Summer in the middle of January

Summer is back! 🌞 
Sitting on the beach and sinking into surrounding. Nothing special happens, but from the other hand, there is endless amount of small stories around, every person has his story, I try to capture faces, expressions, interactions, parts of words, sounds.... little by little I become a part of this soundtrack, part of this movie...

Rainy afternoon at the Fleamarket

Even at a rainy day there are plenty "models" for a hungry sketcher at the Jaffa Fleamarket :)

New Year in Haifa

New Year isn't official holiday in Israel, but different communities practice to celebrate it. As one that born in Russia, I have nostalgic memories about this holiday. My husband was born in Uruguay, were New Year is celebrated as well. So this year we decided to find a place in Israel were we can feel the change of the year's number and went to... Haifa. As a city with a mixed population in which all members of all religions live together, it is a tradition for a long time to celebrate The Holiday of the Holidays at the end of the year, to mark the religious holidays that apply in December and next to it - Hanukkah of the Jews, Christmas of the Christian, the month of the Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr of the Islamic (applicable at various times over the calendar year and may apply in December).
I love Haifa, its hilly landscape and blue sea popping up suddenly from every corner, it's eclectic architecture and its people. You can definitely feel there the New Year atmosphere, at evening all the city is beautifully decorated with lights and you feel a bit abroad. A lot of people go out on the street close to the midnight to celebrate the arriving of the New Year. Just a short trip of around one hundred kilometers from my home succeed to take me pretty far! I wish I sketched more, but for sure it'll be a next time :)

Haifa has the best hummus!

view on German Colony

nice bar in the port

great food and atmosphere!

close to the midnight - people on the street

morning of the New Year at Talpiyot market

Leftovers from the last year

Here is passed another year, busy as usual and full of sketching. I didn't update my blog as frequent as I would like, but I did keep on sketching almost everyday, as always. Sketching still keeps to be my way to experience my everyday life, not only trips to exotic places. Sometimes I feel that there is nothing new in another sketch of couple in the coffee shop or family on the beach. But I can't help myself not doing it, it's a part of me, looking for the small stories and recording them inside my sketchbook. And sharing them with you :)

Here are some sketches from the last two month. I hope I'll upload more this year. And I'm sure I'll keep on sketching. Have a  great year full of visual stories!

Sketches from Mykonos trip

Only now, when the year comes to its end, I got to post sketches from our small family vacation in Mykonos from the end of September... Anyway, it's nice to recall end-of-the-summer memories in the middle of winter! It was very relaxed vacation in very beautiful place, which gave a lot of inspiration.
I wish to myself to keep on having opportunities for sketching in the coming 2019 year . It not necessary includes being in exotic places, but do includes having this special feeling of excitement from surrounding and wishing to record the stories around me, which force me to pull out my sketchbook and to sketch!

Folk Night Tel Aviv

Music and sketching is my favorite combination - here are some sketches I did yesterday at the Folk Night Festival Tel Aviv. There is so many so talented musicians here!!!!!