Daniel, Ro'i and Missiles in the Sky

On Saturday night Iran shot roughly 300 ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and suicide drones from its territory into Israel. This marked the first-ever direct attack on Israel by the Islamic Republic, triggering air raid sirens throughout the country. We had a sleepless night listening to the fighter jets overhead and wondering what was going to happen to us. It's been a rather anxious few days. But I want to continue sharing my art here, in an attempt to normalize my life. I hope you enjoy two of my latest cards.

The last birthday card I made for Daniel showed him playing the piano. His mum said that he still plays all the time, so it should be the main theme of this year's card too. It was up to me to come up with something different!

Daniel's mum sent me a photo of him at the piano. She said that the beige sweatshirt he is wearing is his current favourite (last time it was blue!). She also asked me to add his soccer (football) boots, some car keys (to show that he drives) and a big 18.

I showed Daniel sitting at the piano, making music. Some car keys, with a little white car on the keyring, are next to him, and his black soccer boots, with the pattern on them accurately copied, are in the foreground. A big orange number 18 marks his age.

Mum wrote to tell me that "[The card] was a wonderful success. He loved it and really thinks it looks like him!".

Daniel's older brother, Ro'i, turned 23. Mum wanted me to show him with his grey rucksack and sent me a photo of him on his travels. Now back in Israel, he has gone back to rehearsing monologues for theatre class, she told me, so asked me to add a notebook or paper with the word 'monologue' on it. Finally, Ro'i's girlfriend is called Maya, so I added a red heart with her name in it.
A big blue number 23 marks Roi's age.

* This post has been shared on The Good. The Random. The Fun. and Handmade Monday.

Yair's Album

Yair was due to celebrate his Bar Mitzvah on 12th October 2023. On the morning of 7th October, in an act of war, hundreds of Hamas terrorists invaded Israel while firing thousands of rockets. Yair's Bar Mitzvah plans were derailed. His mum had already collected the album I had made for his celebration, and I do know that he was able to go ahead and use it anyway, just a few months later! I made a Bar Mitzvah album for Yair's brother, Gavriel, back in 2021. Back then we were still in the throes of Covid-19, so Gavriel's Bar Mitzvah celebration must have been a bit different from the norm too.

Yair is interested in space and the galaxies. He enjoys reading books like Percy Jackson and Harry Potter, and his favourite food is sushi. The family was planning to hold his Bar Mitzvah outdoors, so mum asked me to feature nature on the cover of Yair's album and to use green and burnt orange colours.

I have shown Yair with a book in one hand and some chopsticks in the other. Behind him are some planets and stars, to reflect his interest in space. On the right is the logo for his Bar Mitzvah and at the bottom some more sushi and two of Yair's favourite books. I added some leaves as well, to cover the nature theme.
Yair's Bar Mitzvah and the date appears at the top in English and at the bottom in Hebrew. The lettering is in gold.

I decorated five pages inside the album as well. The opening page featured some planets and stars. Next I showed two of Yair's favourite books, "Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief" and "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone". A page was devoted to Yair's taste for sushi, below, and I added the logo of his Bar Mitzvah invitation to another page too. Finally, I created a little outdoor scene, imaging where Yair's Bar Mitzvah was due to take place.

"Your books are always such a special addition to our smachot [joyous occasions]. Thank you so, so much." Yair's mum wrote to me.

She also wrote this piece about the war and her son's Bar Mitzvah and shared it on Facebook. I am sharing it here with her permission.

Today we should be feeling happy.
Today we should be dressing up and putting on our new beautiful clothes.
Today we should be excited and over the moon.

Today we should be smiling with pride and crying happy tears.
Today we should be celebrating our son's Bar Mitzvah.
But
Today we are home.
Today we are crying.
Today we are mourning.
Today we are scared and worried for our safety and the safety of our country.
Today we are worried and praying for every single one of our soldiers, our people on the frontlines, for every single one of our people.
Today we are begging and praying for the hostages to be returned.
Today we are praying for this nightmare to be over.
Today is a different Today than it should be.

- Taryn I Baker

* This post has been shared on The Good. The Random. The Fun. and Inspire Me Tuesday.

Hadar and Benjo

A good friend asked me to make a card for her daughter's 18th birthday. Her daughter is a part-time waitress at Cafe Greg, a well know dairy cafe with branches throughout the country. She thought it would be cute if I could put the logo of the chain on her daughter's shirt.
My friend wanted me to show her daughter baking challah, the loaf of white bread, typically plaited in form, which is traditionally baked to celebrate Shabbat. She also asked me to include an Israeli flag, along with the Hebrew phrase יחד ננצח, "Together We Will Win", the national motto since the start of the war, which has been used on the news and by many companies and organizations.

I showed Hadar, the birthday girl, in her olive coloured work shirt, with the Cafe Greg logo on the sleeve. She is busy plaiting a challah and there is a mixing bowl, wooden spoon and eggs next to her. Most traditional challah recipes use eggs, flour, water, sugar, yeast, vegetable oil and salt. Challah is made without dairy.

I added the blue and white Israeli flag with the "Together We Will Win" motto beneath it.

A big red number 18 marks her age.

My friend told me that her daughter loved the card!

Benjo was turning 12. My last card for him was Minecraft-themed. This year he has become somewhat of an entrepreneur, making money taking care of other people's dogs. He wanted to be shown holding the shekels he has earnt. I added the logo he created for his little business in the background and also a portrait of Snow, the dog that he had looked after for a few weeks.

A big red number 12 marks Benjo's age.

* This post has been shared on  The Good. The Random. The Fun.

Neot Semadar Arts Centre

It's time for me to post something about Israel once again, about the beautiful side of the country I live in. This post was written over a year ago, when we took a short break in Eilat, Israel's southernmost city. We planned to go again this last December, but the war in Israel meant that we were unable to travel there.

Neot Semadar is a kibbutz in the southern Negev desert, about 70 kilometres north of Eilat. It was established in 1989 on the grounds of an abandoned kibbutz, Shizafon. The founders, a group of ideological young people who met whilst living in Jerusalem, shared a love of the desert, the desire to set up a communal community and to create an oasis in the southern Negev.

The kibbutz members created an organic community, engaged in agricultural waste recycling, and built eco-friendly homes. Their economy is based on agriculture, with 500 dunams of organically cultivated vineyards, olives, date plantations and a herb garden. The kibbutz also operates a boutique organic winery and produces a variety of cheeses from fresh goat milk. On our way to Eilat we stopped for lunch at their roadside restaurant, Pundak Neot Semadar, which offers vegetarian food and sells the kibbutz's organic products. It was delicious!

Before lunch we made a quick visit to the kibbutz's Arts Centre. Unfortunately it closes early several days of the week but, even though we arrived after their closing time, we got lucky and met a kibbutz member who was keen to show us around.
The Arts Centre is an architecturally unique building which serves as a gallery and studio for all of the artists living on the kibbutz. Many of their works of art are on display in the gallery located on the ground floor of the centre and a variety of workshops for stained glass, ceramics, textile, wood and metals are offered there. The building is insulated with mud bricks, with "air conditioning" supplied by a desert cooling tower.

The Arts Centre was gradually constructed by kibbutz members over a period of 15 years. The entire kibbutz participated and there was no blueprint for the building. Instead, many techniques of architecture were studied and applied as they went along. The members developed a special way of casting a mosaic floor, a technique of moulding reliefs and sculptures in concrete, and applied some desert construction principles, such as the massive air cooling tower which is kept cool using a unique evaporative cooling system. There is a balcony at the top of the tower, from which you can look out over the expansive desert surrounding the kibbutz.

Residents of the Neot Semadar had never worked on a project outside of the desert until the world-renowned Turkish architect Sinan Kafadar sought out their expertise while finishing off the interior of the 226 room Waldorf-Astoria in Jerusalem. About 10 kibbutz members employed techniques regularly practiced on the colourful eco-friendly buildings at Neot Semadar to make wall panels, door frames and number signs on the rooms at the historic 1929 hotel.

A program of courses and seminars in the Arts Centre is offered to people from Israel and abroad. Students can learn a new art form, while staying in one of the kibbutz's eco-friendly bed and breakfast units with gorgeous views that overlook the fields. Each unit has its own balcony and herb garden. There is a communal kitchen outfitted with appliances, kitchenware and a communal dining area, and prepared meals can be booked ahead of time.
I might just try one out one day.

*This post has been shared on The Good. The Random. The Fun., Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday) and My Corner of the World.