Tag: paintings

JUNE | Shop Updates

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This week, I thought I’d do something a little different and go with a bit of self-promotion. I’ve been meaning to do an update whenever I have new prints and original artwork go up in the shop, or new pieces added to my jewellery store; although they seem to be out of place on a regular ‘new art’ type of post. If you’ve missed updates on social media or simply aren’t on any, I hope this will catch you up on some newer things going on in the studio stores.

OLDER PIECES LOOKING FOR NEW HOMES

Firstly, the new Etsy store of more art related content has been up for just over a month or so. I’ve decided to relocate some of my older pieces; I think many of my older followers will recognize the different style, as well as the pieces in question. It’s high time I parted with these, or as many as I could locate around the studio. Adding prints (and other miscellaneous items) is definitely on the priority list, as I’ve been wanting to have better quality control over what gets sent out to you guys for a while now (generally speaking I like to keep the process as much in-house as I can). So keep an eye out for those if you’re interested, but for the time being prints of my work can be found through INPRNT.

If you’re looking to add some new art to your walls or someone else’s, you can find the shop on Etsy at etsy.com/shop/artofshaima.

new creations

As you may know, I like to spend my time divided between my artwork and creating handmade jewellery. I’m happy that many of my pieces have reached new homes, as it definitely gives me more encouragement to make newer pieces; although ironically, finding time this year has been the most difficult.

Here’s a quick look at some of the newer pieces that have been added to the collection. I’d say the two brass pieces are probably my favourite that I’ve created so far. Wire-work is brutal on the fingers, but the results are always worth it.

Shop Embers and Stones Jewellery

Thank you for taking the time to drop by the site this week, hope you’re all keeping well. Feel free to drop me a message or email with any questions and comments you may have. Until the next one!

TBT Art Edition, Inprnt Shop

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This week I had some time to sit down and look at my work from over the years. I’ve gone as far back as primary school; more to my horror and hopefully more of an interest to all of you. 😏 I think as artists we’re supposed to look at our past work to get a better understanding of the evolution of our skill and style, but sometimes going ‘back’ and I mean REALLY back, inevitably causes some cringing and need to hide sketchbooks…or maybe that’s just me. The most change you will probably see is around 2011 during my time in university, where all I did was abstract & modern art. There weren’t many options in terms of courses for me unfortunately, but looking at it positively it became clear to me very fast what I didn’t want to be doing.

overtheyears_ShaimaIslam

Now for the really old pieces. Most of these are either in sketchbooks from elementary school (grades 4-5) or loose paper. The majority of them are anime/manga style as that was what I was really into at the time. Here are just a few of them.

I’ve had questions over the years of where to get started and how to go about improving your art, but I’ve never been completely comfortable giving advice on some things as I’m constantly learning and improving as well. However, one thing I can say now is that draw, draw some more, and keep drawing. If I stop producing art due to artist block or for any other reason (whether its sketches or finished paintings), I regret it immensely as I see the effects of it immediately in the new piece. One example that has stuck with me from a university presentation is to look at children’s drawings, and then asking an adult with no background knowledge in fine art to do the same. You will see that for the most part the two will be very similar. Just like anything else, that skill remains stagnant until we acquire the knowledge to improve our techniques which also includes years of practice. 🙂

Now that you’ve gotten a glimpse at where I come from in terms of my art, hopefully this will motivate all of you who are either beginning their art careers or picking it up as a hobby.

*On a side note, I’ve decided to open a Inprnt Shop for art prints along with my Society6 one. I’m curious as to which people prefer using, but for now I have them both up and running.

Inprnt_promo_ShaimaIslam

Rise Watercolour Study – Youtube

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A couple of weeks ago, I decided to film the process for a quick watercolour painting/study I was doing. I’ve thought about starting a channel for a while, but never got around to filming any of the processes for my work. I decided to start with some some small things like sketches and studies like this one. You can find my Youtube videos here.

Rise_Study_2017_ShaimaIslam
Rise, watercolours on paper, 2017

Secrets of the Night

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Creative Allies has some great opportunities to create cover art for music bands and individual singers. This was from a contest a while back for Loreena McKennitt’s album The Journey So Far. Inspired by the lyrics of ‘All Souls Night’, I did this painting initially as a contest entry but I liked the process and results enough to consider it an addition to my portfolio.

secrets-of-the-night_2014
Secrets of the Night, watercolours, 12×18″, 2014

Cassandra Clare’s, Mortal Instruments

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I remember picking up City of Bones as a recommendation from a friend. I believe I was at City of Lost Souls within 2 weeks. I’m generally not an avid reader of teen books, but I did enjoy reading Cassie Clare’s work. It was fun with a lot of geeky references that any anime nerd will have no problem connecting to…oh and there are vampires.

Daylighter (TMI), Watercolours & Micron, 11×15″, 2013
The High Warlock of Brooklyn (TMI), Watercolour & Mixed-Media on Paper, 11×15″, 2013

So it was a no-brainer that I would be creating artwork from all the inspiration I got from the characters and the world of ‘Shadowhunters’. These are older pieces, and I had planned to do 2 others; perhaps of the vampire Raphael Santiago and the Silent Brothers, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I will find some spare time in the near future to squeeze in more personal projects…if I’m not busy gushing over all the ‘fine’ cast of the TV adaptation from Freeform.

process.