to drink four cups of wine (while one does for Passover) as that might be a bit much, but rather the seder includes red and white wine and mixtures of the two. Okay, enough about that, before we get into the holiday where we love to eat as many types of fruit as possible, lets paint some pretty pictures! The almond trees here in Israel are the first fruit bearing trees to bloom, and generally bloom right around Tu B'Shevat, but since this year is a leap year and we are adding a whole extra month into our calendar, I'm guessing the trees won't be blooming just yet. Plus we've had a really wet and sometimes cold winter, which I believe keeps the trees dormant a bit longer, that means that this year we need to paint some lovely almond trees,and it is so fun you'll want to fill the walls, Let's get painting, with Q-tips........

Acrylic Floral Painting With Pastels

Yes, it is true, a bit less crafting going on around CJM headquarters lately (though still more than anyone else I know) because I have been fighting a little war with acrylic paint and a paintbrush....and let me tell you, it is not so simple to try and realize those dreams of painting real paintings, you know the kind you'd want to hang proudly on your walls, or even sell! Apparently one has to paint 500 paintings to start mastering the paint, so I am working on paper to make it less precious, less expensive, more space friendly and hopefully quicker! My brother told me "real artists don't worry about these things, just stop making excuses and paint." Funny guy, not as easy as it sounds, but I'm giving it a run for my money, and if you hang around here for another year or so you may just see the results, and hopefully it'll be great. If not, then I'll start making quilts, since I've always dreamed of that as well. Or even if the painting adventure does result in some huge gorgeous semi-abstract floral paintings that I'm dreaming of, I think I'm going to need some quilts to complete the look, you know in that large stone house, or white industrial space, either one is just fine, of course a yurt would work too. Enough babble, keep on reading if you are interested in learning how this painting was made......

Picture Ledges For Displaying Art In Progress

Since I have now officially been brave enough to share my floral paintings,  I thought I'd show you where they sit in our home. Well at least the current favorites, as there is only so much space. I just love these picture ledges from Ikea, and they are great for displaying not just pictures or art works in progress but also little items of interest. If you want to know what holiday is coming up, generally these shelves will clue you in, well except for this year as I've been busy learning to paint rather than making Chanukah decorations, which I'm actually really happy about, as i've been wanting to do this for so many years and never quite got there.

These shelves sit over the kitchen table at the end of our kitchen, so while I'm cooking up a storm or washing dishes I can look at my work and decide what changes to make. Or not to make. The paintings shown here are mostly done, namely I'm not going to touch them anymore as they'll likely end up getting worse not better. And some of them are already the third painting done on the same sheet of paper, for the sake of not being wasteful as art supplies here in Israel tend to be pricey.

Painting Loose Florals With A Mystery Underlayer

Yes indeed, the secret in now out as to why there is a serious lack of new Hanukkah crafts here on CJM: I have been painting loose florals for the past month, and that together with a ton of graphic design work has left no time for Hanukkah crafting. Of course I plan to remedy that this week with some large paper decorations, and re-using some of the best projects from previous years, but truthfully I really feel like just concentrating on painting, as at long last I'm getting into it and getting better, yippee!

For years I have dreamed of painting large canvases of loose or abstract florals, and while I won't get there for quite some time, I have at least begun the process, and this is really thanks to the amazing Amanda Evanston and her online painting class called The Secret Garden. Totally recommend it to anyone itching to paint in a creative way, and you can watch the videos over and over and over (as I have) and learn something new every time. I have heard that to master anything one must spend 10,000 hours doing it, or paint 500 paintings, so that is where I'm headed, right not I'm on #32, which is a good start. The paintings here are mostly #28 and higher, as the previous ones are just at this point too bad to actually share, Can't wait to see what the future brings!

DIY Wall Art From Painted Wrapping Paper

DIY wall art is all the rage, and now you can whip up some fun wrapping paper, and make something to grace your walls, all while honing your loose paining skills! There is something about fooling yourself into painting without the pressure that just plain works, so instead of setting out to paint wall art, just set out to paint some wrapping paper and very likely the results will be that much better! This week I've been having a go at painting some fun works of art that require really being as loose as possible with the painting strokes, and while I have yet to master the look on canvas (well, watercolor paper actually in my case) my attempt at flowers came out really well when I just decided to practice on a big sheet of butcher paper......so maybe I should just stick with that for now? Who knows, and in the meantime my kitchen wall, and my pile of Hanukkah presents are going to look really fun and festive!

Ready to paint something  quick with out the pressure of actually producing great artwork? Lets get started......

Lovely DIY Wrapping Paper From A Painting Exercise!

With gift giving season approaching quickly, now is a great time to make some DIY wrapping paper, and even better, to practice your painting skills in the process! I have at long last set aside some time to follow my dreams of painting, and while the jury is still out regarding whether this is something that I'll truly want to devote my time to, I now have some great looking wrapping paper that is so fun to look at! Painting loosely, which is the direction I'd like to take, since that is the style that speaks to me (fortunately) isn't nearly as easy as it looks, and so practicing on large sheets of butcher paper is the perfect way to loosen up with no pressure. And this year our Chanukkah gifts are going to look amazing, yippee!

And speaking of yippee, my old virtual friend Amanda Evanston (who used to run the blog Aunt Peaches) has graciously gifted me her online painting classes to review, and let me tell you, the first class that I'm working on now "The Secret Garden" is truly amazing. I can't promise you overnight success unless you are an artistic genius, but I can promise you at the very least that you'll see painting in a whole new light. If that means delving in deeper, like me, or deciding to support artists, like Amanda, already creating amazing work, either way the results are well worth the investment. And yes, you can do the class with kids, in fact the techniques are perfect for all ages. No, Amanda won't teach you exactly how to copy gorgeous paintings like hers, that you'll have to work for, so I'm running off to do just that!

I took this quote of of Amanda's site and I just love it:

"A painting teacher once told me, "To introduce someone to the artists that lives inside them is a great honor." - This is a privilege I take very seriously, and I spent years developing a teaching method that is inclusive of students of all ages and skill levels. I would love to have you as a student. 

So thanks Amanda, I'm really hoping to get to know my own inner artist, and time will tell! Now, lets paint some wrapping paper, ready?

Simple Gold Leaf Rosh HaShana Card Craft Makes A Perfect Fall Craft Too

If you enjoyed my simple Rosh HaShana card craft, well now get ready to take that project up a rung with the addition of some gold leaf, love it! It is true, real gold leaf comes in sheets, and can be pricey, but for some fairly small change one can buy little containers of gold leaf flakes that are perfect for crafting and not breaking the bank. The addition of some gold leaf pieces to the leaves or even the apple itself turns nice cards into something spectacular! And I'll let you in on a little secret, I actually did it with black and well and wow! Ready to make some fabulous cards for Rosh HaShana, for Fall gift giving or even for teacher appreciation day, it is so simple and the results are fantastic. Just don't even think if making those leaves green please, that would spoil all the fun. Ready, lets get crafting!

Simple Rosh HaShana Card Craft To Whip Up Tonight!

Yes indeed I am back from a lovely six week hiatus, and with Rosh Hashana coming up Sunday night now is the time to get crafting! This year I decided to be just a bit traditional and make Rosh HaShana cards for all the neighbors, which I'll give together with a tiny jar of honey, or as is, the only problem is I'm so in love with the results I'm going to have a hard time giving them away! So make a bunch of sweet Rosh HaShana cards so that you too can save a few, and believe me this card craft is truly so simple you'll have no trouble making a whole pile. I'm running off to finish up all those card blanks I've had hanging around for years, but first, a simple tutorial, ready?

Painted Pyramids For Passover Crafting

As you may have noticed I'm currently exploring painting with gouache, and having a great time. In fact I'd like to drop everything else and just paint......okay maybe just a bit everyday at this point, because I just love the vivid matte color one can easily achieve with gouache. And yes indeed, that is why pattern designers have always used gouache for creating patterns......it is quite wonderful really. As you can see I had the idea to paint some bright geometric pyramids to make some whimsical Passover decorations, and here are the results thus far.

As a family friendly craft, those who are able could paint the pyramids and cut them out, and then give them to the younger set to decorate with black markers or any variety of art materials. So fill your walls with colorful pyramids and there will be no mistake about it, Passover is in three short weeks!