Personalized Birthday Gift, 30" x 17" — ©2010 Elaine Adler
This birthday gift is full of imagery that represents the mother and wife who was the recipient. Included in the illustrations are: the castanets, fan, and green scarf she uses when doing Flamenco dancing; images from the family's travels; and entwined Hebrew script for the names of family members. The poem is a rewritten personalized version of the Eshet Chayil proverb, written by her husband and grown children, which they now sing to her before Friday night dinners for Shabbat. I pulled out one line from the Eshet Chayil, Full of joy is her heart, for the bottom border. After the husband sent me photographs of images that might appeal to his wife, I was given free reign to play and be creative, allowing me to just have fun with it.