Painting watercolor has been my aspiration for many years, one toward which I have finally been devoting time. It respresents the culmination of several loves: my oldest artisitic passion of drawing, my attraction to color and how we see the world through light, my appreciation of landscape and the natural world around us. Perhaps most of all, it is an expression of my yearning for travel with its exposure to different cultures.
A amateur South African painter living in Cape Town, I am a mother of four, and a full-time medical practitioner with a busy professional career. I have these last few years found capacity to more seriously pick up art again after a long hiatus. I have to make conscious effort to paint afterhours because time for me is a premium, but have nonetheless found the mindfulness of painting to be the perfect counterfoil to my stressful work, such that I lose myself in my colors and brushes during the creative process.
My analytical thinking and evaluation skills result in my being quite critical of my own work - a characteristic that I hope will strenghten my abilities over the journey of forever learning.
I have not exhibited solo, and only participated in a couple of informal doctors art exhibitions, though it is my wish one day to share my work more dedicatedly.
My submission this year is a painting that I have been wanting to put on paper for some time, reference photo from a family trip to Jerusalem a few years ago. This is the interior of Dome of the Rock, light shining through the southern door as worshippers in supplication. Considering the current upheaval in the area, symbolically represented by this most holiest of places in the heart of Jerusalem, my choice was guided by a prayer and wish for peace in the region for all. The arabic verse on the door is reference to the injunction to turn one's face to pray toward Mecca rather than the former qibla direction in Jerusalem. Peace.
Turn your face - Jerusalem
Ayman, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Forgotten Glory, Irreverent Time, 38x56, Arches 300g: The carefully crafted Haveli, once magnificent & proud, is worn by the hand of time. She stands now a derelict remainder of transient glory, humanity now insolently unremembering of her past.
The Beaten Path - Rondebosch Common, view to the west over my beloved Table Mountain, a popular place to walk and experience the fresh air and open views in the midst of the city.
Resonating Light: Reflections on Truth
Buoyance - a gentle moment of repose as two friends drift gently down the river on their journey
Her Head in The Clouds - Lion's Head, one of the most climbed peaks in the world, in my hometown in Cape Town, South Africa
