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Archive for the ‘Israel/Holy Land trip’ Category

What If?

Friday, December 12th, 2008

I have finally worked out the kinks in creating my latest piece for the show. When we were in Israel, one of the most poignant experiences was going through the big cement security fence from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. I thought about the Christmas story and what if there had been a big wall separating the two areas at that time.

Here is the beginning of the piece.

whatifprogress

I am using gray organza for the wall so that both sides can be seen. The figures are what have been giving me fits. I first tried Terry’s method of fusing, but had a problem with all the tiny pieces. Then I went to the Chicago School of Fusing method, using Wonder Under, by drawing the patterns on the paper. When I went to bed last night, I was ready to give up on that. I was going to do whole cloth silk painting.

When I got up this morning, I thought I should at least try to assemble the pieces that I had drawn. I did the nativity first and then the shepherds. I really had fun selecting the fabrics and I am very happy with the results. I now have to do the Wise Men. I used a children’s coloring book for the patterns.

Here are a couple of close-ups:

whatifnativity

whatifshepherds

I have to do something about the feet for my shepherds. The scenes are fused together, but not to the background. Working out the background comes next.

We are expecting snow this week-end – it is very big on the local news. I always get a kick out of that. Tonight, Mr C took me out to dinner. I had one of the specials – duck breast on creamy polenta with caramelized cipollini onions and a most divine red wine sauce. I could have licked the platter.

I still have not gotten a tracking number or any communication regarding my fabric order.

Posted in Eating out, Fusing, Israel/Holy Land trip, Solo Show, Uncategorized | 6 Comments »

If You’ve Seen One Roman Ruin

Saturday, May 17th, 2008

…have you seen them all? Apparently not. There seems to be another ruin around every bend in the road here in Israel. Yesterday, it was the incredible Byzantine/Roman city of Bet She’an. The size of the ruins boggles the mind. Today, it was Herodion, the site of one of Herod the Great’s palaces on a hill south of Jerusalem. The first two photos are from yesterday.

This is a photo from today. We were able to go down under the ruins in the tunnels that one time were the cisterns for the water supply. Later, the Jewish zealots dug additional tunnels and lived there, hiding from the Roman army. I had to overcome my claustrophobia.

Yesterday, we stopped at the oasis of Jericho for a delicious lunch. There was a beautiful fruit/vegetable stand and a camel to entertain us.

These thirteen year old twins came out to greet us today at our first stop at Herodian. The boy had hearing aids in both ears. They spoke English quite well.

We went into the West Bank again today. Bethlehem is in Palestinian territory. It was a profoundly moving experience to see the wall that is being constructed. I don’t think any pictures can ever depict how depressing and oppressive it was to see this fence. I don’t want to offend my Jewish friends, but it was a very unpleasant experience crossing through the fence today. When we came back to the Israeli side, we were told to get off the bus and walk through a passport center. They did not really look at our passports. It was done to punish us for visiting the West Bank. At least that was our feeling about the whole episode.

When we arrived back at our hotel, we walked down to the Damascus gate and into the old part of Jerusalem which was bustling with shops and stands for every thing imaginable for sale. It was almost sensory overload.

As always, all the photos are on my Flickr site

Tomorrow, we are off to the Masada and Qumran and a swim in the Dead Sea, probably not for me!!

Posted in Israel/Holy Land trip, Uncategorized | 4 Comments »

Addendum to Yesterday

Friday, May 16th, 2008

I am so brain fatigued by the time I get a chance to blog. I was falling asleep and remembered a couple of more things I wanted to post. One is a photo from the beautiful Othodox church that we visited in Nazareth. We asked permission to sing a Taize chant, and it was breathtakingly beautiful – wonderful acoustics.

Some things that have delighted my soul.

  • Listening to the Muslim call to prayer since we have arrived. It is hauntingly beautiful
  • Watching a Palestinian grandmother and grandchild smiling and waving at us from a balcony in Nazareth.
  • Catching a wave and a smile from an Israeli soldier on a bus that was stopped next to us at a traffic light.
  • Smelling Jasmine at the kibbutz after a dousing of rain during the night.

Posted in Israel/Holy Land trip | 2 Comments »

We Are Here and We Have Wifi

Sunday, May 11th, 2008

Exhausted and exhilarated, we have arrived at the Sea of Galilee for the next 5 nights! After a long, long plane trip from Portland to New York to London to Tel Aviv, we arrived in Israel. Here are the columns of the airport lobby

We were to spend the first night in Nentanya on the Mediterranean. We hoped to go to the hotel, get refreshed, have dinner and get some shut-eye. However, it was the Jewish Sabbath and we could not check in to the hotel until after sundown as the Jewish families in our rooms keep Shabbat and do no work until the Sabbath is over – that includes packing suitcases.

So, we took a side trip to the old city of Jaffa. It was very picturesque and we got to stretch out cramped leg muscles, walking around and up and down.

We finally checked in to our rooms and had dinner at 9:30 at night. You can bet that I slept very soundly. In the morning we found this view from our room.

Today we drove up the coast to Caesarea and spent a couple of hours touring the ruins of Herod’s former kingdom. There are amazing unearthed artifacts, just sitting there for the touching.

Look at these colors! the Mediterranean was really this color.

We then drove into the interior of the country to the Sea of Galilee, passing through some amazing sites. We are now at a kibbutz with lots of other tourists. Tomorrow, we are off for more adventures. Mr C is snoring. I think I will join him. Here is a view of the front of our bus. The driver, Ishmael is trying to make us feel at home, I guess.

Tomorrow, I will try to get my photos on Flickr. Ta!

Posted in Israel/Holy Land trip | 5 Comments »

Thursday This and That

Thursday, May 1st, 2008

JOURNEY PROUD: In a week we leave for two weeks in Israel. I need new clothes. I have to get some quilt show entries done that are due while I am gone. I have lots of nit picky little things to take care of – call the credit card companies to let them know we will be in the middle east, find my passport and make a copy, get all the little things together that I want to take — power cord converter, camera batteries, prescriptions, etc. I plan to do an art journal of my trip and so here are my journal, pens and water colors.

I also bought some fabulous Eileen Fisher separates that I am crazy about – light, lineny fabric.

Weight Watchers: Of course, yesterday was Wednesday. My weight was up. I am going to stop dieting until I get back from my trip. Errr – I think I already stopped!

STUDIO WORK: I got 4 pieces ready to put in the Trinity Art Show next week-end — Artist’s Among Us.

I know it all looks familiar. I added some more silvery moonlight to the aspen piece – I removed some branches that I didn’t like. I also restretched the bamboo fence piece and neatened up the back. Look at this — I just have to add screw eyes and wire.

COLLAGE MANIA: Virginia Spiegel’s Collage Mania fund raiser begins on Monday. If you have not been to her site to see all of the gorgeous work that is for sale – do it now! On Monday, the collages are $80 and on Tuesday, if there are any left, they will be $40 — what a bargain, either day. My pieces are on page 20. All of the work is mounted on paper and ready for framing. As a breast cancer survivor, this fundraiser is near and dear to my heart, and I am thrilled to have participated since the first year. I am personally hoping to snag a collage by Liz Berg!

THE ORTHOPEDIC CROCS: I have had many requests for the link to these shoes. I really love them. I even took the dog for a walk in them this afternoon. I have to thank one of my blog readers, Linda, for the link. They are called Relief.

Posted in Israel/Holy Land trip, My creations, Stuff I Buy, This and that, weight loss/gain | 4 Comments »