ultraMARIN Sketch

I knew that setting meeting point for our Sketchcrawl at Levinsky Garden will be challenging. Tel Aviv is a city of contrasts, even in the most touristic place you'll find contrasts between new and old, beautiful and ugly, rich and poor. Levinsky Garden and next to it Neve Shaanan neighborhood long time ago turned to be kind of a different country, populated by immigrants it has a life of its own and you can see straight away who's a citizen and who's a tourist. We felt a bit uncomfortable to come there with our fancy sketching tools to "hunt" our objects. I decided to start from sketching the surrounding, despite that what interested me the most were, of course, the people. I wanted to give myself time to observe the place from distance, to absorb and to be absorbed. The garden was very nice, wide and blooming. The atmosphere there were very calm, everything were easygoing. People - black men mostly - passed slowly, stopped in groups for a few minutes of conver...

Last weekend my sister and I spend a long weekend in Vienna - elegant, classical, and so artistic capital of Austria. So we tasted some Schiele, Klimt and Breigel. And some Mozart, Beethoven and Strauss. And apple-strudel for the dessert, of course! ;) Here are some sketches I managed to "steal". our first supper beautiful concert in Mozart's house having some drinks after the concert my beautiful sister listening to the live singer in the bar poor horses! I'm not sure they so happy to dance waltz... I didn't dare to skate, but it was fun to watch! charming small concert in our hotel, called "Beethoven"  in the local jazz club "Porgy&Bess" wonderful show by "Marina and the Kats" Marina and her band were just electrifying! I wish I could sketch much much more! But still, it was so nice, and I have some taste for coming again!

Last weekend we had a short trip to the North. Its always relaxing - change of the landscape, a lot of nature and some sketching, of course ;) I did this sketch at the entrance to Fassuta - Arabic Christian village in Galilee, decorated for Christmas.    Series of sketches done during our dinner: barmen telling us the story of his life These two paintings were done in Haifa on our way back. I miss painting!

It was a busy month, full of various events I'll tell about later. Finally I had a little break and was able to set up my Etsy shop - something I wanted to try long ago. I'm sketching on daily base and obviously have a huge amount of sketches done for no particular purpose. I can talk non stop about why I sketch. When I started, it was almost physical need to move my fingers, the most accessible way to keep myself in shape for drawing. As time passed, sketching turned to be kind of obsession, part of my way of experiencing my daily routine. But most of all, sketching for me is a way to enjoy the pleasure of drawing for its own sake and a very fun way to go to a journey every day without travelling far. When I sketch I really observe the surroundings, watch what's happening, enter strangers' lives, and discover their stories. I had doubts about offering my sketches for sell. I'm an illustrator working with clients and creating a lot of images on demand. I want...

It was a magic weekend at inDnegev - festival of indie music in the Negev desert. We, Urban Sketchers, also a kind of "indie" - not really mainstream, something between artists, illustrators and storytellers, so the connection was natural.  It was very fun for me  to sketch the festival, not just the concerts and the musicians, but the whole phenomenon around us, a kind of very undefined, but on the other hand, a very consolidated community of people gathered around the institution that called inDnegev.  The avant-garde sounds and the monotonous desert with the sandy wind blurring everything... Beyond that - the sketches speak for themselves, mostly about people I've seen around me.  It was great fun! my first sketch - trying to capture the athmosphere security guys are eating as well Night falls and everything looks different Many couples of lovers near the stage These three boys asked me to draw them and stood in front o...

Last week a I had errands in Jerusalem and was lucky to spend some time at Machane Yehuda Market. Visiting Jerusalem, which is only one hour drive from my house, always feels to me visiting very far land. This city is not like any place, it has so many levels in any aspect, so each time I touch it, it feels like a magic, something I will never get to know, but it always will magnet me. I think I can seat and absorb its citizens for a hours, but at some level I feel pity not trying to capture them in my sketchbook. So I did, sitting at one of the pubs in the middle of the market. people are buying food for the holidays  I love to sketch Hassidim in their fur hats it's tradition to eat (and sleep) in nicely decorated Sukkah (kind of tent) during the Sukkot holidays