Spring Rabbit print

I'm so sick of this winter, and though it feels much nicer today and I actually wore a skirt and not the jeans I wore every single day this winter, it doesn't quite feel like spring yet. So this is my attempt at spreading some spring cheers and hopefully the weather will take the hint and do something about making it all warm, green and nice already.

A limited edition "long awaited spring" print. There are 22 of those and they will be send for free to anyone who would buy something from my etsy store, as long as supply lasts! to get those, you don't have to do anything, just buy something from my shop and get a free hand painted print. Each of them is a little different in colors then the other and all printed on a cool old mechanic book with a lot of charts and texts.

Actually, only 21 of those would be send to buyers. I'm going to raffle one of those!

If you want to participate, all you need to do is visit my shop's hand painted dishes section and tell me in a comment to this entry what is the next animal you think I should draw on a tea set. If any good ideas will come up, I promise to try and incorporate them in the next couple of weeks.

Don't forget to leave an e-mail so I can let you know if you won!

I'm going to hold the raffle after I get back from LA, so probably the 17th or 18th of April.

yay!money!

yay!money!, originally uploaded by Aya Rosen.

How cool is this? In the beginning of the month I won a tutorial competition for this project

Today, 250$ was transferred to my paypal account for the sole purpose of me spending it on Etsy stuff.

I have big plans for this money, but they can only start after I get back from LA on the 15th on April cause i want to be home to receive those packages.

Stay tuned...

Xi

Xi, originally uploaded by Aya Rosen.

New Louchelink interview with a really cool photographer. I love her fetishistic style and her awesome taste in movies!

Read interview at:
http://www.louchelink.com

books

2 New portfolios, one of my show in Chicago last November and one of craft and art from the store. I made them to take with me to LA in a couple of weeks.

Ned have a photo in an art show and we are trying to schedule some meetings with galleries and magazines (so much hardest then I expected!)

I'm really happy with how those came out.

Yellow

Yellow, originally uploaded by Aya Rosen.

Thanks so much homingpiegon/ you rock!

She let me know that I was featured on Modish blog

Anna Roberts

Anna Roberts, originally uploaded by Aya Rosen.

One of my favorite flickr people of all time, I wait for her photos every day. Not only they are excellent, but her words and stories and the documentation of her evolving idea and process, I get to feel a real cool honest person behind the pictures.

Read interview at:
http://www.louchelink.com

New Drawings

Those were done today as a sketch to a submission I want to make for a group show in a gallery I really like in Williamsburg, though the images I had in mind are totally different then those, it's still nice to see that the composition I had in mind works and so now, I can start working on a 4 times larger version of this (scary, but what can you do).

Those sketches were supposed to be a quicky drawing, in fact, I originally prepared 4 surfaces and not just 2, pretty positive I can finish all of them tonight, however, it turned out to be far more time consuming and detailed work then I expected it to be and so, only 2 done so far.

The past month of my life felt very dark with my father in law in the hospital going through massive cancer treatments and a stem cell transplant. Yesterday we heard the good news that he'll probably be going home after the weekend! I think that a part of what this drawing is all about is having this great ray of hope cutting though the darkness.

Illustration Friday - Subtract

This is an illustration Friday piece the word of the week was "subtract". I wanted to create a paper cut for it, and use a subtracting technique instead of an additive one, like adding paint to paper.

This is also an artistic response to this beautiful and moving blog Entry about love and fear, weakness and strength.

Self loathing

I don't think my skin ever looked this bad in my life. I never used to have any type of skin problem till I stopped taking the pills a few years back, now I'm getting all of what I missed in my teens, in my 30's.

I don't think I was ever this fat. I know I've never been this old. I look in the mirror and i hate the way I look.

Hanging out with friends today, who came from a photo shoot all dolled up and gorgeous, all I could think of was "I'm the oldest, the fattest and the ugliest woman in this restaurant".

I know most of this is stress about Ned's father being in the hospital, and that it's not really that bad. I know I'll be happy again and feel better about my skin and my wrinkles and the fact I never wear any make up or high heels shoes. I know this to shall pass.

I'm trying to finish a book of drawings I've been working on before our LA trip, and a book of photographs of craft stuff for that as well, I'm trying to make stuff for Etsy and list them cause it's been going pretty slow there for me since the beginning of the month, I'm trying to make some drawing for a submission in a galley in Brooklyn, and work some more on the new series for a new exhibition I've been working on.

I feel like I'm doing nothing and that I'm just starting more and more stuff and never finishing anything.

The Kindness of Strangers

We've been having such a hard time. Ned's father is in the hospital, his immune system is down to zero (starting at 10,000 white cells count and now, less then 1,000) which is to be expected, but still it's sad and hard. We've been going to the hospital every couple of days, still trying to take care of work and business, but actually doing very little and spend a lot of time just doing nothing and being sad.


Ned's father asked him yesterday not to post anymore photos of him online until he get out of the hospital, which we can understand, but still, the picture taking, both for him and of him, were a part of how we dealt with the difficulties of this situation and having to stop parts of it, makes us feel a lot more alone with dealing with all those feelings.

Ned and I were talking about this while having dinner at taco-chulo, I tried to understand what was so hard in not being able to post those picture, I realized that the whole notion of publicity changed a lot between Ned's dad generation to ours, and also, that the notion of being a part of a community or having friends is very different. To me, being able to be week around people is a big part of what community and friendship means, I have no problem in telling a waitress in a restaurant that i had a shitty day or to tell my friends why, I think that letting other knows about my faults and feelings is the greatest gift I can give them - my honesty and openness. I think that to Ned's father, friends and community are about being strong for others and others being strong for you, without anyone ever showing any weakness at all. The idea of exposing his illness seem inappropriate or undignified, while for me, not exposing it means i get to be lonely with my feeling and get no support from my community.

As I was thinking of this, 3 things happened in the course of one evening that made me so happy to be a part of the community and have the connections I have!

The first was those 2 awesome portraits, done by the super cool Molly Peck especially for me and Ned! how amazing are those! and the timing was so so perfect. I'm really impressed with both likeness and how she captured our spirit and character and, strangely enough, the type of light our apartment have in a sunny morning.

The second was a total stranger coming over to our table as we were talking about Ned's dad and introducing herself as Claire, turns out she works on Etsy and recognized us from the video interview we did last year, it was so wonderful to have someone coming over ot say hi in the middle of this strange conversation about generation and support and the internat! Thanks os much Claire! you totally made our evening and reminded me thar i'm not alone in the world!



The last cool thing (though actually it's only last cause I took care of writing back to her last in that strange and long evening) is this super cool e-mail from Tessa, a cool etsy seller who bought this bear art kit a few weeks ago, and send me the result of her work! how amazing is this! I'm so glad to see that this art kit is actually being used and not just sitting in someone's drawer. And I really love Tessa's cool art (check out her shop, it's really awesome!)

Winter Weather

New louchelust movie, i finished it tonight, it's cool to have this site updated after probably a year of not touching it.

The Gym....

Ned goes to the gym almost everyday (unless we woke up too late or we have something better to do or he doesn't feel like it) but over all he's really good about exercising. I on the other hand, keep promising that I'll go back to yoga and never do anything about it...really, I'm so bad, that last time I exercised was before we got married.

I guess my only work out is carrying my backpack around with all the art supply in it. Ned calls it "my studio", and it's just getting heavier and heavier. right now it's got a couple of reference books, an old book which pages I use for paper, 2 packs of water color and about 6 identical pens, and of course the MP3 player so I can listen to audio books while I draw, also, at the bottom, there are a million other things who got lost in the back and just wonder around aimlessly looking for a why out.

So, while Ned is at the gym, I do my own gym time by going to one of my favorite cafes and drawing for a couple of hours till Ned finish his exercise and come to pick me up.

Good things comes in 3!

We had such a rough day today, spending most of it in the Hospital with Ned's father. He hasn't gone though any treatments yet, and he's really strong and wonderful throughout this whole thing, but man! it just seem so unfair that he get to be locked up in a room for 3 weeks and go through horrible, painful treatments. It really sucks.

I'm usually not the type of person that focus on the good things, and over all, much rather just feel what there is to feel in a tough situation. But I guess it's just overwhelming to figure this whole situation out at once, so I am trying to focus on some good things that happened today.

The first is that I won the Apartment therapy competition! how awesome is that! seeing the other tutorials I didn't think I stood a chance - everyone else did big things, like building an irrigation system or redecorating a whole house. But... I won! and by far! I had 20 votes more then second place!

Thanks for everyone who voted for me!
and read more about it here!



This is really and truly amazing, I'm so moved I'm speechless.

It's so cold in NY, there are icicles hanging from street signs and traffic light and the streets are covered in snow.
With the shitty feeling I had all day it was so so wonderful to come home and find a letter from Gali Rose, sending me some of her awesome photographs of the Tel Aviv beach!

I miss Israel so much this month, cause it's been a year since my last visit and cause it's so cold here and cause being in NY and dealing with all the family stuff is really hard, and so it's really really great to be reminded of how much I love it there.

Thanks Gali! you totally rock!



A whole bag of Cracker Jacks!
Cause when all else fails, sugar is your best friend... and peanuts of course!

Snow Storm

I don't think I've ever seen so much snow, it was beautiful (though very cold) around here in the past couple of days.

Last Night Ned and I went out at about 3:00 AM to get some snacks and take some pictures, the streets were all full of clear white snow, untreated and so soft it felt like walking on icing sugar. The walk to the corner store felt pretty nice on the way there, with the wind to our back and horribly cold on the way back, I've trie taking as many photos as possible before my fingers started freezing!



Today, Ned and I went into the city, which looks very different while it snows then Brooklyn. The snow is being cleared from the roads and sidewalks so efficiently it feels like it's barely there. I walked around union square and the park, and it was beautiful. Though no birds or squirrels in sight, at the end I've found a couple of the birds huddled together on the construction area, I think the warmth from the cars was more appealing then the bare trees.




It's been a slow sad day, tomorrow we are going to see Ned's father in the hospital. He got a room today and starting treatment tomorrow. even though some good stuff happened - I was on Etsy's front page, and then sold a creamer and sugar bowl set, and I think I won the apartment therapy competition (winner hadn't been announced yet, but I got more votes then anyone else in my category), it all feels insagnificat and unimportant compare to all the sadness.

Brittany Elidemir on louchelink

This week's louchelink interview features an awesome photographer, who's work is very personal, sensual and intimate.

Read interview at: louchelink.com

Weekend

Ned's father is going to the hospital tomorrow, he's going to have a bone marrow transplant, which means he's going to be in a clean room on his own for 3 weeks and not allowed to go out of it, we can visit if we scrub and wear doctor's masks. He's probably going to be really tired and weak, but hopefully, after this, will start to recover from cancer.

We've been at home mostly, not quite feel like doing anything, both edgy and upset, we had 2 fights in the past couple of days, we usually don't fight. I really hate fighting with Ned. It always reminds me how alike we are though, we say the same things to one another in this strange spiral conversation that only ends when one of us decide it's enough and that there aren't going to be any winners in this.

My father called yesterday, waking me up at 2:00 PM after a long night of working. He told me that the dog that they took from the pound a while ago isn't working out for them, she keep crying and wants to go out for walks all the time, he said that they are going to give it back to the pound. It made me really sad, how bad they are with pets and the idea that you can take and give away a responsibility for another living soul.
In the bathroom, while brushing out teeth later that afternoon, Ned said "this is your home, even if we fight I love you and I'm not sending you back to the pound".



I didn't really feel like making anything or answering any e-mails or talking much. Also, a very slow past 10 days on Etsy really didn't make me feel like listing or making anything new.

I did however started and finished our new website and also worked on a new project that involves a massive amount of photos from our trip to PA a couple of weeks back. I sort of feel like packing a bag and going of a long trip, I think mostly because I don't want to be hear and deal with how I'm feeling.

New Site

A couple of weeks ago, Ned and I went to a Portfolio Review at PowerHouse publisher, one of the people we talked to was really impressed by the fact that we were a couple working and living together.

She talked about other photographers who work as a team and how she, as an art buyer, prefer working without couples because she know they can communicate and compromise and are easier to work with then a single photographer who's just focus on taking a shot and don't know how to listen ot a client or their crew.

We realized that we have been working together for a while and that this is, in fact, one of our biggest advantages in taking picture. So in the past couple of days we worked on setting up a new site for us as a photographer's team.

www.nedandaya.com