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

Eid Mubarak!

RED II

It is 5:10 AM and I just finished this painting. It is still wet. The hydrant is right outside our apartment. This is second in a series of Reds. You can see the first one here and I plan to do one more. But first I will finish the ones I have already started and for that I will have to stay up all night again as my little one does'nt let me work. She takes all my brusehs and starts her own paintings. Even though she has her own paints and brushes but she insists on using mine saying, 'I have to show my work to my teacher'.

I turned...

...yesterday.

6 weird things about you...

I have been tagged by Wayfarer
You have to post six weird things about yourself and then tag six people.


1. I have to have something sweet for my breakfast everyday and something sweet after every meal. I have my tea almost sugarless but I must have something sweet with it or I can not drink it. I started drinking tea after I got married.

2. I talk to Allah. In my head when I am thinking and working I am always talking to him. Before going to sleep If I ask him to wake me up at 6 am I wake up at exact 6 am without any alarm clock. The days I don't ask him I do not get up without an alarm.

3. I do a lot of silly and clumsy things and then be embarrassed for days. For example a few months back, in a grocery store I was talking to my husband looking for something and did not realize when he moved to the end of the aisle and someone else came and stood there looking for something. I saw the cart and without looking at him I slapped him on his hand saying "Hasan this is not our cart, You took someone else's cart". When I looked at the face I realized what I had done. That poor man stood there in shock. I said sorry to him and quietly stepped away...and then I saw my husband at the end of the aisle looking at me and laughing.

4. I love to watch fairy tale movies.

5. I am active and organized if I have a deadline otherwise I am a lazy bum.

6. I feel every object has a personality and an expression. Like all cars have a face, some have a smiley face and some frown at you. The television we have seems like a happy fat woman to me...so on and so forth.

I tag Aya, I, Zak, Freaks Corner, Ayesha, Reza, Living Away

Seven Things

Aya tagged me

Seven Things I want to do:
1) do my MFA.
2) lose weight and keep it.
3) donate money to children’s hospital in Pakistan.
4) volunteer to work in PICU (pediatric intensive care unit)
5) be a good human being.
6) to be more organized.
7) travel around the world esp. Egypt, Greece and Italy

Seven Things I can do:
1) dance
2) art (paint, draw, sketch)
3) fix things in the house.
4) Roller Skate
5) cry
6) fix my clothes
7) cut hair


Seven Things I can’t do:
1) resist desserts
2) lie
3) can not hide my feelings and emotions (my feelings and emotions are easily read on my face...which is embarrassing sometimes)
4) sing
5) read a book no matter how interesting….
6) tell a storey or listen to one.
7) swim

Seven things I say the most:
1) ok
2) accha
3) hein?
4) kia?
5) chalo koi baat nahein
6) hmmm
7) pata nahein

Seven Things that attract me to the opposite sex:
1) honesty
2) modesty
3) good sense of humor
4) strong personality
5) wisdom
6) education
7) good heart

Seven Celebrity Crushes:
none

I am 28% Control Freak

You Are 28% Control Freak

You have achieved the perfect balance of control and letting go. You tend to roll with whatever life brings, but you never get complacent.

Are You A Control Freak?

Homeward bound

Water colors
140 lbs cold press water color paper
11"x13"

After 4 yrs in US

A few days back someone asked me what is it that I like about this country (the US). I thought and thought and thought...for about 5 minutes and said with uncertainty in my voice "my daughter's school" and that is all I could think of. That person kept looking at me in surprise and it was kind of embarrassing. I came home and asked my husband the same question. He said he likes his school. So that says it all....we came here for my husbands PHD. He is now working on his dissertation. I am working on my portfolio to start my MFA. Lets see if I do it here or we go back home and I do it at NCA. Everything is so uncertain right now... and the curiosity of what will happen is killing this fat cat!.