Buoyant
New work, recipes from a late friend, and taking up more space.
Mind
My work has always been decisively expressive. I use mediums that are finite—india ink, acrylic, oil pastel. I was talking to a friend recently about how I’m not one for “noodling.” This is something one of my first professors at Art Center spoke of often when critiquing student work. He noted that people who over-work their pieces reveal their indecisiveness and insecurity in the way they transfer gestures to surfaces. I found it profound and it has stuck with me for the nearly two decades since I took his class.
As I rework themes around my yearly self-portrait, I’m pushing myself to make more. I am not historically prolific, but I do keep the customary sketch book open and ready for doodling.
In an effort to bring that decisiveness into a larger format, I’ve started setting blank canvases around my place with materials, in order to get these compositions out of the sketchbook and into my space.
Still life has always served as supporting subject matter—a way for me to experiment with surrealism, perspective, and texture. This piece (which has no title) is a launch point for me on the kind of work I’d like to experiment with moving through the year. I’m having fun, and that’s what matters most.
Body
I’ve always been an early riser. I generally get my day started just before sunset because I really enjoy that moment of silence before the day starts. I log-on to work east coast hours, and I tend to dive into my apps sooner than is recommended. I scroll during my morning coffee, so sue me.
Because of this, I’m currently been served tiktoks of WIEIADs for Ramadan, for both suhoor and iftar. It’s interesting rising with folks who are practicing and getting ready for their daily fasts. There’s something very special and generous about baring witness to such a sacred part of someone’s day, and seeing folks gather as a family at sunset to enjoy a meal feels nourishing on a spiritual level, which is no doubt part of the purpose of the practice.
All that said, there are some very very delicious looking meals being shared. A dish that struck me is Makloubeh, which is a spiced rice dish with meat and veg.
My late friend Marie Thérèse (RIP 🕊️), who was Palestinian-Egyptian, gifted me the cookbook Palestine on a Plate back in 2018, and in an effort to find something similar I ran into a recipe for it that I plan on making for my family this weekend. I’m sharing that recipe here:
Spirit
I come from a very long line of fiery, creative women. Me, my mother, her mother, and her mother—all fire signs. My grandmother on my fathers’ side is also a fire sign. Being expressive, courageous, and having integrity are values that had a particular emphasis put on them, as fire is the element of spirit.
I bring this up because recently, my creative process and output has shifted. I’m asking more questions, trying my best to state my case and take up more space where I may have previously handed the mic to someone else, and am overall trying to fulfill a previously honored projective quality.
Long way to say, I’m trying to be more comfortable with being perceived. A motto my grandmother used to try to impart when I was a pre-teen being bullied was, “what they eat don’t make you fat.” That may sound a bit spicy for today’s ears but, the crux of what she was saying is only barely registering as truth for me.
Everyone is trying to do or be or show up as something. In creative work, what’s most important to note is that everyone is a critic. Especially the people who scroll rather than create all day long. This brings me to a personal goal of mine that I encourage more junior creatives to try and embody—just make stuff. Doesn’t have to be perfect, you don’t even need to share it with anyone. Just create.