Calming Alarm

Here are illustrations I did for the last issue of Einayim magazine, for a short story by Moshe Krone about a boy dealing with his parent's fights.

Two views

These two recent sketches from my sketchbook have something in common. I always prefer human landscapes to real ones. But sometimes I need to kill a time, and then even people-less panorama can be fascinating.

Neve Sha'anan - sketching the invisible citizens

Tel Aviv has many faces. As every big city, it has his respectable areas, new-build neighborhoods or nicely renovated historic areas. Sketching there is always nice, but sometimes you have a feeling of being in a well designed museum, lacking real life. 

For our last Sketchcrawl we met at Neve Sha'anan street. This place isn't featured on the postcards or "must see" lists, many Israelis tend to avoid it. Just a few blocks from Tel Aviv’s luxury hotels and popular tourist locations you suddenly feel you're in different country, only Israeli that you see on the street are "tourists" - groups of photographers, looking for "nice" poverty pictures, bourgeois couples from North Tel Aviv, looking for authentic places to eat. Its real citizens are foreign workers mostly from Africa and Asia, the invisible residents we usually trying to ignore.

I wasn't sure if by bringing here our group of sketchers wouldn't make the Neve Sha'anan residents feeling a bit like an animals in the zoo. But as sketching is less piercing and more integrated with surroundings, often invites interacting, I was hoping we'll be accepted ok. And we did.

We started sketching trying to be together as a group, little by little spreading up over the street. All "local" residents where very friendly, looking at what we doing, some of them even asked us to draw them.

It was really special day of sketching and interacting, here are what I succeed to capture.

Romanian Island in the African sea

the Eritrean barbershops are so great!

I did these three sketches one week before, when I came here with Aurore to check the place.

Tel Aviv - Bat Yam - Ra'anana

Some recent sketches - with my sketchbook I'm a constant tourist  :)

"Kaimak" at Levinsky market

toys shop and the Rabbi - one of the crazy combinations from the Levinsky market

the best hummus at the Kerem Hataimanim

cloudy sky at the Dolfinarium beach

boulevard at Bat Yam 1

boulevard at Bat Yam 2

Ra'anana junction

Reportage drawing in the City Hall

Last Thursday our local Urban Sketchers group were invited by Tel Aviv municipality to take a part in the event called "One Moment - Art in Not Expected Spaces". For the one night City Hall was "occupied" by various artists - musicians, performers, visual artists; public could watch shows, to participate in workshops, to see exhibition and so on...
It was our first official experience of reportage drawing as a group, and it was so fun and challenging!
Groups of people came and gone, stopped to see the exhibition, sat down to rest and to hear the music, stood in the lines to the different shows, gathered around performers and so on...
Here are what I succeed to "catch".

As usual, we put at the end our sketches on the floor - how different was everyone expression from the same event! So, that's the the one of the benefits of on-location drawing, and its difference from the photography - every sketch passed through the very personal filter of absorption of the reality, authentic style, composition and point of view!
I think we should look for another event to report.
More photos are here.

Israeli and German sketchers at Tel Aviv beach

Last Friday we had a spontaneous sketchcrawl with a group of German illustration students and illustrators headed by maestro Felix Scheinberger. We met at Charles Clore Beach in Tel Aviv, and had really wonderful time! It amazes me each time again - how people from so different parts of the world can be united by the same passion, having the same sparkle in the eyes, enjoying company of each other as they where old friends.
The group came to Israel for a special week trip, armed by sketchbooks and artistic tools. It was so great to see how people from the outside see our country, to learn and to share.
And as a fan of Felix Scheinberger works for a long time, I was so delighted to meet him and to sketch in his company!
3 hours of the sketchcarwl flew like a one moment, I barely could sketch something, busy by chatting and looking at others sketchbooks.

Nathan is very concentrated

Felix sketching Pei

At the end Felix and me sketched each other - what a fun way of duel! 

I sketched Felix sketching me ;)

portrait of me by Felix  Scheinberger - so great!

portrait duel!

Israeli and German sketchers - final photo

We ended by a common lunch at Yemen Kerem - nothing could be better ending for this terrific day - perfect weather, perfect company and... perfect hummus!
You can see more photos here and here.

Sketches from the Red Sea

Yesterday we back from a 3 days family vacation in Eilat - the farthest place you can go to vacation in Israel. In our tiny country you can't really disconnect, only after driving for a 4 hours through the desert  surrealistic views, you can feel that you're in a different place.

I love the Red Sea surrounded by maroon mountains, its crystal turquoise water, with corals and colorful fishes. And always cloudless sky above it.

Eilat is a paradise for a sketcher - besides the beautiful nature, the city filled by colorful variety of people - locals and tourists, funny mixture of all from everywhere. I wish I could sketch everyone I wanted! 

But... here what I managed to capture between swimming, sunbathing and spending time with my family, of course!

extreme sport or massage?

first evening at La Cuccina - Italian food and wine

braids at the promenade

guitar player at the street

street artist - portraits for everyone 

catching sun

more sun catchers

waiting for the sea sport

diner american style - Barbis

Coral Beach - the most beautiful beach in Eilat 

couple at the Coral Beach

noodle bar

Fireball - one of the mos popular kind of the entertainment 

the last look on Eilat