That's what I call a great 4th of July

Publish Post

An Irresistible technique

Responding to Michelle Ward's challenge of this rubbing/resist technique I am posting some of my past collage work that was done using papers with the resist technique: The 2 pictures show collages made with different kinds of papers including some with wax resist. The butterfly was made with glue resist and stitching and the hand rubbing was made on top of more background rubbing with a different color.
The resist is one of my favorite ways to get texture on paper.

Fabulous weekend with Sabrina Ward Harrison

One of my all time favorite artists is Sabrina Ward Harrison, and I just have spent a whole weekend in a workshop with her and a small group of artists. Since I saw her books full of color photos of her journals I knew I had to get to know her and hear and see more. We met at Carol Parks’ place in LA, which was an inspiring place by itself, and we spent 2 wonderful summer days being quiet and listening, looking, walking, taking pictures, thinking, painting and writing. What I took away from this weekend is the ability to “forget” for a moment about all the hustle and bustle of the everyday, and just concentrate on my inner world. Normally I don’t give myself many opportunities to take a break, concentrate on this side of myself and put thoughts and feelings into words on paper. But over these two days that’s just what we all did and it felt very liberating. I hope I’ll be able to continue with this kind of journaling in the future.

Signs of Spring

Just a quick post to thank all of you who have already purchased a copy of my autobiographical-artsy book, and to let you know I am working on a second book! Details will be posted soon.
Happy spring in the mean time!

My first book is here!!

I am doing the happy dance! A second and a little bigger edition of my new book is here!
I love these colorful squared books and would be happy to send them away to any one who is interested. The book price is $28.00 + shipping. Inside you will find 70 pages of my colorful mixed media art: from fiber to paper, from printmaking to bookmaking and from collage to assemblage. (Wow, it even rhymes!). Please email me for a copy or more information. (dorit_elisha@yahoo.com)
These are a couple of pages from the book. (There are more photos in some of my previous posts).

Tagged...

I just realized I have been tagged by Pamela who took my class at Artfest. Thank you Pamela! (I mean it!).(http://www.itspamelasworld.blogspot.com/).
I have to think hard and come up with 7 interesting facts about myself. So here they are:
1. I love to dance – folk dance and recently Salsa! The music is a big part of my enthusiasm.
2. I have an enormous number of collections, from Japanese Kokeshi dolls to green pottery, and from ethnic fabrics to ethnic masks.
3. My favorite place to spend a Saturday morning is in the flea market.
4. I am a total ignorant when it comes to computers.
5. I am first generation living in the US.
6. I lost my wallet in a taxi cab in Manhattan and got it back (minus the cash) from the driver.
7. I grew up in the same apartment where my father had his photo processing lab/store. I learned a lot from this experience.

Now I have to tag 7 people so here goes: (most of these great artists I have met except for two Lisa and Michelle whom I only "met" on line, but would love to meet "for real" some day).
Kelly (http://www.kellykilmer.blogspot.com/)
Andrew (http://urbanpaperarts.blogspot.com /),
Kathy (http://joyouslybecoming.typepad.com/)
Lisa (http://www.lisahoffman.typepad.com/)
Michelle (http://www.michelleward.typepad.com/)
Judy (http://judywise.blogspot.com/) and
Melissa (http://thegardenofpinkshadows.typepad.com/).

The "Tortilla Curtain" collaboration

Over the last few months I have been participating in a collaboration of artists working on prints based on the book “The Totilla Curtain” by T.C. Boyle. I love collaborating in general, and this specific project was a perfect way to showcase our different styles and takes on the theme. We have used many printmaking techniques and other mixed media as well. All of these 82 prints are now on display in different locations on the Foothill College Campus. The catalog and info are at this site:
http://www.foothill.edu/print_arts/TCP/printmakers.html

So proud of my students/Artfest report

My fabulous yearly treat of a retreat is over. As always it was full of new discoveries - both artistically and socially. The day I taught brought so much satisfaction (see photos of my talented students) and the days I took workshops myself were amazing as well! Just being in this environment for 5 days is a great way to recharge for the whole coming year. Many thanks to the Moore family and their crew for their hard work!
Oh, one more thing: My books were very quickly all sold out but I am working on printing another edition. Please email me if you are interested in a copy! Thanks!

NEW LOOK FOR MY BOOK

Exciting news: My first book is done and I love it! What a talented sister I have! We decided on a new cover for the front which makes it much more cheerful! The book is square shaped (my favorite shape for books) and feels so nice in my hands! Inside the book is most of my art from the last twenty years, presented in the most artistic way! In about a couple of weeks I will put it on my ETSY shop for everyone who is interested in getting a copy. I might have a few copies at Artfest.

Fiber fun (part 2)

Here is my "return mail" for the fiber postcard swap. It was hard to stop working on fabric again - I haven't done it for a long while so the result was 4 postcards instead of just one.
Artfest is in about 10 days! Preparations and packing take all my free time! There will be a long post right after I come back!
ps: It has been a year since I started my blog. I wish I had time to post more often but I will keep trying.

Cyber fun

If you like fiber art and swapping, you should check out this website. Susan Lentz, a fiber artist is organizing a big postcards swap and an on-line exhibition. Sounds like a lot of fun to me. The photo is of the postcard I received. I will work on my trade soon and will post a photo.

February means Valentines

I took some time out of my long term commitments to create some not-so-quick valentines. I think they turned out nice. You can see the steps of the work in the photos. There are also some small surprises inside those pockets. I hope the recipients will be happy.
The rest of my art time is dedicated to several printmaking projects and a bit of journaling.
Happy Valentine's Day!

First New Year resolution fulfilled!

One of my New Year's resolutions was to learn how to manipulate photos with "Photoshop Elements". With the help of my daughter I managed to create a small photo collage of colorful patterns I shot during a recent visit to downtown San Diego.
The other 2 pictures of my cute baby were too hard to resist. When our dog smells that we are getting ready to go (packing our bags and suitcases), he makes sure to tell us that he is not staying behind!

Holiday Book Exchange

Last night we had our annual holiday meeting of the Bay Area Book Artists group. We started a tradition a couple of years ago where each artist brings a book and we exchange those with a "lucky dip". The photos show the book I made - a flag book that says "Happy Holidays!", and a display of most of the other books.
Happy Holidays!

Where in the World?

Wow, it's been a while since I last posted! I blame only myself and I have plenty of excuses but the end result won't change.. so..here I am.
I am responding to Michelle Ward's challenge on her blog (http://michelleward.typepad.com/how_cool_is_that/), on the subject of "where in the world" we are. I have two responding pages in my art journal in the following pictures.
My "real" current address is in Northern California, but I live in a neighborhood where all the streets have bird names, and we nicknamed the area "Birdland". That's just perfect for me. I love birds and have been using bird images in my artwork a lot!
I love challenges like this one, and I hope to play in more of those in the coming year. That's one of my New Year's resolutions.

Day of the Dead

What a great way to celebrate the lives of those who
are no longer with us . A very happy "party" with
music, dance, food and altars. I visited such a
colorful carnival in Oakland this past weekend and had
so much fun!

HOW DO I KNOW IT'S OCTOBER?

3 Reasons I know it’s October:
My neighbor’s black cat is looking at me suspiciously, the trees are on fire and we had our annual Book Arts Jam. The JAM is hosted by my group of the BAY AREA BOOK ARTISTS (www.bayareabookartists.org) every year in October. It was a very inspirational day to say the least! I did a demo of the gelatin printmaking technique which was very interesting for many people. I showed (and sold) some of my one of a kind mixed media prints. Many people asked about my mixed media book which I hope will be published in the next few months.
I hope the weather stays nice so I can work in my studio while there is still daylight in the afternoons.

back at work

After a very busy summer that included remodeling parts of my house, traveling and teaching I am back at home and at work. It was all great but there wasn’t much time for art or blog posting.

This weekend I attended a great workshop with Laurie Mika, a wonderful artist and a great project. I will post my finished piece when I am done with it.
In the mean time check her website: http://www.mikaarts.com.
A couple of weeks ago I received the “Mixed Media Collage” book by Holly Harrison. This is a great book for any mixed media lover, and I say that not because I happen to have a couple of my art works in it. It is really great because it details techniques and at the same time it is also an eye candy.
Last but not least – here are a couple of photos of my recent finds from different sales: vintage lace and clock parts. Can it get any better than that?

WOW!!! What a surprise! Thank you sis!!

How lucky am I? I have a sister who is a graphic designer who decided to surprise me with a book about my art! A real book, and what a BEAUTIFUL book! I can have as many copies as I want! This is really a one in a life time experience and I am so thankful!
Above are some photos of the covers and a few pages.

Nature printmaking (coming to Artfest)

Getting my class proposal for Artfest is always a time I like, since it means I HAVE to create art with no excuse to delay. Many times other life commitments take priority in my schedule, but when it's Artfest time - everything else has to wait! I wish there will be more fun deadlines like this..
So here are some of my class samples for Arfest 2008. The website with all the classes will be up around August 1st, which is very soon. I hope to see some new faces as well as some familiar ones.