This is the close-up of a painting I am working on presently.  It is called "Cousin Harvey's Schule".  It spans the 19th century, from World War two to the present.  It is a 3 tier painting, showing from the end of this painting to the end of the schule, a building, the street and then a church.   My cousin will be in the middle of it walking in, and then a rabbi and priest will be talking in the street with their respective coffees

Here are two painting I am working on.  They are in my make-shift studio in my apartment. The one on the bottom is of Mount Sinai, where I have place a church in the middle between two buildings.  There will be three section to his going from the hospital to the Street.  On the bottom I will place sick and well patients going from the street to the church.  It is really a work in progress

THE SURPRISE VISIT & SECOND FLOOR

This is my latest addition, and well as my introduction to my blog... which I hope comprises the  personnal thoughts that go into one's Diary...  First, I'de like to give a brief background of my life,  and career.  At present I have lived long enough to become a Senior Citizen who finallly has the opportunity, through it may be a hard one, at times, to paint full-time.  For about thirty years before my transfer to painting I was a Graphic Designer who worked primarily for book publishers and magazines...  And had, I must admit, a charmed career... with companies  like Random House, Harper's Bazaar and Ms. Magazine, McCraw-Hill, after graduating from Cooper Union's  evening school.

In 2002 I decided to leave McCraw-Hill and start painting.  "THE SURPRISE VISIT" was one of my first attempts at a craft I though I had lost.  I had always dreamed of painting Jesus coming out of a subway.  This piece was in a show at the Marble Collegiate Church in 2011 and is in a private collection.

Yes, that is me in the photo.

size: 4 x 5 feet

I began to work on the "SECOND FLOOR" very shortly after I finished "SURPRISE VISIT".

It was the deciding facter on why I began painting houses of worship of all dominations.

I wanted very much to express the calmness people could appreciated in these buildings, the morality they could experience from the writings and music they found in its halls, ethics and justice that come from the sermons and the spirit of words.

The "SECOND FLOOR" was inspired from a photo I took of the women's floor of OC...  an othodox shul a few blocks from where I live that is easy to get to when in a rush.  The shul, on most Saturdays is only a-third full, and the ladies daven and talk, daven and talk.  That's how they keep up with the week's news and share recipes.  It is always very quiet, but through my imagination, the few times I have sit there either alone or with the few women,  I see the ceiling opening for a large breath of air. coming from the very depths of outer space, and tprayer books races out to the universe for refreshing... because they are free to do it in my mind.

size: 26 x 40 inches

OUR HIDDEN MORALITY, or I AM THERE

"HIDDEN MORALITY" is still in progress... and the start of a new series about New York for me... and what can be seen in this teeming, creative,  money oriented , fast paced city, "and what is not ".  Perhap it is the quietness of the buildings... the eyes and walk of the sick and aging.  A church wedding.   The homeless in pain. A couple in love.  A breath of space in the midst of cars and bricks... the smile of a child, as their mother talks silly to them to get their attention.  Maddness in the  the streets. The words of a raving lunatic, saying the truth if you really listen.
It is amazing, what we pass by, because we are too busy texting and cell phoning, or in circling thoughts that have no immediate answers... That we don't stop to wondered what is hidden from our view. Maybe Our Being!
I personally thing it will be an interesting series.  For me it is the search.  In one photo I see one thing, then in another; and another... I find that they go together.  In this painting, on the right side, in the white space,  I see three ill people waiting outside  to go to church to pray for their welfare,

size: 22 x 30 inches

HARVEY'S SHUL,unfinished piece, on its way

I call this Harvey's Shul, because it is where my Cousin Harvey works as the Business Manager. But thats not my only reason for painting this particular shul.
I am absolutely fascinated by comtemporary, odd religion buildings; whether christian, jewish, moslem, or buddists... as I am with religious art of all kinds. It seems to me that people have poured their hearts out, from the beginning of time, with the concept of God, and the concept of religion... the concept of something greater than themselves.

And Cousin Harvey's shul fits that bill.  It is a very tall and thin, very modern place of worship. What blew my mind is that when you get off the elevator, you find yourself facing toward the width of the schul... which makes the shul look wider, longer.  The architect is truly brilliant.
... but then when I look at it through my camera eye, and take a pic in the street; I see its connection to the heavens, the universe,  the past of our religion, our people, the neighborhood ... the warmth of a shabbos meal.

size: 22 x30 inches

GENERATION TO GENERATION

                                      size: 3 x 7.5 feet

The above pic is my make-shift livingroom/studio.  In reality my studio is 

taking over my livingroom, and because my drawings/paintings sit on my

couch, no more than two to three people can visit. But I do have a kitchen

and bedroom... so there is more space.  

The painting leaning on my wall, is called "from Generation to Generation"...

I did it, especially, for a show I participated in two years ago in

New Haven, Ct... at the Jewish Community Center. 

It was done on a wooden door as it would have in Jewish Foldlore

to convey the message or spirit of coming and going.  Passing through.

The visual is of a rabbi davening, looking towards the past,  

before the migration of Jews from Middle Europe to the new world... 

From nothing to a monotheic religion of one God.

The door is painted Gold to represents the Byzantine Period (330A.D. 

to 1453 A.D. of art, when that metal was used richly in Christianity...

Upon further research I found out that Gold was used because it

symbolised the generosity and spirituality of Heaven.  Also to my

surprised it was used in Synagogues for Jewish symbols and artifacts, 

perhap at the same time.  

KEEPING AL AND SOPHIE ALIVE

"Keeping Al and Sophie Alive, Actor's Temple"
framed as it actually appears in the show at the Holocaust Memorial  Center in Detroit... which
ran from March to May of 2012.  More about this
painting can be seen my Diary dated February 3rd, 2012, under the same Title"Keeping Al and Sophie Alive, Actor's Temple.

size: 22 x 30, without frame