Art of the Day - A 50/50 Couple

Just because you are out doing groceries with your man doesn't mean he should carry all the bags. You as a woman have both inner and outer strenghth. Help him out and he will truly appreciate it and remember it. 

Oh look... It just started to rain!

A mutual relationship is a beautiful thing. 

Art of the Day - Home away from home...away from home

Yes I did!I made a fake canvas with sketching paper and ducktaped it to the wall.  It looks surprisingly professional. Cost was free. Materials were paper, pencil, scissors, tape and a creative mind.

I just wanted to express my life in a simple black and white picture...well 2.

You see a long bridge that I scribbled.  A bamboo bridge that transforms into metal along the way to the new countries.  The left picture starts with Bangladesh, my motherland, hence the Sriti shodh and bamboo.  Far ahead are familiar skyscrapers in the USA, the place I grew up in and called home.  Near to the front on the 2nd picture are smaller buildings,old fashioned buildings which are churches, offices, and apartments by the water.  This is Sweden, the place my real journey began.  Now this is my home.  i believe there is no permanent place for us in life. We should never get too attached because what you have now will not be with you tomorrow.  We are all travelers in this world.  At least I am...

Art of the Day - Sunset

That time of the day when most of us call it a day and start heading home, just like the birds, going back to their nests.

Everything lets out a different glow during this ephemeral moment.  Things just appear more...beautiful.

I get amazed by all the vibrant colors nature spills out during sunset.  We get to see it every day, yet we forget to appreciate the beauty of it.  

Art of the Day: His Ghost

I missed drawing on paper so much that I just took a long break from the ipad. I guess digital art isn't my thing.  I love sketching... I scribble on and on and never erase.

Isn't it scary to even think about it? How we're all going to lose our loved ones.  It's the harsh reality.

The worst feeling ever.  Losing the one you love.  They went through hard times and joy together.  There was a time when they would playfully ask each other "What would I have done without you?" They had 4 beautiful kids, raised them, got to see their weddings.  Some had kids, some just married. Their house became empty once again.  They moved into that house when they were in their mid-20s.  So young and energetic.  So many memories embedded in every single part of their home.  Now they were weak and aging.  All they needed was each other.  They mystically ask each other sometimes, "What am I going to do without you?"  One day it hit the woman.  She realized she was the only one asking herself that.  It stung her inside badly.  All she heard was her echo in that empty house.  "God knows how much I miss you...."

Art of the Day - Is There Hope?

We often tend to let our weakness get to us which slowly degrades our happiness piece by piece.  To make it worse, we pity ourselves with that annoying question "why me?" You think your stuck so deep that there's no way out. 

The ugly truth is you're no angel.  Nobody is.  And it's not just you.  We all go through tough times.  Grieving never gets you anywhere in life.  Instead, always look for the light.

Art of the Day - Insecurity

Like the woman in this drawing, we all tend to underestimate ourselves time to time. Looks, career, status, and many other things play part in trying to get accepted into the ridiculous society that we have created.

Art of the Day - Light of the night

Have you ever took a moment to notice the beauty of that simple but mysterious illuminated shape that holds the light of the world?  

Nothing can be compared with the moon, thinks the man.

Art of the Day - soul mate

They look into each other's eyes and only wonder how impossible it would be to survive without each other.  They could be this way forever in such comfort and bliss.  There's not much that has to be done to please one another.  They are just being themselves, opening up like best friends, soul mates.  It's one committed relationship based on honesty and trust.  No matter how much they struggle in life, their love will overcome it all.

Art of the Day - The victim

Anybody can be the victim.  Many of you have already been the victim during some point of your life. It's possible that this girl in the picture can be followed, mugged, beaten, raped, and/or killed.  As much as we wish for it, crime will never leave this world.  Judgment in the court will not make that huge of a difference in your life at the end since you already know that one or a few punishments will not teach the other criminals a lesson. We can always stay alert though.

I remember once when I was getting out from an early morning class 4 years ago back in Atlanta, I had to change classrooms, which meant changing buildings that were about 10minutes away from each other.
Early morning meant everything hadn't opened yet in downtown accept for banks and big offices and you would have thought that all the street bums would be sleeping at that time but it was incredible how those perverts woke up that early to start making nasty comments to every single girl that passed them by.

I hated the dark gloomy morning and I kept looking down at the pavement while I walked past the empty streets.  I heard comments coming from a man's voice behind me.  There were no other girls around me, so it had to be directed to me.  I kept walking and he kept talking, asking questions from couple meters behind me.  Next thing I knew was that I was being followed.  My pace got faster and he continued to follow.  I was partly in denial with the whole situation and I started becoming breathless.  I knew many friends that got mugged near the place where I was walking in broad daylight, and all I could do was walk fast and pray under my breath.  I kept reciting Ayat'ul Kursi and out of nowhere a university police slowly parked his bike by the building I was about to pass.  The police didn't see me, and when I looked behind, fingers crossed, I saw nothing but a clear path.  I didn't know where that man went, but I prayed that I would never have to see him again.

That 10minute walk was the longest 10minute walk of my life.  I thanked Allah for protecting me.  

Art of the Day - A Smile behind those Eyes

We see more fake smiles than real smiles in this world.  Isn't that pathetic.  You can always sense when the real one comes though.  It always makes its way through the eyes.  Eyes define your overall face expression.  

I've always loved drawing since I was a kid, but I think I got most of my art habits from my dad.  When i was a little girl, I would always ask dad to sketch a person.  Every time I asked, without denying he would grab a white paper and a pencil, sometimes even a pen, and start sketching.  He would always start with the eyes, and i have no idea how he would make them so symmetrical in just seconds, then the nose, the lips, and the next thing you know, there it was in front of me.  An amazing piece of art done in less than a minute.  I always wanted to do that, but never could.  Even now.  I would never be able to draw like my abbu.  He wouldn't even brag about it.. not even once.  It was incredible.  I learned how to draw eyes from him.  

So heres what I practiced over the week with my fingers...drawing an improved portrait with improved eyes using sketchbook pro, my new best friend.  Ready to take the next step...and that's drawing somebody I actually know! No more strangers.

Enjoy....

Art of the Day - Hidden beauty

This is my first drawing using sketchbook pro on my iPad.  Many use a stylus, but I've decided to do the whole sketch using my finger.  This is just a random rough sketch showing a girl with simplicity, yet still glowing like the moon..hehe.  Sometimes it's just the small expressions that define a woman's true beauty.  There's no need to try so hard to impress anybody.  Your beauty will speak for itself. 

Watch from the very beginning....

The final picture..

Art of the Day - Charming Fella



My favorite work of all!  The handsome gentleman image that always attracted me.  A man like the one above, in this case, Shahrukh Khan from Devdas (My all-time favorite bollywood actor ever!).  I spent extra time on this one...the outfit, hands, lamppost...whatever possible thing there was.  This picture speaks for itself.  I need that patience again so I can start drawing sketches like this one.

Art of the Day - down memory lane

No, this is not a recent drawing.  This is in fact, one of many drawings I did back in 2001.  I came back home to the U.S. and this was one of the sketches I found hanging on my family room.  Who's the girl? Well guess..who else? The 8-year-old ME.  I know, you might be thinking I love myself.  The actual purpose of choosing to draw the little me, however, was to experiment with the hair texture...something I was very new at sketching. 

Wish I was that child again!  

Art of the Day : Priceless Moment

That moment when time stops, and it seems as though only the two of you exist in this world.

So here is the story behind the drawing.  I had this scene in my mind of a very busy manhattan-like city at night which i tried to portray on the picture, however, the couple on the right popped out during the process of sketching.  This was overall, a very unpredictable art experience.  Somehow love interrupted this city scene, or maybe i should reword it and say that it completed the scene. 

Ever since i was a kid, I've always thought drawing people (and still think so) was and is the hardest thing to draw!  Yet i somehow manage to stick in some kind of human figure in all of my drawings.  It actually adds emotion and makes it more interesting for me.  Afterall, i am a girl with extremely little patience.

My goal for my next piece of art:

Something i wanted to do with this drawing actually, was to show you the different stages from beginning to the end.  It's funny how you can never ever tell what a person is drawing by the look of the first rough sketch.

From now on, ill show you the entire process of drawing a picture.  You can get some sort of idea about how my mind really works while im drawing.  Hopefully you won't think I'm too weird!

Art of the Day: Prospering City

I got a sketch pad, finally.  From now on, I can keep all my drawings in one place and never lose them like I did in the past. 

You can take this picture in many ways.  A ruler watching over the land, a young man enjoying the view, a storm coming it's way, state of peace, anything really. 

Dawn

Night



Art of the Day: Sweet Surprise

Sometimes the little things count.  You never really forget those.  Heres a girl whose waiting and waiting...and waiting for her husband who is obviously very very late for whatever occasion they have to go to.  She keeps calling him but there's no answer.  He's too busy about to surprise her with her favorite roses.

Art of the Day - Women who gossip and the Woman who tries to survive

This is during a party when 2 well-dressed rich women gossip about whats going on around them.  Who divorced who, who got pregnant with who, which girl or guy dressed the worse, who got bankrupt...and so on.   They care about others way too much.

Here is a woman hasn't eaten anything for 4 days.  Her child has a high fever and her husband is dieing.  The daughter behind her has only one single dress to wear which is almost tearing.  The woman only wants to survive.  More than herself, she wants her kids to survive. She cares about her family.

Art of the Day - The Monday

I have never appreciated sleeping as much as Monday mornings right before i have to wake up from that warm comfy bed, just when i am in deep sleep, in the freezing cold weather and start my new week.

This is someone who is about to wakeup in a minute when the alarm starts buzzing and ruining her sleep.  She's half awake, wishing she had 10more minutes to close her eyes and dream!

Art of the Day

Long back, I used to be ten times quieter and most of the things that went through my head was more often shown on a white plane paper than expressed in words.  I was a shy girl, still am!

Over time I got busier with studies and i kind of gave up on drawing and painting and I started forgetting all about the beauty of it.  

My friends, family, and my husband keeps telling me about continueing before i start regretting it.  So nowadays I started sketching again.  I almost forgot how much i love art.

I drew this one last night after dinner. 

For some reason i had all these thoughts about domestic violence on my mind.  I thought about the importance of happiness in a family.  How the surroundings of children affects them in the long run.

This is a picture of an average family.  A family that seems perfect to the world and nobody but the kids know the real story which  goes inside the house.  Never leaves the house.

Fighting, battering, yelling, screaming, objects being thrown...these are all things that go on in a daily basis in this house. 

The kids are at a stage where they are learning about everything.  They are at that age when they lock everything they see, hear, in their brains.  They will never forget what they see and hear almost every night.  But are the parents even paying attention to that?

How do you think that little boy and girl's mentallity will be about creating a family of their own in the future?  They will have this fear in them.  When they realize that not every parent is this way, how will they feel then?

Most of us will be parents some day..some already are..this is one thing we should all think about.  We need to think about the children, the ones that never did a single thing to deserve this.