Hello again!

Right. So I did fall off the face of the planet for a year-and-a-half there. My husband, daughter and I joyfully welcomed a boy to our family this past April. It has been an amazing experience and an incredible adjustment. And I have continued to note my inspirations for future paintings. But time and space literally became issues since I last posted to this blog.

I had high hopes of having another one-woman exhibition before my son was born. But work quickly fell to the bottom of my priority list as both my time and energy were quickly spent elsewhere.

Now that he is almost 9 months old, I am fully committed to re-creating studio space lost by the addition of the nursery. And I will make time for work in my life.

I do have one new piece in progress, which will also be revisited once the holidays are over, and our visiting family has returned home. I am looking forward to sharing more work once it has progressed far enough along to be worth sharing.

If anyone does read this, I hope you've had an amazing 2011. And wish you all the best for 2012.

Closed

This is a painting that I began in 2007, but completed in May, 2008. It was exhibited in May '08, and again at Duality this past May, 2010.

Closed
Acrylic and mixed media
on canvas, 24"x32", 2008

I do apologize that I haven't any photos of the piece as it progressed; as doing so has been recent practice. But as in most of my work, you can see many interesting layers of texture and depth pushed into the background.

My source of inspiration was yet another quote by Joseph Campbell from "The Power of Myth", where he writes, "Find a place (inside) where there is joy, and the joy will burn out the pain."

During the time that I began this painting, I was 5 or 6 months into my pregnancy. And for a short period before, and up until then, I honestly felt that I couldn't paint. I was trying to alleviate my anxiety by attempting to read every book I could find about pregnancy, motherhood, child-rearing...thinking that if I learned as much as I could biologically and psychologically about my child, everything would be okay. I mean, if one could simply stay a few chapters ahead in learning about different developmental stages, it would okay, right?

Needless to say, those were but some of the ideas and emotions fuelling the creation of this succulent, abstracted blossom. It does not appear to be a typical flower that may eventually bloom and open up; but rather one whose very petals and leaves themselves are soon to actually burst.

Summertime

The thermometers in both our vehicle and our home have occassionally read over 50°C. Summer is well underway in the desert here, and my husband, daughter and I are counting down the days until we can surround ourselves with some greenery and be reunited with some of our extended family.

Shortly after the exhibition, I admittedly avoided the studio for a week and a bit. I have, however, since visited the local art stores and invested in about eleven new canvasses - which I am very excited to get to!

In the meantime, here is a photo of an unfinished piece in progress. Longlifestory most definitely to follow.

still under construction...
acrylic & mixed media on canvas

Wanted: Inspiration

I've got three paintings currently in progress.

I've purchased two beautifully empty canvasses.

I've finally emptied the container I had filled with paints, brushes, and other supplies; for use during my temporary studio time at Yama Yoga. So, my studio is almost back to a working state. (Rather than a temporary dumping ground for all the exhibition-related things that I was too exhausted to address and organize after the end of the show.)

My baby has fully recovered from everything that ailed her over the one week I had to work outside the home. I've gotten over the slight cough I picked up at the end of my art show. And I've gotten caught up on all the important TV shows that I secretly and not-so-secretly enjoy.

Temperatures are soaring here in Doha as summer approaches. And the level of humidity has made it feel even hotter than it really is.

What better time to seek refuge in the air-conditioned studio and begin seeking inspiration for a new series?

Last Day of Duality & Grass Series: No. 5b - Hope Returns

Grass Series - No. 5b: Hope Returns(triptych)

acrylic & mixed meda on canvas, each panel 30"x20", 2010

This painting was originally inspired by this quote from the Indian poet, Arundhati Roy:

"Not only is another world possible, she is on her way.
On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing."

________________________________________

I very much enjoy working on triptych (3-part) paintings. I find it incredibly liberating to be able to not only rotate the canvas; but to also be able to swtich panels from left to right, top to bottom...and try to make it all fit together, while still making compositional sense at the end of the process.

This painting first debuted at the group exhibition in Education City in Doha, back in 2007; and was entitled, "Grass Series: No. 5 - Hope".

Although it may have seemed finished back then, there was something else that I wanted to do to the piece - but I just didn't know what it was yet.

So as I was completing Grass Series No. 6 (three years later), I put these back on the easels and got back to work.





Hope Returns - underlayer 1

Hope Returns - underlayer 2
I changed up the order of the panels...

Hope Returns - underlayer 3
...and started sketching in a blossom.

Hope Returns - underlayer 4

Hope Returns - underlayer 5
Then I wanted the flower to seem as if it's growing amongst wild grass.

Hope Returns - underlayer 6
So, I began to add more and more wild, free-form blades.

Hope Returns - underlayer 7
And then I felt that it was finally complete.

Grass Series - No. 5b: Hope Returns(triptych)

acrylic & mixed meda on canvas, each panel 30"x20", 2010

Days 5 & 6 of Duality: Grass Series - No. 6: Seagrass

Grass Series - No. 6: Seagrass (triptych)

acrylic & mixed meda on canvas, each panel 24"x48", 2010

This particular painting is the sixth in my Grass Series*. I had originally begun working on this piece during my pregnancy in 2008. And my inspiration was the simple fact that in any seahorse species, males are the ones who give birth. So, at 6-months into my pregnancy, this was the most amazing idea I had ever heard of!

Because I was in a nesting-phase, I entertained the thought of finishing this piece for the baby's nursery. But I only thought to take a photo after having already painted quite a few different layers on. So, this is the first underlayer that I can share:

Seagrass - underlayer photo 1

I am embarrassed that the photo actually includes a heinously doodled cartoon seahorse in the corner. But I had jokingly (albeit tentatively) entitled it, "I Wish I Were a Seahorse."

I then took a short hiatus from working in the studio, what with the arrival of our daughter in August of 2008. I wasn't able to fully return to work mentally or emotionally until September of 2009. And then this happened:

Seagrass - underlayer photo 2

I incorporated cliffs and and began experimenting with image transfers. As you can see, the work progressed quite a bit from that first photo. But if you examine the triptych carefully, you may be able to find the partially hidden objects: a female reproductive system, seahorses (of various sizes), a sleeping baby,a baby's foot cradled by her dad's hand; a male long jump athlete, and a female long jump athlete.

Seagrass - photos of seahorse details





Seagrass - long jump & glass bead texture detail

At this point, I began to look at the piece from a purely compositional perspective. I wanted to see what needed to be taken away, and decide on what I needed to focus on. This is where I then introduced stylized brown algae-like forms to begin obscuring some of the details, and to add more perspective to the piece:

Seagrass - underlayer photo 3

It wasn't long after that, that I decided to then use blocks of dark blue washes to play with darkness and focus on the light as it is filtered through the water.

Seagrass - underlayer photo 4

I'm not sure at which point I then realized that this piece was part of the Grass Series. But since seahorse habitats mainly consist of grasses, and because this painting has very much to do with Change as it pertains to childbirth and parenthood, it seemed inevitable.

Grass Series - No. 6: Seagrass (triptych)acrylic & mixed meda on canvas, each panel 24"x48", 2010

Grass Series - No. 6: Seagrass is part of the Duality exhibition at Yama Yoga Studios from May 27th to June 6th, 2010. For more details on timings and directions, please click here.

*Grass Series - please stay tuned for a future blog entry.

Day 4: Duality - Camel No.1: The Dreaming Camel

Camel No. 1 - The Dreaming Camel: acrylic on canvas, 40"x30", 2010

This painting is yet another piece in the camel series. There was no initial inspiration for this painting, other than that.

Camel No. 1 - The Dreaming Camel: underlayer 1

So many people have given me such lovely feedback on my Sassy Camel piece. And many expats expressed a desire to have something that would eventually remind them of their time here in the Gulf; without it being like everything else available to tourists. So this is how the continuation of the camel series evolved.

Camel No. 1 - The Dreaming Camel: underlayer 2

Camel No. 1 - The Dreaming Camel: underlayer 3

In these photos of the underlayers, I continued to build up the body and the decorated harness until I decided that those aspects were complete. But when it came time to work on the eyes, I had to come to a decision as to what emotion or look to express.

Camel No. 1 - The Dreaming Camel: underlayer 3

But with the idea of "remembering time spent in the Gulf", I chose to leave them as they appear in the final stage.

Camel No. 1 - The Dreaming Camel: acrylic on canvas, 40"x30", 2010

Camel No. 1 - The Dreaming Camel is on display at Yama Yoga Studios from May 27th to June 6th, 2010. For more details on timings and directions, please click here.