RIP Converses

It is with a heavy heart that I officially retire my favorite and artsyist pair of shoes. Purchased at the Converse outlet on the shore in Delaware, these (basically) one of a kind shoes have seen me though a move to North Carolina and back to New York City and countless walks from Morningside Heights through the Upper West Side. Some how the inner soles of these fabulous shoes have disintegrated, which leads me to believe that I own bio-degradable shoes. 

   I am now on the look out for my next pair of totally cool sneaks. Do you own awesome shoes? I would love to see them and, or hear your ideas of what I should look for in a pair of sneakers.

Just a Series of Pictures From Around Boston

Silk Painting

This past Sunday I participated in a workshop with Elizabeth Yaari from Explora-Torah, http://www.explora-torah.com/ET/Welcome_.html  Elizabeth is an artist who actually teaches bible, or more accurately, bibliodrama that includes art in the form of silk painting or mask making. This workshop was for Rosh Chodesh, celebrating the new month, which in the Jewish calendar is Adar II. After the participating students took part in an activity where they pretended they were Jews from an earlier period who were responsible for watching for the new moon, so they could make sure they had the day for celebrating exactly right, we got to the silk painting activity. This was something that students, their parents, and staff were able to participate in, so of course I did as well. The theme for this project was sanctuary, more specifically, what is our personal sanctuary and what makes it so? From what I understand, traditional silk painting involves using wax to to make outlines for the images. We didn't have anything as fancy, just gold markers, so the paint is a little runny. 

  


My personal sanctuary is nature, which is odd because I don't like camping. Living in a city makes it hard to find real nature, which is why I appreciate it so much and do things like recycle, and conserve energy, and generally care about the environment. 




(Photo Courtesy of Rachel Rothstein) 

Carla Sondheim's Drawing Lab

I didn't make it over to Etsy labs last week. However, I did watch Carla Sondheim's Drawing Lab, which can be found here: http://www.etsy.com/community. I tried following most of what Carla said on my first try (and my second...). By the time I got to my third I was done following directions. Carla did keep saying that they shouldn't be perfect and should all look different, so I decided that this meant I should absolutely do exactly the opposite of everything she said (Carla, if you somehow ever stumble upon this blog, I mean no offense). 

The picture of the dog I drew, is actually kind of scary and skeletal looking. 

My second drawing is of a cow and I think its cute, but I'll let you be the judge!

The third drawing of an owl, which I like the most, happened when I stopped following Carla's instructions. 

So sometimes the best art happens by accident!