Shipwreck

"Shipwreck" - 40x70cms

"Do you know what it means when an artist can't feel? 

When an artist can't feel, an artist can't be."

That is what I found myself saying to my sister, while complaining about art blocks, and not having created any piece in a good while.

For those of you who are familiar with the process of creating any piece of art, you probably have been through an art block. If you don't know what I'm talking about, it is the feeling of wanting to create, but not being able to. You feel the need to be creating something, yet as soon as you try to, the result comes out ridiculous, almost funny. It is as though the artist living in you has somehow left, leaving only the need to express your passion with no way to convey what's inside of you into a piece of art. Inspiration runs dry, frustration takes over, and you fear having lost your gift while losing faith in your art. 

I am all too familiar with that feeling, and it often happens when I feel empty. 

This is how I found out, not long ago, that the essence of an artist's work is feelings. Art can never be created at the click of a button, it is rooted deep within. Whether the artist intends to or not, whatever shows up on the canvas is a result of what is going on in our hearts. 

I often find emotions to be too overwhelming, as I never feel anything lightly, and often find myself running from them...

Until I learned a lesson: emotions are meant to be felt, and I have been built to feel them deeply. With time, and lots of ups and downs, I've been able to control them, feeling them without being entirely consumed by the intensity.

Wild Oceans

"Wild Oceans" - 120x120cms

Liquefied acrylics on canvas 

This piece was my largest work to date. In April, I got the chance to display one of my works at a lovely gallery in Beirut. After visiting and checking on the furniture, I headed to my favorite art shop to get the supplies needed for my new baby. Working on such a large scale was new to me, and I couldn't help but feel a little anxious about it. Luckily, the color palette chosen was my favorite, one that made me dreamy, comfortable, and ignited the spark that pushes the creator in me to the edge of creating potential.

Libertas

"Libertas" - 40cms

(Liquefied acrylics on canvas)

Libertas, in Latin, means Freedom. As bold as freedom could get, I tried to strengthen my colors. I changed the blending of my usual color palette into a heavier, thicker one, incorporating alcohol into it this time. I also went for more metallic colors: gold, a metallic cyan and another metallic ultramarine, blended along with the peaceful, indispensable white. The unusual density of paint and its movement on my sharp-edged canvas evokes the bittersweet taste of freedom, the feeling of liberation after being trapped in worries and anxiety, the full awareness of being human, our humanity being at once our only limit and our source of power.  

Pacifia - Mother of Pearls

"Pacifia" - 30cms

Mixed media on canvas

As you might have already guessed, the name Pacifia is inspired by the Pacific Ocean, the largest and deepest of Earth's oceanic divisions. The name also evokes peace, the eternal peace in that immensely frightening being, fearsome yet calm in its enormity. I chose to embellish it with artificial pearls, which are my favorites among all gemstones, portraying them in their natural home, the place where these beauties were formed and created. The movement of the paint at the level where white meets blue pictures the repetitive, harmonious, wild at times yet calm movement of the waves.

Thoughts of Cotton Candy

"Thoughts of Cotton Candy" - 45x60cms

Liquified acrylics on cotton canvas

This painting was created in the midst of my finals. Through pressure, stress and anxiety, I needed an escape. And my only way out of this dark mess was a pastel, light and colorful palette of liquefied acrylics for me to mix and mess with. It was not my usual, comfort-zone-palette, but it refreshed my fatigued spirit, left me feeling light, bright and colorful.

And these are the feelings I intend to convey to you through this piece. Liberation of any kind of pressure, bright and colorful bits of happiness, just like the joy cotton candy would bring.

Serenity

"Serenity" - 40x20cms

Oil on cotton canvas

"Soft comes the hush of eventide

And songbirds hide

In limbs of budded trees

To bid farewell to setting sun

With lullabies they've sung

Each night for centuries. [....]" 

By Margaret Yacavace

After a long time of working with acrylics, I felt like going for oil would be a good idea. I wanted to create something calm, serene, that would bring inner peace and happy thoughts. A beautiful sunset photograph found on Pinterest, which I used for reference, inspired this calm landscape. Working with this palette of colors felt like a therapy, putting my emotions to life through the brushes.

Psyche

"Psyche" - 50x70cms

Acrylics on canvas

I first watched Psyche's story on Youtube. Click here to watch the illustrated story told in such a beautiful way.

Psyche was human, a young woman of immeasurable beauty. She was so beautiful that all men were intimidated by her. Thinking that beauty was a curse, she was abandoned by her father to the gods. Venus saw her beauty as a threat, and asked her son Cupid to make her fall in love with a monster. The god of love fell for her instead and took her to his castle, where he made love to her without revealing his identity, keeping her in the dark.

Daphne

"Daphne" - 50x60cms

Acrylics on canvas

"Daphne was another of those independent young huntresses who are met with so often in the mythological stories. 

She is said to have been Apollo's first love. It is not strange that she fled from him. Her father, the river god Peneus, was greatly tried because she refused all the young men who wooed her. 

But at last Apollo saw her, an everything ended for her. She was hunting. her dress short to the knee, her arms bare, her hair in wild disarray. She was enchantingly beautiful.Apollo thought, "What would she not look like properly dressed and with her hair nicely arranged?". The idea made the fire that was devouring his heart blaze up even more fiercely and he started off in pursuit.

Seah

"Seah" - 30x40cms

Liquefied acrylics on canvas

The little forms in Seah's texture reminded me of the sea and the life it holds, which inspired the name of this painting. Looking at the blue tone, I can feel the waves of the ocean brushing against the canvas. 

One of my dearest friends told me this painting reminded her of Poseidon, god of the sea, noticing a sad lover's face formed between the blue and white details.

Daphnia

"Daphnia" - 30x40cm

Liquefied acrylics on canvas

"I am yours as the summer air at evening is
Possessed by the scent of linden blossoms,

As the snowcap gleams with light
Lent it by the brimming moon.

Without you I’d be an unleafed tree
Blasted in a bleakness with no Spring.