Hello Bloggers,
Apologies for my long absence. Things have become a little busy around here, as our Art Exhibition opening (10th April 7:30) and our 'Animal Lovers' Art Auction' (17th April 7:30) is hotting up.
I've received some beautiful arworks from my talented artsts. And BIG thanks to Nassim Al Majed for showing me her lovely art studio with her quite stunning mosaic art! She seems to be able to turn her hand to any style: contemporary or Traditionally Arabic. All those little jars filled with colours glass. There must have been a thousand? You can view her intricate mosaic-work here on her website: www.fromarabia.ae
In the meantime, I'll share her charming little mosaics for our Charity Art Auction for Strays Of Abu Dhabi.
This one has a very 'English Cottage' feel to me. It is 10x 15 cm. Though Nassim doesn't always keep her talents on the small side. She does some huge mosaic art too. My favourite piece looked like a flowered rug. In fact, you could only tell it was formed by tiny stones by touching it!
Here's her second piece up for bids with NO RESERVE:
Both pieces are ready-framed in a dark green wooden frame.
Nassim writes:
''Mosaic is the art of decorating a surface with designs made up of closely set, small pieces of material such as colored stone, glass, ceramic and others .
Mosaic pieces are called tesserae (from the Latin word meaning dice or cubes) and Smalties (these smalti are hand-cut with a hack hammer and a chisel, producing a single tessera in the desired form and dimension).
This art is principally used to decorate walls, floors and vaults. In Byzantine times, a portable mosaic was a small size depicting a single icon or figure such as the saints. Today portable mosaics of any topic still constitute the most common form of mosaic and are of canvas-sized dimension or less.
We used this art with Arabic Calligraphy and produce beautiful pieces that capture the eyes.''
Let's not of course forget our HUGE contribution from Contemporary Jordanian Gallery Artist Noura Masri. I know it's fairly huge because I failed to take note of the exact measurements before recieving this painting. If I tell you that my husband had to put all the seats down on our car, you'll understand what 1 x 1.5 meters really looks like. I don't do justice to this painting by showing you a small thumbnail, because it really impacts through it's size......but I'll do it anyway.
'My Dog Is My Best Friend' by Noura Masri now living in Dubai.
Gotta run, but before I do, I found this fabulous photo of Dubai after our recent torrential storms. My goodness, I didn't know English rain fell over here lol!!
Crazy!! And yes, that is a road, not a beach-front! You can just see the Burj Al Arab Hotel, in the background. It was of course opened in 1999, is unofficially billed as a 7-star hotel and is the world's most luxurious and tallest hotel. Not that I can tell you about that! Can't say I've ever visited yet!
But, I can tell you about those tour buses. My mum, will enjoying see it again. Give it a wave! We spent such a great Christmas day hoping on and off the tour buses and seeing the sights in Dubai. Then we took a gentle cruise on a Dhow Boat...........here's a little descriptive window into Dubai Creek for you..........
Moored in the quay of the creek, which divides the city in two, the “abras” (taxi-boats) chink with each other. Early in the morning, Saïd and his colleagues are relishing a peaceful moment before the arrival of clients who would like to cross to the other shore. They do not worry much about the cranes that punctuate the horizon or the gleam of the rising sun on the gigantic glass and steel towers. They are used to it now, since these last 15 years, the building sites have gone on multiplying in the four corners of the city, symbols of the unbridled development of the emirate. In the effervescence of the city, the creek is quite nearly a peace haven. It is crisscrossed by several small boats; old wooden dhows and luxurious yachts travel alongside each other. A striking contrast between the past full of humble traditions and the galloping affluent present..........................
I'm pretty proud of this photo. I took this with my mum's untried or tested new camera. But, it came out perfectly. The old and the new sitting strikingly together. Many of the waterfront building in Dubai have this incredible reflective surface, designed to reflect the water, it's fascinating to see.
Quite a hot and memorable Christmas Day under the blue sky................
Hey, here's a little photo of me wondering around the Gold Souk too.
Ah..........and I was doing so well. I think I've over-stretched myself 
Find our Charity Art Exhibition and Art Auction event here on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=390611083941&ref=ts
Entry is FREE, so RSVP please, everyone is welcome!