Homes:Maysaa Al-Mumin & Thomas Modeen|Doha, Qatar
i love the way, with so much to look at around tom and maysaa's living room, my girl is still staring right at the camera
One moment she was in my studio in Kuwait, and the next she was in an American SUV driven by Maysaa Al-Mumin en route to Doha, Qatar via Saudi Arabia. She’s now finally up on the Modeen living room wall. This painting, The Note, has seen many exhibitions and even traveled to Florence with me. It’s funny, however, how things work out and she ends up with two dear friends, far away but close.
this photo's a bit blurry but i included it because i love the sleeping girl in the chair. it's almost trompe-l'oeil-like. i think it's andia
the dot catchers is a house-warming/moving present i happily made for the modeens when they moved to doha. it's a potato picture of their daughters holding a net and bucket in order to catch the elusive red dot. in the picture is what looks like maysaa's work space and the beginnings of one of her fish paintings
a close up of 'the dot catchers', which i created (hate that word but none other better for the moment) with raw canvas, potato stamps, acrylic and charcoal. little amalie is on the left looking up at her big sister andia. i miss them
I enjoy having her in my living room. I grow in love with her more and more everyday.
She moved a bit around the house before she found her spot there on that wall. I liked moving her around over the last few weeks, it was like she was getting herself familiar with the house.
And you are right about the ‘sleeping girl’, gh! It is the very reason that I keep Andia (right again) there on the armchair. I had put the painting there quite absent-mindedly and when I went to pick it up, I found that she looked too comfortable to move.
‘The Dot Catchers’ is my favourite image of the girls. I like it more than any photograph I have of them. It captures perfectly one aspect of their relationship.
Actually my workspace is a hole next to the kitchen. It is small and I don’t like working in it much. I often find that I lose inspiration mid painting so when I am not working on them (and that’s often) I take the incomplelte work and I display them around the house. It gives me a chance to contemplate what to do next with them. I often start something and have a few months break before I go back to finish them.
Just thought I’d explain why those paintings are the way the are.
That’s our dining room by the way.