Small Girl in Pink Rides the Bus
I sketched in pen while riding the train and bus today, lots of bumps but lots of fun. This was my last sketch of the day and a tiny girl in pink, holding onto the bar and her father’s hand, caught my eye and I started with them. As I drew, people got off and on, leaving me with partial bodies. I kept going, finishing someone who left with the person who took the empty seat or space. Later at home I added watercolor.
This is a pen and watercolor sketch.
Sunny Road to Be’er Sheva
It takes about an hour to drive down to Be’er Sheva from Jerusalem. I did several quick sketches as we drove there Sunday morning. The light was bright and the colors beautiful.
These are composite sketches. Each time I would look back up after drawing a line, the landscape was different. I added a new bit from the new view until the sketch was done. The lines are shaky and the paint uneven from sketching while the car bumped along, but I like it anyway.
Except for the white lines on the roadway, this is a pen and watercolor sketch on multimedia paper.
Man Reflects on Injustice of Parking Ticket
There is nothing like a parking ticket in a language you have trouble reading to make you feel wronged. Especially when you bought a parking pass, displayed it on the dashboard and departed fifteen minutes before it expired. It does not make sense. So you go home, get on Google Translate, and try to sort through the Hebrew legalese, but cannot figure it out. All you know is, it’s not fair!
One of my goals is to tell a story by including and emphasizing portions of what I see and not drawing the parts that do not help. To me, the tilt of the man’s head along with his pushed back chair and dangling arm suggested that he was perplexed and perhaps ready to give up, so I emphasized these. The computer’s odd angle and the crumpled pile of paper gave context for the story but also reflect a lack of harmony between the man’s purpose and his sense of what he has accomplished. I also wanted my use of color to help with the story and so used lots of grays and blues to reflect his air of discouragement.
This is an iPad sketch.
Cats at a Feeding Station, Hebrew University
There are wild cats everywhere in Jerusalem. These are bold cats, entering buildings in search of food, including our apartment, when the screen is not pulled. Cats are on the walkways, in the trash bins, the outdoor cafes, national monuments, forest, and even the university. Beautiful and entertaining, the cats seem as much a part of the city as the people, cars, buildings, and birds.
Different people offer different explanations for the abundance of cats. Some say they have been in the Middle East since the time of the Egyptians. Others say the British brought them here to kill rats. Regardless, these cats thrive in part because they are loved and fed by a portion of the people here.
Hebrew University has at least two cat feeding stations. Both are large shaded tables in a secluded area. There are cutouts in the table surface for three large bowls, and additional bowls are scattered about on the ground. This sketch shows one of these feeding stations. People come and feed the cats throughout the day. The bowls are filled with cat food by kindhearted people. Others share sandwiches with the cats or leave leftovers from their lunches.
This is a pen, paper and iPad sketch.
Two People and a Dog Enjoy the Shade on Earth Day at Hadar Josef Park
We were on our way to Passover dinner and stopped at Hadar Josef, a neighborhood of Tel-Aviv, where we lived 38 years ago. We tried to locate our old apartment but between the tremendous remodeling and our fading memories, we were not certain that we located the exact building.
Another difference between then and now is the greenery is more mature and lush, which we definitely enjoyed when we stopped in the now shady neighborhood park for a sketch and a drink. I thought to capture the bright sunlight, deep shade and depth of the park as a way of noticing Earth Day.
This is a black sharpie marker and watercolor sketch on multimedia paper.
Sketch of Alexander Calder’s Huge Red Sculpture, ‘Homage to Jerusalem’
I went several times in the past three months to sketch the enormous sculpture by Alexander Calder but ended up sketching the incredible view that the sculpture frames out across the Jerusalem Forest. The sculpture sits in a large plaza over an underground commuter parking lot at the start of the light rail line. It totally dominates the access to many of sights I sketched and blogged about including Yad Veshem, the National Cemetery, Ein Kerem, the Jerusalem Forest and the light rail.
While there are many landmarks that would be wonderful images for Passover greetings, for me the Calder ‘Homage to Jerusalem’ captures the Passover wish for peace, happiness, prosperity and beauty. I wish you all a Happy Passover!
This is a marker and watercolor sketch on multimedia paper.
A Kindred Spirit
Every now and then I meet someone who has a way of seeing the world that just clicks with me. In this case I met a long retired educator who still feels the fire for putting the power of education into the minds and hearts of every child.
Her body language was amazing. Her posture, hands, face and words were in harmony and worked together to leverage her impact. We laughed a lot but what moved me most was when she sat up even straighter, put her hand over her heart and told me of her disappointments. I love passionate educators!
This is a pen, paper and iPad sketch.
Deliberate Sketching 