If you need to know some particulars about me, scroll down to the photos...Passover cleaning is continuing. The kids are coming on the 6th so I want to be ready. I am NOT a freezer food person, but I have been freezing little things to get ahead. Doing some "small paintings". I call them "Desktops". Thank you to all the wonderful people who have found my site and actually ordered from it! It makes making all the changes, updates very worthwhile! We love you!

April 5, 2006- Here is a quote from my favorite philosopher;Yogi Berra-"If you don't know where you are going, you'll end up somewhere else."

March 20, 2006-I have to say here what a wonderful husband I have. He is taking such an interest in my work-I have to think of him as my manager-along with partner. He is the clever one who assembles all the metal pieces, and he has been designing all kinds of cards that are very exciting. He is on Spring Break- and this is his way of getting a rest from the text books! It is the first day of Spring and it is blizzarding here in Denver! I heard that little Michal rolled over from her back to her tummy for the first time today! She is a little genius. No new photos yet, but will put one up as soon as we have one.

March 4, 2006-after a beautiful Shabbat...

We were invited to Shabbos lunch by a young couple. This brought back memories. When we lived in Santa Fe, this young mother came down as a teenager to make a summer camp for our kids. She rode with me as we left Santa Fe,towards Denver, Colorado to make a new life. We played Jewish music all the way-and some of the songs were pretty poignant. She is a great cook-lots of veggies-and her children are well behaved and adorable. Her eldest, Yaakov, might be the most creative individual I have met. He has already written and illustrated 2 books (and he is only 9 years old!!!). The title of the first is "The Attack of the Killer Sperm Whale."

Doing my first drawing  on the web site was fun. Thanks to Loretta Fontaine- a jeweler for that idea. You can see her work at www.lorettafontaine.com-very lovely! I have been soliciting stories from the members of our group-The Colorado Jewish Artists Guild about their creative events-projects, etc. It is a great way to get inspired. I finished a lot of artwork in the past week, and am now trying to gear back up...

February 14, 2006

The show at the Detroit JCC was really a wonderful experience ! I met so many lovely people. I sold my work at a good clip, and they fed us very very well. It was great to get out of the studio for a bit and talk to people. A wonderful opportunity to hear lots of compliments. If you live in the Detroit area, and you didn't come to the show-you missed a great experience. Many artists came from Israel-and the quality of the work was superb.

February 5, 2006 / 7 Shevat 5766

This link is my gift to the reader today. The link will only be active for a short while, so go there today: www.mayyoubeblessedmovie.com/

February 3, 2006

Well, I am on a roll now, folks. The book about catastrophes in professional kitchens is GREAT! It reminded me of some of my own kitchen events. I have often thought that if I wasn't an artist, I would have gone to Hotelier School-if someone had actually pointed it out as a possibility...Anyway, I was a professional caterer in Santa Fe, New Mexico for a few years. I grew up in a home with a Mom who was (is) a wonderful intuitive cook, and always felt that it was important to use top ingredients. Now, there are some people in the literary world who would find it difficult to accept that a Republican would be interested in good food and would even raise their own herbs, but, yep, that's the facts. I guess this is where I got my love of busting stereotypes...anyway, there was the time that I made homemade ravioli for 70. Once. Then there was the time that I mixed the tossed salad for 50 or so in the bathtub. (Washed out, of course). How about the time I decided to make "authentic" mince meat pie filling. That means that it had suet in it. After I met my husband, we were involved in some kind of community event. My memory just won't locate the when and where. It was in Lansing, Michigan. We were part of an Organic Food Co-op Grocery and Bakery (we met in the Bakery), so Millet Casserole was on the menu. Well, what would you use to stir Millet Casserole for 250 ? I looked around for something to fit into the giant pot on the stove. All I could find was the broom. I commanded someone to wash the handle-and we valiantly kept the millet from burning. I was too exhausted to eat, so I can not report on the end results-of any of the above items. I did eat 1 or 2 pieces of mincemeat pie. It was so filling that I am still satisfied almost 30 years later.

February 2, 2006

I have decided to make this page my blog. It sees like a great way to talk to people without anyone interrupting! I was looking foward to reading the book Julie and Julia by Julie Powell. The first page was ok-and I thought I might have finally found one of those books that one can clasp to one's proverbial bosom. Something to comfort one through the dark of night sweats. Was I dissapointed! She certainly has herself pegged, and "potty-mouth" is the least of it. There is really only one worthwhile bit of wisdom and you have to start from the back to find it easily. She finally realizes that JOY is a very important component of finding one's way in life. So that's good-but the reader has to wade through an awful lot of kitchen sludge to get to it. Now a much better experience has been: Don't try this at home; catastrophes in the professional kitchen" or something like that. I have climbed up the steps enough already, and I am distraught that I can't find the 3 new paint brushes that I bought yesterday. I am convinced that they never made it into the bag. The "Don't try this at home" is correct. What follows I'm less clear on. If you have to know, let me know. I am painting a new mask for The Mask Project-a charity event held here in Denver. A lot of fun. I'll let you know how it comes out. I made one last year, and it sold at auction for $65! I'll get photos up as soon as I can.

February 1, 2006

Well folks,

You can read all about me below- but I have been thinking today about Art and the Creative Impulse. I am one of the Co-Founders of The Colorado Jewish Artists Guild, which started with 6 women around a dining room table and now has 200 names in the Data Base! That is only in 2 years of holding programs, meetings and shows. Today, I put the question to the group to talk about our creative stories so we can share and support each other to quell the inner censor. I have been listening to a recording of a workshop given in Boulder, CO in 1997 by Julia Cameron. I actually tried the Morning Writings -but not for long. I just didn't have the hour in the AM-I'd rather exercise and eat. I sure like her ideas and her pep talks though. So tell me what you all think about creativity. Since this is my web site, I may turn it into my blog. I get bored when things are static for too long-and hey, I want to hear from you! Send your comments to the Guestbook.

Arel (Rachel) was born in the Philadelphia suburb of Norristown in 1952. After public school, she completed her advanced learning at Carlow College in Pittsburgh, PA and Columbus, OH, College of Art and Design. After university, she traveled throughout the United States, Mexico, Israel, and Europe learning local crafts and customs, observing, and faithfully sketching ideas in notebooks that she refers to years later.

Arel and her husband have made weavings and mixed media textile art in Israel and operated The Hands Work Button Studio in Pecos, New Mexico for 18 years. They sold their porcelain buttons around the world and to 2 very famous designers. (They aren't supposed to know who they are-but someone they knew saw the boards). They made it to the big time-someone saw a collection of their porcelain jewelry on Ebay recently!)The studio employed approximately 70 men and women over the years-they have some great stories!)