Posted by Orly in Uncategorized.
High in the Sierra Madre Mountains in the state of Guanajuato waits the 400 year old colonial town of San Miguel de Allende. You will find rich traditions where old and contemporary converge to inspire with its abundant offering of art, culture and charm. San Miguel sits on a hillside, with inspiring vistas and glorious architecture. Declared by UNESCO as a world heritage site, San Miguel de Allende is a bustling colonial community with a welcoming climate and elevation of 6,300 ft. Visitors are greeted with blooming flowers, blue skies, cobblestone streets, colonial architecture, gourmet restaurants, inspiration for all your senses around every corner.
Our time together will be filled with meaningful friendship, day excursions into the heart of this beautiful country and the luxury of sharing an intimate sojourn creating under the inspirational wings of the visionary Orly Avineri.
“Practices of intimate visual-journaling and alternative book-making cultivate insight into the nature of the creative process and its multiple relations to emotional stories of loss and mend. Enriched by self trust and acceptance, images, photos, paper, paint, words, pen, line, thread, rust, and many unconventional tools and materials entwine to make expressive, complex and extremely personal books. It’s all about one’s willingness to reveal vulnerability and rawness for the sake of true creative freedom, newness, and a deep sense of interconnectedness to all. Experiencing honest and joyous journeys takes precedence over producing beautiful outcomes. Ultimately, this process is about depicting the fluidity of life, about effortlessly carrying one’s self from one place to another and about connecting to a larger world than our own.”
We arrive Nov. 10 and begin our time together with a traditional fiesta under the stars. This evening will set the tone for the many heart warming adventures we will share. We will draw inspiration from the heart and soul that are always waiting open armed in San Miguel de Allende. Life itself will be the underpinning for our creative journey. Together we will soak in all the colours, textures and traditions this city and her people have to offer. Bearing witness to the beauty of living in the lush present moment-our time together will flourish as life will in person; in the rich care and respect of each other.
Our home will be the beautiful Casa Carmen, only two short blocks from the Jardin, the heartbeat of San Miguel. We will be enjoying delicious cooked to order breakfasts and lunches served family style; our evenings will be free to adventure on our own or together. Orly will be leading us in 5 full days of visual journaling, with inspirational excursions intermixed.
I truly believe that the need to be witnessed by the self and by others is a human-core-need to be fulfilled by the act of creating. Therefore, a compelling part of my journey is the teaching of art making and visual journaling. As a young adult in Israel, I had studied Fine Arts in an artists’ village nestled at the foot of Mount Carmel overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, and later, in the Netherlands, Graphic Design at the University of Arts in the contemporary yet history-drenched city of Utrecht. Now living by the beach of Southern California with my family, I take in all the magnificence of the landscapes that shaped me and of the visual languages I have acquired along the way. I keep an online visual journal titled One Artist Journal that is derived from my actual physical journal pages. It is now available in a published book form, carrying the same title. After One Artist Journal came 14 Artist Journals, my second book, depicting the journaling worlds of 14 magnificent individuals. After 14 Artist Journals came my third, titled IN MY BONES: A Visual Journal, continuing where One Artist Journal left off. I am very passionate about finding meaning and connection through the process of visual journaling.
with all its inhabitants, living or dead.
your relatives aren’t only human.
your family also speaks to you in the crackling of the fire,
in the murmur of the running water,
in the breathing of the forest,
in the voices of the wind,
in the fury of the thunder,
in the rain that kisses you
and in the birdsong that greats your footsteps.
-eduardo galeano
we hope this will be your year to come away with us.
love,
orly and rebecca
please email rebecca at
recuerda_mi_corazon@yahoo.com
to join us.
Posted by Orly in Uncategorized.
1 PERSON 2017 Lap Journals – Info and order via my email orlyavineri@gmail.com
They are all SOLD OUT now.
Thank you all so much for your interest and purchases.
I believe we are trying way too hard to be artists and even harder to be seen as such. Let’s see how liberating and invigorating it can be to simply dance on our pages, move liberally…day by day.
I call them Lap Journals. They fit in the palm of my hand. I can take them with me wherever I go where I’ll be staying. I can do everything in them as I normally would in a visual journal like collage, painting, pen-work, drawing, writing, etc. but they offer me more mobility, intimacy, lightness, inclusivity of others, freedom, and other opportunities that my large journals may miss. That’s my experience, perhaps something for you to discern.
They start their journeys as beautifully crafted blank coptic stitched books made by my friends Jody and Elise. Then I bundled them with shreds of my nests, rusty bits, dried flower petals, and tea bags. Tied up with misc. twine, gauze and fabric strips they were soaked in rusty rain water for the night, then unbundled and sun dried. I made the covers with loose wall paper scraps I gathered last year from an 18 century abandoned hacienda in remote area in Guanajuato, Mexico, and added these quirky faces made of paper-mache holding down the remnants of the nest coming from the inside of the book. My 1 PERSON design was stamped on a piece of cloth and applied on top.
The result is a semi-blank book for you to work with. Semi-blank as it has beautiful landscapes that were marked inside by this process and there is also one ‘stolen’ spread I had fun working on with pen-work and a little written wish from me to you. It’s a collaboration. That’s what it is. You can forward the spirit of that collaboration and send it around for your friends to add a spread to your book.
You can make your own lap journal or buy one of mine. I only made 20. If you’d like to kick start or enliven your visual journaling practice in 2017 and you want one of these babies please let me know via email
orlyavineri@gmail.com and I’ll send you the info.
(ALL SOLD OUT)
Posted by Orly in Uncategorized.
I’ve been sitting in ‘this’ for far too long, allowing it to make me feel small and then smaller. It’s time for it to come out. It’s about a thought that our mindsets, behaviors, attitudes which perhaps many years ago would have been considered dishonest had now become ‘normal’, blatantly justified, and completely OKAY. Behaviors that unfortunately are no longer questioned in the present time.
What we once called plagiarism, we now freely call inspiration, not discerning between the two. Yes, harsh. For someone who keeps advocating the notion that silence is not an option, it is remarkable how silent I’ve become. I could have tolerated that silence a bit longer if I haven’t witnessed more of that coming from others over the exact same tender matter.
I’ve decided that what I see happening more and more is not right by me and is not right for any of us. Generally speaking it’s not okay for people who hurt others to go forth uninterrupted and for those who are hurt to go forth, hushed. Yes, we are most certainly here to promote ideas of reciprocal inspiration, interconnectedness, love, unity, and all that good stuff. Sometimes we keep quiet to not disturb these ideas, but by doing so we achieve the opposite. By doing so we achieve divisiveness, isolation, animosity, and painful distances between humans.
It is truly so incredibly beautiful that with the widespread use of the Internet and Social Media our personal worlds and our visual expressions have opened up so vastly. Abundance of ideas, approaches to the visual language, techniques, and materials are so readily available, easily accessible to all of us at any time, anywhere. These are phenomenal sources we can use for our personal AND our collective well being or we can also abuse in the expense of individuals’ well being.
With the surge of endless possibilities: physical workshops, art retreats, E-courses, instructional books, videos, etc., we have gradually grown to be almost solely dependent on outside stimulation, instant pleasure, and quick means for the advancement of our personal, creative, and business paths. We have forgotten to go IN, put in the time, blood, sweat, and tears, into our processes and practices. We fail to engage our own stories and recall our innate capabilities to grow from the inside out.
And with these attitudes our sense of entitlement has grown unabashed. Unintentionally and unnoticeably we have developed inconsiderate and insensitive behaviors that dismiss and ignore those who express the hurt of having to be prematurely innovative again, abandon a course of action, a very specific, complex creative direction they’ve been working on for a long time because someone else just grabbed it for themselves and is now fully adapting it to fulfill their own dire needs, whatever they me be.
It’s not okay at all to take what you learned, what was shared with you by one person, to not discern, not process, not involve other sources of inspiration, and use it as it is, call it your own, make what she makes, exhibit it, teach what she teaches, have it printed in magazines and books, make money off of it. I am not talking about singular techniques like image transfer, eco dyeing, techniques that have been used for decades if not centuries, or the use of materials like carbon paper or newer inventions like clear gesso and distressed inks.
I am talking about a series of processes and combinations of materials that make for a very specific, profound, and personal and unique expression that you can’t just take. These derive from one’s very own experiential pool. That pool is expansive, that river is long and tremendous, that source is visceral and deep rooted. It comes only from that one person and is not transferable or up for grabs. The hurt that comes from that happening is indescribable.
That hurt is real, so the dismissal of it just deepens the hurt. It makes you not want to create anything any more, cause what’s the point. It makes you not want to share anything, cause it’s just not safe. It makes you want to crawl back into that dark space where you once dwelled, long before you decided to end your screaming loneliness and open up your heart. It makes you silent, once again, wiping out all the work you’ve done to help yourself and others feel that we are here for each other.
It makes you want to make a swift irrational decision to give it all up. I am bringing it up today as another dear friend of mine expressed to me the sudden deep sadness and despair she felt when realizing that someone took her hard work and the originality of her spirit and her one of a kind soul and made it all their own in one fell swoop. I am realizing more and more that this is not only my problem. And I am breaking my long silence, not just for me, but for you too.
It is OUR problem! Keeping silent has severe consequences for me, for us, in our small community, and for all children, women and men in the world. Today more than ever. Silence was and is to blame for many injustices and occurrences since the beginning of time and every where. I am not going to be silent. I am not going to be blamed for causing division by merely expressing injustice, pointing out challenges we face, and pointing fingers to the ones who actually caused the division in the first place. I am not going to sweep even crumbs under the rug.
So please people, let’s not hurt each other. Let’s obtain many many sources of inspiration and use them as fragments of our visual language. But mostly let’s go inward, stay there most of the time, cause this is where the good stuff is, deep deep in the spaces occupied between the roots, reserved only for you. Rely on yourselves as ultimately you are the source of the greatest inspirations. Trust yourself, be gentle and be patient. Find peace within your body.
That peace can not be found in the noise outside your body. And if you are overwhelmed and have doubts about the use of sources outside of you, examine these, and listen to your findings. In the end, no one really intends to cause such harm on any one else. We mostly cause it to ourselves and to others when we deny, dismiss, ignore, and perpetuate. If someone actually expresses to you that you have hurt them this way, you are super lucky. You have the great opportunity of not having to guess. Respect, acknowledge, be loving.
Posted by Orly in Uncategorized.
ALTERNATIVE BOOK-MAKING
IN PERSON, that’s the only way I do it, want to do it, need to do it, am elated to do it. As someone who ignored and denied her own heart’s desires for way too long I now strive to do the things that are wholeheartedly aligned with these deepest desires, my quirky tendencies, and my independent spirit. Or as they cliché-ishly (I made up a word again) say, be true to myself.
And my true self wants to see you and be seen by you, hold your hands and your hands to hold mine, move you and be moved by you. I want to provide you with an environment that urges connection and expansion rather than exclusion and retreat. All with the greatest excuse of all, the creative process.
These are the things that rock my world, and hopefully rock yours too. More than ever, I see all this as something truly special that is deeply needed. So I hope you find ways to get together with others to converse, to journal, to paint, to make music, to sing, to cook, to dance. IN PERSON. And if it includes me, I’d be most grateful, as I perpetually am.
For more information about the individual workshops please contact the host or visit the link noted underneath the specific image below.
Please scroll down to find them!
A GIVEAWAY—One workshop at my place will go to one eager student. The workshops that are up for winning are the ones that say REDONDO BEACH, CA. There are 4 of them. To enter the drawing please leave a sweet comment here and mention the specific date you are interested in.
A winner will be randomly drawn on Tuesday, November 22, at noon Pacific Time.
I hope you’ll join me somewhere, someday in 2017
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For details please email me @ orlyavineri@gmail.com
SOLD OUT
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For details please email Lyn Bleiler @ lyn.bleiler@yahoo.com
SOLD OUT
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For details please email Annie Hooten @ hootenannie4@aol.com
SOLD OUT
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http://www.florabowley.com/winds-of-change-workshop/
SOLD OUT
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For details please email Marti Grace @ mga9999@gmail.com
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For details please email me @ orlyavineri@gmail.com
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http://www.erinfaithallen.com/ghostranch
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For details please email me @ orlyavineri@gmail.com
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For details please email me @ orlyavineri@gmail.com
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For details please email me @ orlyavineri@gmail.com
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For details and registration www.art-retreat.com
For additional questions email Ana Campos at NEartretreat@gmail.com
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For info email Rebecca Brooks
recuerda_mi_corazon@yahoo.com
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For details please email me @ orlyavineri@gmail.com
***
Posted by Orly in Uncategorized.
I haven’t posted here for a good few months, but this, this, calls for a post…
ART JOURNAL YOUR ARCHETYPES – Mixed Media Techniques for Finding Yourself is a new book by Gabrielle Javier-Cerulli. I just found two copies of the beautiful book in my mail box and I am ready to give one away to one of you visiting here and leaving me your words in the comment box.
“In this unique book, you will learn processes for discovering your core archetypes and using that knowledge to create highly personal visual expressions, all the while embracing the personal revelations and creative breakthroughs that result”. -Gabrielle
About two years ago along with a few others I was honored to be asked to contribute to her book. After a long conversation with Gabrielle exploring my archetypes, I was to create a couple of journal spreads deriving from that newly received information about myself. That new wisdom of an unknown world to me before opened my expression to new directions and the making and preparing of these pages became most meaningful and joyous to me. I made them about two years ago and I am happy to get them both into light. Here they are…
Nature Woman
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The Storyteller
***
In this book I write this about the archetypes that make me and the connection between journaling and these newly discovered archetypes:
“I make art in books. I notice that I consider my pages to be complete when at least one of my archetypes emerges from total anonymity to full visibility. Very often I find traces of all of them in one page. It makes complete sense to me now. The Visionary, Storyteller, Liberator, Creative, Warrior, Rebel, Pioneer, and Nature Woman in me all make appearances on my behalf when needed. In return I give them “voice” through my visual expression, and the connections that I allow myself to have with the world and all that binds us all.”
Thank you so much Gabrielle for introducing me to this fascinating new world and including me in it!
The book is available here!!
Please get yourself a copy or leave a comment here for a chance to win one. One lucky winner will be randomly picked and announced one week from today, on Tuesday, Oct. 18, at noon (PT).
Posted by Orly in Uncategorized.
The coming together of women to become visible and be heard, to tell and listen, tell their own stories and listen to the stories of others will be undoubtedly life altering, incredible. And what will be even more incredible is the creating of new stories. To be fully honest with you I am quite uneasy about speaking in front of so many of you as you would imagine but in the same time I am indescribably elated to be opening my world just a bit (or a lot) more to the opportunity to speak of my experience here on earth so far, I am almost ready.
This magnificent happening sweetly promises to be a rare and beautiful opening for each and every one of us to feel in our bones how interconnected we all truly are and to witness our respective and collective growth in pure motion. It excites me to no end to imagine that the messages of this groundbreaking symposium would be carried on to other people, other places, and other times, beyond our few days together.
Yes, it takes a brave girl to open, open, open with each and every opportunity given to her and keep on opening when all a girl wants to do most of the time is to stay in the safe cocoon she so meticulously built for herself throughout the years.
That girl is me too.
Please join me and many many others in this great brave celebration created for us by the two beautiful sisters Melody Ross and Kathy Wilkins.
“Imagine a woman who values the women in her life. A woman who sits in circles of women. Who is reminded of the truth about herself when she forgets.
Imagine yourself as this woman” –Patricia Lynn Reilly
Posted by Orly in Uncategorized.
In less than two weeks I will be driving up the coast of California by myself, a magical ritual. I am preparing for it with stops on the way (by the infamous Bubblegum covered walls and Antique Malls in both Paso Robles and San Luis Obispo), overnights by the Central coast. Till I get to the majestic Santa Cruz Mountains in the North where An Artful Journey art retreat is going to happen for the last time. I made these little book bundles to offer the women at my booth one of these nights at the beautiful Presentation Center tucked in the woods. They will be sold as they are and it will be up to the “new owners” to unbundle them and discover for themselves the boundless possibilities these tiny bound and bundled books hold. 
Posted by Orly in Uncategorized.
Hello dear sweet souls, January is almost gone and with the workshops “Passport To Journal” in Austin, TX and “Alterations” at home in Redondo Beach, CA, it was a most exuberant month. A fantastic beginning to what promises to be a prolific and altered year for all of us. I just feel it! And I wish it!!
I have created The Journaling Game last month and am so happy it was received so well and people are feeling inspired by them. I now have the card sets in stock and plan to make sure they will be in stock at all times.
More information about The Journaling Game and how to order is available
only by inquiring via
orlyavineri@gmail.com
Towards the end of February I will be taking a nice drive to the beautiful Santa Cruz Mountains in California to teach in one of my favorite retreats, An Artful Journey.
It is unfortunately the last one. I believe registration is still open.
I hope you’ll join me some where some time in 2016 !!
A Stand for Art Journaling
Posted by Orly in Uncategorized.
This weekend…waiting to alter and be altered. 
The practice of Visual Journaling cultivates insight into the nature of the creative process and its multiple meanings. Enriched by self trust and acceptance, paper, paint, words, pen, and line entwine to make expressive complex intimate books. It’s all about one’s willingness to reveal vulnerability and rawness for the sake of true creative freedom. Experiencing honest and joyous journeys takes precedence over producing beautiful outcomes. Ultimately, visual journaling is about depicting the fluidity of life, about effortlessly carrying one’s self from one place to another.
Another aspect of journaling that can not be denied is the constant element of change that occurs in the process; obvious, tangible, sensorial, and physical change of our pages with each and every choice we make and less obvious and tangible, more hidden, obscure, and mysterious, change that occurs when we allow honest and courageous expression to take place on our pages.
In order to assist us in that task we’ll be using an existing old book, one that has type, print, images, illustrations, and photographs that are calling to us. That would be a book of your own choice, one you are willing to honor, and yes, also to alter, to change. The many meanings of alteration; change, adjustment, adaptation, modification, will be explored in both tactile and metaphorical ways. When change is brought forth, healing almost always follows.
orlyavineri@gmail.com
Posted by Orly in Uncategorized.
…is back, and is available in the US, Canada, and outside of the US.
For inquiries and purchase please email me at:
orlyavineri@gmail.com
The (art) Journaling Game is a deck of 48 cards (3.5 x 3.5”) with art derived from my journals on one side and a prompt and a spark of inspiration on the other. It’s designed for the absolute beginner or the seasoned art-journaler, working solo or enjoying a group setting, with materials mostly found at home, in nature, and on the street.
Orly Avineri 
INTIMATE VISUAL-JOURNALING