The Beit Shemesh Center for the Arts is a new initiative in our city, whose purpose is to encourage artistic development in different areas, including art, music, photography, and literature.

I took the kids in the afternoon to look around at all the beautiful artwork. They enjoyed it for about  2 minutes before turning their attention to the pastries and soda. Isn’t culture wonderful?!

The theme was “Shalom Beit Shemesh” which is NOT, as I originally thought, “Hello Beit Shemesh.” Nope! That would be “shalom” as in PEACE, not “Shalom” as in HELLO! Good thing we cleared that up before I started working on the painting!

All the other entries were stunning. If you want to check out the other prize winners and submissions, you can view this Facebook album!

In the evening there was a short program during which the winners were announced. Here’s the mayor, who announced the winners, holding my painting! I didn’t understand every single word, since of course he spoke in Hebrew, but I did catch the phrase “meel-yon do-llar”. Mayor, if you want it for a million dollars, it’s yours!!

Lots of Jewish mom’s seem glad to have a modest-yet-beautiful figure for their girls to play with. One of my friends said: “What a great idea! I love it! My daughter is always commenting on the Disney princess’ lack of coverage.” And another mom said “So nice to have a Jewish Barbie.” This is exactly what I had in mind– REAL role models for our girls–princesses, no less– who are beautiful and royal, strong and resilient, modest and kind. Like Ruth.

Don’t know who Ruth was? Read all about her here!

The Ruth paper doll comes with 4 costumes (Moabite princess, Wealthy Wife, Pauper, and Mother of Royalty) and a cast of 3 supporting actors (Naomi, Orpah, and Boaz)!

Color them in, cut them out, add some popsicle sticks if you desire (to make them into puppets), and bring the story of Ruth alive!

So… where can you get them? My friend Abbey who does all sorts of cool, crafty and creative things has just put out a new e-magazine called JCreate: Celebrating Jewish Creativity. It’s got all sorts of beautiful and original ideas for Shavuot– napkin flowers, recipes, Torah puppets, tablescapes… and the paper dolls! JCreate- don’t miss out!! (Like their FB page too while you’re at it!)

I love the holiday of Passover: the great feeling of knowing your house is truly clean, unpacking the Pesach dishes, setting Seder table, eating all that matza! But I have to say it is a lot of work, both getting there and getting through it!  The seder poses it’s own challenge of keeping everyone (kids and adults!) awake and involved. If you ask around, you’ll hear many great ways that families keep things fun and interactive. One friend of mine likes to play holiday-themed games at her family dinners, such as word searches, word scrambles, crossword puzzles and, the most popular one: bingo.

The problem is, she has a large crowd over, around 30 people, and she couldn’t find any Passover bingo games that would work for so many people! So she asked me to whip up some bingo cards so the family won’t have to go without their favorite game this Passover!

What we end up with here are 30 different Bingo cards with a mix of 60 different pictures, including the ten plagues, items from the Seder table, characters from the Hagadah and the Exodus story. They’re cute and colorful and will help bring the Hagadah to life!

If you have a color printer, you can print them yourself, or take them to the nearest print shop to to have them printed and laminated for future use. To get the FREE Bingo Card file, just enter this giveaway, and I will email it to you!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you are not on FB, please contact me to receive your game!

Thank you, and Happy Passover! Chag Kasher V’same’ach!

Achashverosh: Let’s get this party started!

Esther: Not just another pretty face.

Haman: That’s a noose, idiot, not a lasso!

Vashti: What are you staring at?!

Mordechai: Why can’t we all just get along?

Please share with your friends! Happy Purim!!

My first stop was in Silver Spring where my father’s mother lives. She made up an immaculate bedroom, cooked up a storm, and paid tribute to the beauty and brilliance of my two girls (and myself, naturally). I loved spending time with her and hearing details about family members I never knew, and just looking at all her pretty things. I know some people prefer new, modern furnishings and accessories, but I doubt anything produced today has as much elegance and personality as these antique lamps. I am crazy over that horse lamp!

Equally fun for me was looking at my great-grandmother Dorothy’s artwork. I am proud to be named after such a lovely, accomplished woman, and I think her colorful, abstract paintings are gorgeous! Here are a few of my favorites (these pictures do not do them justice):

She apparently passed down her artistic talent to a number of family members. A couple of her sons were artists too. One of them crafted this beautiful copper tray/table:

My cousin David was an artist too. Here are some of his paintings. Again, sorry for the poor quality, but these are photos of photos:

My grandma herself created some pretty needlepoint pieces, such as tablecloths, pillows, and wall hangings. Here are a couple humorous ones she stitched for my grandfather, a”h, who was a dentist:

There is also a very amateurish painting of the mandatory bowl of fruit from my younger days, hanging in her kitchen, and I brought her this watercolor to add to her art collection, which she told me she had framed- how nice!

And, here is a picture of my grand-grandmother, Dorothy Seigel, with her husband Nathaniel. Aren’t they stunning?

Choose a picture of the guest of honor–birthday boy, bride, graduate, whatever… in this case, it’s a Bat Mitzvah!

Turn it into a drawing (that’s where I come in):

Put it on the expertly-designed invitation (that’s where my talented graphic artist friend Miriam comes in)!

Voila! This is guaranteed to WOW your family and friends… not mention make the Bat Mitzvah girl’s friends seriously envious. But don’t take my word for it… here’s what the mother of the Bat Mitzvah girl says:

“I am being INUNDATED with people wanting to know…. WHO DID YOUR INVITATIONS???? and WHO WAS THE ARTIST THAT DREW COHAVA??? they are a HUGE hit!! Your artwork set the tone for her bas mitzvah…it gave it character.  Everyone is commenting on her expression and pose – how you completely NAILED IT!!”

And the proud father says:

“INCREDIBLE INVITATIONS!  You did such an amazing job capturing her.”

Let me know if I can help you create the perfect invitation for you next event! Contact me with any questions, and as always, feel free to leave a comment below!

However, if I were forced to just do one thing, I think I’d be happy drawing and painting portraits all day. People are one of my favorite subjects, and each portrait has it’s own feel; every person has their own unique beauty. That’s what I like to capture.

Here is a recent drawing I did for a couple who live here in Israel and were going to visit his mother in the US. Her husband passed away and this is a portrait of the two of them at their son’s wedding.

This is done with colored pencil. It’s sweet, isn’t it? I hope she likes it!

Leave a comment… make my day!

15×5 x 19.5 inches, acrylic on canvas

A close up of the precious faces:

Here is a sneak peek at my current work-in-progress. I’m really excited about it! I love this sketchy, unfinished feel, but there is still lots of work to do! For now, here’s what it looks like:

Here’s the photo I’m working from:

Got a favorite photo? Want something special to give as a gift or to cherish forever? Let me know, I would love to do a portrait of your kids–or anyone dear to your heart! Contact me with any questions or leave a comment below!