Photos :: Mir Amin :: Beiteddine

Finally back from my fabulous trip to Lebanon! I got to play tour guide to friends who were visiting for the first time, and together we discovered cities I'd never been to before. We took a ton of pictures. So many pictures that I'll be posting them in separate posts.

I ended up attending two weddings instead of just one, and toured cities along the coast as far south as Tyre, to Tripoli in the north. We spent most of our time in Beirut and only went up to the mountains four times: first to visit grandma, next to the official marriage ceremony (on the Wednesday before the wedding), Saturday for the wedding, and then a few days later to visit family in the villages.

Driving around Beirut is really really really crazy and mountain driving totally wears me out. I lived there for 7 years, but only started driving in the last 3 years because I had no other choice. I lived by the American University in West Beirut, and my job was in Achrafieh in East Beirut. Getting around the city is really cheap but to cross from east to west (or the reverse) is really difficult since many taxi drivers refuse to go there, and others want to charge you more. East and West Beirut is divided by the infamous Green Line, which is now packed with the most popular bars and clubs and also were many people go to hang out at night. So many ironies.

One of the highlights of the trip was getting to ride with a friend in her convertible smart car. What an awesome car! Unfortunately, there are really no traffic rules there, and right-of-way is directly proportional to how large your car is and how fast you're moving. But what respect she lost in size she gained in sympathy: some drivers were scared to hit her tiny car so they would often let her go first.




Above are some photos of Mir Amin, a palace (and now hotel) in the Chouf mountains, along tbe same road as the Beiteddine presidential summer palace. This is where we went for lunch after my brother's official marriage ceremony, but traditionally the couple isn't "married" until the cake is cut on their wedding night.

Here are some photos of the Beiteddine palace taken during our last trip in December. In the summer this space gets transformed into a stage for the yearly Beiteddine festival.





I've got so many e.mails and posts to catch up on! It seems like years since I've blogged! My bloglines is going completely insane!

Open Studio June 24.

I'm out of town, but please come by and check out my stuff! Sean and I set up our artwork last Sunday before we jumped on the plane. I'm super behind on sending e.mails and checking out blogs from here because connections are pretty slow, but I'm hoping to post some pictures soon! Thank you everyone for coming by and for all of your awesome comments!

Back to Open Studio details...Whats the occasion? Its the Artist Resource Fair and 5th Anniversary Party for the Washington Glass School. This annual event means lots of great deals on glass art and sculpture, music, food...The Fair is free and open to all...

Scenic Artisans and Washington Glass School location:
3708 Wells Ave, MT Rainier, MD 20712

And of course, a mapquest link.

For more details on the event, check out this link on Sean's blog for more details about the event and directions!

Illustration Friday: Dance

I'm barely making this post in time, just landed in Beirut a few nights ago and its been busy busy busy! Two illustrations for today! Here they are:

Meet Harvey. Harvey was a little mouse. Unfortunately, Harvey didn't live to a ripe old age. Why? Well, his favorite thing to do was sneak up on little girls, then look up their skirts as they danced in the air. Yes, Harvey was cute, but not very bright.



Hope you soon get Mr. Harvey and his family out of your house, Heather!

Meet Ramone. Ramone didn't find humor in many things. He walked around with a very very straight face. One of the only things he found enjoyable was to sit on the sidewalk and watch the tall ladies in thin high heels walked by. What could be funny about that? Every once in a while, a heel would get caught in the sidewalk grate and he would closely watch the little dance they did to pull their heels out. That made him laugh every time.



Harvey and Ramone were painted in watercolor on
2.75"x3.75" amalfi cotton rag paper.

Previous Illustration Friday entries ::
jungle : portrait : cake : sorry : angels and devils : fat : under the sea : robot : spotted robot : speed : spring again : more spring : spring : monster : tattoo [one page tale painted gocco print] : tattoo : insect : tea : song : simple : chair : glamour [color gocco print] : glamour : cats : e is for : sea : flavor : holiday : imagine

knit signing.

Here is some new work in progress:


I like how my ladies look before the knitting is sewn in. The way their fingers are positioned looks like they're trying to tell us something. But what?



:: update : i just posted pictures of my lateset Beirut exhibit at this link! thanks for visiting! ::

Previously::
:: some more connections.
:: open studio fun.
:: about connectedness.
:: knitting dreams.
:: kite watcher.
:: imagining ouselves.

Illustration Friday: Jungle at HonFest

Yes, I went to HonFest in Hampden this past weekend. No, I didn't dress up like the ladies in this HonFest link, but it was fun to watch the Hampden Charm School cheerleaders with their puffy pink dos! I did score a super awesome pair of shoes, but first, I must tell you the story of Maude:

Meet Maude. Maude does not go out looking like this every day. Maude actually has a day job where she works quality control at the cheese puff factory. But once a year for HonFest she goes wild and piles her pink hair high, high, high up on her head and dresses up in her leopard print tights, bright orange boa, and blue eyeshadow. How does it all stay in place? Its glued tight with aquanet, of course. So much junk on her head, shes a walking jungle.



And now the shoes. Yes, I got me a pair of Fluevogs. Meet Jennifer. No, I haven't been sleeping in them, promise. But I have been wearing them around the house! The heels are heart-shaped and the sole of the shoe says "To love or to hate, the Choice is yours." Yes, I let Maude try them on for this illustration.



The contrast stitching around the edges makes me think of my latest set of paintings currently on exhibit in Beirut. Three have already sold (yay!) and I believe the exhibit will be up for another two weeks.

Maude and her HonFest beehive were painted in watercolor on
2.75"x3.75" amalfi cotton rag paper.

Previous Illustration Friday entries ::
portrait : cake : sorry : angels and devils : fat : under the sea : robot : spotted robot : speed : spring again : more spring : spring : monster : tattoo [one page tale painted gocco print] : tattoo : insect : tea : song : simple : chair : glamour [color gocco print] : glamour : cats : e is for : sea : flavor : holiday : imagine

the (un)finished object

At the beginning of May, the fabulous ellia of green bean baby started the unfinished object initiative, and I joined in! I was able to finish a bunch of deadlines, but was so immersed in these different projects I barely had time left to blog!

Here is a list of projects I managed to finish ::
:: Paintings for Imagining Ourselves exhibit in Beirut
:: Embellished Kitty Square for Wall of Yarn exhibit in Australia
:: 1,000 wedding invitations designed, printed, scored, and cut. phew!
:: and I kept up with Illustration Friday every week!

My unfinished objects for last month are complete! But in this goshdarnknit world, there is no time for nothing! Here is a small sampling of whats next on my plate:
:: Finish a portrait commission
:: Develop a university lecture I'll be giving about design
:: Creative exchange with flossy-p
:: Illustrations for a friend's business
:: Get ready for my trip to Lebanon in a few weeks!
(going on a trip means lots of time to knit!)

Is there anything else I've forgotten?

Illustration Friday: Portrait

Meet Noah. When Noah was teeny his left arm took hold of a mopey monkey-bear his great aunt Josephine made him. He never let go. This really irked his mom. Every single picture of Noah had mopey monkey-bear in it. So one day they made an agreement. From then on, Noah held his favorite toy in the whole wide world out of the frame every time his picture was taken.



Noah was painted in watercolor on
2.75"x3.75" amalfi cotton rag paper.

Previous Illustration Friday entries ::
cake : sorry : angels and devils : fat : under the sea : robot : spotted robot : speed : spring again : more spring : spring : monster : tattoo [one page tale painted gocco print] : tattoo : insect : tea : song : simple : chair : glamour [color gocco print] : glamour : cats : e is for : sea : flavor : holiday : imagine

my wall of yarn square.

Another project I finished and mailed away last week was my square for the wall of yarn exhibit at nectar gallery in Australia. Another completed project! hooray!

Before felting, the original knit square was huge. It was knit on some super clunky, super stumpy, size 17 needles with Araucania nature wool. Once complete, I felted it down to the 15cm x 15cm size it is now. The stitch used was the cluster 5 from the daisy scarf I made earlier this year. After felting its really hard to tell what stitch it is, but its nice and airy, and I like that!

One of the requirements was to embellish the square in some way. I knit a bobble with some tencel/wool yarn and used that to attach one of my painted kitty tags to the square.

Some more connections.

After weeks and weeks of work, two nights ago I finally completed four more connectedness paintings for my exhibit that opens this Saturday! Here they are:


Knit V. mixed media. 14" x 11"


Knit VI. mixed media. 14" x 11"



Knit VII. mixed media. 14" x 11"


Knit VIII. mixed media. 14" x 11"

Here is my current artist statement:
I am fascinated by the connections we find in our everyday experiences: from the isolation of communities on the subway, to the solitary experience of introspection, to the feelings of deep communion. How do we think of our place in this world? How do we fit in it?
My work is about the levels of connectedness we feel. I paint, draw, and knit to represent moments of these feelings.

I wish I could be there at the opening this Saturday, but its thousands of miles away. I will be travelling there in a few weeks, so the good news is that I will be at the closing night party!

Click here to see some of the work of the other artists I'll be exhibiting with.

Previously::
:: open studio fun
:: about connectedness.
:: knitting dreams.
:: kite watcher.
:: imagining ouselves.

Illustration Friday: Cake

Meet Priscilla. Priscilla is a master baker and pastry chef who makes the most scrumptious cakes in the whole wide world. People say "gosh" after every bite of her ganache.

How does she do it? As a scientist is her early days, she developed the most fabulous bakers hat and an extendable arm. Stand mixer? Who needs a stand mixer when you have an arm like that? duh.



How do I know this? She was my neighbor and I got to sample all of her delicacies!

Priscilla painted in watercolor on
2.75"x3.75" amalfi cotton rag paper.

Previous Illustration Friday entries ::
sorry : angels and devils : fat : under the sea : robot : spotted robot : speed : spring again : more spring : spring : monster : tattoo [one page tale painted gocco print] : tattoo : insect : tea : song : simple : chair : glamour [color gocco print] : glamour : cats : e is for : sea : flavor : holiday : imagine

Chevron-ish Cafe

Here is my Chevron-ish scarf again...(yes, its still alive!)...getting longer and longer. I'm dying to block it so that it doesn't curly under. Have I mentioned that I block everything now? Even the teeny tiny knitting in my paintings gets blocked!

But before I do that, I am thinking of adding some twirly ends to this scarf with either the knitpicks twirly potato chip scarf pattern, or the other twirly version from Scarf Style.

That would make it more fun, right? Or maybe I'll look up some fun dangly edge in the Over the Edge book my brother got me a few months back. Hmmm...

Have you seen the new Greetings From Knit Cafe book? I flipped through it the other night at the bookstore and think its really awesome. The proportion of projects I'd make was pretty high. I will have to get it soon.

My knitting time has been severely downcut these days...at least I'm incorporating it into my artwork, right?

Previously ::
:: gocco bulbs are hot.
:: blocking is magic.

make your own bath bombs?

how cool is that!

I found this over on the readymade blog.

Yes, a guide on how to make your own bath bombs!



Bath bombs are so Lush for me....and Lush is so San Fransisco for me because thats where I stumbled into the shop for the first time. I have a wrapped bathbomb in almost every clothes drawer. Now if only the bathroom with the bathtub in my house were renovated I could use them, and then make some more of my own!

Oh, wait. I don't need any more hobbies. Oops, forgot!

"Happy People Make Happy Soap"
as quoted from the Lush website.

Illustration Friday: Sorry

Meet Nelly. Nelly loved to play. She was pretty convinced she was going to keep it going as a career when she grew up. Nelly had a dog named Frisbee and played with him sometimes too.

One day Frisbee ate her homework while she was outside playing. Yes, thats right, her dog ate her homework. Sorry excuse to give, yes again, but it really happened! Really!



Nelly painted in watercolor on
2.75"x3.75" amalfi cotton rag paper.

Previous Illustration Friday entries ::
angels and devils : fat : under the sea : robot : spotted robot : speed : spring again : more spring : spring : monster : tattoo [one page tale painted gocco print] : tattoo : insect : tea : song : simple : chair : glamour [color gocco print] : glamour : cats : e is for : sea : flavor : holiday : imagine

Open Studio fun.

Thank you everyone who came out to my Open Studio this past Saturday! It was great to meet so many new people!

Here is a wall of some of the work I had up:


Sean's artwork is on the left, mine is on the right:


...and here is a peek at some new work in progress:


Yes, I am working on more in this series of connectedness paintings!

A set of eight are going off to Beirut at the end of the month for the show I'm taking part in. The title of the exhibit is "Shu Tabkha ya Mara?" and translates to "Whats Cooking, Woman?"

Here is the poster for the exhibit:


More information taken from the press release:
xanadu* Beirut in collaboration with the International Museum of Women and the "Imagining Ourselves" project presents "Shu Tabkha Ya Mara?"- an art exhibit collective of 21 female artists in their 20's and 30's from Lebanon.

"Shu Tabkha Ya Mara?" is xanadu* Beirut's biggest art intervention yet. The title of the show translates to "What's Cooking, Woman?" A derogatory statement most Arab women have become accustomed to hearing from their spouses over the years. We have taken this back and added a little spice to it with a twist of humor. It belongs to us now, as we show what today¹s generation of Lebanese women has been "cooking".

Hooray for art and for having art to exhibit! And hooray for people who love to look at and buy art!

Previously::
:: about connectedness.
:: knitting dreams.
:: kite watcher.
:: imagining ouselves.

Open Studio May 20.

Sean and I recently set up a studio at the Washington Glass School in Mount Rainier, MD. Come visit us in our new studio space!

This Saturday, May 20, 12-5pm
Scenic Artisans: 3708 Wells Ave REAR, MT Rainier, MD 20712
(enter through the Washington Glass School)

Our Open studio is a part of the annual Mount Rainier Day festival celebration and the Gateway Arts District Open Studio Tours.

For the best directions, please visit this link on Sean's blog.

We are accessible by metro/bus. From the Rhode Island Ave metro red-line station, ride any of the buses numbered 81 to 86, or the T18 bus, northeast 13 minutes to the circle (then follow the directions/map from Sean's site!).

Hope to see you there!

Illustration Friday: Angels and Devils

Meet Sylvia*. When Sylvia was three she looked like the sweetest thing ever. So cute and charming, in fact, that she got away with pretty much anything. Like what you ask? Well, see Penny fly? Thats little Sylvia on the bottom pushing Penny on the swing.

All is well. But seconds later, little Sylvia grabbed Penny's meter long braids and watched as she fell flat on her back. Penny went running home crying in agony.

A few years later, Sylvia was on another swingset, swinging herself, when she tried to do a stunt, which failed, and sent her flying till she landed flat on her back. She, just like Penny, then went running home crying in agony. For the rest of her life, every time she fell on her back she thought of poor Penny.




"...when she was good she was very very good,
but when she was bad she was horrid...."

*Based on a true story. Names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent.

Sylvia and Penny were painted in watercolor on
2.75"x3.75" amalfi cotton rag paper.

Previous Illustration Friday entries ::
fat : under the sea : robot : spotted robot : speed : spring again : more spring : spring : monster : tattoo [one page tale painted gocco print] : tattoo : insect : tea : song : simple : chair : glamour [color gocco print] : glamour : cats : e is for : sea : flavor : holiday : imagine

stash enhancement festival.

I left the house with this one big bag and my last words to SA:
"I will not buy anything more than fits in this bag."
His last words: "Why? this only happens once a year!"

Why? Ha, perfect answer! But seriously, the fun at Sheep & Wool can get outta hand, so I like to start out with some sort of limits.

Apple-green ink, ToothlessByte and I headed out extra early on Saturday morning hoping that we might have some chance of fondling the Koigu at the Koigu shop. Unfortunately, 9am, opening time, was a little too late to peek at the Koigu. I did manage to find some at another shop, but why did they up the price? Most places with a good selection of colors were charging $12 a piece! But yes, I bought some anyways!

Please meet my new stash:


Koigu (middle), two different batches of silk/mohair (left), some dark mohair (top), and some alpaca (right).

The Wild 'n' Woolly Farm stand had some really fun samples of knitting done using locks alone, without spinning, so I picked a bunch of colors out and plan on mixing them in with my knitwork. Hmm...maybe I'll give that a try for the Wall of Yarn exhibition project I signed up for? Maybe...



My new strategy this year was to get more than just one skein of whatever I fell in love with, and all in all, I'm quite pleased with what I got. Oh, and I did score with some Bryspun circular needles. After I left that was the one thing I wish I got more of.

I did spot some other bloggers, but never had the chance to bump into them again. Ah well, theres always next year!

Sheep are cute, alpacas are fascinating (especially the shaggy-dreadlock type), but kitties are cuter:



Meet Pinky and The Brain, Elliot, and Elton. My friend rescued them from her alley....they're all adorable, all adopted, and last night I got to play with them. Good thing I'm at my cat limit (2) and they're all claimed!

Tonight I voluneered at the DCAC Cuisine des Artistes event. Were you there? Oh my, that was my first visit to the O St Mansion. What a fabulous place!

Illustration Friday: Fat

Meet Claude. Claude's all-time hero was Mike Teavee was. Just like Mike, all Claude did all day long was play video games. And all day long his mom and dad took turns repeating "Don't sit that close to the TV! You'll go blind!" He quickly learned how to tune them out.

Did Claude go blind? No. Actually, he developed awesome finger skills and was the champion thumb wrestler at school every year. Did his cat, Elvis, go blind? No. He just grew really really fat.



Claude and Elvis were painted in watercolor and ink on
2.75"x3.75" amalfi cotton rag paper.

Previous Illustration Friday entries ::
under the sea : robot : spotted robot : speed : spring again : more spring : spring : monster : tattoo [one page tale painted gocco print] : tattoo : insect : tea : song : simple : chair : glamour [color gocco print] : glamour : cats : e is for : sea : flavor : holiday : imagine

Illustration Friday: Under the Sea

Meet Benjamin. Benjamin was allergic to everything. He was allergic to the trees, to the grass, to homework, and to all the pretty flowers. But most of all, he was allergic to his kitty cat Ruby. His dream was to live in the water and travel the underworld with her.

One year for his birthday, his dad coverted a giant snowglobe into a water bubble where Benjamin spent the rest of his days. He was content. His allergies disappeared and he never had to do another homework assignment again.



Benjamin and Ruby were painted in watercolor and ink on
2.75"x3.75" amalfi cotton rag paper.

Previous Illustration Friday entries ::
robot : spotted robot : speed : spring again : more spring : spring : monster : tattoo [one page tale painted gocco print] : tattoo : insect : tea : song : simple : chair : glamour [color gocco print] : glamour : cats : e is for : sea : flavor : holiday : imagine

gocco bulbs are hot.

Great Minds Think Alike

Here is one of my favorite works of Sean Hennessey. Why? Well, he's found an awesome use for gocco flash bulbs in his artwork. And now that they are going extinct, what a great way to turn them into relics and preserve them!

The above photo was taken when it was hung in the dining room, but he recently set up a studio at the Washington Glass School, so he hangs most of his work there. Click here to see some pics of his artwork in the new space.

As for me, I'm slowly setting up a corner in his new studio. I have painted more One Page Tale gocco prints and hope to upload them to etsy in the next week or so. I might even add an original Macy gocco print as well. Oh, and I have been knitting away on my silk chevron-ish scarf. Here is a pic of where I was before my trip to New Hope:



In other news, since Mothers Day is fast approaching, I've moved almost all of my potted plants from the front stoop of the house to the back yard. I'd like to avoid any chance than one of them might be "borrowed" and given out as a gift. But now I'm thinking it might be an easier getaway via the alley. Ah, the joys of city living.

More on "Task"

Each performer started with a task. Once complete, they wrote a new task for the box, then picked another one. On the side there was a volunteer typing all the tasks in. My shift ended early so I got to spend the day watching events unfold.



There were representatives of all ages, sizes, abilities, and many were related in some way to the Hirshhorn, but not to each other. Some of the performers in Task were really quite fascinating. I found myself following them around the perimeter of the stage to see what they were up to next.



One of the most interesting performers was a lady in a wheelchair who in her introduction told us she wrote in her application "...you must have someone old and you must have someone disabled, so you must pick me..." One of her tasks was to write five of the best moments in her life. Through all the distractions on stage, she only made it through three: "The birth of my daughter, my divorce, getting fired."



A house was built in about 20 minutes. Then there was a dance party, in the house. Then another task was to destroy the house, so the dance partyers ended up being the destroyers. Later in the day the task was to rebuild the house. The new house took longer to build and was way fancier than the first. My favorite detail was the writing on the wall.



One of the most interesting parts was when one performer took apart a section of the "stage" and two others followed behind her trying to salvage what she had ripped up as if trying to save it all. Their task must have been to tape something up, because soon after they proceeded to tape up a group on stage. What I found interesting is that people followed along, and everyone seemed to play nice. Why did everyone follow the rules? Why didn't anyone rebel and refuse to play along? As this performer was ripping the stage apart, she didn't seem so happy about it. Every time someone approached and looked at her, she shrugged her shoulders and said quietly "this was my task."



The performers were very aware that they were being watched, and were always aware the cameras. There were tons of cameras. Really, they were just playing. Or, they were forced to play. Performance art? I'm not really comfortable with calling it art. It seemed more like an all-day team building exercise. There was a bit of audience interaction. Yes, I was a member of the Read Army, and I marched around the stage with the group yelling "Reading is Awesome." I had a lot of fun. It was like being at a family picnic, where you felt relieved to know that your family was not as weird as the ones "over there."



All in all, I'm glad I wasn't on stage. It was fun to work behind the scenes, then watch the tasks unfold. What I liked most about the event is what I took away from it - I met a lot of interesting people, some I hope to see again. After Task, I headed over to an artdc.org event where I made some more friends. On the way home I discovered my whole day was spent interacting with new people, and that in itself is quite exciting!

Previously::
:: "Task" at Hirshhorn