LisaHurwitzArt

back from beyond

phew.  its been WAY too long i know. ..been lost in the throes of domestic land and my crazy art life. i
had a big show last weekend...the ART STAR CRAFT BAZAAR  and that took a lot of my spare time (yeah right) getting ready. i rushed like crazy to finish those two paintings for the show and of course completed them with only a day or so to spare.  here they are complete:

 

the show is always so much fun and since it is local...even better!  no hotels to pay for, travel expenses, blah blah blah.  AND i get lots and lots of visitors.  i wish it was more than once a year!! the weather could not have been better.  here's a great site with great pix of the event and i'm even in a few.

http://www.philly.com/philly/phillywomen/Art_Star_Craft_Bazaar.html?cmpid=42906447

i had jeff with me for one whole day and 1/2 of another....so sweet.  my little man eli was by my side the whole time.  what a lovely assistant he was.  hardly made a peep.  and what a flirt.  here he is with daddy:

i must thank my dearest friend kaitlin (who prints my work and rocks) for taking care of me and eli while jeff was home with the boys...and of course her kick ass boyfriend and a dear friend of mine and jeff's as well: uncle jim.  he would be my nanny if he wasn't such an insanely talented artist. check him out here:

http://space1026.com/space.php?action=bio&id=63

soooo here's uncie jim with eli and beautiful kait in the yellow flower dress behind him.  (mind you she too is an amazing artist, and has a full time job being a printmaking genius!!)  oh my...gotta find images to share of her work!!! 
man, i am rambling on aren't i? here's the pix:

then we got a visit from eli's girlfriend juniper and her parents matt and gina.  gina and matt are also kick ass artists/illustrators...if it weren't for my weekly coffee sessions with gina when nate was born, i probably wouldn't be painting today.  you can find gina and matt's work here:

http://www.ginaandmatt.com/

awwww...look at the cute daddys and their babies....waited for this day for sooooooooo long!!!!!

here's me and G with the babes:

look at those hot guys hangin in my booth...

ok. so right when this show was over, i had the daunting task of doing 4 drawings due in 4 days for a show at the art star gallery.  um....yeah....i am the WORST seriously, WORST procrastinator ever.  then came the artists block thing.  you know, the white canvas syndrome? ugh. i felt like i was in art school all over again.  had the dreams where i would show up for class unprepared,  or forgot all about that paper that was due....like every night.  finally, i kept nate home from school (so i wouldn't have to leave the house) and went to target to find entertainment for the boys (bad mom bad mom...whatever!!) got kick ass wallace and gromit films, lots of goodies to eat, and locked us all up in my studio for the day.  EVERYONE asks me...."how do you work with 3 kids????" well, this is what it looks like:

yes. nate has no pants on.

and my desk:
 

thak god it was rainy....perfect conditions for creating and no reason to leave the house.  we didn't.
henry really got into drawing that day.  he carried a sketch pad and two pencils with him all day and even slept with them.  here's his space to work:  (he even has coffee while he works just like his mama) (mostly milk mom...don't freak out)

i managed to get all four done JUST IN TIME. literally dropped them off at the gallery yesterday and the show is saturday night.  nice.  here are the drawings all done and framed:

 

that's my toe on the right.  photographer i am not.

so that's where i am up to date.  nate's done school on friday. summer officially begins.  now i will have all boys all day for 3 months.  let's see how long it takes me for my next blog entry.  i broke down and joined a swim club.  had to do something with the boys....a bit nervous. it's in the suburbs....watch out flourtown swim club....

i must end my entry with the boys and some sweet shots:
   

eli is seriously pondering whether big bird is really a bird.

ONE LAST THING!!  the boys and i went strawberry and pea picking on the farm....YUM! summer is officially here.

sketches and walls...new painting begun

psyched about my new painting in the works...got a few going on, but this one is jumping out of the sketch and into the beginning of a painting...

i have had a bit of cabin fever lately.  we ALL had the flu a week before nate had spring break...which means nate has had spring break for THREE WEEKS.  AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! had a taste of how summer will be and just not quite ready.  well, atleast in the summer the weather is warm and we can swim all day and play.  spring is just um...springing...so we only had a few days of kinda warmish weather to romp and play...this makes me, well....INSANE.  so i dragged the kiddies in my studio for endless hours...(guilt guilt guilt) watched LOTS of movies in there.....wish Coraline was on DVD.  and what else? oh.  i wallpapered my studio with the boys...."hey, won't this be fun????"  mommy's pulling her hair out, so let's shop on line and make mommy feel better.  what??? Anthropologie is having a sale you say?? look boys, wallpaper!!! how cool will that be to wallpaper mommy's studio???? FUN!! so we did.
just a wall. then we got bored.

nothing else much new.  have 2 shows coming up in june, so trying to get new pieces done.  one is a drawing show, haven't even begun drawing yet.  i love procastinating.

so, how bout some family shots?  haven't done that in a while....see how eli has grown...and grown...he seems huge to me!

think he looks like daddy?  how did i get a kid with red hair????

first buggy ride....hated it....but then....

not sooo bad....

then...that's right.  i'm diggin it now!

can't forget my older boys....like  henry...the pacifier sucking whole foods bag wearing, knight of knights:

with a hole in his sock....don't look mom.

and nate..who plays until he drops...like on the kitchen floor with the dogs.  car still in hand.

 

a lovely view of my studio from where i am sitting....it's calling me...."lisa....come inside....and paint! stop typing!!"  i will. after i change eli who is pooping as i type...nice.  i'll leave that picture out.

what's new....

before i go on, i must thank all of the wonderful people who commented on my last blog entry.  THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!! seriously, it's just so incredible to know how many people read my blog and care enough to write to me.  i also can't get over how many artists expressed they have been through the same ordeal...it just sucks on so many levels.  but.....what goes around comes around...right?  again, it'll smack this girly in the bum at some point.  i hope soon!!

on with some studio news....i finished the WAITING ROOM painting a bit ago....excited how it turned out.  always changing at the last minute. 

i love looking how it first looked:

i also decided to pull out a drawing i did a while back to share...it's really my husband who persuaded me...it's one of his favorites.  here it is:

a wee bit different from my paintings  i know...but lots of my sculpture in the past had similar elements.  you can't tell, but, this drawing is on a huge plaster slab i cast.  so much fun to draw on!  you can carve right into it.  however, it's a bit on the heavy side and if you don't layer it with hemp while wet, it will easily break. 

oh!  this drawing is titled "Millie"....she just looked like a millie to me.

this will be a short post.  i'm really busy working on building new canvases and pumping out new work.  sooo excited about my new work....will post it soon.  crazy, i'm just so tentative about posting new work these days!! guess i'll just copyright the hell out of it.

post soon!!

xo L

what's new....

before i go on, i must thank all of the wonderful people who commented on my last blog entry.  THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!! seriously, it's just so incredible to know how many people read my blog and care enough to write to me.  i also can't get over how many artists expressed they have been through the same ordeal...it just sucks on so many levels.  but.....what goes around comes around...right?  again, it'll smack this girly in the bum at some point.  i hope soon!!

on with some studio news....i finished the WAITING ROOM painting a bit ago....excited how it turned out.  always changing at the last minute. 

i love looking how it first looked:

i also decided to pull out a drawing i did a while back to share...it's really my husband who persuaded me...it's one of his favorites.  here it is:

a wee bit different from my paintings  i know...but lots of my sculpture in the past had similar elements.  you can't tell, but, this drawing is on a huge plaster slab i cast.  so much fun to draw on!  you can carve right into it.  however, it's a bit on the heavy side and if you don't layer it with hemp while wet, it will easily break. 

oh!  this drawing is titled "Millie"....she just looked like a millie to me.

this will be a short post.  i'm really busy working on building new canvases and pumping out new work.  sooo excited about my new work....will post it soon.  crazy, i'm just so tentative about posting new work these days!! guess i'll just copyright the hell out of it.

post soon!!

xo L

MY ARTWORK...STOLEN.

it turns out someone has been blatantly stealing my work and selling it as ORIGINALS.  a wonderful artist and fellow blogger/etsy artist kindly brought this to my attention (can i thank you ONE more time!!!??) a few weeks ago. her name (the rip off artist, copycat...what ever comes to mind...i am holding my tongue) is Kathryn Boyd.   i'm just gonna put her paintings up and let your jaws drop...as my friend said, an "uncanny resemblance" to my work.

let's start with....this one:

looks a WEE BIT like my "girl with bird and red shoes"  eh?

then there's this:  oooh gotta love this one.

 
doesn't it SLIGHTLY remind you of say, my Field Trip?????  only slightly though....isn't she creative?

this one made me cringe....

COME ON!!!!

my poor "sleeping sadie" one of my absolute favorites....here she is:

last but not least, this is the one which really really gets me.  she calls this one: "copper kettles and warm woolen mittens" sound of music reference? whatever. it's a blatant rip off of my own :girl in chair."  the thing that angers me the most is she won an award with it.  get this, ready? for most original artwork".  jaw hitting the floor yet?  well, she won third place.  and here it is:

and my "girl in chair"

sooo that's that.  don't want to go on and on...the truth is, it just sucks.  as artists we all get inspired by other works and even fall in love with some enough to interpret it into our own.  but that's the key...WE MAKE IT OUR OWN.  smacking someone else's work on a different background and throwing potholders on the hands in my eyes doesn't mean it's an ORIGINAL WORK OF ART.  go out and get inspired by something and do your own work...if you really want to be an artist that is.  hey, if you want to be a copycat, there's cool coloring books out there, you can just color in the lines.  OR Dover makes some sweet art and resource books which are COPYRIGHT FREE.  pick one of those puppies up and cut and paste.

my life is a collage....the kind with the good smelling glue.

yup. that's basically how it is these days.....my baby and all the baby stuff that having a baby entails...my husband, the boys, the dogs and cats....my house that i feel will never be clean again, the wash that never ends and then...oh yes....my studio that i can't seem to spend enough time in...hmmmm....wonder why. 

the whole collage thing leads me to what i have been doing in the studio besides painting....that's right.  collaging. i know i know....mama turning all martha stewart crafty....but it's just a little deviation from painting.  so much fun and easy to do in every room in the house (easier to get a little paper and glue off the couch and fingers than cadmium red oils).

i took all of the sketches from the girls i drew from my "waiting room" painting" (which by the way is JUST about done) and cut them out like little paper dolls.  silly how much fun i had.  then, the fun part was picking out allof the  fabric i LOVE LOVE LOVE and instead of painting my version of it (which takes FOREVER)  i simply cut it out.  woo hoo...so so sweet.  i also just used oils and guache for the faces and little body parts that stick out of the fabric.  the fabric i chose is all AMY BUTLER.

then, there's this one:

this one is pretty much completed the same way...from my "sleeping sadie" painting, but a bit more on the sketchy side.  i like things sketchy...

 i'm going to move on to my family and our first real snow day in philly...and eli's first snow ever.
of course we went sledding!  even though we live in the city we live a stones throw from the most beautiful park and woods on the east coast... fairmount park .  anyway, we have a secret spot right near our house that hardly any one knows about...the SWEETEST sledding hill!!!  here's some higlights:

nate and henry were in heaven....first run of the day....

daddy joined in....

i don't know who had more fun....

me, eli (in pouch) and henry standing on the sidelines...

last run....and time to go get hot chocolate...my favorite part.

gotta end my entry with my little eli sleeping after a hard day sledding:

ugh....i can't take his littleness!!! going to go cuddle with my boys and watch some scooby doo....

xo  Lisa.

the best christmas present ever...the arrival of Eli.

yay!  finally....Eli Wells Root has arrived.  and here he is.....

and the hospital shot:

let's back up to where it all began:

planned c-section, no real surprise since it was my THIRD.  but....never turns out the way you think.  i arrived at the hospital on time, and thinking i had hours to wait...but they asked "wanna go right now?" um....YEAH!!!  so they start scurrying about, IV's in arm, asking all the questions...then the question came out: "have you eaten anything?" well, yes actually.  i couldn't resist that one bit of cookie when i woke that morning. what difference could it make? well. a big one.  they wouldn't let me have the c-section till 3 hours later.  a bit of cookie. the nurses were like, "you had to tell?" 

whatever.  i did enjoy that cookie.  so 3 hours of my mom telling me she told me so, and jeff telling every nurse and doctor what a stubborn mama i am...i was just hungry!!  so finally, on with the scrubs and off we went:

ok. then, it wasn't so much fun anymore.  it was a nightmare.  ugh.  that spinal man...really threw my body for a loop to say the least.  first you have to deal with having no feeling in your lower body...so freaky.  then, it was like the pin ball machine effect.  every where it went, my body was like, what the f#@! is going on???? my head was in a vice, i kept feeling like i was passing out....and my husband wasn't even there yet!! man, i'm having flash backs as i'm writing this.  finally jeff came and my crazy ass anesthesiologist was pouring magic potions in my IV to work it all out....i was ok for a while....and Eli came out...all was beautiful for the moment:

THEN....all sorts of weird things went on....i was zooming in and out of consiousness...jeff freaked out a bit, he almost passed out...and i felt like total shit.  why can't it just be easy aye??? i actually felt quite horrible for quite some time after.  it SUCKED.  i couldn't see anyone....they kept telling me it was normal (WHATEVER!!) and it would wear off in an hour or so...well the clock stuck. and i felt like i was dying.  fun stuff.  needless to say, it did wear off, and i was just swell and dandy.  but let me tell you....JEFF ARE YOU LISTENING??? I AM SOOOOOOOO DONE. never ever ever want to go through that again!!! got my three boys and i am way blessed.  now here are the happy pix once again:

henry and eli's first meeting.....so sweet....

a bit unsure....don't worry henry...YOU are still my baby....always.

for nate....love at first sight. 

 

then he wouldn't let go....

daddy nate and eli....

then, it was just me and my boys....finally. (and my big fat belly...but hey, i JUST gave birth!)

ALL of my boys!! ah.....our family is complete.

 

it's just so nice to be home and getting on with our life....outside of my raging hormones, all is well in the root household.  (for those of you who don't know, that's my married name!)  nate and henry rule...nate especially is my right hand man with helping out....even in the wee hours of the night.

i'm JUST starting to paint again, once nate starts school on monday, i will be back in the studio on a regular basis....i CAN'T WAIT!!!

here are the boys hovering over eli at breakfast ....a norm these days.

one more shot of eli just a bit ago...

i want to nibble him.  yup. i'm gonna....what do you expect? i'm a jewish mother.  we nibble.
 

 

happy new year!!!

xoxo

doorknobs, ornaments, and a garden cafe...

this is what happened when my boys found a box of old knobs and hardware....nate called me down to see what he made....mighty cool, aye? 
once they found out they could make cars out of some knobs....forget it.  hours of creative fun....who would have thought?
here's a shot of them busy at work....

on to the ornaments....i have been having a wonderful time working with clay again...just so nice to work in 3D!  if anyone is in the philly area, the opening at Art Star is the saturday night after Thanksgiving.  i can't wait to see what all of the other artists have made.  i do seem to be getting better at them now....here's a shot of my girls before going off to the gallery:

here's one of my favorites:

i'll be working on more ornaments for the next couple of weeks for my etsy shop...so check them out!

now the garden cafe...oh my.  it was sooooo lovely.  it was my friend Danielle's birthday so she chose this place for us to brunch and celebrate.  all i heard was it was bought by Antropologie (do i need to say more?) and i am going to lose my mind.  hmmmm....couldn't wait.
it was a garden center/shop/yummy cozy cafe/and fields of wintery trees, plants and christmas greens... ok here's some pix to help explain:

our table was right in front of these beautiful doors...man, i wanted to take them home.  can only imagine how much they would cost!

uncle matt (danielle's hubby) and jeff.  jeff hated this pix so i made it small....and added this one BIG!

tee hee. hi sweetie!  hope you like this shot better!!  mmmmmmmmmmm....the coffee was soooooooo yummy!

ok. i'm realizing these pictures do this place NO justice at all....what was i thinking? i wasn't. i was too into where i was and taking in all the yummy goodies.  i think this may be the worst section in the whole place.  ah well.....maybe the link has better shots...so here tis: terrain at Styers 

at least i was able to capture a cute shot of nate and henry with their favorite girlfriend, Zoe.  henry was especially smitten this time.

can't wait to go back! especially after thanksgiving when all of the holiday decorations are up....guess it has to be soon....not much time left till my little alien inside is set free....

sooooo..only 4 weeks till the little one arrives... trying to soak up every moment of coziness with my boys until then....

funny. you can't see how big my belly really is!! so here's this one:

still can't get the full effect of how big ass my belly is. .....ah, patterned shirts can hide lots.  whatever.  nate tells me lovingly how fat i am every day.  but, i also get "mommy, you are so beautiful and lovely"....daily as well.  yup.  i'm a lucky mama.  and i get to have another boy!!! seriously....how lucky am i?  off to cuddle and watch a movie with my boys....nite nite.

 

my little girls have color!

i just wanted to show you how they look with a little color.  i decided to use an oxide which i'm hoping makes them look a bit old....hope they are well received!  i'll be putting them up in my etsy shop soon...yay!

 

 

more later!!!!! thank you noran (a so so lovely etsyer)  for wanting to purchase my first ornament!!!  xo lisa

ornaments almost done and a bit of halloween fun...

 

no matter how many pictures i took of my ornaments, they just came out blurry, sorry!!  these are for a show i have coming up in november. they are still unfired and unglazed, but i wanted to show you them in their first stage.
why ornaments you ask??? well,  i know i told you about Art Star...an amazing gallery which shows my work among lots of other etsy artists that i adore.  anyway, they have a holiday show every year and the artists they represent are asked to create ornaments.  so cool to see what some artists come up with!  this is my first year, so i decided to go in clay...i am firing them today, so i will be sure to update you with the results.

here's a little close up of a couple...                                     

           

as i have mentioned before, my boys basically live in my studio with me....it's the only way i can get work done on a daily basis.  of course they were out of their minds when i pulled out the clay, they had to work along side me and build their own creations.  then, i pulled my hair out.  i'll save that photo for another time.

on to some halloween fun....my boys have been incredibly excited to say the least.  we painted pumpkins this weekend...we won't carve them till a day or so before halloween. last year, our squirrels decided to feast on our creations and nate was heartbroken.  so, just try and get to our pumpkins NOW little squirrels....i'll be sure to add a tasty treat of cayenne pepper where we carve, just incase.

nate's  masterpiece in the works.

henry made sure to paint the entire pumpkin....stem included of course.

my pumpkin seemed to be too scary....for my husband that is.  i made a scary witch with a huge belly, pointed teeth and wild hair.  he thought perhaps it was me pregnant and jacked up on hormones....well...yes. yes it was.   nate and i are working on my new one....i'll post later.

more halloween, holiday fun now shall we?  on to our day at the farm yesterday....hayride, chicken and turkeys....and a haunted house that wasn't open.  poor nate.  he was beyond disappointed.  he threw a bit of a fit that was an attraction in itself.  scary indeed.

feeding the turkeys and chickens.....poor turkeys.....already being fattened up for the next big holiday.

hayride here we go....wait. where's my coffee?????

phew. there it is.  i was almost violent that morning till i got it....i nursed that puppy all morning.....i love my coffee.

henry was in heaven.  he seriously sang his own tractor song the whole time.

scenic....lovely.  but not really.  they took us on this sweet ride and dumped us in the middle of a pumpkin patch and apple orchard.  we didn't need either so jeff just took them for a ride in the way fun wagon till the tractor came back for us.

bye bye farm!  i must say, i love the farm right near our house (well, right near nate's school) SOOOOOO much better. this was way too touristy for my blood.  but the boys had such a wonderful time, that's all that mattered.  i kept my bitching to jeff....as always.

so, a very funny thing has happened while i have been updating my blog....henry has been so quiet...too quiet.  nate is napping.....so i stuck my head in my studio to see what he was up to...and this was it.

little bugger.  he found my can of slip (dry clay and water that turns very cement-like and used as glue when little arms, legs, ears, etc. fall off (or accidently get broken off by little fingers) your clay pieces in progress.  little did i know it could be used in this manner!! he was just so into it....literally...my little artist.

i will leave you with a tiny portion of the wall which is now covered in clay.....the floor is just as lovely.   xo lisa