crossword puzzle, planning and sketchbooks are a must. as is my pencil/pen case. a clipboard always comes in handy too for writing letters to the non-desert islanders

I’m sure we’ve all been asked this question at one point in our lives: if you were to be stuck on a desert island, what would you take with you? I was sort of in the urban version of that situation this morning: a friend, who is moving and needed to be at work, asked me if I could house sit while the movers packed her belongings. We estimated that I would need to be at hers for three to four hours. So I packed my emergency kit and voluntarily drove to my desert island in the city. The ultimate survivor.

my sister and i paid a visit to dar.nur yesterday. this is my first visit since noor alzabin relocated her store to lilly center in shuwaikh. this is my favorite location of the three (the store was located in the same center originally but this time overlooking the courtyard)

i wanted to share with you my first impression of the store, a very confused glimpse of one of my two large scale paintings on display

and when i opened the door, my girls! i love this painting. there is something very rustic and utilitarian about it. and it looks amazing here. i’m really honored it occupies a coveted space at dar.nur

both my sister and i LOVED this aptly sized name card for wynn’s baby photography. this teeny weeny business card is about 1.5 x 1.5 cm

these are some of the art books and magazines on offer at dar.nur. i could spend a whole afternoon just going through all the publications here

and my book

About two months ago, my friend and Early Bird restaurateur Bianca Simonian approached me to paint a portrait of her as a gift to her mother, which I thought was a lovely idea. I was really excited because Bianca has one of those striking faces that in my opinion any artist would love to paint/draw/photograph/etc. I started the painting two weeks ago and I’m finally happy with it. I’m glad to say that mommy loves it too!

the original and number 12 on the left. the reason i mention number 12 will be evident when you look at the triplicate, black and white version of this drawing

this is the first time i use my new blue carbon paper. i’m so in love with the color, very pleasantly happy!

and here we see the traces of number 12 coming through. i should keep my accidental effects just that: accidental. i’m always thinking that i’ve discovered a new technique and that i can take advantage of this serendipitous event. but once i gain control, the exercise becomes futile. it must remain unlooked-for

I got a sneak peek this morning at CAP’s exhibition The Other Resurrection, a collection of photos by the Rawiya collective, a group of six Arab and Irani female photographers with a story to tell: Dalia Khamissy, Laura Boushnak, Myriam Abdelaziz, Newsha Tobakolian, Tamara Abdel Hadi and Tanya Habjouka.
Go to capkuwait.com for details.

Like voyeurs, we peep at Tamara’s sensuous Arab men.

Abed and Laura go over last minute details.

Laura’s ladies and their penmanship on the left and Tamara’s Palestinian man on the right. An edition of Laura’s photos presented here has been acquired by the British Museum.

This is the second Out of Britain exhibition teaser by MazajEntertainment, featuring installation artist Hamad Khalaf.

the original using color and graphite pencil, eraser, copic marker, red ballpoint and black felt pen

in duplicate. i like the transfer of color. i should have expected this but didn’t

in triplicate, the girls and their ‘illusionary mustache’, as described by fellow instagrammer archdella

this is why it’s called ‘shakespeare’s mother’

i don’t like this effect AT ALL. but i wanted to erase certain sections off for the next step

this is it complete. and my feet. i don’t know, something about instagram makes people want to include their feet in the shot. actually i’ve had my feet in pics way before instagram. pish!

i’m really enjoying these

on the original i started with a multicolored pencil and went over it with a red pen for sharper lines

the duplicate always is a surprise. but this time it actually made my heart stop for a second. i’m very excited about where i can go with this

i love the effect of the marks left on the carbon paper

pen over color

my tools of trade

these are a couple of zeri craft cushions in the more traditional sadu colors. it was so hard to pick just one piece as my favorite, even though there was a stand-out. i know that sounds contradictory but to get into that would be to delve into my complicated process of choosing favorites

I must admit that I am finding it difficult to get around to visiting galleries. But every now and then, I make the time, like I did this morning. I visited Laila Al-Hamad’s Zeri Crafts exhibition at the Sadu House. I went because Laila spoke to me about her idea  to contemporize the sadu (traditional Gulf woolen weaving) a year ago, which piqued my interest because it integrates my love for fine, handmade objects with my passion for cultural preservation. Plus I love the sadu. The exhibition comprised of scarves and cushions handmade in Laos, a silver incense burner designed by Nedda El-Asmar and a short slide show demonstrating the process by which these lush fabrics are created.

i can just eat these colors. two scarves and laila

two zeri lanterns. zeri is the kuwaiti name for the golden thread woven through the traditional black thobes and abayas to give it more beauty

ok, so the cushion in the middle was my stand-out piece. this photo doesn’t give the blue the justice it deserves. and the reason i said earlier that it was hard to choose my favorite is because practically, the reds, blacks and earth colors are most suitable to my home, but my eye had to go and fall in love with the blue

the design of this burner was inspired by the latticework seen in many of kuwait’s older homes and buildings

three hands better than one. from left to right: my nephew a.r., sister yasmine, me, and a.r. (who happens to have two hands)

Yesterday was one of those days that was destined to go against every plan I had in my book. But it was also one of those days that things somehow fell in place in an unexpected and serendipitous way. My life at the moment consists of very regimented days and I fall apart if things don’t go to plan. I did have a bit of a panic when I found myself on the way back to my parents’ too early and without a single drawing/painting utensil. I drove to my favorite stationers to find that the parking was full (I’d walk but we had a bit of a dust storm). I called my sister-who was thankfully home-and asked if she had anything, anything, that I could use to bide my time at my parents’. Luckily, she had lots of tracing paper, watercolors, brushes and my nephew.

my intention was to paint a picture on my own. my sister was gushing about how fun it was to paint on tracing paper using watercolors, so i thought i'd give it a try. i didn't have much choice anyway

i liked the fact that as frustrating as it was with the paper wrinkling and all, i was getting interesting effects and found that i could 'erase' anything i didn't like

my drawing was going more or less as planned. it was ok...

...until my nephew showed up. after that things got leaps and bounds more exciting. he wanted to paint so i let him paint. you have to realize that normally i would find this exercise very difficult (imagine having a toddler scribble over your work), but i found this both liberating and educational (children draw without inhibition, and watching him reminded me yet again that i should be less stressed out when i paint and just go with my gut)

swirly whirly hands

lastly, my sister joined in and this is what we drew, us three

 I loved collaborating with a three-year-old and want to do more of these with other people I love and am completely comfortable with.