the girl who lost her head } a play in six acts
Posted on December 8, 2013 6 Comments
I find housework so tiresome and boring. Sometimes I stay focused but other times I find it difficult not to be distracted. Maybe it’s a good thing. I hope you enjoy my story. Read More
pop-up book resumes
Posted on December 5, 2013 7 Comments
instagram always manages to make things look a zillion times nicer. my goal this morning was to get the pop-up looking as good in real life as it does in this shot
Last October I was asked to work on a pop-up book. So I took on what I believed to be a challenge, not only because of the technical aspect of it but the subject matter itself: the migration of Palestinians to Kuwait in the early 50s, and its footprint on Kuwaiti society. I like to think of myself as an unrestricted artist, and here I was faced with a subject matter that I didn’t necessarily care to draw or paint, even though I’m a huge proponent of the Palestinian cause and was once married to a Palestinian man. My children are half-Palestinian. But I just don’t work like that. I tried to interview different Palestinians who had been here since that time (I even spoke to the first Palestinian born in Kuwait!), but that didn’t yield me the anecdotes that I wanted-whimsical, poignant, funny.
So a week ago, I was having lunch with my in-laws and I commented on how it had been really difficult to get some good stories. At the table, my sister-in-law Faten started telling me stories about her father, Ammo Mahmoud, and everything started to fall into place. From being befuddled and upset about the book for the prior few weeks, I finally knew exactly what I wanted to do. And this here is the beginning. Hopefully, if I get the OK on these first pages, everything else will be smooth sailing and I’ll be over the moon. I’m a little over the moon now. Read More
the astrid~ghadah exchange } three weeks to one day ago
Posted on December 2, 2013 Leave a Comment
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Astrid’s Instagram video:
zeri crafts notebook } cinched around the waist
Posted on November 30, 2013 Leave a Comment
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This and a little bit of vitamin C this morning. Read More
Ghadah said, “I just sketched three drawings about quotations marks.”
Posted on November 29, 2013 6 Comments
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I hate quotation marks. For years at school I struggled with the usage of these minute yet highly specific squiggles Do they come after or before a comma? Do I capitalize the word following one, or not? Where and when do I use a period? These tiny, little marks are so specific and rule-heavy I think we should do away with them altogether. That’s quite a serious statement coming from a grammarazzo like me. But they are and always have been a thorn in my grammatical side. Read More
notes & doodles } waiting on a daughter and a horse
Posted on November 26, 2013 Leave a Comment
i will be 44 soon. it’s a good thing because i prefer even numbers. the only odd numbers i like are single digits divisible by 3
slurp
I forgot to take a book with me to my daughter’s horse-back riding lesson last night. And I didn’t have internet coverage so that I could at least catch up with emails (Mada sucks). So I drew in my what-to-do notebook.
new painting on friday } the five others
Posted on November 25, 2013 Leave a Comment
the five others, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 100 x 150cm
friday night the sister paintings met
You can safely say that I spent last Friday painting like it was my last day on earth. My children had been home from school the previous week and I had the Palestinian Cultural Center exhibition set up the next day. For weeks I had been planning to paint a sister to this painting I did last October. And I know how I get when I feel an obligation to fill in a gap. I have to say I’m happy with the result. I feel a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Read More
the traveling tap four } current location } beirut, lebanon
Posted on November 22, 2013 3 Comments
this one was posted by my mom at my parents’ place up in the mountain in beirut
So this is what happens when there are multiple custodians of the tapestry. I get a deluge of very similar posts. However. Each and every one is special because I know how much work goes into taking one of these shots. So I’d like to thank one mother, two aunties, and two cousins for taking care of my girls this November. If anyone is interested in taking over the job of guardian, and would like to relieve my family of their duties, e-mail me on ghadah@kandari.org. Read More
david comes to town } day two
Posted on November 21, 2013 3 Comments
because he said ‘please’. i was gently coaxed by david to take a detour into the hamra shopping mall. i’d already been twice before but i figured he was the guest and i was the chauffeur/host/fixer. so i obliged
I know I’m posting these so belatedly, but I want them to be on my PGB record. And what better way to capture the Spirit of David than these photos taken around Kuwait. So this is how the day went: Al-Hamra Shopping Mall at 10 where David nearly got a heart attack upon approaching the Panerai store. I didn’t know about his soft spot for luxury until then. After an espresso (for him) at the store and a few poses with the Shop Attendant Kamran, we left to check out the rest of the mall. Then to Mubarakiya from 11:00-2:00 and finally back to the desert for more photos. By the end of Sunday I was exhausted and my feet were on the verge of disowning me. But what a rejuvenating, re-energizing and recharging two days they were. Thank you, Mr. Daud for taking this detour. It did me lots of good. Read More
notes & doodles } a.s.k. parent/teacher conferences
Posted on November 20, 2013 Leave a Comment
my notes get briefer the more i attend these conferences
looking for lost keys in the desert
Posted on November 19, 2013 1 Comment
day two of shooting in the desert was very different from day one: it was windy and cold, our eyes were tearing and our noses were running
Our original plan was to do one shoot with David, get that done with and explore Kuwait’s other treasures. We had so much fun on Saturday that we decided to come back. Also, we had some keys and sunglasses to find. We found the glasses but not the keys. It was very gusty this time round so we kept the whirling to a minimum and let the wind do all the work.
Listen to this lady to get you in the mood: Sia ‘Soon We’ll Be Found’
david comes to town } day one
Posted on November 19, 2013 Leave a Comment
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I really wish I wrote and posted this on the day itself. I just didn’t have the time to do it. What I document here is a mere fraction of what we did and a tiny memory taken from my newly acquired bank of good feeling and fun. Read More
a visit from a dear friend yields photographic fruit
Posted on November 18, 2013 7 Comments
ellipses
A dear friend of mine visited me this weekend. David Dobson. David is a professional photographer and amateur side-splitter. The last time I had seen David was in the Cairo American College auditorium where I bid him a warm good-bye. I really liked David in high school. He not only made everyone laugh but you always left him feeling better about yourself. I’m happy to say he hasn’t lost his touch. I had a blast with him this weekend. I wasn’t sure how I wanted to post about David’s visit, so I decided to do it this way: day one artsy fartsy photo shoot, day one journal and other photos. Day two artsy fartsy photo shoot, day two journal and other photos. So four posts. I have to warn you though that you may find some of these shots repetitive. Out of thousands of photos, it was so hard to narrow it down to a manageable ‘few’. These shots were taken in Mutla up north.
For more of David’s work, please click here: daviddobsonphoto2.com
Click to play: Fireproof by The National
the generalist and me
Posted on November 13, 2013 3 Comments
maybe i should make one more…
Richard Feynman is rolling in his grave right now. But I’ll get back to that later. My dear friend (and sister-in-law) Jana is attending a seminar in London this weekend. Known as The Generalist (and @JanarlySpeaking on social networking sites), she has been invited to attend a post-talk dinner with the speakers. We’re talking the likes of Richard Dawkins and Richard Fortey (damn, I wish I’d named one of my sons Richard). So J asked me to do some name cards for her. Now back to the original Richard: I used J’s favorite theory, Feynman’s Diagram, as a template for the cards. But I think I just may have killed it. It was like a game of Chinese Whispers, the diagram changing ever so slightly with each card. It was constantly: the squiggly line goes here, the ‘y’ here, the camel toe (yes camel toe) here…
But I hope J likes the cards. I really do. If you love all things to do with life and its scientific pleasures, you can visit Jana’s blog here: thegeneralist.me. Read More
notes & doodles } on the phone with two special friends
Posted on November 12, 2013 Leave a Comment
left: on the phone with her
right: on the phone with him
A short bit about the one on the left: My good friend Laura sent me a message asking me what I’d draw if someone asked me to illustrate ‘hormones’. I replied that I didn’t think there were a drawing demented enough to express my hormones. I called her later that day and we spoke for ages as usual. Of course I was doodling throughout, and when we hung up I instragrammed the drawing. She soon commented: Oh beautiful hormones :). I guess there is a drawing. So I added the caption.
prettygreenbullet 