The Coming Eid

Salams All /Peace

Well a new piece to add to my calligraphy circles collection. I thought I would try dual colours this time, red and blue seemed quite appropriate considering the US elections and all.
A few things are happening around my way - World class tennis which we paid 10 QR a ticket for(which is about $3) to watch a semi final game..quite a bargain I must say, something like that back in Australia would be costing me at least $100.

There is a beautiful new musuem opening here in Doha, Qatar...The Islamic Arts Museum. Unfortunately its grand opening is on the 1st of December and I think I will be back in Australia by then, oh well, I will have to see it when I get back.

Fleeting Creativity

Sometimes, I just don't know where the creativity goes... one day your sure its there and you live and breathe it, then the next morning its gone. Maybe its the lack of stability in my life at the moment. I have always needed to create a space in which to work before my work really flows, I wonder if its like that for most artists or if it can just come no matter where you are and how you are set up. Sometime I do think I am spoiled for thinking like that as there are many artists who do not have that luxury.
It has been a rather confusing and strange time in my life recently, I'm guessing my emotional and mental state has also put a halt to my creative juices flowing.
One way I try to get myself back into art mode is leafing through arts magazines, being inspired.
I did get to purchase my favorite Australian magazine whilst in Abu Dhabi airport the other day, Vogue Living, a perfect mix or art,design and architecture.
Another magazine I picked up not too long ago was Canvas (Art and culture from the Middle East and Arab World) October 2008 has an awesome cover! its a close up of an artwork of Hossein Zeneroudi.
and lastly one that may not dazzle you always but has its moments, Elle Decor.
Maybe in the next week I can be inspired to make something wonderful!
ciao

Busy Colors

Two weeks is a long time away, I just haven't got my act together in posting. I have been quite busy creating artwork and doing mother stuff with my little one. Still getting used to that even though he is one now!
I still do not have adsl, which makes life on the internet very slow. Good ol dial up alhamdulillah, at least I can function somewhat.
I pulled out some old stencil designs from awhile back and started water watercolor painting. I was quite pleasantly surprised to see the results. They are still rough samples maybe to turn into bigger pieces of art later on.
I would like to do more compilations of these "Hand of Fatima" designs. I chose it simply because of the shape although I know in Morocco and North African countries it is used as a talisman to ward off evil.
any comments?

Hiatus

I have been gone a long time - well blog time anyway. My husband went away so I had my son keeping me very busy along with being the last ten days or ramadan and Eid directly after that.
I have been doing more work..I made some more eid cards and I have taken some photos.
For Eid I did henna on one hand - even with a one year old running around also planning my sons 1st birthday so busy busy busy.
What do you think about the hennad hand?

More Crafty Supplies

I visited a friends house last night and she gave me a whole bunch of craft items that may prove useful in my art endeavors.
I have been working on one card but as I didn't plan it, it hasn't quite turned out the way I wanted. The pattern I used was not quite sturdy enough for a stencil design.
I am planning to make at least 5 Eid cards for friends and family, although Eid is only about a week away. Maybe I will keep it simple and do some small calligraphies on the front of the cards.
I am yet to finish my red calligraphy peice. As I am not an arabic speaker sometimes I need assistance on the spelling of certain words. 'Mubarak' was a word that stumped me until someone told me that I had to take off the suffix of the M and look under baraka in the dictionary! I really do need to brush up on my arabic. Intent on finishing the red peice tomorrow.
Peace.

New Pens

Oh the joy of walking into a stationary store, or section of a shop or a hardware store or art shop. Now most women would probably go dizzy at a sale in their favourite clothing store. I go dizzy when there is a sale at an art or hardware store! lol.
I had the chance to go out to the mall yesterday and I went straight to the stationary section of the shopping centre and perused for new pens and paper for my new circles.
I found a few different point sizes to the slanted calligraphy pens that I use for arabic calligraphy and I found some nice coloured paper.
When we moved into our apartment, I found something that looks like a giant lightbox. I can't wait to test it out! maybe I will do some cut outs or stencil art with the circles?
I did begin a new work in red but I am yet to complete it, maybe tomorrow I will post a pic of it.

The Circles Continue

So here is my second musing..this one I did in the wee hours of the morning whilst waiting for Fajr prayer to come in.
These musings started a very long time ago when I first started learning calligraphy in Morocco. My teacher had us do about 2-3 hours of just practice strokes and I would make them into pictures and patterns. I loved creating forms out of the letters.
Sometimes I would just let the strokes guide me and sometimes I would think of a word and let that guide me.
These new works will be the basis of some products for my website.

Enjoy.