Who are the people in your neighborhood?!?

ok - you hear the words - and if you are anywhere close to my age - middle aged bliss that is - you grew up on the beloved Sesame Street. I loved it - I looked forward to every new day of Big Bird, Ernie and Bert and of course THE COOKIE MONSTER!!!! I was thinking about that the day I created this little canvas. I had in mind a child whose parents might have grown up the same way as me and might want something a little funky to decorate their child's room with. I used digital images of vintage stamps and Israeli advertising posters that kinda answers that question...if you are in Israel that is...and your street is Rechov Ben Yehuda! This collage is created on an old hebrew language workbook pages with vibrant colorful images that just POP off the canvas!!

CHANUKAH PARTY!!!!!

Growing up I always looked forward to Chanukah - ok - presents are a cool thing anytime - but I loved getting together with the whole gamily - the "gantze mishpacha" - aunts, uncles, cousins, and of course my grandparents. We trekked to Connecticut to their wonderful home - always tastefully furnished - at the time I though everyone decorated with fine woods and persian rugs and served with silver and china - and had the most memorable Chanukahs ever! We all lined up to light our menorahs at the window and say the brachot (blessings) and then sang Ma Ozur together. My grandfather was a chazzan - and his voice boomed louder and more melodic than everyone else - if I close my eyes I can hear his voice still. Yummy food, gifts galore and dreidel contests - it feels like it was yesterday!

My cousins, aunts and uncles have long since made aliyah to Israel, my grandparents made aliyah as well and even though my grandfather has long since passed away the memories I have of those special times will always remain.

It's been such a long time!

Have you ever felt that you lost it???? Well,,coming from someone who works in a mental health clinic that is a loaded question - but what I mean to say is - have you ever felt that whatever you truly enjoyed was lost to you? They call it artist block - I call it exhaustion beyond belief - but I am working my way back to you (babe)...and back from the brink of the block!

Juggling is not as easy as I remembered and keeping all those balls in the air is so hard somedays! Here are the first fruits of my labors....with more hopefully to come!

I'M BACK!!!

oh...but you didn't know I left????

I just came back this morning from a fun filled, exhausting whirlwind trip to Israel for 9 days to attend my son's wedding.

Was a ton of running around and roasting in 90+ degree heat - but well worth it. I am filled with inspiration and ideas to continue onward and upward in my artwork.

Take a look at some of the pics that my hubby extraodinaire took just walking around Jerusalem.

sneak peek at what's coming soon!!!!

Today is Rosh Chodesh Elul - exactly ONE MONTH before Rosh Hashana - The Jewish New Year!

When I was little I loved to collage. I used to rummage through the art teachers stuff and CREATE treasures from little bits and peices she had hiding in the mess of her art closet. Well...I have reverted to my roots and have started designing the collages that will ultimately become Rosh Hashana cards, plates and boxes and Sukkot posters!!!

This collage is crafted from vintage shana tova cards over 40 years old!

Check in! Join the conversation - I would love to know what you think!!!!

What a day! Did you ever have a day where you felt so completely uncreative?

I was so involved in phone calls and doctor's appt and the boring junk of life that I felt the creative juices being sucked right out of my body!!!

Well...I am going to rectify that right now! Am off to create 2 canvasses - one having to do with a the tree of life - and the other with music. Hubby found some super amazing vintage record albums - scanned them in and told me to get to work!!!

I will!!!!

Check in tomorrow = same bat time...same bat channel..yada yada yada - you know!!!!

Tisha B'Av

On this Ninth day of Av - known as Tisha B'Av - the saddest day of the Jewish Calendar - I wish my family, friends and the entire Klal Yisrael an easy and meaningful fast - and hope that this will be the last Tisha B'Av that we commemorate. Tisha B'Av commemorates the saddest events of Jewish History - when the Beit Hamikdash - the Holy Temple in Jerusalem - both in fact - were destroyed and the Jewish people forcibly thrown out of our land in exile. Check out the below websites for more info about this special day.

http://www.aish.com/h/9av/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tisha_B


Im Eshkachech Yerushalayim - Psalm 137 - If I Forget Thee Jerusalem

By the Rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.

There on the willows we hung our harps

For there our captors asked us for songs,
our tormenters demanded songs of joy; they said, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion"
How can we sing the songs of Hashem while in a foreign land?


If I forget you, O' Jerusalem
may my right hand forget its skill

May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth

if I do not remember you,

if I do not consider Jerusalem above my highest joy.

These words were last sung by my little brother during my happiest moment - underneath the chuppah at my wedding just 8 months ago - it was sung to remind all that attended our wedding that even at the time when our hearts are bursting with happiness it is not complete without the Beit Hamikdash.

May we all know only happiness - L'Shanah Habaah B'Yerushalayim - Next Year in Jerusalem!

Shabbat and Art -

How is it that every Shabbat I get so many ideas...of course I can't act on them right at that particular moment - so I try really, really - I mean really hard not to forget them.
I came up with a few doozies this afternoon after my Shabbat nap - and lo and behold - I remembered them long enough to sketch them out into my notebook. I mean it makes sense - you relax and suddenly the creativity juices start up.
i am always itching to get started right after Shabbat ends - but by then ( and especially now when we finish almost 9:30) it is a disaster. Until everything gets put away and the art materials come out of their Shabbaqt hiding spots seem to take longer and longer.
On the positive note - I listed 3 artworks on Ebay tonight for the first time. I felt like such a newbie - hubby directed me on the ins and out of ebay - I listened and actually followed his directions - so far its not fancy - just simple text - but its up there.
Check it out!!!!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320560103733

http://www.etsy.com/listing/44676076/shana-tova-have-a-sweet-new-year

Classified "Palestine" Songs and more

It's Thursday night and I am so so happy that this long, hard,very bad, horrible, terrible, disgusting week is over. I think I need to kick off my shoes and get into the zone..the art zone that is!

Hubby extraordinaire found this amazing haggadah/song book in the drawer to his Bubby's table which we now own. It is a wonderful book copied from an old typewriter and distributed in the land of "Palestine". Classified because of the year it was written. Published in the Jewish year 5705 which is 1945 - 3 full years until the British relinquished control of the land and Israel became a state. I wonder if the British thought was that these songs were propaganda in nature to inspire the youth of the land to become defiant pioneers and wrestle the land from both the Arabs and the British. Check out the table of contents - no propoganda - just harmless songs - a very cool element of zionist history.

As I wrote this I listened to songs of Israel from that time frame - ok - some were absolutely great...but some - hubby and I almost fell off our chairs - not exactly our cup of tea..but definately worth a laugh! Check it out for yourself!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Israel

As hubby scanned in this wonderful book the pages started to disintegrate..old paper - nobody knew then about acid that leaches into the paper leading to its demise. I am so glad that I have a copy of it to keep and use in future projects. I can't wait to create a new peice of art - maybe one about the shalosh regalim ( pesach, sukkot and shavout).

I am feeling this pressing need to get my hands dirty and myself totally immersed in a new project. I can't wait for this summer's trip to Israel..besides going to see my kids who have made aliyah to Israel and to attend my son's wedding, and to see my grandmother and aunts, uncles and cousins - I can't wait to explore all the used book stores, antique stores and hidden places to get more STUFF!!!

We continued looking in the magical mystery drawer and found another gem that I remember clearly from my childhood - Horowitz Margareten benchers. Sitting in the cafeteria after lunch "benching" (grace after meals) with my class. Same tune...same cadence...I can even smell those "special" lunchroom smells.

I can't wait to put this one in one of my artworks!!!!

ok must go...my fingers are itching to get off the keyboard and get doing what I love best...ART!

Open your mind!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/44603833/is-summer-over-already

I always loved teaching and after almost 3 years away from it - I feel sad. A friend asked me what I was doing for the summer - I answered sadly, " the same thing I do in the winter". It was pathetic! I came to the horrible realization that seasons don't make a difference in your life when you work in an office environment.

So, that brings me t0 today's topic du jour...I'm thinking about getting back to teaching- switching gears and going where my heart is leading me.

I have always loved the excitement I felt in the classroom and making my excitement about the subject become contagious. I love being dramatic and act out events or read a story with flair. I especially love integrating art into my curriculum. I am a visual learner - and am NOT a frontal teacher droning on and on and on putting everyone to sleep. I jump and fly across the room to make a point - ok - I can be a little entertaining - my own kids always tell me to calm down - but I think that is the reason my students - and there have been hundreds over the years love me and years later still remember what they learned in my classes.

Hmmmmm.....what do you kind reader ( at this point I don't know if anyone is reading this?!?) please share what you loved - or hated about your teachers. Tell me how your best teachers opened your mind to ideas and how it made all the difference in your life.

BTW - todays artwork is created with besswax and vintage pics I picked up in a search through a local antiques shop back when I was living in Atlanta, GA. I included a flash card, old report cards, buttons, ribbbon and trim to tell the story of two wonderful delinquents who had such a blast fishing and making trouble all summer they couldn't bear to return to the classroom when it was over!

No Running With Scissor: Cutting Edge Judaica

Hey - I'm Debbie Gorin and am starting my first foray into blogging.

I create mixed media judaic art peices that are intricate and funky. Though I am back in NY now - for a lifetime I lived in Atlanta, GA where I raised 3 great kids. Two of them off and flew ( made aliyah) to Israel and the youngest is in HS. I remarried to an amazing incredible guy almost 9 months ago and moved to NY. While I lived in Atlanta, I was art teacher and art director extraordinaire. I was immersed in art completely and I loved my students...ok....flash forward..living in NYC...new job....office manager for a mental health outpatient clinic - not exactly a creative position. which brings us to today - I needed an outlet for all my loves: history, jewish heritage studies, the land of Israel and art, art and did I mention art?!!

I do alot of research in creating my artworks - digitizing illuminated manuscrips 800 years old, kettubahs 400 years old and combining it with vintage stamps and israeli advertisements - cutting (YOU SEE THAT WHERE THE SCISSORS COME IN!!!!) them into homes and buildings that dot the landscape of Israel.

Sometimes I paint the backgrounds, or collage using old manuscripts - the pic above is called "The Mystical City" - each stamps or image is chosen carefully to correspond to the theme. Occasionally I throw in Pirkei Avot ( Ethics of our Fathers) which is basically a series of quotes handed down by the leaders of generations explaining the code of behavior and practices the Jewish nation should live by. Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/pirkei_avot for more info. I used an old discarded toy megillah that my husband salvaged and brought home from synagogue one day. I try to make sure not to use materials that have the name of G-d in it as a point of respect.

I enjoy playing around with a variety of materials...that's the key - playing..when I play things come out great - when I'm worried or have to complete a commision is when I start having problems. So...I put on music and yell at myself to RELAX and some things clicks - don't you love it when things start happening!

Come join my trip into create Judaica that is anything but the usual...welcome to no running with scissors - judaica on the cutting edge!

Check out my site on Etsy @ www.etsy.com/shop/norunningwithscissor

Become a fan on facebook - search - no running with scissor

Got an idea???? Have a comment - want to share a story???? COMMENT!!!!