Hello from Islamabad

Details later

A Monster in our House

My 4 yr old drew this a few days back and told me that she saw this monster in the window of her bedroom.

Visual DNA

I found this at Truth and Beauty It was really fun doing it.

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Window

I did this pencil sketch from a photograph by Leandra Machado

Desi Restaurant in CS - A Major Disappointment!!!

A few months back a friend of mine gave me the news that a Desi (Pakistani/Halal) restaurant is opening in CS. We all got so excited and started counting the days. This restaurant was going to be the first one in our area. We used to go to Houston or Austin to eat when we didn’t feel like cooking at home and when we got tired of eating pizzas and Mexican food. It felt good that we will no longer have to drive a 100 miles to have decent food but, little did we know.

After waiting for about 2 months or more the restaurant finally opened and I guess we were one of the first few customers. The first time they kept us waiting for more than an hour for our order but the food was good. The second time it was ok and the third time we couldn’t even eat it and had to throw it all away. It was a take-out and maybe they thought we’d not be able to complain about the food once we reach home. Well, we did not complain but we won’t be going there ever again, its better to drive a 100 miles than eat at this place.

One thing which I just don’t understand is that the desi restaurants do not maintain their quality. It could be the same with other restaurants too but it is a very prominent feature of all the desi restaurants especially in Houston. You go there once and have great food, you go again and order the same thing but it won’t be the same. I have finally decided that we will have the desi food at home and when we feel like eating out we would go to our all time favorite Persian and Mediterranean restaurants only. The ones we normally go to, have always maintained the standard and we have always enjoyed eating there. For those in the Houston area Kababi Darband and Ranosh are highly recommended.

Cousins II

Open Sesame

Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"

I made this one from a photograph downloaded from the flikr blog of a professional photographer but can't remember or find which one. My hunch is it another one of the masterpieces from Jawad Zakaria but am not sure.

Cousins

Chicken Tikka

Positive Parenting

I had a very interesting exchange of comments with some 'jammie' and you can see it here . I wanted to share it with all of you and see what you people have to say about it. I usually avoid political discussions and I created this blog to share my photographs, paintings and some interesting episodes from my day to day life. However I am interested in knowing your views on the limits of parenting. My own views are clear on this topic from the comments on that post.

Carpenter Ants

I took dozens of pictures when i went to Pakistan last year. I could not access my blog from there and therefore could not share any of the pictures. Here is one taken in Capital Park aka Fatima Jinnah Park Islamabad. The kids were distracted by these carpenter ants. They stopped playing and observed these ants for quite a while.

Gardening

Our back yard was in pretty bad shape when we moved to this apartment. It looked like a dirt field. The girls and I worked so hard everyday, raked leaves, made borders and planted flowers and grass. The winter stayed longer than usual this year. It rains every other day (which I am starting to hate) I had a feeling that the plants must’ve been destroyed but despite all the freezing rain and cold weather the grass blades have started to shoot. They look so beautiful, and I feel so happy to watch’em grow. The flowers will take some time, I think.

I had never done gardening before and knew nothing about it until now. I enjoyed doing it but also realized how tough a job it is. I thought about all the maalis (gardeners) we had when we were back home. It made me feel a little depressed that they work so hard and get paid so little. When we move back to Pakistan someday I will make sure that I pay our maali what he deserves. I have so much respect for all the hard work they do to make our lawns, gardens, and backyards look beautiful.

Blue

16" x 20" Oil on Canvas

I am going to make a new blog only for my paintings.

and one more

9"x12" oil on canvas board

I still feel that i need to do some final touches to both the paintings but am not in a mood....have one more unfinished of Rohtas Fort in oil. Only God knows when i will finish it. Will be starting a new one tomorrow, a new painting every saturday ;). I'm enjoying working with my new instructor. You can see some of his work here.

Here it is...

16"x20" oil on canvas

The Latest...

I have switched to oil painting for some time. Had my first class last Saturday, and enjoyed it a lot. I could not finish the painting I started that day and started another small one at home which is also not finished yet. Have another one of the Badshahi Masjid in water colors which needs some work done.




I am very tired and practically brain dead…so much work to do, so many over due dinners that I have to plan. My daughters birthday is on the 22nd and I have not planned anything for that either. She has been waiting for a birthday party since long. There is so much going on in the last couple of days, so many things changed and so many important decisions to make and right now everything is getting on my nerves. It’s almost 5:00 am and I have to get up early for my class so better go now. Will inshAllah post my new work soon (if I finish it sometime soon)

Winter in CS

A little cold finally. Normally, we do not have cold weather for more than a few days here in College Station. A year before last we had some freezing rain just for a day but this time the cold stayed a bit longer. Since we are not used to this much cold, freezing rain, wintry mix or snow, we all get very excited when we get any. My little one was so excited today that she sent me out to get those icicles twice so she could see them melt in her hands. She also wanted to make a snowman out of this:

blazing sky

water colors
140 lbs
cold press

note: This painting is inspired by a photograph from J.Zakariya. He is an amazing photographer. You can see more of his work here.

Expelled from school for tearing a page

Hadia (my older daughter) was doing her Math homework and Amani (the younger one) as usual trying to get her attention stepped on her math book unintentionally tearing a page. Hadia, who is a stickler for rules, got so upset that she cried non stop for 3 hours. Even though I have repaired the page and tried to convince her that it was just an accident and her teachers will understand. But Hadia is adamant that she will be expelled from school for damaging a school book. Finally, I wrote an email to her teacher but I guess she is still not comfortable (talking in her sleep constantly) about it and will give me a hard time while going to school tomorrow. Lets see how she behaves when she comes back from school.

Badshai masjid - Lahore

water colors
140 lbs
coldpress

A few more drawings from my sketch book

our living room

pen and ink
(the tv is turned towards the dining)



our backyard

pen and ink


scribbling

pen and ink

fall leaf

pen and ink



a fall leaf



charcoal


giddy
blue pen


Amani's sandals

pencil

A Dream

pencil
from my sketch diary

Spirits so Strong

oil pastels