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by Yaeli Vogel

A Little Bit Goes A Long Way

This morning was tough. I wasn’t feeling up to painting or doing much. I finished breakfast and played with my almost 3 year old - He’s home with me for a few days till his camp starts and while his brothers are at their camp, I’m trying to take advantage of our time together. But then he went to take a nap and all I wanted to do was...well, do the same thing! Take a nap. I thought ahead to that moment when I’d wake up and have a full and unchecked to do list & it didn’t seem worth it to me today. (Sometimes, it is worth it) but today I knew I’d feel bad when I woke up. Instead of “starting” to work, I just did a little bit unofficially without any expectations. It was relaxing knowing that even if I painted two strokes on the painting, I was doing! Well, before I knew it, I turned around and everything I had set out to do, got done. And best of all - it was fun! I continued working on this image that’s photographed, which is a new piece that will be printed for the Succah and got to start another painting for Succos. I also uploaded a video onto YouTube and IGTV, signed & packaged a few prints and all I have left is the post office. I’m realizing that sometimes our “to do” lists discourage us more than help us. When I was so tired and saw everything I set out for the day, I just wanted to blink and have it all disappear! Sometimes, simply writing one or two things down get us to really do those one or two things and once we’re pumped, inspire us to go ahead and do further. Maybe we should start leaving spaces in the list and fill them in with things once we’ve done them. Hmmm, what do you think? Happy Doing! Yaeli

by Yaeli Vogel

How to create the work / life balance?

How do you create the work / life balance? True answer – you don’t. Whoever made up that term had a sense of humor, honestly. The word balance is trippy and can play with our minds. I say just dance! Or juggle with a”I” ;) In all seriousness, I heard Jay Shetty say in one of his videos, that you can juggle the balls, and if one has to fall, let it be the rubber ball, not the glass balls. Family and relationships are glass. Work is rubber. It will always bounce back. I’ve always understood this but when I heard it in this way, it solidified it! The people in our lives deserve us. As vibrant and present as possible. Not “ the answering each email as they come” version. As much as my heart wants to be in so many good things like school functions and distant family reunions, I’m very focused. I think and map out my priorities clearly and when they blur I go over them. They are: Family and painting. Of course other things get sprinkled into that, but those are the main pillars. There are only 24 hours in a day and I need to make sure that these two areas are getting “watered” every day. So, I’m very conscious of my decisions, knowing that what I focus my energy on will have a flip side. I’m home with my kids every day at 3:00. I don’t work past then. I resume working at 8 and work till the wee hours of the night if I need to. (I’m really not a night person, but I became a night owl) I prep their clothing and lunch before I go to bed, so that if I have a late morning, things are running smoothly. There are also things that are automated in my business making it easier for me to focus on what I need to focus on. For example: it was hard on my team to package the large canvases and so we them those out to get packaged. We also have a special label printer which took a load off. My hands are needed for painting so if there’s a way with technology to automate things, I’m in and always looking out for new ways to do so. And then, the best is when your work is so part of your life that it doesn’t feel like work or a juggle. I love what I do, and my family knows that and feel connected to it as well. My husband wants me to paint. He loves it too. And so, if it’s a Sunday afternoon and I juts have to get the idea out and run to do so, he gets it and pitches in. The kids love seeing the works and guessing what it is, telling me their thoughts and opinions. Sometimes a child will come into the room when I’m painting and I’ll set him up with some brushes and a canvas near me. It’s very much apart of their lives. It’s great for them to see work ethic and passion and to know that work is apart of life and it can be really really great. With all that being said – you heard my point of view. Now, ask them!

by Yaeli Vogel

Less selfies, more focus

While I truly enjoy the likes of social media I cannot say the same to the all the photos that come along with it. Allow me to explain. You probably wouldn't have heard me say this a few years ago, but painting every single day did have an affect! If I want the painting that I'm working on to present itself in the way that I envision, well then, I must give it my all. I have to focus all of my energies into what's in front of me. I go inside. I try to use my peripheral vision to see what I'm not seeing, or turn away from the canvas, and look back at it, to gain insight as to what stroke to put down next. Painting, for me, is an internal game. (Yes, this takes energy. Almost like a workout.) I get so carried away by the moment, that all time seems to stop. Then after many hours, I stand back, and what stares back at me, is all of that energy and focus. Sometimes I want to "story" the process but I truly forget, getting so lost in the moment, and think to myself when I'm done - shoot! I should have clipped that! That's also how I feel while at social events. I love people! I want to connect and say hi. In an awesome way. Where you can really leave feeling connected, even if the conversation was 1.5 minutes. But... selfies seemed to replace that. A selfie became the connection. It connects us somehow, sure it does. But, as a high maintenance kinda girl, I don't buy it. Selfies are fun! But first, let's focus our lens, and truly connect.

by Yaeli Vogel

My Artsy trip in the City

I live in one of the most saturated art communities of the world - New York. Its highly dense art society lives in NYC. I figured it was time to put on my sneakers and explore it all. I purposely say sneakers, since we were extremely bold and walked everywhere. (We - since I went with my husband. I will switch off from we and I - bear with me. ) I love walking. So you can follow my footsteps of ride on wheels. Whatever floats your boat ( no pun intended!) I'm writing it down for you - here goes: My number one rule wherever I go, is the hotel must be beautiful. So we researched and without even meaning to we booked such an artsy hotel - The Whitbey Hotel. I loved the look of it in the photos and the reviews were marvelous but when we got there there was SO much art all over! The hotel had each room decorated in a slightly different variation with fun wallpapers and tufted walls. We admired the custom double frames on some of the artworks and the interior design details. We hit the road and walked and stepped into a gallery off of fifth avenue and 57th street called The Cavalier Gallery and saw the most fascinating elephant made out of bullets by Frederico Uribe. It had this elegant feel to it and completely not grungy, even with its material. Absolutely incredible. We then headed towards the Guggenheim Museum. On the way we popped into the Met but it was about to close to we basically walked up those flights up stairs and then some more stairs and made our way back down. There was some amazing street dancers right outside and we stopped to catch their act and then continued on our walk. It was a pleasant walk, up fifth ave along central park. The Guggenheim is great. It's constructed in a circle architecture so it's easy to see the entire museum fairly quickly. I always like to start from the top and work my way down. I like to go to museums to refresh my eye, gain inspiration, learn some history and broaden my perspective. Right when we go to the top floor, I saw it. Or I didn't see it. I'll explain - I have poor far sighted vision, and while it's not significant enough to wear glasses full time, I can sometimes miss things that are far away. So when we got out of the elevator, I saw what I wanted to see. A black image with velvet on it, all over. I thought that was fantastic and wanted to incorporate it into my works somehow. When I got closer, I saw holes inside the black which I mistaken-ed for velvet. The rest was down from there, we strolled our way downwards, checked the gift shop and were out. Day two we decided to walk downtown to the lower east side and check out the Tenement Museum. The walk was long but fun. We stopped in random shops on the way and got to really learn the city streets. The museum was moving and very interesting to gain insight as to how those early New Yorkers lived. There wasn't that much art there but defiantly a place to check out. We then continued walking a bit north to the Soho neighborhood. We hopped into a gallery and asked them how to get to Soho. They told us we were in Soho:) There was art on the walls and a table in middle with silver handcrafted jewelry. I loved two of the bangles and love supporting artists and purchased two of them. We walked around a bit more and then headed for dinner. Day Three was the Whitney. I did't realize before going but I was museum d out! We started on the top and made our way down very quickly. My favorite painting was on the top floor with the very large abstract pieces. I actually forgot the artist but I have the picture so I'll show it to you, if I can post it here! We then went across the street to a fabulous gallery with works by artist: Nick Georgiou, who works with books. Yes, real books. He collects old books, paints the edges and uses them to construct his paintings. You have to see it to take it all in. It's so worth it. Then we walked up 10th ave and started making our way to the famed Chelsea galleries. The galleries started on 19th street and went all the way up to 28th. There were too many to name here, but it's a great place to explore. We went on a Thursday afternoon since they all open late on Thursdays. The inspiration was endless. I walked out of each door feeling like I had to make a quick sketch of what was on my mind or I would loose it. I didn't bring a sketch nook with me so the next best thing was my iPhone notes. It is currently exploding with ideas! I will literally stop typing right about...now so that I can get to work! Hope you enjoyed our Artsy tour. I encourage you to explore too. Whether you're an artist or art lover, there is so much endless inspiration out there and a beautiful aliveness that comes out of viewing some good ol art!