Completed "Hello Hello" 55cmx75cm. Watercolour pencils, ink,handcut acid free paper. It is taking me 10 to 15 working days to complete works of this size and the most time consuming part is the composition and drawing.
Sunday, May 18th, 2014
Working on a new piece "Hello Hello".Happy with where my work is going.There are more characters jostling for attention including a few masked ambiguous ones.There seems to be something mildly unsettling in the work amidst the colour and gaiety .I wanted that.Cannot wait to warp it up so I can focus on wrapping up my 100 eggs!!
Saturday, May 3, 2014
Completed a new work "Butterflies In My Stomach(2)"
It is a 2 layered papercut and I have used unrelated images to create a open ended narrative.It is like casting a few different characters to direct a film.The interplay of the characters will determine the plot of the story.
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Recycled few old works for an illustration exhibition "Its all Square" in JamJar Gallery, Dubai this April.All works in the show are on square surfaces.
Bird Woman
Cry Me a River
Butterflies in my Stomach
Me and the Other Half
Monday, April 7, 2014
The completed work "Alone Together"
Saturday, April 5, 2014
Sections of my next work.
Monday , 24 March 2014
Nonsense Rhymes by Edward Lear
Who frequented the depths of the sea
she nurs'd the small fishes,
And washed all the dishes,
And swam back again into Bree
There was an old person in black,
A Grasshopper jumped on his back; When it chirped in his ear, He was smitten with fear, That helpless old person in black. |
There was an old man of Blackheath,
Whose head was adorned with a wreath, Of lobsters and spice, Pickled onions and mice, That uncommon old man of Blackheath. |
Worked on a few more sketches
Completed a piece "Dream within a Dream".I am working more intuitively ,combining disjointed drawings randomly into a singe work.Collecting wood and sticks from the forest , chopping them into pieces and then attempting to build a clumsy house by joining the parts.I am trying to create detailed papercut collages.The result is a nonsense rhyme.This is a 3D piece with 2 layers of hand cut acidfree paper, to be framed in a 4 inch deep deep wooden box frame.
Monday, 3 March , 2014
More sketches .....
Tuesday, 11 February, 2014
Mashrabiya papercuts -khanjar series
The Omani Khanjar
The khanjar is the traditional dagger of Oman.. It is curved and sharpened on its both edges. It is carried in a sheath decorated in silver, on a belt similarly decorated in silver filigree. A khanjar appears on the Omani national flag, as part of the as a symbol of the country's national emblem. It is a symbolic weapon, worn by men after puberty. Nowadays, it is used by Omani men as a type of formal dress accessory for styling purposes.
I have used the khanjar motif to design a series of sketches for mashrabiya inspired papercuts.
Sunday, 26th January,2014
I have brought out my sketchpad this week and have been sketching fervently.Poking around in my head for ideas.Somehow I think better with a black pen in my hand and draw directly with a pen on paper.Some of the yarn I have spun are coloured by tales from the Hindu mythology and some by circus acts and the rest I have dreamt up in the very early hours of the day when it is still dark and the moon has not gone to bed .Hope to incorporate some of these happenings in my upcoming papercut projects.More concrete , detailed compositions to be sketched out next week hopefully.
Wednesday, 22 January 2014
Today I drove around Muscat discovering and photographing Mashrabiyas outside the residential villas of Shatti area. I hope I am not arrested for snooping outside houses with a camera.I did attract some suspicious glances from passers by :). I was happy with my recordings though..... I have ordered acid free paper from Dubai and am ready to make experiments using these pictures.I can visualize these as large very large papercuts hanging on curtain rods in a white sterile art gallery.There is a slight problem..... where do I source mega sized acid free paper from ?
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Wednesday,15th January,2014
I have been thinking oof MASHRABIYAS.....
The Arabic term given to a type of projecting windows enclosed with carved wood latticework located on the second storeys of buildings . The mashrabiya is an element of traditional Arabic architecture used since the middle ages up to the current times. They are delicate and beautiful and are like veils which provide privacy to the residents of the building.
Mashrabiyas are mostly used in houses,palaces although sometimes in public buildings such as hospitals,schools,shopping malls and government buildings. They are very prevalent in the Arab East , Iraq, Oman and Eqypt. They are usually found in urban settings and rarely in rural areas. I find them everywhere in Muscat and am regularly photographing them to create papercuts inspired by them.
I made my first Mashrabiya papercut for a annual fund raising exhibition for cancer in Bait Zubair Museum, Muscat titled Art 100 x 100.I made my own mashrabiya designs using pink ribbon icons to create geometrical shapes and two of them were framed in a layer inside a box frame.The work is titled "Pink Ribbon Mashrabiya".
"Like a River Flowing"
was completed in November 2013.It is a intricate story. I have added water pipes, clouds, beehive, rain, river and Garuda the Hindu mythical bird which is has a eagle head and human body.Garuda was the mount of Lord Vishnu in the Hindu scriptures with wings large enough to block out the sun.
I completed the work "Sing Me a Love Song" in October 2013 for a commission.It took 2 months to make.Oh My Gosh!! I intended the piece to have a anti war message .The work talks about isolation and lurking dangers.
I completed " Flowering" in June 2013. It is about growth and letting the cactus plants inside us flower into beautiful blossoms.
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