LisaHurwitzArt

pram painting finally complete, while the waiting room still waits.

i just completed the pram painting (such a lovely british word for carriage)...yay!!! since i have an opening on october 1st....nothing like the last minute, aye??  i have worked my bum off night and day trying to get my other painting, "the waiting room" complete as well, but alas, there's just too much detail.  what a surprise.  i am really enjoying this one and simply can't rush it!  plus, my boys got a bit tired of eating, playing and napping in mommy's studio....they are so amazing though.  my oldest cheered me on as i worked...."mommy, it really looks great...i think it's your best one...."  while my little one would point to the girls on the chairs and say, "mommy!"  the wee one in my belly just kicked and hiccuped. 

here's how it looked at the beginning of the weekend:

and at the end....

please humor me and say, "wow! you did so much!"  for to me, i can hardly believe this was a whole weekend's work!!! ugh.  i have so much to do!!! i am hoping the gallery owner will be cool if i take a week or so and bring it in then....so....i'm taking the night off to camp in the tent with nate and watch "monster house".....he even brought in our snacks and told me he made special room for my big belly....i'm so lucky.

be back soon!!!! xo lisa

a few of my favorite things....while nesting...and some new work.

ok. so i am seriously going through a "nesting" stage.  i guess that's what you call being six months pregnant and obsessing endlessly over my house and every thing in my house.  for instance,  i literally repainted my three story home including the trim to prepare for my birthday party last weekend.  completely mental, i know.  i then find myself seeing dirt (perhaps searching for dirt?) in places one should not look.  alas, there is a kinda guilty fun part....i find the insatiable desire to add new lovely things to make my house look better....so, with all of that said.  i deciided to share some of my favorite things in my home, some rooms, knick knacks,etc. that i feel are ok left untouched and bring me joy....for now.

i think i should start with the new piece i'm working on....cause it has been so much fun and it's in my house and is one of my favorite things....today.

sorry. bit of an upside down shot....the light was strange in my studio.  i have been drawing these girls sitting on chairs....and having a great time cutting them out and placing them next to each other as if in a waiting room.  which is the title "waiting room". 

    little detail.

i'm now working on transfering the girls onto linen, and figuring who is going where...and the patterns of the clothes and chairs are next! i'll be sure to post as i go along.

ok. let's get back to the "favorite things".  i'm randomly going about the house:

 
my backyard....i love my little flower box, and since these are the last warm weeks before fall really begins, i try and suck it all in now.

 yes. i actually love my doormat.  come on....you have to have a beautiful something to walk on before entering your home, right??? anthropologie always seems to have the best selection....which is where this lovely birdy mat came from!

why am i taking a picture of my dining room chair you ask?  well, one of my nesting projects was also re-uphostering all of my chairs.  i LOVE LOVE this fabric designed by Amy Butler
which i purchased from a fabulous fabric shop on etsy: fabric closet.

i like this side of my kitchen....it's so bright this time of day...that's nelson, my psychotic kitty. 

how cute is this tea towel?  so what if i know it's called a "tea towel"?  dish towel doesn't suffice when it's as sweet as this.  it's always hung on my oven door....so if you go to my house....don't wipe your hands on it!  it's just for show, silly.  ummm....also from anthropologie...they have the coolest fabrics and designs.

more of my favorite kitchen things....my little tea cup holder from a yard sale...and what an AMAZING yard sale it was.....no website for that one.

i love my old rocker that i found at a vintage/antique shop so long ago....and how bout that cool old rice bucket to hold blocks?  it holds up quite well when my boys try and throw it....

i do love my bathroom!!  the tub especially....

i fell in love with this old print while in Maine....

as shabby as this is, i love it.  i trashed picked it while riding down the road we always take after our long hikes in the evening....i saw it from a mile away....it just needs a bit of love and a new upholstery job...my next undertaking!

the boys playroom.  it brightens the whole third floor...and then they trash it.

       

                                                     
this hangs in the hall just outside my studio door....my "sisters" print.  i just love the how it looks in the old frame i found at a flea market....wish i could find more of those.

here are a few sweet prints i picked up from Art Star this weekend....for those who don't live in philly, it's a wonderful kick ass gallery/store kinda like etsy but in store form.  they sell everything hand made and always have incredible artists showing each month.  just saw Camilla Engman's show this weekend....LOVE her.

this beautiful print is by kathleen Lolley...she also has an etsy shop.

i really liked this collage print.....she stitched the house to the paper....such a lovely touch.  oh! this print is by, Mandy Gerth.  sorry, couldn't find her site!

i found this print of Amy Rice's and had to have it.  actually hand colored on antique journal page....not that i cared so much about that.  just thought it was lovely and she's wearing a bird mask...and i'm nesting.

so the last print i will share is my favorite of all...it was a gift from a wonderful artist named Greta Haskel who is ten.  i guess you could say she is my adopted daughter....so are you sophie and ingrid!! (her sisters)....i am so lucky to own one of her originals....this is her wall in my house, soon to be filled.  oh. by the way, her mama is an amazing artist as well....lisa haskel, and one of my dearest friends.  she will soon have a shop on etsy!!! (i'll keep you posted)  so here's my most beautiful print from greta:

and so i will end with the escape from my nesting craze....and where i need to be right now!!! my yummy studio....

i promise to be back soonish....i have a show coming up in october and of course i just started a new painting that i MUST finish in two weeks.....ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! at least it will distract me from nesting....for the moment. 

 

 

Dear Deer Isle....

we just got back from my favorite place in the world (at least in the u.s.)...beautiful Deer Isle, Maine.  i am seriously going through withdrawal...heavy HEAVY sigh....it's just this little island off the beaten path where hardly any tourists trample through....nothing like it. here's a bit of a photo journal of our....well, journey. 

 

so this is how it began...left at midnight, it takes us TWELVE hours to get there, so figured the boys would sleep...than GOD for our DVD player.  meanwhile, nate was happily awake chattering our ears off till 5 am.

almost there....and we are delirious....twelve hours with both doggies and the boys....we were done.

finally reached our house....that's lou on the lawn....definitely doesn't look that sweet from the outside....but it was an 1832 old farm house...on 17 acres (with a barn and a beach)....beats being in philly!!!

ok, i'll stop writing and just show you around the house...it was just filled with crazy antiques and lots of family history.....not to mention the insane endless yard....

backyard....and henry.

part of back porch...lovely to draw here...

 front porch and place where i painted most.

man, i hope i am not boring you all to tears....but, the house was such a huge  part of our stay.  so now......hold on.....here comes the inside of the house!!!! are you all excited???

i'm literally going as if you were walking through the house....sooooo....here we go.

this is our bedroom...the view out the window was unreal....and for the rest of the bedroom..

awwww....daddy and henry napping on the hardest most uncomfortable bed ever.

yes. this is still our bedroom.  how convenient to bathe and sleep in the same room....not to mention the convenience of the wake up in the middle of the night and "gotta go"....and being pregnant, it happened many times a night.

aaaaahhhhhh!! this is what we saw at the top of the stairs......bit creepy aye??  she's the original owner and great grandmother of the man who rented us the house....lovely.

that wraps up the tour of the house leaving out some bathrooms and little bedroom.....are you still awake?  then perhaps you'll enjoy a bit of the outside of our house and a tiny taste of deer isle....

the rocky but beautiful beach.....henry was in heaven.

who's the whitest in this picture???? hmmm.....

i 

i am so completely in love with this beach....not a soul on it....all ours....along with the beauty....this is what i think about on those freezing cold winter nights when summer seems like an eternity away..

nate learned how to play baseball while in main.....he was way proud, had to throw one in there for him...

so now we are at one of the coolest spots on Deer Isle...Nervous Nellies.  oh man....it's a cafe, sculpture garden...open studio, jelly and jam store. not your typical place to hang, that's for sure.  it's my favorite place to go and explore with the kiddies, eat UNREAL homemade jam and scones, swig some coffee and roam the land filled with crazy ass sculpture at every turn.

i

now you see why this is the longest blog ever? almost done, i promise. 

collecting sea glass and cool shells...

whew.  this seriously took FOREVER....this blog entry that is.  maine is just one of those magical places where everything but the most important things disappear....i got more work done while i was there than i have in weeks and weeks....here's a shot of my little oasis where i worked...and my new piece in progress...

yay!!!! all done.  for those of you who stayed and looked at all my pictures, you rule. 

i hope this makes up for my lack of blogging this month....enjoy the last days of summer....

xo lisa.

harry's red cape

i took on a commission recently that was just too great to pass up.  all of the elements she wanted reminded me of nate and henry.....and a medley of a few paintings i have done all in one.  i wish all commissions could be this much fun!  (please excuse the lame rhyming).

here's the painting in its final stages....

and he's the sketch:

i'm usually kinda hesitant to take on commissions....you just never know how it will go, and having to get approval as you go was always kind of difficult for me.  not now!  i think having someone else provide the artistic direction feels freeing!  i don't want to jinx myself.....the next one may totally be a nightmare!  i will just enjoy this moment of satisfaction (i must emphasize MOMENT) and hope the next will go as well....

back to my studio, where i kick myself all day long hoping the next painting i do won't suck.

hide and seek

 

my painting is finally complete!  hide and seek is the title. i'll save the meaning behind the title for a bit later....i'm just so glad it's done!!

here's a closer look and a detail or two...

 

isn't it fun to look back and see what it looked like when it was just a pencil sketch???  ready for the fun?  oooooooohhhhh.....

i must admit....i always love the rough sketches most.  i am desperately trying to keep that sense of immediacy and freshness in my paintings.....ahhhhhh (heavy sigh) one day....i will keep trying.

in the mean time, i am working on a commission right now...in the very early stages, i'll be sure to post that soon!!!

my newest painting, hide and seek, will be available in prints in my shop in the next week or so....can't wait to see how it looks in print!

 

arrival of julius...

my newest beautiful nephew was born on sunday....julius james hurwitz...already has my heart this little one...now my brother and sister-and-law have THREE amazing beautiful boys!!

my brother, andy, holding julius....just minutes into this world...did i mention how beautiful he is???

he kept staring right at me!!!! he's already brilliant of course.

my glowing sister-in-law phyllis, just rolled in after her C-Section...looking AMAZING after all she had been through.....just taking that precious little monkey in....

my proud mama (mom-mom) jane....grandson number...FIVE!

and proud daddy michael (popi)....taking that little j.j. in....

and of course....me.  aunt lisa.....had to see what beauty lay beneath that little hat of his....what??? light hair?? in our family???

  face to face.....
ok. how cute is this?  nate was soooo excited to hold j.j!! 

  i know it's blurry, but....had to show it...nate is in love.
 he just couldn't get over him.... why is this underlined???? can't get it off.

and then there's henry.  just happy to be henry.

had to get uncle jeff in here...look at that tiny face!!! (not you jeffy)

so, sorry to bore you all with more family pictures, but a brand new baby kinda takes over everything else, huh? 
also, may as well add that our family is expecting our third!!!!  yup. i'm about 4 months pregnant now!  wooooohoooo!! so this little j.j.  has gotten us all even more excited now....and he'll have a little cousin to play with soon enough.

i promise an art filled entry will follow.  ugh. i feel like my parents making us watch slides of family over and over....ah well, at least you all aren't sitting around my dining room table with my dad cursing over the slide projector.

 

swimming with the fishes

ll
taking an art blogging break...and thought i'd focus this blog on my family.  sooooo....hope i won't bore you to tears with some family photos of our trip to the aquarium!  my boys had a blast...saw everything from beautiful fish to HUGE sharks (um ok they are fish too) to hippos and seals to penguins...oh my!

we took the ferry across the river to the aquarium....

 ben franklin bridge....

henry spotted the aquarium...almost there!

 

henry kept wanting to pet the sharks....awwwww....

how cool are those jelly fish????!!!! we were there FOREVER.                    

 
ahhhh!! see that shark???? so freaky.  isn't it funny to see us standing on this cheesy rug watching a shark swim by?  OF COURSE  that's what i was thinking.

shot of the philly skyline from the aquarium...

back on the ferry....SOoo had it with the fishies. think the ferry was our favorite part!

henry's was definitely the ice cream.

back from brooklyn

sorry for the LONG hiatus from blogging...been crazy getting ready for the renegade craft fair which was this weekend in brooklyn, ny.  for those who don't know....it's a weekend long craft show chock full of crazy talented artists and crafters from all over the country.  the kind of show you work your bum off for hoping people dig what you do...and it was amazing and  INSANE...to say the least.

first, the weather.  um....hot is putting it mildly.  did i mention the show is taken place in huge empty public pool??? no shade.  so you literally walk down the steps and where there once was water is now rows and rows of back to back vendors....and you kinda feel like your in a pool with no water.  HOT. 

little aerial view to get the feel...

 

and how many people were there!

wait. did i mention the rain?  well....it came with hardly a warning. the once sunny skies were quickly replaced with menacing clouds and then came the wizard of oz like winds.  surreal.  then....the buckets of rain...and the locusts...and the frogs...kidding.  just rain.  but it was CRAZY rain.  Everyone shopping flew to the closest tents to wait it out...but it hardly let up!  the tents across from us literally flew off the ground and crumpled into pieces.  the poor vendors were scrambling to save their work and despite everyone's help, so much was damaged and lost. we were SO lucky!  we aren't very tent savvy, so we chose to rent ours, which was lovely.  phew!

check out the rain!! and my friend dana in the booth next door in the white....oh how she cursed herself for wearing all white and black granny panties...thank god she has a wicked sense of humor!

 

people were holding up their tents to prevent them from blowing away....the one in the middle was gone in minutes!

despite the drama, it was kinda funny.  if you don't know...this is jeff. my insane husband.

soooo.....day one ended a bit early and quite wet, but thank god we had a cozy hotel to look forward to!!

day two was beautiful....still hot, but sooooooooooo much better!

i have to show off my way of displaying my prints....had to keep them in a box to prevent blowing away and fear of damage....but how to keep it easy to leaf through them??? just look below!!!  brings out my anal side.

 

then, rick, the owner of the gallery who prints all of my work and saves my life a billion times a year, made me the banner of "field trip" as a gift....love them!!

gotta have a shot of me somewhere in this blog, aye?

sooooo....all in all....a great time. and no kiddies!!! my mama took my boys for the whole weekend!! yay!!
i must say, it was quite difficult keeping cash in my wallet with all of the goodies being sold all around me, and i indulged quite a bit!!   here's some of my favorites:

i have to say, my gorgeous hand made skirt is at the top of my list...must give you their site!!  orangy porangy.  oh mama.  i'm hooked.

seriously...for the funniest hand made cards EVER....a philly friend of mine....mean cards  she rules.  if you aren't laughing, something is wrong with you.

for an awesome handmade t-shirt (jeff bought two)  made by a cool couple who moved from nyc to a quiet remote spot in louisiana....supermaggie.

last but not least, my favorite vendor of all...who was my neighbor for the whole long weekend.... for amazing one of a kind pottery you will NEVER see anywhere....so way cool...Danmade.  damn.  can't find his site.  get it later.  here's a pix of them:

these guys made our whole weekend.  love you guys!!!!

ok.  good to be home....at this point in my blog, my dogs need to be fed, my cats are meowing with hunger and i can't find my children (they are hiding)...so i must run.  hope this LONG ASS post makes up for my absence!!!!  xo lisa

outside studio...way too nice out to paint inside

yes. spring has sprung, and it's just sooo damn hard to stay indoors. while henry slept, nate and i decided to take to painting outside....it was AMAZING.  we both got lots done, had yummy snacks, and talked about our paintings.  could it get much better???

one of my works in progress....not sure of title yet....seems to be a sister painting to "good woman".

check out the tongue action...nate is seriously concentrating. this is his work in progress "planets".....very cool indeed.

just when i thought our day couldn't be better... henry woke up and joined us....he was way more into cookies than painting.

last but not least, the dogs....how can i leave out cleo and lou?  taking their very important roles  as  the drooler and  the watch dog....always by our sides.

  watch dog (lou)

the drooler  (cleo)....ummmmm.... and watch dog.

glorious poppies!!

so i am driving nate to school, late late late....and we're calling out good morning to all the animals we see  in the beautiful meadows along the road...."hi cows!"  good morning sheep!  hi horsies!! etc....well...then...this is what i see...HUNDREDS OF GLORIOUS 10 FT POPPIES!!!  so. yeah. i freaked out just a bit...i mean how cool is this??? this is the new installation at the morris arboretum. if any of you are around philly...go see!!!! they sway and bend and take your breath away....

here's a bit more close ups...

so of course i was instantly inspired....and here is my girl with poppies sketch:  new painting to come!!