THE NEGEV: Paintings by Abe Pinchuk
After returning home from a trip to Israel in 2005, my grandfather did a series of paintings of the Negev desert. This region in the southern part of Israel covers more than half of the country’s total land area. After a series of chance encounters, the Israeli government offered to give the series a permanent home, on display at the new Visitor’s Centre at the base of Masada in 2012. To commemorate this honor, my grandfather wanted to create a keepsake book that he could give to family and friends. He wrote some verses of poetry for each painting, and asked me to put the book together.
As backdrops for the poems, I chose photos from other family trips to Israel that would complement the painting. The inside front and back covers were done using Google Earth images of the Negev desert as a background, as was the map showing all the locations highlighted in the paintings. Hover over the thumbnails below to view the some sample page layouts. Click over to the Artist's website to view the entire collection of paintings.
I had to touch up a number of the paintings to bring them closer to the actual color, and fill in details that the photographer had cropped out. I also digitally composed the images on the front and back covers, adding in elements that weren't there in the live photo. My cousin Daniel helped prep the finished images for printing.