Filed under: My Friends & Me, The Liebster Blog Award | Tags: award, blog, liebster
What a great way to spread the love! The Liebster Blog Award (‘favorite blog’ in German) is a token of appreciation awarded by bloggers to bloggers. It has been bestowed upon me, a little blogger (less than 200 followers-less than 50 in my case!) simply because a fellow blogger saw my blog and liked it. My Liebster was given to me by Mrs. Daffodil, the painting gardener. Check out her beautiful watercolors here. Thank you, Mrs D!
Now it’s my turn to pick my favorites. And my Liebster Blog Awards (the rules state that I pick five of my favorite blogs) go to:
The Still Searching Blog. A witty, slightly acerbic blog full of pithy commentary and opinion. Great for those with either little time or Attention Deficit Disorder.
Kuwait School. Experience the urban world through the eyes of Finnish academic Thomas Modeen. I enjoy looking at both design and non-design from his perspective.
Sketchbloom. Miti Aiello is a professor who lives in San Diego but is a citizen of the cultivated world. Visit her blog to read her poetry, see her photos and muse on her travel logs.
Unruly. This is where I go to be inspired. The unruly universe of Katy McDevitt.
Naked Carly Art. My kindred spirit in the form of Carly Swenson, a girl from Montana who lives on an island in Portugal.
I’d love to give out more but I guess I’m going to need to earn another Liebster for that to happen.
Filed under: My Friends & Me, Other People's Studios | Tags: architecture, studio

this is the cavernous arabana hall. i can just see this place bursting with artistic life and vision within the next year
Last night I paid a visit to my friend architect/photographer/designer (I can go on) Deema Al-Ghunaim’s studio space she’s rented at the Arabana warehouse in Shuwaikh. The space is still in its embryonic stages but to know this little gem exists amid the hustle and bustle of industrial Shuwaikh is soothing to the heart and mind. I’m very excited to share these photos with you. Thanks, Deema, for the invitation! (more…)
I woke up early today and dove straight into my staying-the-night-at-my-parents’ waking up ritual of laptop on lap and checking my various morning sites. So I found this birthday wish on my Facebook page, by a young man I just met at my exhibition, Mohammed Al Mohanna. This is what he wrote:
Happy Birthday Ghadah お誕生日おめでとうガダーさん^^ , attached is a small humble birthday present , (a quick sketch inspired by your “PrettyGreenBullet” and the dots ) I promised i’d draw you something back! have a nice day :)
Isn’t that just the cat’s meow?
Filed under: My Friends & Me, Video | Tags: bianca, birdtalk, video, vlog
Thanks, Bianca, that was fun! And Mohammed Al-Saeed, brilliant photography (or is it cinematography?). I’m very impressed. Oh, and I followed Bianca’s advice and watched most of this on mute. I just can’t bear to hear myself talk. It’s physically impossible.
Filed under: My Friends & Me | Tags: facebook, friendship, sketch, sketchbloom
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Mariateresa Aiello
Ghadah. I am feeling restless and today I drew a woman with a long skirt like your eve and her laptop:) I am absorbing you by osmosis.
Like · · See Friendship · September 19 at 10:05pm Ghadah Alkandari likes this.
Ghadah Alkandari Show me the drawing, woman!
September 19 at 10:06pm · LikeMariateresa Aiello Not that you are restless, that’s all me
it’s new though cause usually I am so tranquilla…should try sleeping deprivation more often..I am getting a lot more done hahaha
September 19 at 10:07pm · LikeMariateresa Aiello ok i will show it to you. I think you will like it cause it’s mysterious dramatic symbolic…like your girls…
September 19 at 10:07pm · LikeGhadah Alkandari Can I post it on my rejected blog?
September 19 at 11:09pm · LikeMariateresa Aiello sure i will send it to you..I am posting it on sketchbloom too
I’m losing my mind. The above Facebook conversation between Miti and me transpired ten days ago. Last week Miti sent me the two pictures she drew here and I couldn’t remember why, as much as I liked them, they were significant to the post I had originally envisaged. So Miti sent me the whole conversation! You really gotta love Facebook sometimes!
So here’s Miti Aiello’s Words to Water (written by Miti):
You can write anytime you like
But you can never reach.The drawings have to do with trying to reach someone who can never be reached. A human wall.
The wall is made of different things, could be spite, pride, ignorance.
If the lady who is writing wasn’t so naive she would look around the wall where the mailbox is and realize her letters would never be answered, or never in the spirit of which she sent them.
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Filed under: My Friends & Me, Rants & Raves | Tags: 50, charity, give, states, volunteer
I want to change the world! How about being more specific? How about starting small? How about taking teeny tiny steps instead of making gigantic proclamations? I hear it everyday. And that’s all I do. Hear it. I never see anything materializing whether I’m involved or not. The number of times I’ve been asked to be a part of something: design a logo, write an article, paint a picture for someone, and not have it followed up is astounding; the rule rather than the exception. I’m sick and tired of the bullshitters who just waste my time.
Now here is the way things ought to be done: 50 Give, launched by Keith Donohue last February: Keith says:
“My name is Keith Donohue and I will be driving, flying, or boating to each of the 50 states, as well as Washington, D.C., Mexico, and Canada, to volunteer in each location for a different non-profit, charity, or worthy cause.”
I admire Keith, who I know through my brother Mohammed (the original bromancers), for going through with and being so passionate about his dream. I so respect the way he had this well thought-out vision which he solidified with a well thought-out plan. He didn’t want to change the world. He just wanted to do whatever he was put on this earth to do, to make whatever difference he could, wherever he went. And he’s doing it in a Honda which gives him extra marks in my book.
He is not congratulating himself for what he is doing. He does not regard himself as some kind of a Messiah. He is just doing what he is doing. And I hope he gets all the support he needs to get him through the trip. It’s not about self-glory or getting silly votes (ahem). It’s just what it was, is and hopefully going to be.

entry number one. stacey wire ward. ms. wire was my seventh grade language arts teacher at the damascus community school. as well as reading, writing and vocab, she taught me how to nurture my funny bone. i love the jacks
Filed under: August Drawing, My Friends & Me | Tags: collaboration, drawing, interpretation
I love to get people involved in drawing, and I’m always interested in the infinite ways a line can be enhanced or re-interpreted. So I started a drawing and would like to invite you to finish it. All you need is a printer, scanner and the tools to make it yours. When you’re done, please e-mail it to galkandari@gmail.com and I’ll post your works as I get them.
Cross the bridge for the first entry by my seventh grade teacher Stacey Wire Ward!
Filed under: My Friends & Me | Tags: collage, friends, inspiration, Leslie White, watercolor

Leslie White, for water, november 5, 2010, ink, Citra Solv collage images, newspaper text, watercolor and gesso on paper
How lovely when I find treasures like this in my e-mailbox. This was partly inspired by my collage postcard series so I’m very, very flattered by it. Thank you, Leslie, for creating and sharing this with me. I love the nostalgic feel of this piece. It reminds me of the books I used to leaf through as a child, before I could read.
Filed under: My Friends & Me | Tags: amani baqer, fish, follow-up, Kuwait, miti aiello, reda salem, yousef alshaikh

kuwaiti photographer reda salem saw my post yesterday and took it a step further. it elicited a 'what the' from me and then a huge smile when i discovered his addition to my drawing.
I started this blog a year ago for a few reasons. One of the main reasons was to share my work with others and garner immediate feedback. I never really hoped for more than a good discussion, which I must admit I rarely get. But throughout the year, I did manage to find a few surprises in my mailbox. Thanks, Reda, for taking a step. To check out Reda Salem’s work, click on fish. Over the bridge for my original sketch.
Filed under: My Friends & Me | Tags: birth, coincidences, Kuwait, pregnancy, the qine, yousef alshaikh

a fellow bloggist, yousef alshaikh, left me a comment on facebook that 'this is just so weird! i drew a very similar sketch a few days back and called it "the making of you".' this is his sketch.
Click here to see the slideshow and here to enter Yousef Alshaikh’s world.
Filed under: Experimentation, My Friends & Me, Postcards | Tags: exchange, halloween, miti aiello, painting, postcard, snail mail

'This is the photograph you asked for. I am Mara. I saw a resemblance...I will be her for Halloween.'-Miti Aiello
A little over a month ago I decided that I wanted to create these postcards and send them out to my friends. I only got round to mailing them about a week ago. The first, to my blogsister Miti Aiello, arrived a few days ago. My mouth just dropped when I found this in my e-mailbox this morning.









