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I am a self-taught artist who loves and appreciates art and photography. Both capture moments of life with great meaning and beauty.
A photo or a piece of art can set off all kinds of emotions. I believe that looking at paintings and images can promote healing too, a form of colour therapy. Anyway, I hope my vision of my time on this planet can give you all some form of joy. |
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Just sat down with my family and started talking about what is going on in the world. One thing led to another and we got onto the subject of eating. Well we watched Jamie Oliver discussing health issues affecting the people of this planet. The main culprit being the fast food industry. You can watch his talk here. We are living in fast era where time is of the essence or should I say time is money. No one has time to prepare meals, sit down with family and friends on a regular basis and enjoy a home cooked meal, full of wholesome goodness. Instead we have microwave meals full of god knows what, packed with mostly additives, sugar, preservatives, colour the list can go on and on.... Basically what I am saying is we need to think about the future of our children and their health. I am a great believer in cooking from fresh and like growing my own fruits and vegetables, when I can. I have taught all three of my boys to cook, because it is a life skill and will serve them well. I believe that even cooking is an Art form. If you go to a restaurant you will notice the presentation of the food is of great importance, because you eat with your eyes first. If the food is attractive you will want to sample it. Sometimes when I am preparing a salad I like to add colour to it as I would one of my paintings. I also love experimenting by mixing fruit and vegetables together in the salad, just as I would use different media in my pictures. I have an Elder tree in my garden and this year I decided to use its bounty to produce my very own elder flower cordial. This went down well with friends and family, who suggested I should bottle it and sell it. I produced so much I had to share it with everyone, even my neighbours loved it. I felt so proud of myself using a resource that most people would have ignored and seen as a weed. If I were to buy this from the local supermarket it would have cost quite a lot of money and would have had preservative in it too. Mine was just the cost of sugar and a couple of other cheap ingredients. I made this cordial within a day, the drink was extra healthy as the pollen from it was present too. Here is a video with the recipe. Try it you will love it.  I also have a little cherry tree, that produces lots of cherries every year. I had so many this year that I made jam out of them and a cherry pie. Here is a picture (not a very good one sorry). If you have read my previous blogs you will know that I love trees. My dream is to own land where I can grow my own fruit and vegetables. I think I would probably cover it with fruit trees of all varieties, so that I can pick and eat them fresh every day. Can you imagine how healthy people would be if everyone could do this?
With love Samira :)
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 Recently I received a calendar from a friend in Australia. It had some beautiful dot paintings in vivid colours. I was so inspired by them that I had to have a go. After doing a little research on Aboriginal dot paintings, I learned that the ancients used to do these paintings on rocks and caves.
The images depicted stories and legends from their religion. A lot of them showed aerial views of rivers, lakes, people sitting around campfires and many forms of animals. Rather like looking at a map. Well, I thought It would be a good idea to, very loosely, base the next theme for my work on dot paintings. My first piece, ‘The Balance of Life’, shows the Tree of life standing proud in the middle of the picture. On either side of the tree are two campfires, with people surrounding each one. They represent community spirit and the unity of humankind. The tree provides them with shade and sustenance. The stars up above represent the elders and loved ones, who have moved on, but are still keeping a watchful eye on them. Everything is in harmony, perfectly balanced. Due to problems uploading the picture, I cannot show it here, but you can view it on my Facebook album page.This painting will be up for sale soon. Watch this space!!! See you later :) :) |