New Portrait, New Everything
Posted on July 24, 2010 8 Comments
Yesterday I watched a documentary about portrait painter Alice Neel, beautifully filmed by her grandson Andrew Neel. The moment I looked at the DVD cover, lent to me by my sister-in-law Jana, I felt a connection with her work: as if I’d done it, or I could do it, or I do it in my head all the time. It’s very hard to explain. Then, when I saw footage of Alice painting on the screen, my heart started pacing and I felt the excitement she felt. I have painted portraits before, but rarely from life and more rarely so with oils. I was immediately inspired, went out and bought a new set of everything, called up my muse and started this painting. Read More
Birds & Bees
Posted on July 22, 2010 8 Comments
We had quite a huge dust storm a few days ago. The next day I found this paper in one of my plants. Just a single sheet of paper, blown away from its book, among other windswept jetsam and flotsam. I picked it up and thought: hmm, I wonder what bit of knowledge/nonsense has been dropped into my bushes. I must say I did a few literary double-takes when my eyes started picking up the words on the page: plants, seeds, rain, semen, birth. Apparently this page is from a chapter or section comparing the planet Earth and its plants to a woman giving birth. Other passages include the sperm of man being compared to raindrops. Anyway I saw the whole thing as a sign somehow and stuck a pretty picture on it.
Two Little Watergirls
Posted on July 20, 2010 6 Comments
watergirl, yesterday and today, watercolor on paper, 10cm x 15cm
The Decosquad Again
Posted on July 17, 2010 19 Comments
decopatch frenzy
I don’t care what anyone says, I love decopatching. If I had my way I would decopatch anything and anyone. I was playing around ages ago and did this but never shared it with anyone but my closest and dearest. Cross the bridge for detailed photos. Read More
New Name Cards This Morning
Posted on July 12, 2010 4 Comments
I’m meeting someone today and I’m out of business cards so I made four this morning. Last time I made these was in February. It shows how picky I am about who I give them to. I think definitely I’m giving the person I will meet today one, because it’s a business meeting and she has no choice.
The Dot Catchers
Posted on July 11, 2010 2 Comments
the dot catchers, 2010, charcoal and acrylic on canvas, 50cm x 50cm
A dear, dear friend of mine (and one of my most favorite women in the world) called me the other day as I was doing my grocery shopping. She’d just seen my post Why it’s Important to Play and loved the whole potato thing. Over the phone-at the supermarket, I’m surprised how I managed to get everything I needed right-we brainstormed on how I could create a picture specially for her. So I thought: the most perfect thing was to make a potato picture with her two little girls in it. Thanks, M, that was fun!
Why it’s Important to Play
Posted on July 5, 2010 7 Comments
larvae, 2010, charcoal and acrylic on canvas, 40cm x 40cm
I was feeling very organic last weekend so decided to go out and buy some untreated canvas and play around a little. I also remembered that I had two or three potatoes once destined for a hearty mash, just sitting around in the fridge. Who knew that this would be their destination. I made three of these ‘pictures’.
Scroll down for the video, sit back and enjoy, preferably with a bag of no-name potato chips.
Cross the bridge for more pictures, taken by my dear friend Cooper. Thank you, Cooper! Read More
Sketchbook Twenty Ten Two.Three Pages
Posted on July 1, 2010 2 Comments
that's my skin on the left page. i know, gross
Crossword Sidelines
Posted on June 30, 2010 Leave a Comment
are we there yet?
I love crossword puzzles. You can leave me in a room with one for days on end and I won’t tire. Sometimes, however, my urge to draw is greater and I’ve never been one to suppress an urge. Read More
Thank You, Henry
Posted on June 27, 2010 Leave a Comment
you have made my ankles very happy
On a shopping spree in Beirut last week, my mom introduced me to Henry’s Handmade boutique. Inside, I met Henry, an accessory maker who works with leather, thread, coins and other fun trinkets. I regret not having my camera that day because in his tiny shop he had all sorts of relics from his childhood and these funky, colorful, spherical TV sets. Everywhere. But what I loved most were the details of how he conducted his business. Read More
A Little House in Hamra
Posted on June 25, 2010 3 Comments
this is so inspiring to me. i love the details of how an artist works. i look at everything: the picture peeping behind the sketch clipped onto the easel, the masking tape left over from her last painting, the drippings on the wall, and the painting itself, incomplete yet ethereally beautiful
A few days ago, I visited the Beirut-based artist Tamara Al-Samerraei in her studio, which she shares with artist Najah Taher. It’s situated in a culture-rich area of Hamra off the Beiruti high street. When I got there, I heard live music playing in a nearby street and Olivia Newton-John’s Let’s Get Physical blaring from the insides of a tall building. Tamara’s place, however, felt like an oasis in the hodge-podge bustle around me. The Ottoman-era building which houses the two artists’ studios/office would have seemed out of place on this street if it weren’t for the trees around it serving as a gentle buffer between new and old, modern and beautiful.
As soon as I walked in, I devoured the place with my camera. Cross the bridge for more photos of Tamara and Najah’s little eden.
Dar Al-Funoon Summer Exhibition 2010
Posted on June 23, 2010 7 Comments
I am proud to say that Fairuz is now hanging at the Dar Al-Funoon Gallery as part of its annual summer exhibit. The gallery, situated in the Behbehani Villas in Sharq (see map), is open twice a day every day except for Friday and Saturday. Times: 10am-1pm/4pm-7pm
Thanks to photographer Khaled Al-Saleh for the photos.
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