On being an exhausted kettle..

It’s come to my attention that I’m not doing this blog thing too well. ☺ I really, really want to have decent, dependable, editorial schedule; yet somehow I always manage to keep this at the low end of my priorities list. So I’m sharing recent work I’ve spurred up yesterday morning in hope of getting on track here with something (which also has its perk in that I won’t owe any time to read about before blogging.)

Recently, our professor from my image-making class left town and gave us a cutesy type of exercise for our next project, due on his return the following Sunday. Basically, we literally drew from a box 3 nouns and 3 adjectives, and had to illustrate one combination.

Funny thing is, doing the exercise (I lucked out with “Exhausted Kettle”), I realized I had a lot in common with my noun+adjective… By the end I realized I’d pretty much bordered a self-portrait. (kidding of course.. the bags under my eyes are well at bay with my favorite Lush eye cream ☺ note: vegan and eco-friendly too.)

On a more serious note, I was pretty pleased I had got to finally add something to my cartoon illustration portfolio which I’ve recently decided I want to expand.

…Versus ‘Doing’ Candy? (Well, not a chance)

Ha, of course I’m not daring to pitch my work for battle against the previous work from the Paris Fall OXYGENE Exhibit, but yeah speaking of candy – The following is a photo shoot I did for my Creative Photography studio, titled “Doing Candy” (play off doing drugs or any high inducing drug… granted it’s a sugar high in this case ☺ ). It was a really fun shoot. Really.

Large Promotional banner (pre-exhibit)

"Start at the beginning.." said the Mad Hatter to Alice...

The following work could be considered very typical of me as a Dubai gal. Coming from a Bedouin Arab heritage, I’m one of the first people you’d expect to jump on the heavily ridden heritage art wagon here in the U.A.E (even though local artists are not the only ones on that ever beaten path).

So when does this stuff get old? Well it already is, literally… Joke. ☺

I’ve steered away almost completely my entire (short) design student life from doing what I had considered stereotypical of the region’s creative community, I even rebelled with a Swiss design phase (or what was close enough). But once upon a time in my sophomore year, I decided to get the local out of my system and the following photo series was born. This was a final in my Photography Basics course, labeled Heritage Stills; a recreation of typical traditional settings from dated life in the Emirates. The grainy quality of film helped with its past like quality (I’m hoping you wouldn’t know they’d been shot in the metropolis that is Dubai, 2005), and a special thanks to the Dubai Heritage Village for providing the actors and settings used.

Traditional Dagger Carved In Stone

Old Woman in typical yard setting

Blacksmith in his Workshop - anonymity in this photo and the previous one is intentional to keep the characters iconic heritage figures from the past; almost ghostly even.

Food covers hanging on a wall - both the wall and the covers are made fully from Palm Trees and their derivatives.

Inside a typical Storage RoomFirewood for cooking and making coffee, set close to camp. Typical setting of a wandering Bedouin nomad.

Portrait of an Old Man

Still shot of a man reaching for the ‘finyan’ or small coffee cup. The bowl close by is filled with water and used to dispense of used cups immediately, avoiding stains.

Composition 1

Composition 2