Train rides and Lattes

I love training into city on a bright sunny day. I sometimes take my 4-year-old son with me too. We spend a few hours in the city, there is always something new happening at Federation Square. Plus the food and the coffee is so much better than anything we get in suburban Melbourne. Last week, I took my son to city during Easter break. We first went to the Cupcake Shop in Melbourne Central. Holding a cupcake is literally like holding happiness in your hands. My little one got a special Easter bunny cupcake, while I bought my favourite carrot cupcake. After that we spent sometime playing in NGV’s Kids Corner, and then we were off to burn off the calories.
NGV keeps coming up with these interactive play areas and exhibitions for the young ones, which are very entertaining and educational. If you haven’t been to the NGV’s Kids Corner, I suggest you take your kids soon. Here are some pictures of the place for you.

An Inspiring Workshop

A lot has happened since I last updated my blog. I finished my post-graduate diploma in teaching, travelled to three different cities (Canberra, Brisbane, Sydney), visited many art shows and museums, made new friends, and most importantly I finally enrolled in Stephanie’s e-course Creative Courage. Stephanie started her workshops in September last year when I was buried up to neck with university assignments and teaching commitments. Thankfully I am able to participate in her April workshop.

Hardly a week into the workshop and I already see a change happening within myself. Great company of creative people do this to you..lift up your spirits, help you find your voice, your direction..and provides with plenty of inspiration and motivation.

I will share more about the workshop as it progresses.

Welcome back :)

I am almost finished with my university, one more week to go before I get a much-needed and well deserved holiday break. I plan to get back to blogging and art making full-time during my holiday, missed it much throughout this intense academic year..phew!!
For the time being, here is a glimpse of what I have been doing to satisfy my creative instincts while juggling university, work and family life

I am on a break..

Hello everyone. I have an announcement to make. My university starts this Monday and I am so looking forward to the daily mayhem that awaits me till the end of the semester. Unfortunately I will not be able to blog much (if any at all) during the semester. But the good news is that I am on twitter and you can follow me and my creative adventures on twitter and my Facebook page.

So this is a official break from blogging for the next three months.

A new print :)

I designed this print for my etsy shop..my first etsy product ever and I think it’s pretty cool

Today I don’t feel like doing anything ;)

But I did!

Took care of a whole lotta things, and am still super energized

We Melburnians had a very bright and sunny day today..and I felt every inch of my existence filled with such joyful energy. So lazy day can wait..

I filed all my university/school/personal paper work..WOHOO!! Cleaned up my studio, and of course kitchen..went for a walk in this fabulous weather, felt like I owed it to great mother nature for rewarding us with a sunny day in winter  Read a few of my favourite blogs, and cooked a hearty dinner for me and my boys. I also spent some time gathering visual references and various tidbits for a large size painting that I have been itching to paint for quite sometime now. Have a look at this fabulous painting at apartment therapy.

I also recently planned a whole unit on “Silhouette Art” for Year 10 Studio Arts. I am leaning towards artists like Kara Walker, and old Victorian Style Silhouette portraits.

Kara Walker-Calling to me from the angry surface of grey and threatning sea. I was transported"

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At last…I am back!

I am blogging after such a long time that I don’t think I will even attempt to justify it. Suffice to say that life happens and often things are out of our control. I missed blogging as it helped me  put my creativity and life in perspective.

Sharing a small sketch I made on 6th of June, the day I had my exam. I also posted it on the flickr group “what I wore today/ drawings only“. Since I am off from university for few weeks, I am hoping to inject some life into my blog and blog often.  :)

Zentangle to get untangled in 2011

this I made last night using Indian ink and pen

Oh boy!! I never thought I would be writing about something which begins/ends or contains the word “Zen” in it. Because I just didn’t see it in me..I am no Zen, not at all. So why is it that I want to end this year with a blog post titled “Zentangle”?? Because I want to zen-out in 2011, and turn to this beautiful art form for meditation and relaxation.

To put in simple words Zentangle is like doodling, but its a bit more organized than just doodling. Doodling/ Zentangle has taken the art world by storm (not really, but yeah. Like almost). Doodling is one of the essential tools for surviving the psychological warfare that goes on all around us, all the time. Remember boring college lectures??what saved your sanity?? those tiny scribbles that you did in your note book..Those my friends were “doodles” now known as “Zentangle”. And there have been numerous other occasions, long monotonous one-sided phone calls with a friend venting her heart out (I am sure she created some doodles of her own when it was your turn to vent), a date gone wrong where you ended up drawing on the napkin instead of writing your phone number..and the list goes on.

So why do we indulge in creating small lines, shapes and other marks like these when we are stuck in a rut..what’s the relation between these lines and our emotions. Well, it is widely accepted that creating a doodle/Zentanlgle is like meditation. It is a soothing activity which brings peace and calm to a person. It literally makes you zen-out. The only materials you need are a piece of paper (any size would do), a pen or a pencil. Doesn’t matter if you think you are artistically challenged, aren’t we all?

So here’s wishing you all a happy new year, and I pray we all find happiness, health and a little bit of Zen in 2011.

Happy New Year

Just ended my year by making this quick one

So I got myself a new notebook ;), and I have been creating these little pieces in it since yesterday. I am stuck inside a huge creative block and Zentangling is my way out.

I got this lovely to start untangling my creativity

 I am off on a road trip for three days with my family. Get back to blogging after this break.

Adding a new category “Red Plate Recipes”

So I have an announcement, I am finally adding a recipe page to my blog. Even though I am not good at writing recipes, but since I have been receiving a lot of requests for the recipes of different food that I have been sharing here, I finally decided to add it anyway. It is titled “red plate recipes”. I will keep updating this with new recipes as I blog about food under the category “on a red plate”.

I am blogging after a long break which exceeded way beyond what I had anticipated, but I am happy to be back and blogging once again.

2010 was a fantastic year with so many ups and downs. However this post is not about 2010.

I have to finish off 4 paintings and plates and I keep changing the composition all the time. I need to set a time limit before I run out of time. Deadline is January 6.

“When Love Comes to Town”

What can be a more appropriate title than this beautiful song “When love comes to town” by U2 and BB King to summarize how I felt when I found out that legendary rock band U2 were to rock Melbourne with their massive 360 concert tour in December. I had already missed out on their last hit concert Vertigo, so this was a must-attend-at-any-cost-event for me, and boy did I pay a hefty price for attending it!! I ended up with Laryngitis afterwards and lost my voice for about a week, all because of singing my heart out with the 60,000 fans. Well, I attended the concert despite asthma and sour throat, patiently waited for four hours for U2 to grace the stage, and through an hour long opening act by Jay Z banged head like zombies (partly because of medicines and partly because I actually couldn’t hear him well, (damn you EQ). And by the time U2 hit the stage I have had two cups of coffee and two rolls of sushi (not at one time). The concert was held in Etihad stadium, which is huge because it-is-a-stadium!! Stadium gigs are not easy to pull off, but then nobody does a stadium like Bono and his boys. 360 concert tour is one of the most expensive rock concerts in history. The major attraction was obviously the gigantic Claw, but for U2 fans it was all about U2 :’)

crowd gathering around the Claw before concert

Jay Z rocks the crowd, his performance is projected on the giant screen

One by one they kept playing all their hit numbers, started out with my favorite ”New Years Day” and then some new ones. I called my sisters in Pakistan when they played “Beautiful Day”, it was magic :’)

I love love love U2, attending their concert was one of the biggest dreams of my life and I left their concert with such intense feelings. Throughout the concert I missed my sisters and girl friends (Zainab and Saman) like crazy, my brother, and my hubby (who was babysitting our son). I missed my college days, when we were young and had dreams. Listening to Bono’s larger than life voice brought forth a surge of powerful nostalgia that I had never experienced before..I thought I was over and done with that chapter of my life, happily transformed into a sub-urban stay-at-home mother, aspiring artist, and a super-skilled home maker..sigh!!

Turns out the old me is still well intact, ready to come out and re claim her identity. Attending this concert made me realize that I haven’t still lost my love for music, a good song still holds the power to make my day..and that I don’t have to give up on my life-long dreams of travelling, studying, having a successful art practice and many others like that. It may sound naive to most but I needed a moment like that, a moment of reassurance and affirmation. The moment came to me like a sudden realization of a truth I knew all along, but wasn’t able to make sense of it.

I got myself back.

Before that I was only “trying” to recreate the me I once was..by mechanically doing things that I used to do. It has changed. And I couldn’t be much more happier, and relieved.

I left the concert venue..leaving behind Bono and his boys playing their last songs for us “I still haven’t found what I am looking for”..making sure this haunts us all till the next time when we see them rocking us all to our bones.

Mr. Bono thank you for a beautiful memory.

amazing display of lights, and video projection

U2 performing "beautiful day"

My favourite video projection and lights sequence of the Claw