Flower in the Sky, 2017 24 x 36

COLORFUL PAINTING and COLLAGE
Taught by Judy Gittelsohn (http://www.judyg.com/)

Class Description

We will do exercises exploring many ways of painting – blending, layering and glazing and incorporating the use of some collage. The exercises will be driven by the use of Golden’s amazing range of artist colors.

Judy will show us the different types of paint we will experiment with how they act and interact, and then lead us on a painting and collaging adventure to create interesting pieces made with layers of paints and gels, and textures with a wide range of surface quality and color.

You may wish to look at www.goldenartistcolors.com ahead of time, or not and prepare for a magical mystery tour in the class.

Date & Time
Saturday June 10th, 2017
Check-in/Arrival Time: 10:15 AM
Class Starts: 10:30 AM
Class Ends: 1:30 PM but we may go longer if you wish

Cost
$70.00 payable cash or check to Judy Gittelsohn

Lunch
A light lunch (veggie lasagna, salad, cookies) will be provided. The market next door and Peet’s are in the same shopping center if you need anything else. 

Location
New Leaf Community Market Classroom 150A San Mateo Rd, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019
Adjacent to the New Leaf Grocery Store at the intersection of 92 and Highway 1

Questions/ Problems Day-of?
Laura McHugh - cell 650-743-2791

What to Bring With You
If you wish to prepare in advance, think of:
- Three or more words about color - blue - airy, etc.
- Items to collage with
- Two places with special meaning to you
- One person you love

If you bring a concrete idea or a work in progress, that is fine too. Judy will provide all paints and small canvas boards, and materials to look through to use as painting prompts. 

GOLDEN PAINTS HANDS – ON WORKSHOP with Judy GITTELSOHN

Join Judy Gittelsohn, Golden Certified Working Artist, for a 3-hour hands-on creative workshop with Golden acrylics. Delve into many products you will love; textures that can take your paintings in a whole new direction. Drizzle Clear Tar Gel, scratch with Coarse Pumice Gel, sparkle with Glass Bead Gel and more. Understand what gels do and which gels are right for you.

Especially participants will experiment with and experience paints of the iridescent family – Micaceous Iron Oxide, Pearl, Stainless Steel and more.

This is an opportunity to sample Golden products with gusto. All materials included in the $60 workshop fee. All levels welcome!

_______________________________________________________________________________

Date: Saturday June 3, 2017

Time: 10:00 am - 1:00 pm

Location: The Little House on Jewell Park – Pacific Grove

_______________________________________________________________________

Fee: $60

If you would like, feel free to bring a canvas or canvas panel, primed, a few brushes, and a photo or an idea. The canvas size should be no bigger than 16 x 20. If one wishes they could bring a small table easel.

This is an option in case a participant wanted to complete a fun, more abstracted type of painting after experimenting with some of products.

micaceous iron oxide

pearl
stainless steel
bronze

light molding paste

tar gel
soft gel matte

Registration: Contact Dee Steiner, 831-236-4202 or loveart48@gmail.com

                                                                                                 Serving the Garden, 2017    40 x 72 inches                   

 “...God took Adam and placed him/her in the Garden of Eden to work it and to guard it.”  - Genesis

I was moved by this passage when read by Rabbi Sheldon Lewis - see his and Marianna Grossman's article below. This painting is a poem to our directive and our task to serve.

Love,

Judy
me@judyg.com
www.judyg.com
650 248 5381

  SERVING IN THE GARDEN: PRESERVING OUR FRAGILE PLANET

Thousands are gathering on April 29th in Washington DC and around the country to mobilize for action on climate change. We believe that it is vital for Jews to demonstrate our concern as a community. There will be local marches in San Jose and Oakland. Some congregations will be focusing on climate action during Shabbat.

Our tradition gives us many reasons why climate change matters from a Jewish perspective. For example, on the sixth day of the creation narrative, the first human beings are told that they should wield control over other creatures sharing the earth, marine life, the birds, and the animals inhabiting the land. In the second chapter of Genesis (2:15), their mandate is defined more fully:

“The Lord God took Adam and placed him in the Garden of Eden to work it and to guard it.”

The verbs in Hebrew containing the directives for the first person, “l’ovda u’l’shomra” are tantalizingly ambiguous. “L’ovda” does mean “to work it”, but that very word in Biblical language also means “to serve”.  An “eved” was the servant or slave of a master. Frequently the root “avod” is used to teach service of God. The rituals in the central sanctuary in the desert and later in the Temple in Jerusalem became known as the “avodah” service.  Now the “mitzvah” for Adam takes on a new meaning: to serve the earth and to preserve it. Human control meant taking responsibility for the preciousness of what was given.

Just a few verses later, we find perhaps a further elaboration of what serving in the garden might mean.

“The Lord God created every creature of the field and every bird of the sky and brought (them) before Adam to see what he would call them, and whatever Adam would call each living being that would be its name.” (Genesis 2:19)

We have been naming every other creature ever since, animals, plants, bodies of water, contours of the land. As soon as we recognize another and come to know the other, we tend to search for a name. Naming is in our DNA, and it is a way of declaring to the other that he/she/it is important to us. Giving a name is to announce that we care. We notice those who share our ecosystem, not only living beings but mountains, valleys, water, air, and soil.

We know that every other living or silent partner on the fragile vessel we inhabit has a vital niche. We know that we can cause irreparable harm, but we also know that we can bring healing, help others to thrive, assure a safe passage for future generations. We can “serve and guard” our garden.

Unfortunately, we humans have not been heeding G-d’s instruction to serve the garden. We have exploited natural resources, overdrawn aquifers, dumped toxic pollution into our soils, air and water and despoiled natural habitats, pushing many species to the brink of extinction. The biggest threat caused by humans is the disruption to our climate system from burning fossil fuels and forests and from agricultural practices that deplete top soil and release methane. We know how to design our food and energy systems to work in harmony with nature, to build top soil, preserve water resources and to power our buildings, cars and factories with renewable energy. Yet, we seem to lack a sense of urgency about the peril we are creating by not making a rapid transition to sustainable practices.

In fact, communities around the world are already contending with rising seas, fiercer storms, deeper droughts, raging wildfires and floods. Scientific models of climate change show that these consequences will only grow more severe over time, unless real change is made. We believe that it is time to heed G-d’s directive to serve the garden. We owe it to all the species we have named and to our own children and grandchildren.

Many people around the nation will be marching on behalf of the climate on Shabbat April 29. We believe that the Jewish community needs to be part of this movement. We urge you to bring focus to this important topic in your Shabbat services; by marching within your community’s eruv or joining local marches; and by taking action in your daily lives, as well.  For more information check out The Jewish Hub for Climate Mobilization http://www.jewishclimate.org/pcm_2017/ and the Climate Mobilization sister marches https://peoplesclimate.org/sister-marches/ .

--Rabbi Sheldon Lewis, Rabbi Emeritus, Congregation Kol Emeth, author Torah of Reconciliation

--Marianna Grossman, Founder and Managing Partner, Minerva Ventures

Serving the Garden, 2017 40 x 72 Golden Acrylic on Linen -

                                                                                                   Serving the Garden, 2017    40 x 72 inches 

 “The Lord God took Adam and placed him/her in the Garden of Eden to work it and to guard it.”  - Genesis (2:15)

I was moved by this passage when read by Rabbi Sheldon Lewis - see his and Marianna Grossman's article below. This painting is a poem to our directive and our task to serve.

Love,

Judy
me@judyg.com
www.judyg.com
650 248 5381

  SERVING IN THE GARDEN: PRESERVING OUR FRAGILE PLANET

Thousands are gathering on April 29th in Washington DC and around the country to mobilize for action on climate change. We believe that it is vital for Jews to demonstrate our concern as a community. There will be local marches in San Jose and Oakland. Some congregations will be focusing on climate action during Shabbat.

Our tradition gives us many reasons why climate change matters from a Jewish perspective. For example, on the sixth day of the creation narrative, the first human beings are told that they should wield control over other creatures sharing the earth, marine life, the birds, and the animals inhabiting the land. In the second chapter of Genesis (2:15), their mandate is defined more fully:

“The Lord God took Adam and placed him in the Garden of Eden to work it and to guard it.”

The verbs in Hebrew containing the directives for the first person, “l’ovda u’l’shomra” are tantalizingly ambiguous. “L’ovda” does mean “to work it”, but that very word in Biblical language also means “to serve”.  An “eved” was the servant or slave of a master. Frequently the root “avod” is used to teach service of God. The rituals in the central sanctuary in the desert and later in the Temple in Jerusalem became known as the “avodah” service.  Now the “mitzvah” for Adam takes on a new meaning: to serve the earth and to preserve it. Human control meant taking responsibility for the preciousness of what was given.

Just a few verses later, we find perhaps a further elaboration of what serving in the garden might mean.

“The Lord God created every creature of the field and every bird of the sky and brought (them) before Adam to see what he would call them, and whatever Adam would call each living being that would be its name.” (Genesis 2:19)

We have been naming every other creature ever since, animals, plants, bodies of water, contours of the land. As soon as we recognize another and come to know the other, we tend to search for a name. Naming is in our DNA, and it is a way of declaring to the other that he/she/it is important to us. Giving a name is to announce that we care. We notice those who share our ecosystem, not only living beings but mountains, valleys, water, air, and soil.

We know that every other living or silent partner on the fragile vessel we inhabit has a vital niche. We know that we can cause irreparable harm, but we also know that we can bring healing, help others to thrive, assure a safe passage for future generations. We can “serve and guard” our garden.

Unfortunately, we humans have not been heeding G-d’s instruction to serve the garden. We have exploited natural resources, overdrawn aquifers, dumped toxic pollution into our soils, air and water and despoiled natural habitats, pushing many species to the brink of extinction. The biggest threat caused by humans is the disruption to our climate system from burning fossil fuels and forests and from agricultural practices that deplete top soil and release methane. We know how to design our food and energy systems to work in harmony with nature, to build top soil, preserve water resources and to power our buildings, cars and factories with renewable energy. Yet, we seem to lack a sense of urgency about the peril we are creating by not making a rapid transition to sustainable practices.

In fact, communities around the world are already contending with rising seas, fiercer storms, deeper droughts, raging wildfires and floods. Scientific models of climate change show that these consequences will only grow more severe over time, unless real change is made. We believe that it is time to heed G-d’s directive to serve the garden. We owe it to all the species we have named and to our own children and grandchildren.

Many people around the nation will be marching on behalf of the climate on Shabbat April 29. We believe that the Jewish community needs to be part of this movement. We urge you to bring focus to this important topic in your Shabbat services; by marching within your community’s eruv or joining local marches; and by taking action in your daily lives, as well.  For more information check out The Jewish Hub for Climate Mobilization http://www.jewishclimate.org/pcm_2017/ and the Climate Mobilization sister marches https://peoplesclimate.org/sister-marches/ .

--Rabbi Sheldon Lewis, Rabbi Emeritus, Congregation Kol Emeth, author Torah of Reconciliation

--Marianna Grossman, Founder and Managing Partner, Minerva Ventures

Now that the High Holidays are over - I'm heading to Fresno -

Who wouldn't? 

 Packed in my car are supplies for days - or hours if you are a painter.  Golden paints takes me there.  I'll be doing a workshop and a lecture demo. 
Ah - the pleasure of 
1. talking for two hours about art materials and then 
2. painting with souls that love to paint!

(#1. might be only for people like myself who wake up talking and go to bed talking...)

Now on to Mary. 

I could wait to talk about her, but - as Nike says, just do it.  So my darling Mary G. has left Los Angeles and is now in D.C., but on my most recent trip to Los Angeles, a surprising thrill was that we ended up spending a solid 24 hours together. In her home, with out her things, (they're in D.C.) with 100 degree weather outside.  Just she and I, like when we were teenagers.  Mary and I met in 1972 and fell for one another.  She lived in Washington and I in Oregon and we met in California. 

There was something Tikkun Olam about us. A rejoining. The healing of the world, the putting the pieces back together, finding your twin. I don't remember an exact moment of our meeting, but two curly headed, overly confident, extremely extroverted teenagers, meeting at a Jewish summer camp, found one another and I'm so glad we did.  

I periodically took the greyhound bus to Seattle to stay with her during our high school years. She'd come to Portland and stay with me and now we're driving our own cars and visiting one another some 40 plus years later.  Intersecting sporadically here and there.  The luxury of being uninterrupted in one another's company, I'm still reeling. To me, that is the most valuable activity; time spent in the company of someone I love. 

It was banter, catching up, telling stories, tracing steps, being in one another's sight and then, as I'm putting my toe in Los Angeles, she's flown the coop. 

      
 Dearest, pick up the phone ...California, calling, long distance. 



                                               some of today's work -  "Yes", again in progress

sleep well - everyone.  Love,  Judy 

and now here's something I think you'll really enjoy...

Ok - it's been 8 years since I last blogged and now is as good of time as any to start re blogging.  I would like to tell you things that have no place on facebook, nor anywhere other than my mind and your heart.  So here we go.  See below. 



I hosted a lunch here, at the Gloria Delson Gallery, in September.  I love the light and I loved the lunch.  What I want to tell you is that I really love downtown Los Angeles.  It is an amazing time right now in - as they call it DTLA.  There are tons of little tiny places - shops opening up with cool people running the shops and selling their wares.  They can apparently afford to try retail.  That is not possible where I live in Silicon Valley. Here you have to be a millionaire to try retail.  DTLA is a mess of people; rough and homeless to hip and ambitious. 

I stayed in two different airbnb's this last trip. Both were lofts in old industrial office buildings.  It felt very New York, only now - airbnb. 

About the chairs.  I inherited in 1995, from my great aunt Claire, one chair like the ones above.  They are from a company Cosco Canada.  They fold.  They are heavy and they don't stack too well. I bought them on my way to the lunch. I drove from Palo Alto to Los Angeles on Friday.  I stopped two times in LA to pick up 4 and then 3 chairs from Craigslist ads.  You can see the two different models.  One chair has four feet and the other has a folded stand in back and two feet in front.  I'll refer to them as Claire's chairs.  I loved Clair for a lot of reasons.  She was salty and she appreciated crap.  She swore and was always a treat to be around. 

For Claire's chairs 2016 - I went to Topanga and Culver City.  I love buying things from people.  The sellers were both interesting people with stories.  The man in Topanga was selling them for his father.  The fellow in Culver City was a photographer.  He had a career as a photographer and did very well and now can not do that because everyone and her brother takes their own photos with their phone.  We are all designers and marketeers.  (future topic for conversation). 

So Groucho Marx and TS Elliot had a friendship. They wrote letters from America and England.  Finally, they had one meal together in England.  They each tried to impress one another with reciting lines from the other's work.  They were in the sunset of their lives, but were in great admiration of each other's career. 

I hung out with my friend Casey in LA.  We hadn't seen one another for a very long time and it was a pleasure.  Casey is a keen observer of society.  He came to my art exhibition and to the loft airbnb # 1 where I had a stunning after party - complete with a professor of philosophy debating the meaning of life with a radiant young entrepreneur.  I was thrilled and impressed by the whole thing. 

Then Casey helped me relocate to airbnb # 2.  How we find people that travel on the same path as us and transition with us is amazing. 

Thank you Casey.  It was great spending time with you. 

Ok enough for blog, back at it, number one.  

Wrapping it up - I had the most magnificent summer and fall is a quiet continuation.  Quietly I tip tap type (I took my hearing aids out) and send you lots of love. 

Everyone of you. 

Judy 

Francis Picabia inspired

The first of the summer series - Shapes and Planes - we painted with infleunce of artist Francis Picabia - Lu-Li, painted 1946 - 1949. Picabia in his painting created paintings with many overlays and many dimensions of flat planes and lines and overlapping areas. His work ranged from brushy paintings to line drawings and poster like illustration work.





Our first exercise was to create a small painting of two planes and one shape.

Then we painted Lu-Li using 4 8 x 10 inch panels. The painting Lu-Li divided easily into the four panels and the focus of the exercise was to create planes of color under the primarily black and white shape on top.
There are a few approaches possible. One can paint the triangular panels underneath first or one can paint the entire quarter or one can abutt the panels and paint the entire painting at one go.

I painted the under triangles and then overlaid the primarily black and white shape. when the paintings are complete, then mix them up with the other painters in the class.