Cold wax

I spent the morning putting the final touches on a diptych of Tanya Evanson's sema. I took photographs of her whirling at last year's winter solstice at the Roundhouse community centre. She was amazing and the evening was magical, inspiring me to do a series of paintings. The final touch was to apply a layer of cold wax. That will give it an encaustic feeling. Now all I need to do is exercise patience and wait for the wax to solidify. I understand it could take months. Patience has never been a virtue of mine, maybe cold wax will change that.

Pomegranates

It is time for pomegranates. I will use the photographs I took last year. This is quite exciting, finding new ways to depict the beauty of this heavenly fruit. Heavenly, yes, but at the same time exotic and sensual. In the world of fruits, it lives a multitude of contrajunctures, and it does it so gracefully. Yes, gracefully until it's had enough poking, and then it spits out its gut shamelessly, with no care for the damage it will cause. The plan is to caputure the range of this heavenly exotic fruit.

Old Photographs

At the back of the storage, under a couple of boxes holding randomness, there is a box that holds past memories. In search of images of old structures in Tehran and Esfahan, photographs of my architecture days, after breakfast this morning I visited my boxed past. I was imagining how I could incorporate them in a new painting. No sooner than I had opened the box, my past tiptoed out and surrounded my present. My intentions, my plan, and the image of the structures all evaporated, and was replaced by sounds, smells and images of times gone; of loved ones who have become ever more dear with the passage of time, of those who are no longer on this earth, and those who are treading on it in a far distance, out of sight and out of mind. I looked into my eyes, eyes that held innocence, dreams and hopes, eyes not yet jaded by life. It was a gathering of loved ones, including myself, from different times and places, all in one place; only we were no longer there. I closed the box. Let them enjoy each others' company in peace. I shall find photographs of the old monuments from somewhere else.

Eastside Culture Crawl 2010

Heads up: this year's Eastside Culture Crawl will be on November 26, 27 & 28. Hope to see you at my studio.

Facelift

I've finally given my blog a facelift. Going forward, my plan is to use it as a blog rather than just a static page. Since August this year I have an additional 20% time during the work week to spend at the studio rather than the office. I hope to spend this time painting more, pondering more and writing more. I now have a tad more information about myself on the site and how my creative journey started. It was interesting thinking back and recalling the different media I explored until finally landing on acrylics. There was a time I thought pastel was going to be my media of choice. The beauty of mixed media is that I can continue using pastels, do collages, and incorporate my writing and other text into the piece. Today I'll listen to Mahsa Vahdat and Might Sam McClain's piece called "Meditating over a photo" as I get started at the studio.

Dar Golestaneh

My recent paintings are inspired by Sohrab's "Dar Golestaneh." I feel the poem deep within me; It resonates. It has been resonating for some time.

"In the distance, there is a voice, a voice that is calling out to me"