good-bye august, hello september
Posted on September 1, 2011 1 Comment
Finishing my Ramadan drawing, which I named A Dozen & One Nights, left a nudging emptiness inside me. I needed some sort of a place to go to in order to lose myself again. So I started this picture last night and finished it today. Not the same. But I think it served as a necessary buffer between finishing the other and going on to the next.
Homes|Rana Al-Bahar
Posted on August 30, 2011 Leave a Comment
funky wave bench. i’m happy my painting sits above it
This is my painting, Thirty-Five Pages Front and Back from the Stories of Eves collection. It dwells in the home of my once-student/budding artist Rana Al-Bahar (who also does beautiful jewelry). In her e-mail she said, “Finally found the perfect spot in my living room. I see it every morning and night.”
It’s so awesome when I get these pictures out of the blue. It’s really cool when people deliver on promises to send me photos of my works in their new homes. Thank you, Rana, for starting my Eid off on this note.
ramadan drawing|the end
Posted on August 29, 2011 2 Comments
Eid’s got to come tomorrow now. I just spent the last three or four hours putting what I thought were the final touches to this drawing. Instead, it felt like I was creating a whole new drawing. I guess it’s a little like Ramadan itself. We go through it more or less patiently. And then the last couple of days drag on forever. Click here for the previous twelve days.
ramadan drawing|day before last?
Posted on August 28, 2011 2 Comments
eyes on the news. i love that many of the different lines in these drawings remind me of stories; what I was watching at the time or a conversation I was having with a friend. because usually i'm occupying my mind with something other than the drawing itself
I’ve upped my speed with this drawing. I hadn’t realized how near we are to the end of ramadan and I’m kinda panicking. I’m going to miss it once I’m done. Which should be tomorrow. Please click here for a step by step slideshow of this drawing.
this is the perfect set-up. my daughter was on the couch next to me, the birds outside having their dinner and the things i like within reach. the perfect makeshift workstation
studio redo {phase two} putting things back together again
Posted on August 28, 2011 5 Comments
before: awfully cluttered and dirty wall
after: studio orange or or o-wrong?
Well, this is as much as I can do with it for the time-being. My advisor Yasmine’s at work today, so we decided that, because our goal has expanded to re-doing the whole area, including the living room and desk area, we’d wait for the weekend to proceed. One step at a time, and of course I’ll keep you posted.
studio redo {phase one} painting a wall
Posted on August 27, 2011 2 Comments
i know this doesn't look like a grand mess, but it's a little too cluttered for my liking. and i do regret getting paint splattered on the walls
Today I started an ambitious project to get this section of my studio/home clutter-free. Because my workplace is more a home where I work than a studio I live in, I don’t like looking at this wall. So I solicited my sister Yasmine, who works at IKEA and has a good eye for interior detail. Oh, and she also happens to have a university degree in Interior Design. So the first thing on our ‘to do’ list was to paint the wall. I got her to do all the dirty bits while I splish-sploshed the wall in Thai Gold. What are little sisters for? Read More
ruby & her three yellow roses
Posted on August 21, 2011 Leave a Comment
ruby & her three yellow roses
I originally posted this picture last February, before I acquired my new scanner. So this is it scanned. I’m not sure which is more true to the actual picture. I’m still playing around with the scanner and hopefully with time, I can better control image accuracy.
Ballerina Pink at Gallery Tilal
Posted on August 21, 2011 Leave a Comment
there she is. she keeps good company with gallery curator salwa alqadi and some works by syrian artist sabhan adam
I visited Gallery Tilal this morning to check on my painting Ballerina Pink, which is there for a prospective buyer. I must say, this is one of my most camouflage-ic paintings. It blends in anywhere it’s placed. At least I think it does.
Gallery Tilal Summer Exhibit
Posted on August 21, 2011 2 Comments
my eve shredding the note on the right and a painting by aya khair. i'm kicking myself for not getting the name of the sculptor so if anyone can help i'd appreciate it
I can’t believe these paintings have been up all summer! I would have loved to have visited earlier. It’s nice to know that something was going on in this long season of draught. If anyone is interested, the exhibition will be up until the end of August, at Gallery Tilal. Read More
Notes & Doodles|PCC Meeting|August 20, 2011
Posted on August 20, 2011 Leave a Comment
the shortest pcc meeting ever
ramadan drawing|august 19
Posted on August 19, 2011 Leave a Comment
Click here for the layers underneath.
my new love
Posted on August 19, 2011 5 Comments
with my new scanner i can do this: when the need arises, i can scan a few of my smaller notebooks side by side
My A3 scanner finally arrived two days ago. I didn’t want to just segue from my smaller scanner (which still holds a special place in my heart) to this one without pomp and circumstance. I wanted to honor my new and humungous scanner with a post dedicated just to it. So here’s to you, Mustek. And lots more days like this. Read More
ramadan drawing|august 17
Posted on August 17, 2011 Leave a Comment
There’s no telling what happens next. I’m always excited to find out myself. There’s good news about my scanner. It’s out for delivery, so hopefully the images will be extra crispy next time I post the latest phase. To see this drawing as it unfolds, please click here.
ghost, chair & a haunted mouth
Posted on August 16, 2011 Leave a Comment
creek
Sometimes I like to illustrate my illustrations with photos because it’s fun and I like sharing. So cross the bridge to see what I’m talking about! Read More
ramadan drawing|august 14
Posted on August 14, 2011 2 Comments
so far, to get the images of my ramadan drawing onto the blog, i've been photographing them, not the most ideal method for getting the finest details online. i learned today that my A3 printer is in customs so i'm quite excited about that. it opens a whole new window for transporting my larger works onto the blog
I’m not a drama queen, but yesterday I almost lost this drawing forever. The day before, I had spent the night at my parents’ home. I had taken this drawing, which I slot in my sketchbook for protection, in case I felt like working on it. Yesterday morning I picked up the sketchbook and two bags from a shopping trip the previous night. I left pretty early so everyone was asleep except for my mom’s maid Sally. When I got to my car I realized that I didn’t have my keys. I had already shut the gate to the house, which you need a key to get in. So I did something stupid and left the bags and sketchbook outside. I pushed my way into the garden through the bushes (I didn’t want to be ringing my parents’ very obnoxious phone/intercom bell) and knocked the front door to be let in. Sally opened the door, I got my keys, picked up my shopping bags outside and left.
Last night I drove back to my parents’ for iftar (breaking fast) and saw my sketchbook on the kitchen table. I had looked for it at home because I wanted to work on the drawing and realized that I must have forgotten it at my parents’, no big deal. I totally forgot that I had actually carried it with me in the morning to take home! I was about to complain to my mom about why my sketchbook shouldn’t be in the kitchen when she told me the story of Sally finding the sketchbook outside and putting it with yesterday’s papers to be thrown away. Oh my God I would have died if that drawing were dumped in the trash, not that I’m a drama queen or anything.
To see this drawing up close and in the making, please click here.
new sketchbook by derwent|first three pages
Posted on August 13, 2011 Leave a Comment
page one
I did it again. I just can’t help it, it’s an illness. But I do tend to fill them up at the same rate I buy them. Read More
a mother and her daughter at the park
Posted on August 12, 2011 2 Comments
a mother & her daughter at the park, 2011, acrylic and newspaper on canvas, 75 x 100 cm
I started this painting on July 29th, worked on it a little last Sunday and happily finished with it this afternoon. If you’d like to see some of the previous layers of this painting, click here.
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