Teddy (Once Known as the Lovelock)
Posted on January 23, 2010 Leave a Comment
look who decided to show up
these things happen sometimes
Um Kulthum & Me
Posted on January 23, 2010 Leave a Comment
enter the oil pastels
In every painting I do, there is a process of conception, initial implementation (or preliminary sketch), destruction, reconstruction, destruction (this particular cycle is unpredictable. Factors may include my emotions, events which may influence the progress of the painting, or just having a really good day and somehow clicking with my painting). Many times, the ‘completion’ of the painting catches me by surprise either in the destruction or reconstruction stage. Somehow, the work decides to complete itself. I know it sounds cuckoo but it does happen. Read More
i saw a face
Posted on January 20, 2010 Leave a Comment
the one nature drew. i love the color of the wall.
the manmade version. nature is a far superior artist
This is so, so, so bizarre. I took this photo on my Miti & Me outing. I loved the design on this decaying wall. When I saw the photo, I saw the face of a man. I then decided to draw my version of what nature had already created before me. Now this is the bizarre bit: as I was sketching, the song Baby Jesus by Regina Spektor started playing on my iTunes. It’s just too much, don’t you think?
Miti & Me
Posted on January 19, 2010 5 Comments
On January 6 (David Bowie’s birthday), my friend Miti and I embarked on a tour of downtown Kuwait and Sabhan. We started out with a highly ambitious plan to visit the Behbehani Complex (check), the Grand Mosque (we drove by and waved), Mubarakia (check), Kuwait’s Museum of Modern Art (skip) and The Sultan Gallery for Deema Al-Ghunaim’s show (check). We also ended up having a leisurely coffee (accompanied by a leisurely breakfast) at one of my favorite restaurants: Casper & Gambini’s.
We took loads of photographs. Unfortunately we were out at a very sunny time of day and my photos (because i’m not a photographer-excuses, excuses) turned out overexposed. Read More
New Sketchbook 2010 Pages 21-24
Posted on January 19, 2010 Leave a Comment
page 21. unfelt pregnancy, painless birth
A New Painting: Lovelock
Posted on January 19, 2010 Leave a Comment
and the story carries on
The lovers/friends/sisters have been joined by a third woman standing in the foreground. What is she doing there? I don’t know yet. Read More
Um Kulthum
Posted on January 19, 2010 1 Comment
i'm in love with it, but it isn't over until she sings
I FINALLY started this painting. It’s been a long time coming now. I listened to some her music, watched some videos on youtube and printed some photos. I avoided the sunglasses because of two reasons: the first is that it’s been overdone and somehow the glasses came to represent her more than her voice. Secondly is: I’m a bit of a masochist. I think that I can accomplish it without the iconic glasses because I have faith in myself (crossing my fingers, mashallah mashallah mashallah and hope to die [rather, NOT to die]) and I like to give myself a bit of a challenge. Mind you the hanky is still there. My eleven year old son recognized the sketch as Um Kulthum. My daughter thought it was Mama Fatma (my granny).
New Sketchbook 2010 Pages 15-20
Posted on January 19, 2010 Leave a Comment
page 15. just a little kneady
page 16. hide and go seek
Breakfast Madness
Posted on January 17, 2010 5 Comments
I was commissioned by The Early Bird‘s Bianca Simonian to create two to three drawings/pictures for her new Jabriya branch. This project really inspired me and I could have gone on and on with it. I was doubly inspired by a new batch of decopatch paper I got for my friends Bettina and Lubna’s bead shop, Lb o J’zazz. I just feel like I got some of my Mojo back. Thanks, girls!
I have posted scanned images of the drawings. I’m sorry to say that the paper, because it was doused in decopatch glue, appears more warped in the pictures than in real life. So please use your imagination’s eraser and rub those crinkles out! Read More
A New Painting
Posted on January 12, 2010 Leave a Comment
A few days ago I started a painting in oils. Oils proved to be more challenging than I remember, because I’m more accustomed to using acrylics. But I know I’ll adapt. I started this painting with the figure facing the viewer. Then I added another woman embracing the first. I rarely paint people interacting with one another but somehow this happened. And I have no idea what’s going to happen with the painting and if these two will be the only characters in my story. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Read More
Cultural Re-Expressions 101
Posted on January 11, 2010 1 Comment
sharbika, 2003, acrylic on canvas, 185x325 cm
I loved painting the qutras (headscarves) on these men. The main character in the white, summer dishdasha is a little like the eating boy. He’s in his own world, sitting on his throne atop a hill, oblivious to all. In fact, it’s funny because this man in all his arrogance was based on someone I know; and who is the father of the boy who inspired boy eating. Again, this painting has little bits here and there that are influenced by my childhood memories of seeing these singers on Kuwait TV. The guy with the glass eye, the tantric state of these men. The painting is very nostalgic and is as much about the ashtray and matchbox as it is about these singing men.
My only regret about this painting (and a few others in the same series) is not stretching it myself.
Added February 4th, 2010: I had an e-mail complaint today that by ‘criticizing’ my painting (re: last line), I have ‘lower[ed] the artistic and physical value of the painting’. In what way is it ‘criticizing’ when I am ruing the fact that I didn’t personally handle the stretching of the painting-which was, incidentally, stretched AFTER completion? It’s such a shame when people read sloppily through my words. I am EXTREMELY fanatic about not only what and how I deliver my thoughts, but about the specific words I use. I write thoughtfully and deliberately. So please use great thought and deliberation when reading what I write. I would appreciate it, and it would save me a lot of trouble and heartache.
Cultural Re-Expressions 101
Posted on January 11, 2010 1 Comment
boy eating, 2003, acrylic on canvas, 190x200 cm
In 2004, my brother Tareq and I collaborated on an exhibition of his conception and design which he used ‘Cultural Re-Expressions 101’ as a working title for. Soon, that title disappeared and it became ‘that show you did with your brother Tareq at the Life Shopping Center’. Basically, he had this idea to present a collection of paintings which depicted traditional Kuwaiti life through the eyes of a contemporary artist (me). It was very challenging for me because any time I work on something that is a ‘project’, I buckle up and I start churning up shit. So I had to be very careful not to be too literal and not to lose myself in the process. So for each painting, to keep myself sane and stay on the path which is truly Ghadah, I decided to ravel some kind of a storyline that related to me and my memories somehow. Another challenge was painting men. I can paint a man but I don’t enjoy it. It just goes against my natural flow of things.
New Sketchbook 2010 Page 12
Posted on January 8, 2010 Leave a Comment
page 12. she needs to lighten up
My New Sketchbook 2010 Pages 9-11
Posted on January 7, 2010 Leave a Comment
page nine. dictated by the sit
page ten. ghost
page eleven. complete, but disjointed
My New Sketchbook 2010 Pages 1-8
Posted on January 5, 2010 Leave a Comment
page one. the first sketch is always the hardest and not particularly the best
I bought myself a new sketchbook. The last time I purchased a sketchbook of this sort was probably five years ago. I ordered two online because I couldn’t find the hard covered ones here. This time, however, I bought an A5 size because of my scanner and I do plan to take it with me. I also plan to document every single page. New year, new, organized me. It won’t matter whether the sketch is fine or not, it’s going to be blogged. I also bought a new pen, a Rotring .25 Isograph. I’ve been using this pen since high school back in the late eighties. If they discontinue this pen, I will die. Read More
Family
Posted on December 15, 2009 2 Comments
This is a three panel painting I did in 2006. It was part of a collection of paintings I showed at Dar Al-Funoon Gallery that same year. I don’t remember the title or dimensions. I don’t even remember the title of that exhibition. Yes, I’m shit I know. This particular painting I love because it’s not just merely a portrait of a woman gazing out at the viewer. There’s more happening and I enjoyed working on the panoramic composition. Also, the fact that the bowl of apples is in the corner feels like it is being punished for being a bad, bad bowl. Lastly, there is a brother among these sisters. And despite being quite effeminate, reminds me of one of my brothers.
Portrait of a Dysfunctioning Family
Posted on December 11, 2009 5 Comments
Portrait of a Dysfunctioning Family, 2005, acrylic on canvas
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