TEL AVIV — On Wednesday morning, artist Doron Adorian was explaining the concept of her sun-drenched oil of purple thistles in a field of green grasses to a gathering of fellow artists.

The Rothschild Boulevard gallery was hosting Wonderwall, a weekend-long pop-up of young artists through Saturday, May 2, sponsored by home furnishings company Tollmans Dot, which was choosing three artists’ work to feature in its next collection.

Adorian is still adjusting to the realities of being an artist in Tel Aviv, although it’s been two and a half years since she and her parents left Kibbutz Sde Nechamia in the upper Galilee during the Hezbollah attacks following October 7, 2023.

What she hadn’t necessarily anticipated was the boost to her career from her new location in the country’s center, rather than the north, when she was always at a distance from Tel Aviv’s steady spin of arts and culture.

“In the north, we fought to get exhibits, and it was a totally different life,” said Adorian. “Here there’s constant art and culture and events, but somehow I burrow into myself more.”

Adorian’s canvases are layered and textured, showing the fields and grasses that grow around the kibbutz and behind her home. She focuses on thistles, the hardy, prickly plants from the daisy family, known for purple-pink flowers that turn yellow in the summer sun, and can be found throughout Israel.

The paintings of thistles and grasses strike a chord for many, from former US ambassador to Israel Jack Lew, who hung an Adorian painting in his Jerusalem home, to tourists and Israelis as well.

“People connect to these thistles,” said Adorian. “It doesn’t matter if they’re from the north or Tel Aviv, they just connect to it.”

In the first months after October 7, Adorian found herself turning away from her former work with pencil........

© The Times of Israel