mimostudio

You did not belong to the metallic world

2012-02-04T23:54:00.000+04:00

Or so I hoped.

Returning to Invisible Cities - Italo Calvino

2012-01-29T01:15:00.000+04:00

“Memory's images, once they are fixed in words, are erased," Polo said. "Perhaps I am afraid of losing Venice all at once, if I speak of it, or perhaps, speaking of other cities, I have already lost it, little by little.”

Perhaps we all have, or our Venice, at least.

A Dylan Thomas kind of night

2012-01-29T01:02:00.000+04:00

"Where Once the Waters of Your Face

Where once the waters of your face
Spun to my screws, your dry ghost blows,
The dead turns up its eye;
Where once the mermen through your ice
Pushed up their hair, the dry wind steers
Through salt and root and roe.

Where once your green knots sank their splice
Into the tided cord, there goes
The green unraveller,
His scissors oiled, his knife hung loose
To cut the channels at their source
And lay the wet fruits low.

Invisible, your clocking tides
Break on the lovebeds of the weeds;
The weed of love's left dry;
There round about your stones the shades
Of children go who, from their voids,
Cry to the dolphined sea.

Dry as a tomb, your coloured lids
Shall not be latched while magic glides
Sage on the earth and sky;
There shall be corals in your beds
There shall be serpents in your tides,
Till all our sea-faiths die."

My shop

2012-01-05T17:03:00.000+04:00

I now have a shop on Envelop :). Check it out here!

For now, I only have 1 place mat design with an oil painting I made earlier but I'm working on some other stuff!!

Matrigal by Tomas Transtromer

2011-12-18T01:06:00.000+04:00

I've just discovered Swedish author, Tomas Transtromer. This is one of his pieces from 'For the living and the dead'. I wish I could read it in Swedish though - not in love with the translation but there's still something I really like here.

Matrigal

I inherited a dark forest where I seldom walk. But a day is coming when the living and the dead trade places. Then the forest will be set in motion. We are not without hope. The most serious crimes will remain unsolved despite the efforts of many policemen. In the same way there is a great unsolved love in our lives. I inherited a dark forest, but today I am walking in the other forest, the light one. And the living things that sing, wiggle, wave and crawl! It's spring and the air is very strong. I have an examination at the University of Forgetfullness and am as emptyhanded as the shirt on the clothesline.

Cherry chocolate city

2011-10-04T23:01:00.001+04:00

I just finished this painting for a friend of mine. It was lots of fun to paint the towers in big this time and as always, I love working with oil paint.

There was one tree

2011-09-01T02:03:00.001+04:00

Cairo's very little world

2011-08-12T11:54:00.000+04:00

A little artwork to keep the bigger one company.

Cairo's world

2011-07-30T14:20:00.000+04:00

I recently finished this painting for my friend's daughter, little Cairo.

And there is little Cairo with her orange hair :).

And her little friends.

My busy Lebanon

2011-07-20T18:02:00.002+04:00

I went to Lebanon for a couple of days recently. This is what popped out when I got back. Now that I look it, I feel it's so busy but I think that's what Lebanon is anyway. And I love it that way. Busy, cluttered, and full of life.

Click to see bigger but sorry for the picture quality. My camera decided to leave this world so the phone camera had to do for now :).

Hi :)

2011-07-18T18:00:00.001+04:00

The city I sleep in

2011-07-10T19:14:00.003+04:00

?

2011-07-07T15:25:00.004+04:00

In dreams, I knew you more.

A crowded home

2011-07-07T14:55:00.002+04:00

Is this my Lebanon?
All cars and no roads...

All the words I love

2011-06-05T08:56:00.004+04:00

"For thirty-five years now I have been in wastepaper, and it is my love story. For thirty-five years I've been compacting wastepaper and books, smearing myself with letters until I've come to look like my encyclopedias---and a good three tons of them I've compacted over the years. I am a jug filled with water both magic and plain; I have only to lean over a stream of beautiful thoughts flows out of me. My education has been so unwitting I can't quite tell which of my thoughts come from me and which from my books, but that's how I've stayed attuned to myself and the world around me for the past thirty-five years. "

This is how 'Too loud a solitude' by Czech author, Bohumil Hrabal, begins. It's a beautiful book that really captures someone's love for books...

'Le petit prince' in the morning

2011-06-05T08:48:00.003+04:00

"Je connais une planète où il y a un Monsieur cramoisi. Il n'a jamais respiré une fleur. Il n'a jamais regardé une étoile. Il n'a jamais aimé personne. Il n'a jamais rien fait d'autre que des additions. Et toute la journée il répète comme toi: "Je suis un homme sérieux ! Je suis un homme sérieux !" et ça le fait gonfler d'orgueil. Mais ce n'est pas un homme, c'est un champignon !

- Un quoi ?

- Un champignon !

Le petit prince était maintenant tout pâle de colère.

- Il y a des millions d'années que les fleurs fabriquent des épines. Il y a des millions d'années que les moutons mangent quand même les fleurs. Et ce n'est pas sérieux de chercher à comprendre pourquoi elles se donnent tant de mal pour se fabriquer des épines qui ne servent jamais à rien ? Ce n'est pas important la guerre des moutons et des fleurs ? Ce n'est pas plus sérieux et plus important que les additions d'un gros Monsieur rouge ? Et si je connais, moi, une fleur unique au monde, qui n'existe nulle part, sauf dans ma planète, et qu'un petit mouton peut anéantir d'un seul coup, comme ça, un matin, sans se rendre compte de ce qu'il fait, ce n'est pas important ça !"

Antoine de St. Exupéry

Houses of the past - in progress

2011-04-13T00:51:00.005+04:00

These houses of the past
are hanging from our necks
And, like mobiles
are lulling us to sleep.

Floating piano

2010-10-06T15:17:00.003+04:00

Image from a story I'm working on.

'Dearest sea,
how, how did you know?
That society sleeps
in a piano's keys'.

And more puppet and background fun

2010-08-19T21:21:00.004+04:00

Puppet and background fun

2010-08-19T21:11:00.003+04:00

I'm testing out the look and feel of my paintings combined with puppets. I made the puppet shown here in a puppet for animation workshop in May in Prague :). More about the great workshop here: http://www.puppetsinprague.eu/

2010-08-14T00:35:00.003+04:00

Something in your eyes reminded me of the Gemmayzeh stairs and my home, that in memories keeps slipping away from me.

The Suits

2010-08-13T23:07:00.006+04:00

They stand upright, ready to tease and tickle the sky.

M.

2010-08-08T22:42:00.001+04:00

The Lebonian King

2010-08-02T14:30:00.001+04:00

He lived in the sea

2010-08-02T14:13:00.001+04:00

2010-07-09T15:51:00.001+04:00

The Suits

2010-06-20T23:28:00.001+04:00

Intersection

2010-06-04T17:49:00.002+04:00

Jack and the beanstalk

2010-05-04T12:24:00.003+04:00

I stumbled on these drawings from an interactive version of Jack and the beanstalk I made in university.

The ogre and his wife.
Jack and his mother.

A face

2010-04-17T11:40:00.003+04:00

Polka Dot

2010-04-05T09:46:00.006+04:00

Polka Dot is a boutique agency in Dubai. I worked on the design and illustrations for the website and George Rouhana developed it!! I'm a big fan of his work :) :).

Check out the website here: www.polkadot.ae

Moss man

2010-03-30T22:06:00.004+04:00

He lived by the water and grew greens on his face.

Title in pro-grace

2010-03-26T15:34:00.003+04:00

The one with a beak gets oily

2010-03-02T22:20:00.003+04:00

Still got some final tiny touches but this is almost it.

The one with a golden beak

2010-02-05T15:54:00.004+04:00

He was born with a golden beak, but always wished that he could speak.

A ∩ B

2010-02-03T14:06:00.003+04:00

The Electricity man (multi-purpose)

2010-01-23T23:14:00.004+04:00

The electricity man roams the streets of Lebanon, with electricity for the house and the heart for only 10,000 L.L (originally 1,000 l.l. Sorry, the price has gone up.).

But careful, there are lots of unauthentic electricity men around.

Homesick

2010-01-20T18:44:00.005+04:00

I was in Lebanon recently and took a picture of my bedroom door. I painted this around 8 years ago. It was then that I discovered my love for oil paint.

When love comes to town

2010-01-11T14:27:00.003+04:00

Inocencia

2010-01-10T23:37:00.006+04:00

I did this artwork for a new album by Bosques de mi mente, 'Inocencia'. He is a musician based in Spain. Check out his music here: http://www.myspace.com/bosquesdemimente.

'Cherry on top'

2009-10-31T16:00:00.004+04:00

I did the illustrations for the website of Cherry on Top, a new event planning company based in Dubai. Check it out here.

2009-10-23T13:53:00.007+04:00

Not really a cow

2009-10-12T02:05:00.004+04:00

It's called Olafur because I was listening to Olafur Arnald's music when I drew it. The blue circle in the forehead should play his music, or that's the way I imagine it :). Olafur has many siblings that I should be uploading soon.

Happy Eid!

2009-09-20T00:10:00.002+04:00

Well, this is actually on behalf of both M. and the Digital Cleaning Lady, but for this time the DCL decided to be at the forefront. Enjoy!

Starla

2009-09-15T19:48:00.008+04:00

An image I did for a story my friend wrote. Lots more to come!
The words in the bubble (which can't be read in this size) are my friend's, not mine.

Can't wait to do this in oil! Click to see larger (ensy weensy larger)!

And...the DCL's back!

2009-09-15T13:07:00.003+04:00

I'm back with my 24 hour broom service! Check it here: www.digitalcleaninglady.com!

Can you take over the sky?

2009-08-03T16:29:00.005+04:00

Here is my comic from Samandal issue 5. I didn't even know it was published till now :).
http://www.samandal.org/

Study room on the Zeroth Street

2009-07-04T15:15:00.002+04:00

Off the wall - process for a city

2009-06-28T16:00:00.003+04:00

Some of the images I'm working on. These are 'The Suits' from the 'Metallic World'.

I am the Digital Cleaning Lady

2009-06-17T19:03:00.003+04:00

So, I'm finally sharing this idea that I've been thinking about for a while. I will be offering free one hour 'cleanliness' checkups to websites, with a primary focus on the middle east. This will be in beta form for around 6 months. If I find that people are receptive to it, I will develop it into a full fledged community website and business.

Check it out here!

www.digitalcleaninglady.com

The work hives

2009-06-15T16:02:00.004+04:00

This is part of a personal project I'm working on.

Fiddling around

2009-06-07T01:21:00.001+04:00

with styles for something I'm working on.

The new house with a balcony

2009-06-04T17:19:00.005+04:00

The metronomic trees.

The cloud that sings
far above the urban things.

The new house with a balcony (finally)

2009-06-03T23:25:00.004+04:00

Coloured pencil and black ink on 130 g paper.

The girl who lived on a little hill in the sea

2009-06-03T17:00:00.004+04:00

Coloured pencil and black ink on 130 g paper.

Every day at 5AM, she waits and watches with her blue bird and eager eyes for one hour. What will the sea bring to her little hill? And she hums.

We have a war itch

2009-06-02T13:29:00.007+04:00

A comic I did inspired by what a friend said: We have a war itch.
Published in Samandal issue 4. http://samandal.org/
Click to see in a size where the details make some sense!

Coloured pencil Balloon ferry ride

2009-05-29T23:56:00.002+04:00

I did this at the Sketch event, yesterday at the Jam Jar.

Colour Series

2009-05-19T01:07:00.006+04:00

New colour series.
Look who's on the desk!! None other than Super Mario - my favourite.

Firefly - Experimental video (2005)

2009-04-06T14:01:00.003+04:00

I did this in university as part of an animation project. It was lots of fun, taking pictures and playing with light and transparencies. I don't remember the name of the song, but obviously it's not mine!

The piano on the roof

2009-03-24T08:40:00.004+04:00

Sketch of towers from the Metallic World. The towers will be transformed into piano keys and animated. The words correspond to a song I wrote. Check it out here:
http://www.myspace.com/balloonferryrides

Metallic World

2009-03-24T08:34:00.008+04:00

Sketch for the metallic world. It includes the towers that try to tickle the sky, the crane creatures, the foil mountain, the piano on the roof and the Zeroth theater (and mini mautomata standing there).

The little factory

2009-02-23T13:50:00.006+04:00

My new house

2009-02-10T08:22:00.003+04:00

New painting almost finished. The shadows aren't part of it, though I wish they were.
I finally have a balcony!

The Zeroth Theater on the Zeroth St.

2009-02-09T17:45:00.007+04:00

Photos of the Zeroth Theater sketch. Part of a project I'm working on.
Opus 23 a piano piece by Dustin O Halloran. I imagined the character dancing to it in the theater.

Cat caught in the fire

2009-02-05T18:39:00.003+04:00

The pirate eye for the little creatures caught in the tide.

More from the little factory

2009-02-03T08:16:00.004+04:00

Another mini balloon ferry ride, with the marking for the drop off zone.

Little cards 2

2009-02-01T09:54:00.002+04:00

Little drawings and little cards

2009-01-26T09:33:00.006+04:00

Gaza 09

2009-01-25T09:48:00.005+04:00

The green lands

2008-01-12T00:16:00.004+04:00

level 1 - dialogues on a natural high

2007-12-12T00:23:00.001+04:00

the natural high world, this is level 1. welcome. no flying yet.

oil paint, pencil, ink, colouring pencils, and photoshop for layering

the green lands

2007-12-03T23:40:00.002+04:00

this is an image from another world:

the green lands. people float on balloons.
it has been years since the balloons have cruised through the sky.

a certain piece of music can bring back the purity to the ice patch plant that sets this world in order. The piece is called 3N (by noha el khatib, natalie aboulhouson, and nadine ataya).

Love

2007-08-03T13:56:00.001+04:00

monkey business

2006-10-30T19:18:00.002+04:00

playwright on the lebanese borders

2006-10-13T19:14:00.000+04:00