Tallit, Tree of Life in Blue

Tallit, Tree of Life in Blue, Hand-Painted Silk, 24 x 72

Please click on image for larger view

Iris Scarves

Iris Scarves, Hand Painted Silk, 11 x 60 inches each

Free form painting (no gutta resist lines)

New Custom Tallit

Willow Tree of Life Tallit, 22 x 72, Hand-Painted Silk
The corners contain the four elements - earth, fire, water, air

New Challah Covers

New Silk Prayer Shawl

Tree of Life, Oranges, 22 x 70, Hand-Painted Silk Tallit
(Jewish Prayer Shawl)
Detail below (click either image for a larger view)

Peace any way you look at it, #1

Peace (Up and Down), 11 x 60, Hand-painted Silk

This is actually the first silk piece of this design, it preceded the rainbow version by some months. Here's a fun fact to know and tell: a word or words that are the same upside-down and right-side-up are called ambigrams. Not to be confused with palindrones, something of which my father is an expert. His creation for my second son: Sail, Elias!

My father adds the following:

Two points please,

1. Ambigrams were celebrated in 1961, of course.
2. The first son's palindrome is more elaborate providing you accept CA for California:
Did Isaac nix a tax in CA as I did?

Creation III Tallit

Creation IIIb Tallit, 22 x 70, hand-painted silk

Cherry Blossom Tree of Life Tallit

A new tallit (Jewish prayer shawl).
70 x 22 inches, hand-painted silk.
This piece is available at Dayenu, Judaica at the JCCSF, a Jewish gift store inside the Jewish Community Center right in the heart of San Francisco.
For purchase, you can give them a call at (415) 563-6563.
Click on image for larger view

Rainbow Challah Cover

This was a warm-up piece for the rainbows on the "Noah's Ark" tallit.
Hand-painted silk, 17 x 17

Noah's Ark, Part 8, Grand Finale

Grandma and Granddaughter came to the studio to tie the tsitsit on the tallit.

A happy granddaughter who will soon become an adult in the eyes of the Jewish community as she becomes a Bat Mitzvah.

Paisleys

Here's the latest tallit (Jewish prayer shawl) I've created. 14 x 72, Hand-painted Silk.

Vineyards Tallit

This hand-painted silk tallit (prayer shawl) is 35 x 70 inches.

Vineyards Tallit, detail 1

Vineyards Tallit, detail 2

New Challah Covers

Here are the latest designs for my challah covers. These cover the sabbath braided bread, adding some visual beauty to the celebration of the day of rest. 17 x 17, hand painted silk. You can see other designs on my challah cover page.

Here's the finished prayer shawl, Tree of Life - Moon Peace, 24 x 72, hand painted silk. The watercolor sketch for this design was posted May 8th (click image for a larger view). The owner of this tallit is having his Bar Mitzvah this month. I had the privilege of making his brother's tallit a couple of years ago. Here it is, below:

Watercolor sketches for a silk triptych wall hanging. 3 x 3, 3 x 3 and 3 x 6 inches

The silk wall hanging triptych. Side pieces are 18 x 18, center piece is 18 x 36. Commissioned by my cousins Barb and Bob. It's nice to have relatives with good taste (click the image for a larger view).

Starry Night

Starry Night, 43 x 72, Silk Dyes on Silk Fabric.

Here is the finished tallit (Jewish Prayer Shawl). I posted the watercolor sketch of this piece on 3/20 (about three posts down). It is 43 x 72, silk dyes on silk fabric.

Silk Scarves

These are 11 x 60, and each one has unique salt texture, created by different kinds of salt thrown on to the wet dyes. $65.00 each. Email me to purchase (click image for larger view).

Calligraphy on Silk

To prepare the silk, so the calligraphy letters won't spread, I apply a layer of Jacquard's No Flow mixed down with some water. Then, I thicken up the silk dye with some Pebeo Soie Thickener. I've got a template underneath the silk for placement of the letters (and so I don't forget any). I use a flat brush, creating thick strokes with a flat stroke, and thin lines with just the edge of the brush.
This Hebrew calligraphy is the traditional blessing said when one adorns a tallit, or Jewish Prayer Shawl: "Blessed are You O Lord, our God, King of the Universe Who has sanctified us with Your commandments and commanded us to wrap ourselves in tsitsit."
The calligraphy in the context of the almost-finished prayer shawl.

Silk Painting Demo - Part 4

As promised, this part of the demo shows how lovely salt technique is on silk. On a wet, just painted area, toss, throw or sprinkle regular ol' salt. You can also try rock, margarita and kosher salt for some interesting variations!

Above is a close-up of salt applied in the multi-colored section on the left. It has already started reacting and will dry soon.









The entire border of this piece is painted in a multicolored wash, and after painting a foot-long section or so, I throw on the salt, and continue on to complete the border.


Here's a couple of close-ups after the salt has dried and been brushed away. It's unpredictable, and varies with the wetness of the silk, the kind of salt, and, of course, the weather...












In the next installment, I'll show you how to set the colors permanently into the silk, and finish off the piece.

My Weekend

This weekend I participated in Palo Alto's "To Life!" Jewish Art Festival. About 70 artists are juried into this annual art festival and exhibit. On display were my hand-painted silk tallit (prayer shawls), scarves, challah covers, some fun things like hand-painted silk hats and ties, and a few paintings.

















Big thanks go to husband Dave and niece Rachelle for all their help.