Art & Inspiration Blog

Thomas Jefferson   (April 13, 1743– July 4, 18 26) was an American Founding Father  who was the principal author of the and the third President of the United States.

This basic Essence Portrait of Thomas Jefferson, who fascinates me and I admire him greatly, although I do not always agree with him. His basic Essence Portrait is created with the symbol-strokes (original Torah font letters) I am using for the portraits of the presidents; Exodus 20, the Ten Commandments. However due to his wide range of interests and influence, there are many texts that certainly could also have been chosen.

There is little doubt that Jefferson was very familiar with the Bible and the Ten Commandments. His “self-evident” truths derive from biblical ideas that all men are equal before the law. As a plantation owner and slaveholder he was part of the ruling class, but Jefferson made profoundly significant contributions to the rise of anti-slavery constitutionalism in the United States. See the Wikipaedia article for more about Jefferson and slavery http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson_and_slavery.

I chose to portray the younger Jefferson, a more romantic figure who I can easily imagine impressing the Paris court on behalf of the colonies. Also, note how many, many strokes are obviously used , especially in his clothing. That is because Jefferson was a man of letters (symbolism not pun intended).

Exodus 20 – Ten Commandments (Thomas Jefferson Essence Portrait) by Judy Rey Wasserman

Learn how you can commission an Essence Portrait for you or a loved one Click – http://ungravenimage.com/portraitpaintingcommissions.php

See more basic Essence Portraits go Click http://ungravenimage.com/essenceportraitsbasic.php

Watch a video about the history of portraiture and the new Essence Portraits (basic and color variations) Click – http://ungravenimage.com/essencevideos.php

According to a Huffington Post article, “Following a town hall Wednesday in Arbutus, Md., Mitt Romney clarified comments made earlier in the day live on CNN by his top adviser Eric Fehrnstrom, who said that Romney could be reset ‘like an Etch a Sketch.’” According to mainstream news reports, the idea behind this reset would be to make Romney, a Republican a more moderate and appealing as a candidate running opposite President Barak Obama, a Democrat.

Mitt Romney’s response that his is and has been a political conservative.

This Etch-a-Sketch Romney comment has been a bonanza for the mainstream news, which continues to look for scandals to gain eyes and ears of viewers and listeners, while diverting attention from many real, moral and pressing issues, such as banks’ frauds, severe water shortages world-wide and continuing ecological and climate changes and catastrophes of increasing earthquake and volcanic activity.

“Etch-a-Sketch” has been a Trending Topic all day on Twitter, thanks to many satiric or sarcastic tweets about Mr. Romney, or positive comments about Etch-a-Sketch, including by many who grew up using one.

As an artist, I highly recommend Etch-a-Sketch. I had one as a kid, and have seen that my kids and others all had or have one too.

I have seen artistic images created by adult hands using an Etch-a-Sketch that are as fine as a good line drawing with a pen. Such works are as fragile and impermanent as a sand painting or unrecorded performance art, which are meant to be fleeting — unlike campaign positions and promises.

The idea that a world leader, especially an American president, who as is our tradition takes the Oath of Office with a hand on the Bible, can have their views, campaign promises and image whimsically reset “like an Etch-a-Sketch” is appalling.

When I create a commissioned Essence Portrait, I discover through conversations and research the “divine spark” in the subject, which I then paint using relevant scripture texts for strokes. The text selected serves as the strokes* that both show the divine within the person, the structure of the features, plus, especially for anyone living, is a kind of artistic prayer for their life. [*The original letters of scripture are the strokes.]

I have been creating portraits of USA presidents using the Ten Commandments, Exodus 20, for the strokes. It has been said that the Ten Commandments were a basic inspiration for our laws. As Chief Executive each president’s responsibility is to see that the laws of the federal government and, especially the Constitution, are upheld.

Popularity is not a part of the president’s job. Despite what the polls infer by the skewed questions asked, voters seem to elect those they have the most confidence in, people they can trust, more that they elect those they would like to invite to a party. History has taught us that our best leaders have dug in their heels and done what they believed to be right even if it made them unpopular. Think of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, who differed strongly but are now both revered.

History also shows that not all presidents have fully fulfilled their job description, or have interpreted the laws differently from others, there is no Etch-a-Sketch reset on the job description itself.

Certainly neither Washington, who was always very popular in the thirteen states after the revolutionary war was won (but not popular with England which until the war was won was actually his country), or Lincoln, who struggled with popularity as half of the nation went to war against him, never compromised on upholding what they held were the fundamental laws of the nation.

Exodus 20 (Ten Commandments) – George Washington

Prints Available Click: here

Exodus 20 (Ten Commandments) – Abraham Lincoln

Judy Rey Wasserman has also completed Essence Portraits of Presidents Andrew Jackson , Grover Cleveland and Barack Obama . She is currently working on one of Thomas Jefferson.

To see more Essence Portraits and learn how you can commission one of you or a loved one, Click: HERE .

Each year I donate a postcard to Visual AIDS’ Postcards from the Edge mainly because I have lost friends to AIDS and this happens to be a well run charity that I can support. Plus, of course, they solicit art from artists and I get the fun in exhibiting my postcard (along with 1000 plus others) in a top tier Chelsea gallery.

This year’s event was at the prestigious Cheim and Read. Many of the very best Chelsea NY best galleries have served with the event moving to a new venue each year.

At the time this blog is posted Postcards from the Edge benefit has raised over $83,000 and displayed the work of 1,475 artists. Thousands of guests attended, including those who pay to attend the jam packed opening night where they stalk out the postcards that become available the following morning when they sell for $85.00 each.

So far, I have only donated Genesis: Sunrise Sunset painted postcards. Partially because since my first donation I learned that they sell, but also as Genesis I:7 is the theological (but not scientific) basis for Post Conceptual UnGraven Image Art theory.

VisualAIDS Sunset 2011 is created of strokes that are all the original letters from Genesis 1-:27. It is a part of my Genesis: Sunset-sunrise series.

Visual AIDS Sunset 2011

By Judy Rey Wasserman

To see the postcard I donated last year go to: http://ungravenimage.com/blog/2011/03/genesis-sunset-for-visualaids-2010

This artwork’s name tells the basics of its story: that it is created from strokes that are the original Torah font letters of Psalm 148 and that it is an image of a poinsettia.

Yet there is more to this image, as poinsettias have become a popular decoration during the winter holiday season.

Poinsettias are native to Mexico. According to legend in the 16 th century a young, poor Mexican girl was inspired by an angel to gather weeds from the roadside as a present for Jesus’ birthday, and to place these before the church alter. When red flowers blossomed the flower became associated with Christmas. By the 17 th century Mexican Franciscan friars were including poinsettias in there Christmas celebrations, claiming that the leaf pattern symbolized the Star of Bethlehem, while the red color symbolizes the blood of Christ. Plus, of course the colors that symbolize Christmas are greed and red, which are the colors of Italy where the Vatican is located.

See a larger version or collect the print HERE.
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Judy Rey Wasserman is an artist and the founder of Post Conceptual Art theory and also the branch known as UnGraven Image Art. Download a free copy click: Manifesto of Post Conceptual Art– A Painting’s Meaning is Inherent in its Stroke.
Check out the limited and open edition prints in the estore.
Follow her on Twitter at @judyrey .

Last night, I kept awakening for now reason and then just comfortably cuddling beneath the covers as I was wide awake.

As I lay awake last night , I was very much in the moment. In the Now. So I decided just to experience lying in bed.  Just being.

And it just naturally followed, as being in the now, in the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand – the I AM moment – that I naturally welled up with appreciation for it. One cannot drag in resentments, anger, fear, upsets, and any of the past woes into the now and actually be in the Now. Being in that present time, which is a kind of being in the Truth, one enjoys the clarity of appreciating the gift of the moment.

There I was cozily appreciating and giving The Divine thanks for my being cozy, for the breathing I began to experience, for the dark, for the now…At that moment, everything was perfect.And then the alarm went off. It was morning. At some point I had just fallen fast asleep.

Woman of Valor Rosebud print

Despite our daily concerns, worries and goals, we have so much to be grateful for that we did not really create for ourselves. Even a sick person has enough good health to be alive, and enjoy all if not most of their senses of sight, taste, smell, etc.

It’s not about seeing the glass as half full or half empty but experiencing the kind of miracle that there is a glass that can hold water and that there is water. For even glassblowers cannot make the silica and ingredients used to make a glass, and water is always a gift of life.

This Thanksgiving I look forward to giving more thanks quietly and personally. In appreciating small moments and acts of moments of chewing, sharing, laughing, seeing breathing and being in the now.

I hope this inspires you to join me in that appreciating and give thanks in the now, too.

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Judy Rey Wasserman is an artist and the founder of Post Conceptual Art theory and also the branch known as UnGraven Image Art. Download a free copy click: Manifesto of Post Conceptual Art– A Painting’s Meaning is Inherent in its Stroke.
Check out the limited and open edition prints in the estore.
Follow her on Twitter at -> @judyrey .

My video, “Painting with the Big Bang of Genesis” won the top prize from Ulpan Or’s Facebook contest. SEE:  http://www.ulpanor.com/2011/ulpan-or%E2%80%99s-free-online-hebrew-course-contest-%E2%80%93-the-awards/

The contest asked contestants to answer the question, “Why I love Hebrew”. Watch the winning video below to see the amazing correlations between Torah font Hebrew and elementary physics as depicted in the radical new Post Conceptual UnGraven Image Art.

My first lesson was two days ago, and I am already saying some phrases and answering simple conversational questions. The materials include Ulpan Or’s book, a CD to listen and review what I am learning, plus, a wonderful and patient teacher, Miri, who I will be working with over our Skype connection.

The most difficult subject for me to learn, even just pass has always been foreign languages, in both high school and college. I am so visually orientated that learning to speak and understand another language is difficult. After many years of French studies, I can read French fairly well, but understanding what is said to me is difficult, beyond elementary phrases.

However, I am applying myself diligently, and am finding that the approach of Ulpan Or, through the one-to-one teaching over the phone and the CD quickly gives me more listening experience and also engages my participation.

It is my hope that my mouth will speak Hebrew as well as my hands “speak” Hebrew’s Torah font in my art. To watch that happen, see the video below.

USA Money Flag I, is created using strokes that are the original letters of Exodus 20, plus Leviticus 19 for the portrait of Alexander Hamilton and Proverbs 13 for the portrait of Benjamin Franklin. At the moment this is an original tradigital print combining artworks that were created by hand and scanned in on a professional scanner then combined and manipulated digitally.

This pigment ink painting features original artwork by Judy Rey Wasserman of all six USA currency bills currently issued by the U.S. Treasury in an American Flag, stars and stripes image.

USA Money Flag I visually explores and represents the current focus, problems and even dilemmas that face the USA as we continue to create a unique national identity during the ongoing recession and money problems that include the bailouts, unemployment, fraudulent practices by many of its major banks in relation to foreclosures and mortgage securities.

A version that combines acrylic paint with the hand drawn printed pigment ink currency bills is planned for canvas. This 16 x 24 inch original pigment ink painting on paper is a signed limited edition of 150. This is a study and version for the very much larger work, which will use life size currency. [For more information, including closes-ups of the work, dealers, collectors and press can contact the artist through her website at http://ungravenimage.com, follow and message her on Twitter: @judyrey or Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/judyreywasserman .]

USA Money Flag I, 2011 by Judy Rey Wasserman

Another original artwork from Judy Rey Wasserman’s the In God We Trust series, which features money, was shown in the Green Holly Greetings blog, depicting a variation on her basic one dollar bill, and again in the Vote 2010 blog. However, the Essence Portraits of Presidents (using the original letters of Exodus 20) of George Washington, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, and Grover Cleveland, plus the Essence Portraits of Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Hamilton have all been previously featured in blogs and most may ve seen in the You Tube video, “Essence Portraits, The Art of Seeing The Divine in Ourselves and Others” “Essence Portraits, The Art of Seeing The Divine in Ourselves and Others” . To see close ups and purchase an open edition print of the George Washington Essence portrait Click http://estore.artofseeingthedivine.com

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Judy Rey Wasserman is an artist and the founder of Post Conceptual Art theory and also the branch known as UnGraven Image Art. Download a free copy click: Manifesto of Post Conceptual Art– A Painting’s Meaning is Inherent in its Stroke. Follow her on Twitter at @judyrey .]

On Wednesday, May 18, 2011, it was my privilege to be interviewed by the Biz Chicks, Bonnie Green and Jill Freeman for their month featuring Artists and Writers.

Their questions were insightful and inspiring and I am assured my answers were likewise.

Listen to the podcast of the show to learn about art, my earliest memory of art, new ideas of how to use social media to promote your ideas, and creativity. Plus, learn how I use the ideas I’ve learned from Warhol, Da Vinci and other great artists to approach social media.  Enjoy!

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Watch a short video “Painting with the Big Bang of Genesis”  that shows you  how a new Post Conceptual & UnGraven Image is specially created. It’s like watching a universe form in front of your eyes!  Go to :http://ungravenimage.com

Judy Rey Wasserman is an artist and the founder of Post Conceptual Art theory and also the branch known as UnGraven Image Art. Download a free copy of the revolutionary art manifesto (PDF) — CLICK:  Manifesto of Post Conceptual Art– A Painting’s Meaning is Inherent in its Stroke.

Follow on Twitter = @judyrey
Facebook Fan page- LIKE Fan Page

To see the available limited edition signed and numbered prints or less expensive open edition prints, or to reserve a place in the line for an Essence Portrait commissioned for you or a loved one, or to purchase a copy of The Art of Seeing The Divine, Book 1, What Do You See?,  GO TO to: http://estore.artofseeingthedivine.com

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”

Prayer can be visual art.

As an artist, there are times when I can best express myself , my prayers as art because even though I use words– the letters of words actually as my strokes, my hands can sing  the words of my heart in a way that my mouth cannot.

One week ago today, my best friend and prayer partner, Rebecca Sellers, called me at 7 AM , waking me up. Rebecca knows better than to ever call me at that hour as I usually work into the early morning hours, after our prayer time ends, usually after midnight.

Fearing someone had died; I picked up the phone and asked, “What happened?”

“We have to pray. There’s a tsunami headed for Hawaii after a massive earthquake in Japan,”

We watched together and channel surfed TV and web from our home offices, mine in New York and Rebecca’s in Florida we learned that a tsunami has also hit Japans north east coast. And we prayed, and prayed—not our usual once a day joining together, but several times a day as the news story develops.

Sadly, the tragic story continues to develop as the full devastation and destruction continues to be discovered and grow due the nuclear crisis which has curtailed some rescue effort while creating another horrific threat.

Where I live the leaves of the jonquils and crocuses can be seen pushing up out of the earth. There are gnarly bumps of buds and new growth on bushes and trees. These promise a coming burst of colorful blossoms, much needed after an unusually bitter cold and snow filled dreary winter.

The stores, flyers and even shopping channels that I surf to during commercials are promoting seedlings, seeds and garden stuff, which visually coexist just one click away with my remote, or a turn of the page in a newspaper with the news and images coming from Japan.

I kept thinking about flowers and Japan as I created what could be called a basic Essence Portrait of a rose, using the original letters of Deuteronomy 6 for strokes. This is a basic Bible text prayed by Jesus, the disciples and many Jews throughout history on a daily basis.

Basic Rose Aleph by Judy Rey Wasserman

Strokes are Deuteronomy 6

But these flower had nothing intrinsically to do with Japan . I couldn’t think of a flower that could be specifically associated with Japan , so, I asked Rebecca, who immediately replied, “Cherry tree blossoms.”

Perfect.

For Japanese people cherry blossom is considered an omen of good fortune and is also an emblem of love, or affection. They are also an enduring metaphor for the fleeting nature of life represented by spring, which has not yet arrived in Japan .

I set about to find images of cherry blossoms and trees, plus a scriptural text that could serve as the strokes to represent what had and was happening and also my prayers and hopes for Japan.

The next night as Rebecca and I were praying via telephone for Japan, we fell silent at a loss for words to express our sorrow, hope, and fears about the situation.

“Hold on,” said Rebecca. After a minute she returned and read aloud, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will we not fear, though the earth do change, and though the mountains be moved into the heart of the seas; Though the waters thereof roar and foam, though the mountains shake at the swelling thereof… ‘Let be, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our high tower.”

We said “Amen” in unison.

I knew Rebecca had also provided me with the text I needed to use as strokes for the cherry blossoms, Psalm 46.  Perhaps coincidentally, the full text of Psalm 46 also seems to allude to the events in the Middle East as “nations topple”, which is also currently in the news.

Cherry Blossoms Prayer for Japan by Judy Rey Wasserman

Strokes are Psalm 46

See the image larger and discover the available print HERE

This is the second time a tsunami that a story for the results of a tsunami inspired me with a new series of art. The 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami coincided with a blizzard here, which together focused me on how wild animals endure and overcome nature’s fury and trials. The Written on the Wind series depicts animals.

Rebecca and I continue to pray for the people of Japan and those who are there to aid them and report on their stories to us all.  I have plans for more art about Japan to inspire and offer hope.

The Cherry Blossoms Prayer for Japan will be available as a print next week to help raise funds for Japan. Sign up for the newsletter, follow me on Twitter or the Facebook Fan page for news about that offering, which will bless your home or office space while you bless those in need.

I do not have a name for the new series depicting flowers, and if you have a suggestion please tweet it to me @judyrey or post it on my Facebook fan page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Judy-Rey-Wasserman/54246793250

[ Rebecca Sellers lives and works in Orlando, Florida where she is the owner of CMEWebs http://cmewebs.com/ Follow her on Twitter @cmewebs

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Judy Rey Wasserman is an artist and the founder of Post Conceptual Art theory and also the branch known as UnGraven Image Art. Download a free copy click: Manifesto of Post Conceptual Art-- A Painting's Meaning is Inherent in its Stroke.
Check out the limited and open edition prints in the estore.
Follow her on Twitter at @judyrey .]

Each year I donate a postcard to VisualAIDS for their Postcards from the Edge show and sale.

As usual my postcard sold, which always makes me happy as this is a really good cause. To quote from their web site,” Visual AIDS is the only contemporary arts organization fully committed to HIV prevention and AIDS awareness through producing and presenting visual art projects, while assisting artists living with HIV/AIDS. We are committed to preserving and honoring the work of artists with HIV/AIDS and the artistic contributions of the AIDS movement. We embrace diversity and difference in our staff, leadership, artists, and audiences.”

Here is a view of my postcard size art fro this year. This work was created with watercolor pencils using strokes from Genesis 1-2:7. Therefore it falls into the Genesis: Sunset-Sunrise series and is Post Conceptual Art that also belongs to the branch known as UnGraven Image.

Genesis Sunset for VisualAIDs 2010 by Judy Rey Wasserman

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Judy Rey Wasserman is an artist and the founder of Post Conceptual Art theory and also the branch known as UnGraven Image Art. Download a free copy click: Manifesto of Post Conceptual Art– A Painting’s Meaning is Inherent in its Stroke.
Check out the limited and open edition prints in the estore.
Follow her on Twitter at @judyrey .]