Art By Tali Landsman

I am back from Miami and it is lovely to be surrounded by the tall and glorious mountains of Colorado. I love the 360 degrees of uninterrupted nature. It is of-course always wonderful simply to be back home. I am adding some photos of my trip to Miami.

We are in Miami. I have let yesterday slip by leisurely at the pool in our hotel - The Mandarin Oriental. It was such a relaxing day, sunbathing, reading and swimming. Across the water is down town Miami with its towering sky risers glowing in the sun. Jules came over from work to have lunch with me at cafe` Sambal which has an Asian menu. I did yoga twice, drank fresh juices, ate light and delicious food. For dinner we went to our old hangout restaurant Su - Shin Izkaya in Coral Gables. They serve the best vegetarian Japanese food you can imagine. Today I am driving with my mother and sister for a short trip to Key West (a vacation from the vacation).

In the past two days I did not do much. I was a bit under the weather, spending most of my time reading and resting. I did manage to add one more robot to my painting. I feel like I should be moving it ahead with a bold and daring sketch or two. I feel like I have been playing in the corners with child toys. But feeling weak, I have delayed advancing the painting for fear that I will mess it up and may not have the strength to stay with it to fix much. The plus side of being under the weather is that I finished two books. One by J. Maarten Troost, a funny writer who wrote about his adventures in China. I just adore his mind and will read anything he will ever publish. The other is an interesting book about the contemporary people of Israel written by Linda Grant (called: “The people on the street - a writer view of Israel”).

This morning I woke up with a cold in my lungs and feeling a bit flush. Still I trotted to the studio and worked on adding another toy robot to my increasing collection of robots on my sketchbook canvas. I also cooked a delicious spicy mock meat dish with leeks and cabbage. Jules is a dear and he is cleaning our house which is in much need of attention while I rest.

Summer in the mountains in wonderful. We wake up with a cool breeze and lately it has not warmed up too much during the day. Today is sunny and wonderfully mild. I stayed longer in the studio painting two more robots and a superman. One of the toy robots is a robot soldier and the other is a silver robot with large hands. (could be very useful theoretically). I love taking my time and adding details to the sketchbook- painting in a leisurely pace. I still want to insert in the middle a sketch of a live figure, but for now I am playing in the corners with the toy robots.

Yesterday evening we watched a documentary about the life of Doc Paskowitz. Doc (Dorian) Paskowitz quit his medical profession and took his whole family surfing. He had nine kids, none went to school, they roamed the beaches of the world, surfing and having a good time. He also denounce money and traveled with his family in a twenty foot RV. Watching this strong man with his convictions and his vision, was very inspiring to me. Not that I envy him raising nine kids, nor living in a rugged rig, but I envy his determination and the fact that he lives a deliberate life, outside of the main stream. Living without boundaries, whether you make mistakes or not, taking responsibility for your destiny, appeals to me so much. I do question myself all the time recently. What is it that I am after? Do I simply want to get my art into a wider range of the population? sell and make a good living? For what? I already live in the most beautiful places I can imagine, I have the life that I love, a par...

This morning after my meditation and our yoga practice, I headed to the studio to work on my second robot. It feels very soothing to me to work on painting these tin toy robots. They are really not a very good children toy. For one, they are made from tin with somewhat sharp edges and the possibility to corrode and rust. But they are almost like art pieces for adults to display and enjoy. I love the innocent of these playful robots. It is if a child was asked to design a view of the future robot, but all he could come up with is a metal version of himself. Well, I plan to fill my canvas with many of them and when I had enough, to add some drawings and symbols.

I received news on the Wellington art show in NZ. I sold three paintings of the “Unnerving to a frugalist” series and none of my newest series “The artist’s sketchbook”. I felt melancholy all yesterday night and into this morning until I decided to pull out my journal and to do some emotional processing in writing. I asked myself what does it really represent that in one show people did not purchased any painting from this series? I asked myself do I really want to change directions because of a small setback? Do I really believe in what I am doing? Do I love to do it? Does it fits my vision of the world? The answers were very obvious. I enter my studio this morning with renewed enthusiasm. I decided to draw and paint some toy robots on my new sketchbook- canvas. I worked all day on completing a small silver robot that I like a lot. I may do only one robot a day to give it my out most attention. I also packed and prepared a painting to ship to a client.

Yesterday I completed the “Competition” painting. Sometime creating a painting feels like the flow of a quiet river and sometimes like a roaring river filled with turbulence and obstructing boulders. This painting has been very emotional for me. On some days I was filled with confidence while working on it, and on other days I felt lost and unsure, questioning my new style, its merits and the idea of my future persistence with it. Later in the day we drove to Glenwood Springs for the weekly afternoon Farmer’s Market. It was such a delight to find organic heirloom tomatoes that were purple and sweet as a plum. We also got Indian cucumbers and lemon cucumbers (called lemon for their yellow color). We found so much organic produce that we made a dinner of a large salad tossed with the wonderful balsamic vinegar we also got in the market.

This day is going great! I started the morning with my Course Of Miracle lesson and a meditation. We did yoga together and then I had a lemon ginger tea and went into the studio. The painting is unfolding slowly. I have maybe two more days of work to complete it. I am enjoying my new studio with its may windows and the very high ceiling. The weather is definitely changing. Every day is cool and lovely. I know that denver had some record breaking heat days, but luckily it did not reach the mountains area.

The weekend is going great. Yesterday we started the day with a meditation. We did yoga in our upstairs lounge, followed by a large glass of carrot and orange juice. We read our books until lunch and had a lunch of toasted wraps and a soy latte`. We drove to Aspen in the late afternoon, had a vegetarian meal at the Explored Bistro. Later in the evening we attended a chamber music concert. We decided to start doing yoga daily at home. I wondered why we’d ever stopped doing yoga. We used to be so dedicated to doing it daily, even when we traveled, we carried our yoga mats with us and practices yoga in the hotel room. We also used to have a day of fast or a juice fast every week. We stopped doing this also. But now we picked up both forgotten habits and decided to embrace them back into our lives.

I am working on a piece inspired by the olympics. In this piece I explore the competitive spirit. So much goes into the training, the hopes, the visualization and the dreams. Only one in the world- wins. Could you imagine a more fierce competition? I have very little time to work today as we have to go pick up our cars in Glenwood. Both are being repaired.

The weather has cooled off up here in the mountains and we welcome with open arms the cool breeze. Yesterday we watched a movie about the life of Molier`e. The movie is loosely based on his life but mostly it is fiction. Early in his career as an actor, he struggle to put bread on his table and to rent performance spaces. I loved the message he got that he need not be worried about how his future will unfold or about money and success. It is important to practice your art, take it to the people, show it on the streets. Success and recognition will come. The most important thing is to persevere and to practice your art.

Colorado is home for many athletes. I heard today in the supermarket talks about people’s friends who are flying to China this week for their scheduled competition in the Olympics. In the newspaper I read an article about the athletes’ mind. I reflected how similar it is to the artist’s mind. How much perseverance is needed to make a life in the arts, how much courage and endurance it demands. Everybody knows that in order to become a top athlete, you must make huge sacrifices, practice daily for long hours, watch your diet and constantly self motivate. People tends to think of artists as if they have an never ending childhood, playing with paints in their studio, safe from the world’s harsh realities, unaware of the nature of real “hard work” and “social compromises” required by the general marketplace. The truth is quite different. To make a life in the arts is one of the most challenging disciplinary life you could have. You face constant criticism if not from without, then from wit...

Jules is back and it is good to have him home. I am reading a book about the life of Poppa Neutrino which I find fascinating. What a free spirit what a boundless life. I realize how much of my own life I live in search of comforts and the price they exude. How in search of physical, mental and financial comforts, I give up spontaneity, emotional range and an open door to miracles and the world at large. But even writing this I know that I will not trade my life for his. I know that my love of a place, of relationships and some measure of continuity and familiarity, is always going to be important to me. I know that I do not want to go through some of the challenges he had gone through and that I am not sure that I have the tools that he has to live this way. How do you build a life that is soulful and joyful with bricks of countless failures and in the face of a harsh world? How do you keep on going, not just going, but happily so? how do you keep on trusting yourself? your dreams? yo...

This morning a long time collector purchased a new painting done in thick oils. I will ship it in two weeks to give it a chance to dry some more before making the journey. Even thought in Colorado the humidity level in the summer is less than 10%, the oil paintings still do not dry as fast as you would imagine them to. I am always looking for interesting angles of the human figure to draw. Today I started a new painting with a figure crouching on the floor. The interesting angle is taken from the floor level where his head is. His arm are supporting the weight of his body and his head is embedded in his shoulders. It is a challenging pose to draw.