Christmas Tree At Rockefeller Center

I am currently working on a painting of a snow crystal but I've been hit with a nasty little virus and now I am snuggled under the goose down with my laptop and a cup of lemon tea. This gives me a chance to talk a little bit about the last painting I did: "Christmas Tree At Rockefeller Center".
This painting actually started in 2007. I was hanging out at the Dolphin Reef in Eilat for the day and brought along this little canvas and my oils (People think I'm crazy to take oils with me everywhere but I do). I could have painted the dolphins which were leaping playfully out of the water but I wasn't inspired. My head was clogged with an argument I had been having with my boyfriend and I really didn't know where to start so I just put the colors of the Red Sea on my pallet. Don't ask me why they call it the "Red Sea" because it is the most stunning, deep blue sea that I have ever seen. Anyway, I started to play with the colors and some geometrical shapes--out came a set of stairs, a little table with a coffee cup on it in the corner and a mumble jumble that left me feeling shy of the passers by who tried to take a peek at my work. It got windy and full of sand. Whatever. I threw it in the back of the car and it kept me company on the five hour drive home. I wish I had taken pictures of it at this stage. There is a little inscription on the side though that says "I've had enough of his nonsense, 2007" which was what I was planning to name the painting.
A year later, I was meeting up with a group of wonderful artist friends to paint late into a Monday night. I dug this painting out of the closet and decided to bring it with me to work on.
One of the artists in the group is a chemist for one of the largest paint companies in Israel and has developed a product called NirArt. It's a water-based paint that behaves very uniquely. It is a bit like liquid plastic and the idea behind it is that even if you mix the colors, they will separate again. It's a real trip to work with. You have to let this paint take you where it wants to go because it wants nothing to do with your ideas. It definitely has a mind of it's own. So I brushed some of the bright blues and silver hues onto the stairs and other rectangles. I watered some down and made it into a wash which I threw onto the painting. I dripped some turpentine just to see what it would do (the result of this in the final painting is a look of falling snow).
The effect was something new and the group got kind of excited at how the NirArt bled around the borders of the oil painting beneath it. Again, I wish that I had a photograph of it at this stage but although the effects were cool, I didn't feel complete with the painting so I didn't add it to my gallery.
Last Saturday, I forgot to buy a canvas to work on over the weekend and here in Israel, most stores are still closed on the Sabbath. I pulled this little gem out and decided to work on it. I turned it sideways and the vision of the Rockefeller Center buildings jumped out at me. One of my fondest memories is ice skating there with my girlfriend a few years ago in front of that big tree. I wasn't sure how to capture the sparkle of all those twinkle lights so I decided to work with small lines of color. This painting really unfolded itself on the canvas. It is magic. Let me show you a couple of pictures I took here in the dark with the flash and one of the blurry ones where it actually looks like the Christmas tree is lit.


The finished painting is a thrill. The high from it took me through this very long week. After three years and three attempts this painting came into full bloom and it is a hard one for me to let go.

My 10 year old boy
came home from
school today
with a big bouquet
of flowers that he
had picked for me
on the way home.
Life can be sweet.