Jewellspiration at Camp Yofi

Last week at a family summer camp for Jewish autism families, I had a wonderful opportunity to get a little creative.  It was on an evening of some respite time for myself, along with some of the other autism moms.  It is absolutely one of the best perks of Camp Yofi at Ramah Darom in Clayton GA.  This precious time to connect with others, relax and recharge; it's nothing short of golden.

In the first photo bellow: I made a set of necklace and earrings with the hamsa symbol of the hand.  The hamsas are in a copper tone (it's hard to see in the photo).  

Here's a little overview about the hamsa symbol from Wikipedia:

"The hamsa (Arabic: خمسة‎ khamsah, also romanized khamsa, meaning lit. "five") is a palm-shaped amulet popular throughout the Middle East and North Africa, and commonly used in jewelry and wall hangings.^[1][2] Depicting the open right hand, an image recognized and used as a sign of protection in many societies throughout history, the hamsa is believed to provide defense against the evil eye. The symbol predates Judaism, Christianity and Islam.^{[citation needed]} In Islam, it is also known as the hand of Fatima, so named to commemorate Muhammad's daughter Fatima Zahra (c. 605 or 615^[3] – 633). Levantine Christians call it the hand of Mary, for the Virgin Mary. Jews refer to it as the hand of Miriam in remembrance of the biblical Miriam, sister of Moses and Aaron".

In this second photo: I made a set of necklace and a bracelet.  The pendant of the necklace has a silver hamsa with an attachment of a star of David.  I also made an interchangeable pendant (on the bottom of the photo) of a vintage key and lock, a gift for my daughter.  I made her another interchangeable pendant that isn't captured in this photo, of a heart and star of David.  She wore it today for the first time, as her first choice.  It was very sweet!

I realized while making the jewellery, just how much I was enjoying myself.  It felt like a very similar rush that I experience from drawing or playing the piano.  Therefore, I plan on making many more pieces, as a way of unwinding and finding additional outlets for creative energy.  I can't wait to go get some tools and beads for the new pieces.  Thank you Camp Yofi, for putting a sparkle in my week!

The Kingfisher Bird

I saw a photo of this beautiful Rufous-Backed Kingfisher bird sitting on a branch and had to draw it this week.  This drawing was done in colored pencils.  I added a colorful shadow to its silhouette to add more depth and three diagonal sun rays to build in dimension.  After Tuneful Nectar, my colored pencil drawing of a Humming Bird, I thought of doing another bird drawing as a companion.  I hung up the first one in my daughter's room.  I asked her if she would like to have another picture of a bird and she was excited about the idea, so the Kingfisher will accompany the Humming Bird on the same wall.

Here are a couple of earlier sketches followed by the completed drawing again.

The completed drawing:

Departures

I created this drawing in graphite pencils.  The emotions in this drawing are a reflection of feelings that families face during a time of deployment.  Five years ago, our family faced such a deployment.  Jake was almost two years old, Alex was a Captain in the Air Force and it was only our second year living a military lifestyle.  During that half a year, as our friends and family know, I was pregnant with our twins while starting to notice signs in Jake, of what we later learned, was autism.  I title this drawing Departures (and not Deployment), because this one big event of the deployment was not only a physical departure (for Alex), but also simultaneous departures, or beginnings, in our lives.  These beginnings took us in different directions, that ultimately condensed into a single focus of family and togetherness.

Here is the progression of the stages of Departures:

The completed drawing:

Moon Glow

I did this drawing in graphite pencils.  Right before creating this though, I practiced drawing details of the face, especially noses, lips and eyes.  I focused on creating dimension through creating depth in imagery with darkening, highlighting and middle tones.  Enjoy!

Behind The Parasol

I created this drawing with a mix of graphite and colored pencils. I first drew the sketch in pencil and later worked it into a colored drawing.  Here is the evolution of the drawing over several stages of progress, followed by the fiinished drawing, once again.

The completed drawing

Tuneful Nectar

I drew a humming bird with flowers in colored pencils.  I had considered calling it something along the lines of: Humming Bird, but decided to go against the obvious choice.  I then came up with: Tuneful Nectar, instead.  I hope that you enjoy it!

I still prefer shading much better with graphite, as it is much easier to work with and doesn't put up much resistance when I work with layering.  However, I enjoyed the obvious aspect of color and creating in a new medium.

Black and white leaves much more to the imagination in the sense that the viewer can interpret the drawing with more freedom, even though a colorless medium is deceptively non-restricting.  I think that when I have some more time and our family gets settled into our new abode, I will start up painting once again.  Any suggestions on what to create?  If your idea resonates with me, I may take you up on it!

Rising Angel

Rising Angel was done in charcoal pencil.  I love working with the idea of being suspended, or floating, between the ground and the sky.  I'm also into shading and creating multidimensional aspects.  I wanted the wings to look like they are made out of soft clouds, unlike realistic bird wings.  Similarly, the material of the dress is also cloud like; blurring the imagery between reality and fantasy.

This second drawing is the original version of Rising Angel.  I later modified it to have shorter wings and dress, as well as a vortex for the angel to ascend through, up to the night's sky.

(Second version)