Hello all

Living in the land of warm/hot fog at the moment! Just lately our mornings have reminded me of those foggy winter mornings in England, minus the cold of course. I didn't know you could get such a thing as warm/hot fog. I guess it's just a lot of moisture filling the air. But, it does make it difficult to see what's coming around the corner, and you can see less than nothing in a foggy desert! I know I keep banging on about the desert just now. But, I'm fascinated by the light, the colours the atmosphere. It's my first real desert experience........................... 

Anyway, I'd like to introduce one of our first actual paintings up for bids in April at The Millenium Hotel, Abu Dhabi. Our American artist Sax Faix, prior to coming to UAE worked for several years in the Installations Department at Philadelphia Museum Of Art. You can find his wonderful Contemporary Artwork on his website here: www.samfaix.com

Put your arm down, you can't bid for it yet! Cute isn't it? I really like those muted, subtle colour and the way it is cleverly executed with mixed media. Found a little spot in your house for it, have you?

Sam has had five solo exhibitions in Portsmouth NH at the Nahcotta Gallery. Then a further 42 group exhibitions all over the States of America!

Here's his 'artist's statement':

''These recent paintings incorporate heavy amounts of alkyd medium as a means to approach and generate unexpected moves and moments.  Brushstrokes combine and overlap with a network of fluid paint that, although random in some ways, produces linear patterns that almost look machined in their miniscule strands of color caused by gravity’s pull. That something so arbitrary and intuitive can also have such an industrial element to it fascinates me and resonates within the roar and pull of all the white noise of today.  The grid that occurs from constantly turning the panel ninety degrees over the course of working, coupled with brushstrokes that cut through the space, also call to mind the twin activities of driving and map reading, and how cathartic it can feel to just get in a car and go.  One can simultaneously run away and forge ahead, or simply appreciate the idea of moving so quickly through a space that only vague impressions sink in and no physical effects are felt.  I think about how one might move through a room in a similar way, how the walls might feel and what details would coalesce into a memory.  These paintings explore how a given space can be traversed, whether it is a field, a city, or a piece of carpet near a table in an empty room.  Or how alkyd medium with some paint in it moves up, down and across a panel of wood, and how it charts its own physical record of movement within a larger idea.  As these purely physical aspects of the work fuse with more conceptual and narrative elements, the result lands somewhere in the gulf between the comfortably familiar and the wholly new.''

So, just to bring down to earth with a bump. Name as many things you can, that you would find in a desert. Quickly!! Yes, oasis, shrubs, sand, dunes, scorpions, desert rats..........any more?

Yes, a sofa of course!!

Didn't you get sofa? See how beautifully the setting sun touches the foam? I'm not sure those colours work in desert, are you? I think someone's messed up the colour scheme.  Yes, I know, it is kind of sad too. But, it's strangely fascinating at the same time. And, be practical! I guess you can't find anywhere to sit  in a desert!

And what do you do if you are a dog, in the desert? Well, you dig of course! I think it's something Suki learned to do, to escape the summer heat too.

Go for it Suki! Are you running out of steam? What will you do? Sign up a friend to help?

Ah, sensible: talk about the problem with your best friend. Hatch a plan and let her do the rest or the work!

Then, sit back and take it easy! Coooooool!

Have a great week. www.moorethanart.com

If you enjoy following the adventures of Suki and Bonnie and want to support other rescue dogs like them in Abu Dhabi, please pop along to www.straysofabudhabi.com You can see their fabulous updated site with all the work and rehoming they do. You could even make a small donation via Paypal, or secure Credit Card. They are a non-profit charity run by Dr. Rachel Shaw of the American Vetinary Clinic and ALL moneys go to help animals in need.