Working Around Sickness

 

You learn to juggle when you work full time at one job, and then go home and work on art pieces full time. Weekends become work days where you spend 11 hours a day trying to catch up on all things that have deadlines, and I can honestly say as tired and sick as I am, I am enjoying every minute of it. My body, on the other hand, crashed. That is alright, spent all day in bed, trying to get better, and then woke up and worked some more. Things happen and you learn how to move around them to get other things done as well. Im working on commissioned bowls, bowls for an event at the American Embassy, and bowls for Holy Land Design’s store, where I purchase the wood and I am proud to say they sold out of all my pieces.  I’m also in the process of working on collaborating with another wonderful store here in Amman, that truly is an inspiration.

With all this going on, you start to learn what is important and what isn’t. I am definitely spending less time wasting my hours on Facebook, yet still trying to keep my art page up to date for all you wonderful followers out there. I am hoping on taking a week off work where I can sit down and work on art pieces for the upcoming exhibit as well. You get to the point where the only thing that keeps you sane is all the to do lists you keep creating and the satisfaction of crossing things off it, yet I still feel like I haven’t quite accomplished enough. I know, I am a tad obsessive.

Here are the prepped bowls from last Friday. I have almost completed most of them, and will be sharing them in another post soon! Through all this craziness, I try my hardest to remember to update my blog. It is the least thing I can do for my followers!

 

BeAmman

 

I had the privilege of being written about in BeAmman, a website dedicated to highlighting the best of Amman for local Jordanians and visitors. They offer insights on the best restaurants, activities and cool places to visit while roaming the streets of Amman. It was pretty humbling to see the reaction I received from the article. People seem to love my work! That’s not to say I don’t love what I do, I do, very much so. If I could simply work on art for the rest of my life I would be one happy paint splattered girl! People seem to want my wooden bowls as gifts for loved ones, or to put in their own homes and that makes me so happy. So, I have been on a crazy mission of trying to complete orders, trying to work on paintings for the group exhibit, while trying to keep caught up at work, blogging and everything else. Who said busy isn’t a wild party? 🙂

To check out the article on BeAmman, click here.

 

 

Project Unbreakable

An art project can mean many things to me. If it communicates an idea, is emotional, interactive and visual then to me, it’s an art project. For these reasons I would have to say Project Unbreakable is not only a community, a support unit, but also an art project worldwide.

Reading the sentences, looking into peoples eyes as you see the pain, but also the strength and watching the video makes you heartbroken, but it also makes you proud of how people refuse to be broken and how strong they truly are. I want to hug each of the people and tell them thank you. Thank you for being our strength, and hope.

You are all our rocks.

Raw

I’m not quite sure I know how to explain this piece. It may simply be too personal.

“Raw”, in more ways then one. Acrylic on canvas.

What do you feel and see when you look at it?

Vaginas – The Taboo Subject

Vaginas. A powerful word in all cultures, where people take offense, women feel empowered, and others cringe at the mere thought of them. It truly surprises me how an organ can have so much power over so many people. Coming from an Arab country there is a lot of phobia and conservatism towards females in general. Where honor killings happen everyday and where you are treated differently depending on wether you are lucky enough to be born with a vagina or not. Where women seem to deal with so much and get so little in return. Watching so many women in my life have this inner strength, dealing with situations that seem impossible and being able not only to get through them, but come out of them shinning.

Maybe this is what I am trying to study. The strength of women. One thing all women have in common that men don’t, that puts us in a category of being the lesser sex, the weaker sex, and the sex that should obey is our vagina. So much controversy comes from that simple word that I feel like I need to show not only its beauty, but its truth. The truth behind dealing with the sexism, the oppression, and the strength of all.

I’m not quite sure where this is going, and honestly if it will go anywhere. I have so many different ideas to deal with this, yet nothing seems right just yet. I’m not looking to be tacky, or vulgar, on the contrary, I want to be able to make women around the world proud. Proud of not only being a women, but for being who they each are individually. I want to make a man look at my pieces and be proud to know that they came into the world from one of them. To look at his mother, sister, wife, colleagues, and strangers and respect, love, and cherish every one of them knowing that they are his equal. Not better, and definitely not worse than a man.

This is a start to the study. A sketch I created a few months ago that I tried to bring in the beauty and complexity of women. I’m not sure of it’s obviousness, but I must say it is a start. What do you guys think?

A Pencil Affair

I’ve been trying my hardest to work with pencil lately. I have some incredibly talented friends who love working in pencil, and seeing their work simply inspires me to push myself in areas that seem so intimidating to me. I am confident with colors. I know how to work with them, hot to blend them together, and how to express myself through them. I can create texture, and build up thickness. Give me a pencil, and I find myself lost. I don’t know how to even start, and I become frustrated. I have been trying my hardest to bringing in pencil into my work, for the mere idea of challenging my fears. It has been quite a journey, one that is yet intimidating to me, but I have been progressing. 

I’m not sure why I call this piece “A Pencil Affair”, but it seemed to fit the situation I felt I was in. A sketchbook piece that I think I could expand into a larger piece when the time seems right. I’m proud to say no color in this piece! What do you guys think? Any ideas, comments or suggestions?

Sketches

A lot has been going on since last I blogged, but mostly just sketching things out in a sketchbook. I am so OCD about my sketchbooks that I have two different sketchbooks for different reasons. Completed pieces are in my large sketchbook, while simple pencil sketchs are in a smaller one. It is safe to say my smaller pencil sketchbook doesn’t have much in it because I love color, and I dont like simple sketches. Most of my sketches need to be complete.. Im weird that way! I wanted to share a few I’ve done these last few weeks, and hopefully will continue to do. Im in the process of working on one sketch but it’s taking me some time to finish. I really ant to start a new large piece, and so what I’ve mostly been doing is contemplating how to go about doing another one.

What is written on the piece with the eyes only is:

“They say your eyes are the windows to your soul, yet sometimes I wonder if maybe we say that to give ourselves this blind faith that we understand others & can read them. Whaf if the truth is the eyes you are looking at are simply reflections of yourself. What if the truth is the eyes you are looking into are simply reflections of yourself. What if who you are looking at simply reflects what you truly are? Maybe it explains all the pain, hurt & anger you see in them because that is what you are actually feeling buried deep inside that locked soul of yours. Maybe what you are searching for isnt in others… but in yourself.”

Eternal Movement

There truly is no better feeling then finishing an art piece after obsessing over it for a month! You guys have seen bits and pieces of it while I’ve worked on it, from posting about it here, to posting pictures on my Facebook fan page , but its finally done and am I so happy it is! I decided to name it “Eternal Movement” for the subtle way it seems to move across the piece, as if its never ending… A sort of reminder how life and time continues to move along with, or without you. The art piece is 1 meter long, which is 39.5″ X 24.5″.  What do you guys think? I will need to take some more photos for you guys with natural light to see the background a bit better, but I was simply too excited not to share now! =)

In the Deep

I’ve been meaning to blog about this piece for weeks now, not sure why I haven’t. I sort of get obsessed with pieces when I start working and nothing can shake me off them, until I get into one of my ruts, and stop so completely that I can’t seem to be able to even look at them. It isn’t a love-hate sort of relationship, but it sure can be difficult some times when I’m dealing with something.

For once in a very long time I was seriously terrified to start this piece. I couldn’t figure out how to start, and what to start. I wrote a previous blog about it titled “Painting Again” and it really did do me in. The large piece intimidated me beyond words. What if it came out awful? What if I had to paint over it? What if I disappointed myself, or even worse, others? Silly right? I write so much about just jumping in and painting, that for once, I was terrified to do so. I am so used to working on my design work, that simply, purely painting has been left to the side.

I forgot how freeing it was. I’m the type of person who seems to crave this feeling of being free, that I seemed to have locked myself into some sort of cage of safety. The idea of just going wild with colors, brush strokes, and seeing what comes out of it not only frightened me, but exhausted me. I didn’t even realize how much I missed that way of creating until I worked on this piece. I literally felt high for days afterwards. It not only was freeing, but it was emotional for me. To simply let loose and not worry about the outcome, but to simple enjoy the process.

I named the piece “In the Deep” because I felt I truly reached within me to a place I had forgotten existed. This piece not only describes myself but my soul. It describes everything I love about art, and everything I hold dear. A 100″X70″ acrylic painting that reminds me it is okay to simply be even if everyone else doesn’t understand it. I am hoping to create more pieces like this and to simply be happy.

Painting Again

I started out as a painter, well, actually a doodler, but does that really count? My first love has always been painting, the feel and smell of it, the way it could change with one brush stroke, one feeling, a mix of a color. I have been so busy creating design based art pieces, that I haven’t had a chance to simply purely paint, and man  have I missed it.

Paint and I have had a love affair since I was a child. I remember when I was home alone secretly taking out newspapers, laying them on the ground, getting out the paints and painting for hours, then putting it all away so not to get into trouble for messing up the house. Sneaky of me, I know! I love to live dangerously! Getting back into painting for the reason of simply mixing colors together and seeing where my emotions lead me has been a process. I’ve been staring at this large canvas for days now, contemplating what to do with it. The canvas is 100″x70″ and yes, I have done design pieces that large, but I have not painted on one in a very long time. Walking around aimlessly, searching online for inspiration, and complaining on my Facebook and getting some rather very interesting ideas on how to break through and just paint, I decided to simply start.

I mixed paints, jammed to Santana, and started to paint. For the first time in a very long time, I was truly happy. So happy, that I have been smiling like an idiot for most of the day. I found my long lost love and I honestly do not want to give it up.

Here is part of what I have worked on, and I must tell you, the piece is unfinished and as of now, is completely filled (there is no more white space). I’m allowing it to dry some and will hopefully work on it this weekend. While letting this one dry, I have started yet another designed art piece that is about the same size as the canvas. Im looking forward to seeing where it leads me as well!

I am hoping some good things are flowing out of me creatively, let me know what you think!