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Tadaaaa! Papiers Collés is here
2007-04-28 16:12:00
Finally here! Neda has finally started her own blog where there will be guaranteed creative fireworks! She's calling it Papiers Collés and I can't wait to see what she has in store for us. If you've enjoyed reading her stuff and looking at her work here - and I know a whole lot of you have - then go, run, fly and bookmark her blogsite right now. Then come back and thank me for making her do it (and helping a bit).


Art, Altered
2007-04-27 04:00:00
The latest vogue of altered art is definitely a result of the immense popularity of crafty pastimes like decoupage and scrapbooking, and things like shadow boxes and easily available crafting supplies. Although certainly not a “fine art” pursuit (to me, ok?), altered art creations are a fun way to let loose with three-dimensional objects as well as two-dimensional ones. And a lot of glue.(In A Nutshell - N. Doany©2003)I prefer the term assemblage to the dreadful, misleading “altered-art” label. Besides having a more genteel meaning, it is also a more accurate description of what a good artwork made in this style really is. (Or as a catty critic might say, perhaps “altered art” should only be applied to those ubiquitous, mostly icky, kinda creepy creations that are like a child yelling curse words to grab our attention. Can’t show any pictures of those, ‘cause I don’t own any – but you know what I mean, you’ve probably seen too many of them, eagerly made by misgui
Read more: Altered

Henna and Spice Made My Morning Nice
2007-05-02 02:57:00
It all started when I tried to dye my hair with henna this weekend. Since I had to sit tight with a goopy, stinky mess on my head for two whole hours, I figured I might as well do something fun with the goopy, stinky leftover henna.I wanted to try and create fanciful shapes inspired by the beautiful henna drawings that adorn the hands and feet of North African women on special occasions. I wondered if the dark green mixture would dry off and could be scraped off the watercolour paper I wanted to use, and if it would leave any kind of interesting stain like it does on skin (and hair). The short answer to my query was no, it doesn't. But it does dry to a lovely earthy texture that looks great over a tea-stain wash, and highlighted with colourful spices mixed with a few drops of water (my 7-year old and I used turmeric for yellow and paprika for red - cinnamon and ginger smell great but don't work so well). Ah, kitchen sink art... what better way to waste a whole morning while waiting f
Read more: Henna , Spice , Morning

When In Doubt, Adobe
2007-05-04 15:42:00
Ever since I started this blog a whole 6 weeks ago, I've taken to scanning every s*crap of paper I draw on - just in case I find some use for it. Like those days when I can't bring myself out of the fog to do something creative (did everyone answer Neda's question yet? I'm still thinking about that one). I'm still discovering this miraculous tool for illustrators and others called Adobe Photoshop. I still haven't peeled off more than a few tiny corners from this huge treasure map of techniques, but here's one (awful but useful) drawing I've been using to experiment with different effects. So far, this is what I've come up with - yes, yes, I know, it's very ugly, but think of the infinite possibilities with this really cool tool.I started with watercolour and dry pencils and ink on heavily textured watercolour paper (first mistake), then couldn't figure out what to do with the background and ended up with a mess. Then I used the smudge, image attribute change, texture and ext


But Will It Go With My Couch?
2007-05-05 23:25:00
Never fails. Every time I mention that I have an online gallery and that I sell "real" artwork from "real" artists, the dreaded question comes:(Le monde du silence © I. Algranti) "How do you know what to buy when you're buying art?" (a question I actually like better that the assertion that usually follows: "I'm looking for something that will have the same colours as my living room furniture").How do you buy art? Do you buy something that stirs you? Something pretty? Something that might as well have the price sticker still on it? A "conversation piece"?(Tête © W. Beydoun)My sincere answer always is: "Buy what you like" - and I mean it. I believe that even if you "don't know what you're doing", or don't have a trained eye (or much... what's that word? oh, yeah, taste) - and whether you're aware of it or not - when you acquire something not intrinsically functional to display in your own personal space, you inescapably have an emotional investment in that object.Something has
Read more: Couch

My Very First
2007-05-14 04:15:00
Here it is, my very first collage. Looking at all the amazing work by Neda and Belinha, to name only two artists I love, I got the itch to try it myself. Hold it, I know, it's not a very good collage, and it's not even a "real" one - no glue, no paper, no cutting or tearing. Just my little mouse and me. I used digital pictures of various things (a wooden ornament painted by my then 2-year-old, portions of different images I'd created for something else). (Suburbia Sunset Un - R.Koleilat©2007)On the left is the the "collage" with no effects added, and on the right is the "stylized" one (I used the cutout function in Photoshop). (Suburbia Sunset Deux - R. Koleilat©2007)Dunno, I guess I needed to play a little today, having spent the last few days obsessing about a logo design for a friend. Stretch a little. Yay.
Read more: First

Happy Victoria Day!
2007-05-20 17:51:00
Monday is a day off for us Canadians - for some, it's Victoria Day, for others not. Since my kids think I was alive when she was queen of everything, we made these greeting cards together for a decidedly modern Queenie on her own special day.
Read more: Happy

Finding Your Inner Artist
2007-05-23 13:17:00
This is dedicated to two of my dearest friends, H.B. and C.K. (Dreamcogs - R. Koleilat©2007)Art, like beauty is everywhere. It’s also - however trite and cliché - mostly in the eye of the beholder. I’m flattered and pleased when you, my two friends say all those complimentary things about my scribbles and half-baked attempts at digital art, but I get upset when you say things like: “I could never do that”. Well, nu-uh! You don’t want to do that, you want to do what you do – and that could be anything. From painting stars on dainty little girlie nails to hand-made scrapbooks or scarves, you’re creating artful stuff without being self-conscious about it.It’s when you plan to “do” artwork, convince yourself that there is only a certain way to “do” it properly (and worse of all, that someone/everyone will snicker at what you’ve created) - then sit down to a blank paper, canvas, heap of clay, whatever, with all this critical baggage; that you’re faced with a s
Read more: Artist

Tag, I'm it
2007-05-22 13:38:00
Before I start here, yes, I'm aware that I'm doing this all wrong. I'll figure it out eventually and fix it.So, thanks to Neda and Bee, here are the rules of the game:“Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves. Those tagged need to write in their blogs 7 things that are a habit, unusual or that no-one else knows, as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag seven others and list their names on your blog. You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and to read your blog.” (Scarf - R. Koleilat © 2007)How could you do this to me, sis? Payback coming soon. I couldn't come up with anyone who has a blog yet. But I won't keep you waiting to read these fascinating (and, as specified, random) facts:1. I hate melons, but not watermelons. 2. I wish I could live underwater - it's so quiet there. At least it seems so for the few seconds I can hold my breath in the pool.3. I've been known to look for my


Another Side of Wissam
2007-05-29 08:17:00
(Sensations sur ma ville © W. Beydoun)Wissam Beydoun is one of my favourite artists. Not only because we're family (par alliance) and I've known him, like, forever, and he's really cool and a sweetheart - but truly because of the dizzying, emotional, startling punch of his artwork.A lot of his latest work screams about the raw, unbearable pain of being human. But some of it has the whimsy and fun of his youthful past as a cartoon artist and illustrator. To wit, this textured collage entitled "Sensations about my city". Can you see the urban jumble of an old neighbourhood?There's a lot more that I'll be showing shortly on the gallery site as soon as I finish rehauling the whole dang lot of it. Which, by the way, is why I've been slacking off here - not enough hours in the day to take a break here and do the other stuff I need to do.


Oh
2007-06-06 17:17:00
(op art girl © R. Koleilat - 2007)"she looked for trouble as if it were money and she needed some..."not by me


Little Butterfly Deconstructed
2007-06-28 12:48:00
Now that I've broken this little dry spell, and thanks to Debi's kind comment (as always), I thought I might as well use the latest post to talk about using Photoshop for altering images. I started out with this adorable snapshot of my little ballerina at her recital about 4 weeks ago, and used it to play around in Photoshop. I liked what I came up with enough to post it here.(Before) I started by using the blur tool in the background, but used a shaped brush - I'm not sure how much of an impact this had, but I feel it did soften the edges.I then decided to turn it into a grayscale image to see how the special effects filters would come out. I settled on rough pastels with a bit of texture.I then used the magic wand tool to highlight part of the image and used the paint bucket/gradient tools to fill in various parts with varying degrees of opacity and different colours.(After)It's really fun to take a picture like that, and alter it with this really magical program. It's a tool t
Read more: Butterfly

Little Butterfly
2007-06-28 06:57:00
So, no... I haven't been swallowed by some crater. Or abducted by aliens. Not exactly. Is there such a thing as Rebound Post-traumatic Stress Syndrome? Maybe I'll just invent that one. Talk about creative paralysis - I hope this will be over soon.But that's neither here nor there. Here's my little photoshoped ballerina butterfly, by way of saying hi to sis's latest post from a parallel universe.
Read more: Butterfly

Of Chaos and Creativity
2007-06-30 08:50:00
"Tidy up time! Tidy up time!"Barney Well, since we're sharing...My friends Debi and Frances have coincidentally on purpose posted some musings on this shared bane of our existence - housecleaning. I, like Debi, used to be quite neat and good at cleaning. Unlike her, however, my organizing skills are now mostly theoretical. Having 2 small, boisterous children in my advanced middle age is quite challenging - and I can't even claim to have another "real" job outside my home. Excuses, excuses. Since my tiny ventures into the art/web world all stem from my precious laptop, I should really be much more in control of my environment. Should, could, would. Can't. Or don't wanna. Haven't figured that one out yet.I do, however, generally end up with some method to my messy madness - especially around my desk area. I'm always making endless lists of chores, projects, whish-lists really and find them overwhelming and impossible to even check off in the end. So I've come up with this little t
Read more: Chaos , Creativity

Who Let The Cat Out?
2007-07-04 20:10:00
Fauve © R. Koleilat, 2007I did actually. Then spent the whole night waking up and going downstairs to see if she'll come back in. She did, eventually - at 5:32 am but with such dramatic scorn, I almost felt guilty. What I did feel was groggy (and very resentful) this whole drizzly, grey, sticky day.Thankfully, the house was full of kids so after throwing heaps of junk food at them to keep them occupied without me, I made this to reconcile myself with Blossom (who spent her whole day sleeping in my bedroom).Funny thing is I didn't set out with this cat in mind, but as I finished and looked at it, I realized that it could only be about her, my little savage beast.


Finally!
2007-07-03 12:15:00
Hey, everyone! It is now safe to go back and check artezan, now that there's a (quite lovely) new watercolour there.
Read more: Finally

The Queen of Everything Sweet
2007-07-12 07:13:00
My dear friend-niece-in-law Hala Beydoun, and the titular Queen based in Beirut (so far), has sent me this picture of how a teapot cake should actually look like. So, for your viewing pleasure and while waiting for her to finally launch the Cocoa&Co website (so we can ORDER her divine confections)... ta-daaaa!!
Read more: Everything , Sweet

I Won! I Won! I Won!
2007-07-10 20:45:00
I won the lottery! No, not that one, silly! I won a wonderful collage from Belinha's Papelustro site collection. Isn't that wonderful? If you are a faithful reader of this here blog, as well as my sister's, you'll recall that she talked about this giveaway in a comment. All we had to do was pick a favourite, and wait for the winner to be announced. And cara Belinha chose me! Yaay me! Yaay Belinha! I'm so in love with her witty, whimsical, funny, cute, beautiful collages. It was really hard to pinpoint a favourite, but I'd always found myself drawn to "Pretty in Pink", and I hope to be able to share it with everyone here soon. In the meantime, you can admire Belinha's funky creations here.To celebrate, let's share this calorie-free cake. (Yeah, it's kind of wonky and melty, and it didn't taste that good really, but the kids loved the teapot shape. And the Smarties.)


Here We Go! Our First Digital Altered Image Workshop
2007-07-19 07:20:00
(I didn't want to mention Photoshop in the title, just in case you want to use another graphics program).But here it is: A simple, but not too simple, image that we can use to flex our creativity muscles.Copy the image or open it with your program (I'll be using Photoshop), and do something with it... anything goes. I've left the image as is, it's large and has a high resolution, so feel free to alter the size as well to fit your needs and your computer's capabilities. Most importantly, try to remember (or write down, Rima) the steps, so we can appreciate the final result even more. Minimum alteration: 4 steps! Comments and critique are part of the deal - it will help us all get comfortable with this medium, and see things from different perspectives. Post the results on your blog or send it to me at rima@marayagalleries.com and I'll post it here instead (or as well). It would be nice if we could put them all side by side on one page on the Gallery website too - let me know what
Read more: First , Digital , Altered , Image , Workshop

Now and Zen, Again (for Frances)
2007-07-17 21:14:00
Can something old be new again? You bet.I found a brand spanking new reprint of an old classic at the library: "The Zen of Seeing", by Frederick Franck, a book originally published in the early seventies. The book itself is a very lovely creation - it's not typeset, but handwritten (as all love letters should be, Franck tenderly explains) and illustrated with wispy, minimalist (well, zen) drawings, all by the author himself. One of my favourite passages in this book touches on what I've been musing about here - that the innate artist in all of us is so easily silenced by those invisible shackles we collect through our individual lives. Here's what he said (capitals are the author's own):"... WHO IS THE MAN, THE ARTIST?... HE IS THE UNSPOILED CORE OF EVERYMAN, BEFORE HE IS CHOKED BY SCHOOLING, TRAINING, CONDITIONING UNTIL THE ARTIST-WITHIN SHRIVELS UP AND IS FORGOTTEN. Even in the artist who is professionally trained to be consciously "creative" this unspoiled core shrivels up in th
Read more: Again , Frances

Lily Pads, Takes 3 and 4
2007-07-21 18:31:00
I'm working on a "wall" to put up all our different takes on the same image. It's fascinating to see what everyone "sees" in this. I'm having so much fun with this - still waiting for the others, but we did give ourselves a couple of weeks. Tick-tock, tick-tock... Oh, and we're allowed more than one entry.Frances was the first to post hers, and she's come up with a very lovely result (see here - pay especially close attention to the title of her post, it is so perceptive and astute, and so profoundly true...). She's also listed her steps. Thanks, Frances.Below are two more takes on the Lily Pad exercise - one by Neda (guess which one), untitled and thus far with no steps; the other by Fawzan with the very modest title of Modern Manet, and also with no explanation. Still waiting - Let's hope they remember to post their work on their own blogs, and include some explanation for the rest of us mere mortals. What can I do, I share a gene pool with one and a mortgage with the oth


My Lily Pad
2007-07-20 16:34:00
I chose this copyright-free image so we could have a simple, but not too simple first exercise. I like the subject (I love lily pads, and this one is quite handsome), the quality is great, and it’s such a generic picture, with no baggage – perfect for dressing up.To me, this lily pad needed to be stripped down to its bare essentials – the lines. I didn’t want to use any special brushes or effects that wouldn’t be available to everyone, so I stuck with what Photoshop had to offer already… which is plenty.I made myself take notes, so this process ended up a little bit self-conscious, I must admit. I wish I had the patience to take vignettes of each step, but I don't. I might in the future, if I decide to incorporate something like this on the gallery website. But that's another post.Lilypad © R. Koleilat, 2007Ok, now - explanations: (NOTE: I'm updating this as needed from the comments)First, under Filters, Stylize, I chose Find Edges, edited with Hard Light Mode at 74% op


Waiting for Harry
2007-07-20 07:56:00
Pas sorcier 1&2 - © R. Koleilat - 2007
Read more: Waiting , Harry

I See Cacti People
2007-07-20 07:24:00
Debi has turned us on to Picnik, a terrific online, free site for editing pictures and general goofing around. In answer to her last post, this is what I saw...I had forgotten my password (you don't need to sign in to play with Debi), and this is the quote they sent me with my new password:"Better by far you should forget and smile than you should remember and be sad." - Christina Rossetti.
Read more: Cacti

Why I Miss Living in Montreal So Much
2007-07-23 17:40:00
Sigh! Isn't this just so... This is St-Eustache, a small town not too far from Montreal and it's typical of those "discoveries" one makes in this corner of Canada. Saint-Eustache Flower Shop - © L. Jabry, 2007This charming photograph was taken by my old friend (and talented photographer) Louie Louay, who used to sit on the schoolbus behind me and lend me his Agatha Christies. Centuries and many universes ago.On another note, I'm still not done going through the Lily Pad images that I've received - man, you guys are good! And prolific... Just taking a break ... still haven't finished my new book, so please don't tell me how it ends.
Read more: Living

More Bounty
2007-07-23 09:43:00
Sue has sent some amazing interpretations of the Lily Pad that I've already "hung" on the wall - Go check them out right now!!http://www.maraya.virtualave.net/workshop/5.htm
Read more: Bounty

Ladies and Gentlemen...
2007-07-22 17:07:00
While waiting for more entries, enjoy these Interpretations of Lily Pad on the "Wall":http://www.maraya.virtualave.net/workshop/5.htmI think they look stunning, don't you?There's plenty of room for more...Participants: Bobbie, Debi, Diane, Fawzan, Frances, Neda, Rima, Sue


You're Having Way Too Much Fun
2007-07-22 15:45:00
Ok, slow down, you guys, you're having way too much fun with this digital art exercise! Just kidding, don't slow down - I'm still waiting for the rest. This is Lily's Puppy who lives in her Pad, according to NedaI already have 8 entries besides mine (and YES, you're allowed more than one) and I'm having a hard time keeping up with y'all! So please pardon me if I'm late in commenting or posting - the good news is, all the entries look terrific on the "exhibit wall" that I'm preparing. It is so fantastic to see how everyone's sensibilities are expressed and translated - technical know-how notwithstanding. It doesn't seem to matter whether you've done this once or a thousand times - all the "experiments" are darn blooming good. You'll be able to see most of them in the next few hours - since I haven't heard otherwise, I'm assuming that it's ok for me to copy the images you've all created to my own website and the new page is coming together nicely. Oh, I'm so happy
Read more: Having

Wondrous Imagination, Wonderful Image-ing
2007-07-25 20:10:00
Diane has gotten us used to her cornucopia of creativity - but I was still startled at the beauty that she infused these images with, part of our Lily Pad "series".Look at the energy in these two:Dancing with the LiliesSquare Dancing Lilies How delightful and appealing is this one below?Lily in the rainFinally, this awesome and very cool tryptich:Lily at dusk Lily at first lightNightlights LilyLast but not least, Audrey's delightful contribution is on her blog with explanations (click to see the larger image to fully appreciate the fine detail) They're not up on the website just yet, but they will very soon be taking their rightful place in that mini-pantheon of imagination and creativity.So, thanks everyone - it's been a wonderful first experiment. I know you've enjoyed this as much as I have because you've said so - so sharpen those ...uh... mice? and get ready for the next one. Coming soon to a computer screen near you...
Read more: Wonderful , Image

Bloomin' Marvelous
2007-07-24 20:24:00
I still have a bunch of lilypads to post here and on the "wall", one from Audrey and a few by Diane, but until I do (and I will, be patient - I work slowly), enjoy this funky bloom by Debi: SoulSista Lily - © D. Cates, 2007Debi's steps:I used the circle selector to select spots all over the non-flower part of the image.And then I gave it a "Twirl".I selected water pieces using the magic wand and gave them a "Ripple."I doctored up a few of the obscured waterlily petals with paint and smear. (Not as good a result as I would have liked.)And, I think that's it. I was inspired by Frances' 70s Slick Lily. Well, I'm inspired by all of you - this has been fun, and for the sophomore project, I'm looking for something a little more difficult to work on. Tune back in...
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