Turning a House into a Canvas: Discovering Art in Everyday Spaces

I meet Mati Dushinsky in the middle of her painting process. In her world, there’s no other way; she sits comfortably in front of a stretched canvas, brush in hand, her palette perched on the kitchen table beside her.

Why in the kitchen, I wonder aloud. She laughs, “Yes, I paint everywhere. My home is my studio. I don’t have a designated place for painting or even a workroom. I paint on the floor, the kitchen counter, and the table. Honestly? Among the pots and spices, my most beautiful works come to life, especially on Friday mornings while cooking for Shabbat. It does have its downsides; just yesterday, I noticed a paint stain on my husband’s suit that wouldn’t wash out... but that’s the reality of having your entire house as your art studio.”

And how do your kids feel about all this?

“My paintings are a family experience. The kids have learned not to touch my works and watch the progress with sweet involvement. They constantly beg to paint too. My seven-year-old knows exactly which paints I use and won’t settle for anything less than quality paint. Honestly, her work is top-notch, so sometimes I let her use my paints and delight in the results.”

A painted plate and recycling artwork

What about other times?

“Well, I often had to refuse. I really didn’t like them messing with my paintings, mixing my colors, or touching my materials. But I regretted not being able to let them freely create and practice. Then two years ago, I suddenly had this idea to dedicate an entire wall for the kids’ art. A wall in the living room where they can draw and scribble to their heart’s content without paper or floor constraints. I give them acrylic or gouache paints set aside just for them, dress them in ‘work clothes,’ or wrap them in an apron I fashioned by making a hole for the head and two for the arms from a large trash bag. And there it is, a big, comfy apron covering them completely.

“It’s unbelievable how much they love that wall. They write messages to each other, draw love-filled images, add symbols and illustrations inspired by their imagination, and savor every creative moment. The graffiti wall has become our family therapy. Today, the wall is packed, and anyone wanting to add something simply paints over an existing piece. There are layers upon layers of creation, and I won’t repaint it - it’s the kids’ studio and a wall of joy for me. It’s moving to see that my painting doesn’t fit within studio walls, and my whole family shares in the artistic journey.”

The Business of School

“Let me tell you something else,” she adds with a conspiratorial smile. “Ironically, it was from the kitchen that my big art breakthrough came. From bottles, spices, oil, and sugar.”

What do you mean? How do spices and sugar relate to art?

“Well, I’ll go back a bit. I didn’t always have a gallery selling my paintings. For years, I never dreamed of making a living from art. I simply painted for joy whenever I had a free moment. As a sensitive child, I didn’t quite fit in with school demands and escaped to my beloved painting, spending hours drawing and painting. In any class where the teachers allowed us to ‘keep busy,’ they’d gain the peace and quiet of me sitting in the back row, cutting, coloring, sticking, and creating nonstop. School and exams were a frustrating, exhausting burden, and only art and crafts classes were my solace. These creative, fun classes brought much satisfaction and enjoyment. My friends noticed my impressive work and started asking for help with embroidery, gluing, or knitting. Even then, I had a knack for business, trading favors like ‘You do my history project or algebra homework, and I’ll embroider your pillow...’”

The Western Wall

Art from a Different Angle

As she grew older, Dushinsky never stopped creating and painting. Art became a part of her, even without planning to be a painter, let alone an artist. For her livelihood, she worked as a shoe store saleswoman after getting married and left her paintings for afternoons and nights. After a while, Mati left the shoe store and became a full-time homemaker. Her blessed children kept her busy, and she continued to paint in between, as she loved.

Painting always provided her a private channel to express her emotions, and the canvas and paper bore everything. Mati recalls that when a fire broke out in their home and consumed all their belongings, she painted the flames and released her grief through oil colors. When she wanted to learn a ballet class but couldn’t find the right group, she painted enormous ballet slippers to quell her disappointment. On the other hand, upon coming back from a visit to the Western Wall, overflowing with emotion, her feelings spilled onto the canvas, becoming a magnificent painting.

Shoes donated after fire damage

Dushinsky’s creative talent continued finding original paths, as she recalls: “Years ago in the month of Elul, I ran out of watercolor Canson paper. As I was about to throw away the empty outer block packaging, I suddenly felt like painting on the cardboard. I’m very practical, and it's unusual for me to keep unnecessary things, but then, in the spirit of the month of mercy and closeness to the Creator, I simply took some modeling paste, spread it on the cardboard, molded, cried, painted, prayed, and colored, resulting in a painting that moves me every time I see it: The King in the Field. Essentially, every painting session is quality time for reflection, self-listening, and many private conversations with Hashem. I remember past days and offer deep gratitude to Hashem for the gift of painting, continuously pouring my heart to Him.”

“I also have a series I love, all revolving around one theme: Jerusalem, the holy city. While there are thousands of Jerusalem paintings, I feel my Jerusalem paintings are distinctly personal and different. They present Jerusalem in a personal and unique way, bursting with authentic essence etched deep in my heart since childhood. As a former Jerusalemite, I endlessly miss the ancient walls, the narrow alleys, the tall stairs, the crisp air, and even the cats casually strolling over the Jerusalem stones as if the city's theirs. All these I’ve captured on canvases in the Jerusalem series from a different angle, and I’m deeply connected to these images. By the way, cats are a secret motif in many paintings. I feel they add a lively twist and smile, and I enjoy incorporating them in various creations.”

Jerusalem

Wine Bottles in the Gallery

Years went by, and Mati kept painting and advancing, becoming a high-level multidisciplinary artist. Yet her works remained unseen by the public eye, hidden within the walls of her home and among friends and relatives.

Did you ever think of selling your paintings?

“For years, the thought didn’t even cross my mind,” Dushinsky shares. “Painting was my personal gift from Hashem, a hobby for expression and release, nothing more. But in recent years, more and more friends told me there was a demand for artistic paintings, and I might earn from it, so I decided to give it a try. I researched how to sell paintings and contacted various gallery owners, but for some reason, they weren’t interested in my paintings. I was very disappointed, feeling a failure again, echoing those gloomy school days. I tried offering my works repeatedly until, at one gallery, they finally agreed to display them. But then COVID-19 struck. According to guidelines, exhibitions couldn’t be held, and galleries stayed closed to visitors. The gallery owners told me to come pick up my artworks. It felt like every door was closing on me and my creations, and I regretted the moment I thought of turning my precious hobby into a commercial venture. These pitiful attempts only discouraged me further.”

And how did everything turn around...?

“Everything started two and a half years ago when my fourth child was born, mazal tov! A second son, following two daughters and another son. Returning home from the brit, I faced a dilemma: Our family follows a well-known custom – to open a new wine bottle for the brit, drink l'chaim, and keep the opened bottle for the child’s bar mitzvah. Then, we continue storing it for his wedding, please Hashem. It’s a tradition signaling hope and faith in Hashem, expressing our anticipation for the upcoming joyful events in the newborn’s life.

I found myself standing in the kitchen, holding the open bottle, wondering: How will I distinguish between this bottle for the baby and the one of his older brother? How will I remember, after 13 years, which bottle belongs to whom? And, like I said, my paints are always on the kitchen counter. A palette of paints and brushes stands ready beside the sugar jar, salt shaker, and oil bottle. Looking at the bottle on the counter, I spontaneously decided to take some paints and write the baby’s name: 'Dubeleh.' And with the brush already in hand, I couldn’t resist doodling more… I stood at the counter, diving into a quick painting on the bottle. When I finished, I was delighted with the unique bottle and suddenly had this idea: Maybe I could sell painted bottles for brit ceremonies?”

I called my husband excitedly and shared the idea, but he remained indifferent: 'Who would buy a bottle for a brit? Who would spend money on a painted bottle? Pictures are beautiful and people pay for them, but bottles?!'

“For some reason, I insisted that my idea had potential and polished it with another spark of brilliance: 'Purim is coming, maybe people will want to buy painted bottles for Mishloach Manot?' My husband stayed skeptical but, as always, agreed to go along with my ‘crazy’ ideas. I asked him to buy me wine bottles. We were then in a tough economic position, amid the challenging COVID-19 period, shortly after I had collected my paintings from the gallery with not a single sale. He went out and bought two simple wine bottles for 15 shekels.

“I enthusiastically sat down to paint clowns on the labels. We placed a tiny ad in a newspaper, and within two days, both bottles sold, each for 145 shekels, giving us profit enough for a Purim feast and Mishloach Manot. The surprising success gave me immense satisfaction and hope. Right after Purim, we bought more wine bottles, and once again, I sat to paint on them. I painted various elements unrelated to Purim, inscribed different blessings, adorned them with color, and finally asked my friends to spread the word for my unique product, as I didn’t have a penny to spend on advertising. By Hashem’s grace, those bottles also sold at a remarkable pace, and we suddenly realized Hashem opened a new gate for us in a direction we never imagined.”

“Initially, I painted on the bottle labels, but soon I felt restricted by the small label space. I like freedom in painting. I moved outside the label lines and painted over the entire bottle but found the colors didn’t hold well or stand out on the dark, slick glass. Not acrylics, oils, gouache, or watercolors – no paint type achieved the result I dreamed of. I wanted the painting to take shape and come alive on the bottle, so I began experimenting by mixing paints. I mixed paint and raw materials from everything at hand, adding baking and cooking ingredients from my overflowing kitchen shelves, improving the mix daily. After a year of painting, mixing, coloring, and experimenting, I finally reached, with G-d’s help, the perfect secret recipe. Now I’m pleased that the colors hold on the bottles for years, but I keep trying to enhance them – it’s part of the thrill for me…

Mati shows me decorated bottles revealing symbols and famous logos, known buildings, authentic characters, and many fascinating backgrounds, drawings, and combinations. Jerusalem’s walls also peek at me from the bottles, as do cats yowling on the glass. Mati states the bottles have become her flagship product, and over time, she opened an online store selling the bottles. Along the way, her paintings were also put up for sale successfully alongside other unique artistic items she paints on, like stones, porcelain plates, live leaves, and even dried fruits. “The bottles are a special gift from Hashem, through which we found our livelihood. They taught me there’s no room for despair in this world, to the extent that even my paintings, which no gallery once wanted to show, are now displayed in my private store gallery and highly sought after. For me, it’s a visible miracle I thank for every day.”

Now that your paintings and painted bottles have become a means of income, do you still feel connected to your creations, or has art taken a back seat to commerce?

“Not at all. I may paint on commission, but I never stopped painting my dreams and feelings. In the mornings, I paint on order, but the nights are devoted to my private paintings. As the evening approaches, my fingers feel the urge to dance on the canvas. Interestingly, after releasing and painting to my heart’s content, I have no problem letting go and selling the painting. For me, the act of painting itself fills and satisfies me, allowing the painting to venture into the world and touch others. When my painting ‘speaks’ to people and they connect with it, I get excited. To me, art isn’t just another decorative item for the shelf. Art is a connection to the soul, an internal expression of the spirit and emotion, a connection that no sum in the world can measure.”

Mati’s gallery gained recognition in the art world, and two years ago, one of her works was chosen for an international exhibition in the State Comptroller’s Office. Other pieces were shown in a famous exhibition at the Binyanei HaUma. However, the fame and prestige haven’t swayed Mati: “I’ve had offers for TV interviews more than once, and I’ve always declined. The same goes for requests to switch to a non-kosher phone for wider audience reach; I’m not willing to give up my right to remain modest and preserved. I won’t trade my values for dubious fame, and no amount of money is worth more than my principles and connection to Hashem through art.”

Are your children part of the bottle creations too?

“Absolutely. Just last week, my two daughters pulled a Shabbat wine bottle and an olive oil glass bottle from the cabinet, asking me to paint on them. They peeled off the labels, pleading to join the creation. I couldn’t refuse and offered them my secret paint mix. They poured the colors into palettes, picked up brushes, and began painting on the bottles. It was a pleasure watching them immerse in painting and creation. When they finished, the younger one proudly said, ‘Right, mine is much prettier than yours?’ Her sister quickly hushed her, adding, ‘Yours are lovely too.’ I just smiled and explained that I wasn’t offended. On the contrary, I’m happy and want them to paint better than me and enhance my creations. I wish I’d known to paint like them as a child, because then I’d surely be more connected and successful today.”