 | Well, here is another Steampunk painting to stimulate your receptors. Staying with the theme, I opened up the possiblities of a mechanical seahorse submerged within a fantasy Steampunk ocean world, cool eh! I used a plethora of metallic objects to compliment and enhance the painting. Many layers were added to make various textures and to add interest. You could be looking at the painting one day and notice something totally new the next... I love a bit of mystery. So here it is, Steampunk-Seahorse. Hope you like it. Samira xx |
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Hi everyone, I have just come back from an awesome trip to Granada in Spain. I found Granada to be a very inspirational place, full of design features especially in the architecture in the Alhambra Palace. Granada has such a rich history. Granada means pomegranate and is situated at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains. The most famous place is the Alhambra a Moorish citadel and palace. It was declared a world heritage cite in 1984 by UNESCO. There are many churches and a cathedral of Granada built in the early 16th century. I loved the architecture of all the historical buildings and many of the design features that decorated them. The gardens were especially beautiful with their mediteranean flora and fauna, hidden court yards and fountains found around every corner. A lot of these little fountains were estabilished there for the people for drinking, a perfect relief from the heat of the day. This place had my favourite things: art, gardens and scenery. So I may do a range of paintings inspired by this trip. Watch this space. Here are a few pictures to wet your apetite. Bye...... :)   I often wonder sometimes what we are doing here. A few days ago, we went out, as a family to York because my son wanted to buy something for a project he was doing at school. York is a wonderful town in North Yorkshire, full of history and wonder. It was cold and very windy and later in the afternoon it rained. However, it was a beautiful day. It did not matter what the weather was like, what mattered was that we all enjoyed that particular moment in time. Me and the rest of the family. Life goes on, things come and go, yet we as human beings tend to get caught up with work and the daily chores that come our way. Take time out, and enjoy life. Don’t let life run you, you run your life. Enjoy every moment because it’s time to live life to the fullest. It’s time to enjoy ‘A Moment in Time’. My thoughts on my wife’s painting, ‘A Moment in Time’. Hanif  I thought it would be a nice idea to paint a long landscape. I was going to paint a sunset seascape, but when I finished painting the clouds, my eldest son, after getting home from work, saw it and suggested I challenge myself and paint a different landscape. You see he loves concept art, the type of art used in PC games. Never played them myself, but that did not deter me. He asked me to paint the ‘Sehran’ his word for the desert. This is a name of an empire ruled by the great family of Abadir in his novel called ‘Harran’. The person in the painting is a weary warrior tired after his struggles, longing to go back to his family. By the way many people have said the guy looks like Hercules. This was not intentional, but oh well, he can be whomever you want him to be. The painting is in acrylic, 24” x 72”..... yes it is LONG but looks awesome on the wall. If you would like to purchase this painting it is a PAY WHAT YOU WANT offer so go ahead 'make my day' or yours depending on which way you look at it. Just email me at arimasarts@gmail.com with your offer and I will get back to you. The postage and packaging is not included in this offer and will be calculated according to your destination. Don’t be shy try me you may be surprised at how accommodating I am. Here are the stages...... I have named this painting, 'The Sehran'. Love and Peace Samira :)  As you can see I have carried on with the same theme painting butterflies from last week. Here are the stages of development as I painted them. They are 5” x 5” acrylic on canvas. I hope you like them. As always they are up for sale and you can email me if you would like to purchase any of them at arimasarts@gmail.com . Butterflies are very beautiful and delicate creatures which I love to watch fluttering by, like specs of sunshine flitting amongst the flowers. When you see butterflies you know summer is here. Here is a lovely Irish Blessing that caught my eye. May the wings of the butterfly kiss the sun And find your shoulder to light on, To bring you luck, happiness and riches Today, tomorrow and beyond.
Here is a treat for those of you who like sweet things and butterflies. I have found a fantastic video on Youtube showing a tutorial on how to make chocolate butterflies. Sweeeet (sorry couldn’t resist). Love and Peace Samira :)  Hmmmm, what shall I write about. I thought I would do something a bit simple than the usual lengthy blogs. It has been a loooong week. Lots of things going on. Most importantly though, I became a grandma again for the second time, a wonderful blessing for our whole family. I was honoured to be present at the birth, but boy was I tired afterwards as you can imagine. It was great not to have to be the one having the baby, but it was mentally draining watching someone you love going through so much pain. Anyway it was worth it in the end, both are doing well thank you. I have a gorgeous grand-daughter to show for it. She was born on Wednesday night and that is why I couldn't do my blog on Thursday because I was brain dead. Today I will upload some photos of rings that I made last week. I hope you like them as I have taught myself how to make them. It was a fun project to do, however I need a manicure now as the wires left tiny tears in my fingers and my nails had scratches all over them. The things I have to do for art ;) They are really simple to make, you can do it too, just be careful with the pointy ends of the wires, maybe wear old leather gloves to protect your hands. I have a video tutorial made by Rachel Murgatroyd, thank you Rachel, from Youtube showing you the method. This is a great place to start and then you can go crazy and make up your own ideas by using different wires and beads or twisting the wire into lovely shapes, oh the possibilities are endless. Must go now here are my rings.... enjoy!!! Love and Peace Samira :)
 It is amazing how art has developed over the years. Look at the use of computer art for example, graphics have transformed the film and marketing industry to name a few. I know very little if anything about computer art. However my eldest son studied graphics design and animation for four years and is an expert. I am proud to say that he is now a teaching assistant studying to be a qualified teacher, and in charge of the graphics and media studio at his school. As a hobby, to help friends out, he has created amazing posters like this one for instance, that he made for me in minutes. I would not know where to begin with this, but he put layer upon layer and came up with this beautiful poster with the 'Inspired by essence' slogan. Simple yet effective. Even my husband teaches, from time to time, students basic computer graphics using a specialist computer software. So you can see that computers have a big influence in our household. Me on the other hand, I look forward to holding a brush in my hand and standing in front of a canvas waiting to swish my arm around and see what comes of it. On many occasions I have spent hours creating a painting, looked at it , said 'nah don't like it' and then painted right over it. If I had a computer then all I would have to do is press the 'delete' key. I still prefer to use my friends the brushes, rather than the keyboard. Having said that I really rate people who create art using computers. Some are extreeeeeemely amazing, and take a long time to create. Anyway, my husband strongly suggested that I get with the times and try. So I reluctantly got on the computer and opened up 'Microsoft Paint'. You should have seen the looks and heard the comments from my kids when they were watching me use it. I can relate to the woman in this video.  It was soooooo complicated, I did not know where to begin. I could not get my hand eye co-ordination with the mouse, (why is it called a mouse anyway). Well it did seem like it had a life of its own, because it was going in directions I did not want it to. I had problems mixing the colours to my taste, but I managed by some miracle to produce two images. Here is my attempt. I don't know maybe I should auction them off, I bet I could make a mint, what do you think? he, he, he ....... wink, wink. The picture above is lovingly called 'My first sunset on computer'.  This totally awesome piece of art work on the right is called ' Through the forest'.
Do you think I have a future in computer art? With love Samira
 Ok, I am new to all of this so please be patient with me. I have only just discovered what a blog is :)
You are now embarking on a journey of self discovery with me. Welcome. To start with I like the following: Sunny days. Lounging around in my pyjamas on a Sunday. As you already know, painting and photography. My family (most of the time... he he he) I love clever recycling ideas. I am really into the good life, even though I don't have the means to do it yet. The idea of owning my own land and living off it gets me excited. I loooooove nature. I am into healing myself and my friends and family. This is mainly because I have studied alternative therapies. Most of all I would love everyone to live a stress free life, in peace and love. This list could go on forever, but I should stop before you go to sleep. So, why am I blogging? Well I thought I would share with you why I started painting. I come from a very creative family. My dad is brilliant at art. My mum was fantastic at designing clothes and sewing them. However she cannot do this anymore due to ill health. She is also an amazing cook. My sister is brilliant at making portraits of people. She actually studied art at A level. I always believed she would be a famous artist one day, and she may well be some day. But me, well, I was ok. I was pretty much an average student. Not bad at art, but not great either. I left school with ok grades. Attended business school and then got married early, to my childhood sweetheart. Life went on and I had three beautiful, talented, boys, all of whom I encouraged to be creative. I did not have much time for myself. Life was busy as I spent most of my time volunteering at schools, studying ( which is another passion of mine) and managing my family. Fast forward a few years, during a difficult period in my life when my mother was nearly at heaven's gates, I had to give up my job and become her carer. This was a very traumatic time for me. I was slowly breaking down. I could not sleep or focus on anything. My mind was everywhere. It was during this period, I had an overwhelming desire to paint. I thought I was losing it. Me...? Paint...? I asked myself. But a little voice kept urging me to have a go. Then one day as I was flicking through the T.V. channels, I found good old Bob Ross. He made painting look effortless. It was after that programme I caved in and had a go. I remember using my children's paint brushes that they had no interest in, mainly because their creativity is in other forms of art. For example my eldest is a gifted writer, my middle and youngest sons are musicians. So, I painted on the inside of a cereal box ( I couldn't find any paper). The result was pretty good. It was then I realised that for those few moments I felt at peace. I had escaped from the daily rigours of life and took a dive into my soul. My head felt lighter as if I had let off steam. Things were clearer afterwards. This was the beginning of my healing process. Art was the start of a new chapter in my existence. Nature became my master. I also had an interest in photography, which helped my painting too. The idea of capturing precious moments in life forever, is a beautiful thought, and evokes all kinds of emotions every time I look at them. Art is an extension of my soul, uplifting my spirit. It gives me the freedom to express my innermost thoughts and feelings. Sometimes I just stand infront of the canvas and paint whatever comes into my mind. Often I want to paint particular colours, not knowing what will come of it. One such painting is called, 'Blue Horizon'. (take a look :) ) http://samira-butt.artistwebsites.com/featured/blue-horizon-samira-butt.html I believe there is an art form for everyone, you just have to express it. Let your environment and your inner self inspire and heal you. |
AuthorI am a self taught artist who loves and appreciates art and photography. Both capture moments of life with great meaning and beauty. Archives
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