Christmas Crafts- Cards

After my Christmas Gift Box Craft, I had some extra materials and some 5x7 precut greeting cards so I decided to make some Christmas cards for 2 special people in my life that I didn't give Sayada's Trini Greeting cards. They were quite easy to make and the process can be used throughout the year.

Here's a glance at what I made below.

Card (Right): Red Decorative Napkin, Gold Reindeer Gift Paper, Gold Ribbon, Red Foil Poinsettia Sticker
Card (Left): Red Decorative Napkin, Gold Christmas Gift Paper, Gold Glitter, Gold Decorative Studs

I wanted to spice up the envelopes as well so I used one of the red foil stickers that I used on the card to embellish the envelope

Seasons Greetings!

From my home to yours...Merry Christmas!

Christmas Crafts (Tutorial?)

This year I was looking for a new way to wrap some presents, and when my mom bought some gorgeous metallic gift paper, I knew I had to attempt a gift box. The paper was so beautiful. I couldn't resist using it in some craft project. 

The following is a basic overview of how to go about making your own.

So firstly is gathering the materials. I used pretty complementary gift paper, some cloth ribbon from last year's gift wrapping that matched the gift paper, a red decorative napkin, some Elmer's white glue and an old perfume gift box.

Materials: Gift paper, Burgundy Cloth Ribbon, Red Decorative Napkin

Once I sorted out all my materials, I used the cover as a guide and cut the gift paper with enough excess to also cover the sides as well as to fold into the other side of the box. This ensures that the edges of the box had a nice classy finish.

Ideally, you should cut a large piece of your main background paper (in my case, Gift Paper #1) and cover your box first with it and then cut your decorative piece (GP #3) and stick over it. (See next photo below) I personally did not do that because I didn't want to waste the gift paper that would have been hidden by GP #3. 

I was however very careful as to where I added the glue on the box to stick the paper. I only put on the edges of the box, where there would be an overlap of gift paper and in a few choice spots. This is my personal preference when using liquid glue to get a smooth finish on the surface of the box. I find that sometimes the same pattern that you apply the glue in, ends up showing up through the paper when you stick it. 

Next I stuck a piece of the burgundy cloth ribbon to add some texture and contrast to the gold gift papers. Later on, after completing the entire box, I decided to use some gold studs that I had been dying to use for some extra embellishments and to hide some of the glue stains that seeped through the ribbon.

Wrapping the cover and where to place the materials.

For the bottom half of the box, I opted to use the gift paper with the most gold tones in it to cover the bottom part of the box. It was the least fussy of all the gift papers and would not detract from the cover.

I was averaging the size of the gift paper with the box as guide and because I was not measuring it to the exact proportions of the box with my handy ruler (laziness on my part), I ended up with the paper in the inside lip of the box being at different lengths. I was not too worried because I already planned to line the box. 

I used a thick decorative napkin that I cut with 1 cm in excess on all sizes. I ended up folding the excess behind to make the napkin to size and this I thought was a much nicer surface than a cut edge to line the box. (Kind of like why you hem clothes) I also put the glue on the excess that was folded back so that if any glue seeped through, it was not visible.

Underneath of Box and lined inside.

When the entire box was properly covered, I checked to see if I wanted any extra embellishments to enhance it, e.g. glitter, sequins, stamps, etc. In my case, I simply used some gold studs on the burgundy ribbon. My roommate once picked off all the gold studs from a shirt she bought for a presentation to make it more professional. We didn't know what to do with them at the time, but 2 years later, they finally had a use!

After I filled the box with my gifts, I used the remaining Burgundy cloth ribbon to tie a beautiful bow.

Finished box (without the embellishments)

And that's how you make a very pretty gift box!

Merry Christmas everyone. Hope you all get extra creative this year :)

Going Local- Where to go?

I have been a bad blogger! No, I did not abandon the blog. I've simply been busy studying for my final exams. I originally thought ahead and I had tons of posts in drafts/ started to write new posts as certain art events I enjoyed came up, but I just could not find the time to finish them. Thankfully Monday was my last exam. I am ecstatic about that because I can finally finish some of those posts AND I can now enjoy the Christmas season as well as my holidays before I have to return to school.

Now, sometime ago I saw the following photo circulating on Facebook about buying local.

The message resonates with me because there are so many talented individuals who create and sell amazing products in T&T. Why should we purchase products from international companies when we have people producing the same equivalent? We should be supporting our own economy and by extension the environment. (Save the environment by reducing shipping? )

Personally I know that it is difficult to sometimes to buy local, when stores are rarely stocked with local things, you have no clue as to where you can purchase the things you want or you are not a fan of the quality.
Most artists/ artisans do not operate out of a physical store. The exorbitant rental fees to have a store at the mall are enough of a deterrent. The few that do end up finding places to sell their work, end up charging highly priced goods that the average person i.e. me- student on a budget cannot afford.

So where do you go? Over the last few years, I've heard about monthly markets and to be quite honest I never paid much attention to them because I never expected much. When I was younger, I went to plant shows and expos with my parents so I thought they were all the same run of the mill kind of thing- Plants, bottled jam, pepper sauce, fudge and red mango (that I could buy at the parlor nearby to my home) in unattractive packaging. 

It was not until last year when I saw a local artist whose artwork I enjoyed, advertised an event called Bits and Pieces that I began to feel more receptive to the idea. Then earlier this year I was able to  attend the Mango Festival at the UWI Field Station.

It of course featured Mangoes and Mango byproducts, but it also featured the crafts of local small businesses. I was able to sample delicacies, admire beautifully made products as well as be thoroughly entertained by the live renditions of folk songs.

 Here are some photos of my purchases that day.

Juices and Chutney's from Mangos.
I bought a bottle for Mango smoothies and baking

Mango Spa Products

Rodco Home Essentials- An amazing company that makes amazing body products from natural sources. The classiest
by far of all that I saw that day. 

Isis Designs- Gorgeous hand crafted jewellry that caters to you. If anything goes wrong you can always contact the designer to repair it!

Marisha Williams Designs for lovely natural cards made of quality materials and Event Essentials- I loved their recycle paper, which was perfect for my crafting needs and were unique as they had designs stamped into them.
Extra points to both for being eco-friendly. 

What I loved about the Mango Festival was that I was able to meet the owners themselves. For instance, the kind owner of Rodco Home Products. I was able to speak with her about her company and what she offered, including beautifully packaged body washes, creams, body butters and soaps all made at her home. I always wondered about the process and after speaking with her I was told that I could perhaps in the future organise a tour. Something I would not mind paying for.

Some "markets"/ events to consider if you're looking to go local in the future:
1. The Ultimate Epicurean and Boutique Market

2. Bits and Pieces-A yearly event for Christmas shopping

3. Upmarket-A monthly food market also including local artists, etc

4. The Monthly Arts Market- Lookout for their Three Day Shopping Extravaganza starting from Friday 21st to Sunday 23rd Dec.

5. dr!nk's December Art Sale at Dr!nk's Wine Bar- The premise for the artists is that if you have art to sell, you simply bring it in and sell your work. Also it's at a Wine Bar so you can expect good drinks and music as you peruse the art that you want to buy in a casual setting.

The lovely thing about all of these markets is that you find gems of items amongst the plethora of art, craft, jewellery and gourmet food items, AND you also learn about different services offered that you may need to use for your next gift-giving event. The admission is usually free to these markets and that's great as it helps make the events more accessible to the public. It's a plus for the small business owner as for a small fee they can set up their own booth and market their wares to the public while making a profit. It's a win-win situation for all those involved.

Anyway I urge everyone, if you have the option to buy a local product please do! Our local communities need our support to continue the amazing work that they are doing. As this is a topic dear to me, perhaps in my next post I'll write more about local gift options for Christmas.

Remember....Go Local!

Travel Sketches #1: Barbados Seascape

In 2007, my family and I visited the beautiful island of Barbados. As is my custom on these trips to the small islands, I packed my small Reeves Sketch Book, Watersoluble pencils, Paints and Brushes. Vacations are meant for relaxing, and nothing relaxes me more than time spent with art. Also sometimes a good book on the beach is not enough. On this particular trip, I carried a canvas board, having only discovered them a few months before and was dying to try it out.

What stood out to me the most on my trip were the beautiful blue beaches of Barbados. I swear, if I had to choose another island to live on Barbados would be the clear winner. I remember falling in love with Port St Charles, and fantasying of living in one of the homes where I could open my back door and step onto my boat or take a dive into the ocean.

The following is the painting that I started while in Barbados that I ended up finishing in T&T from the postcard I bought. I unfortunately do not remember which beach this was! I think at the time settled on doing this seascape, because it was a breathtaking view and the process was unfamiliar to me. I always wanted to capture the different shades the ocean turns when light reflects off of it but I thought it to be completely outside of my comfort zone so this piece was a personal challenge for the holidays.

Barbados Seascape (2007), Acrylic on Canvas Board. © 2012 Shazanna Khan

Doodle in the Sand: Quinam Beach

I visited Quinam Beach on the South Coast of Trinidad in August. It was such a beautiful day and the sky was gorgeous. The sand had such an interesting quality to it- lots of clay if you removed the top layer of it. I had fun playing with it. :) The following is one of my creations.

My drawing in the sand of a view from the South Coast of T&T

One of my uncles was a big fan of this beach. I didn't understand the allure until I went myself. The last time I visited I was a child and I barely remembered it at all. It exceeded my expectations. After a lovely cool drive through a forest reserve with trees towering on either size to get to the beach, the calm waves gently crashing on the shore beckoned to me. I knew I had to take a dip. Trinidad is such a beautiful place!

Because of the time of day and slightly cloudy skies, the weather was perfect and the shores were not crowded with only a few other families having a similar idea to us as well. The beach facilities were redone in recent years and the beach and environs were well maintained. Also the drive as I mentioned before was relaxing on smooth well paved roads.  No potholes!! I don't think many people know this and usually have a negative image of Quinam. Though on that day, I can't say I minded. It was like having your own personal stretch of paradise, which may have been spoilt with a high influx of people.

It was nice to simply lounge in the water and relax with waves gently lapping around you as you stared out into the horizon, catching a glimpse of South America if you looked hard enough, or if you looked inland at the tall towering cliffs overgrown with vegetation, from your seat at the lovely rock pools only visible at low tide. Some parts were so untouched from man-made influence, that I pictured how it must have looked when Christopher Columbus first saw the 3 Sisters/ Trinity Hills. Did this area look the same as it had back then?

Some photos of my brother and uncle catching up on life together.

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Give me your candy! This is a stick-up!

(Sad that I don't have time to finish my new Halloween drawings when I think the ideas are pretty cool but there is always next year! At least I got time to give, "Boo" some new editing.)

Happy Halloween everyone!

My Brother: Marigold- Flower Drawing

My brother's birthday was on Sunday. One year he shaved his head....

Flower- Marigold

This was done as part of my One-A-Day Sketch Series, "The Flower Drawings". I did a Marigold because its the birth flower of the month of October and supposedly means, "a golden gift".

Rebirth at the Graveyard

Rebirth At the Graveyard (2010), Digital Art. ©2012 Shazanna Khan

Here's a piece I did for a friend a few years back for his birthday. I did not do it for Halloween but as it is in the air, I thought I should post.

It was done as part of my People Inspired One-A-Day Sketches. I was already doing flower drawings, but this particular friend requested something different for his birthday, citing that black and skulls were more of his interest than my happy colourful flower drawings. It was an interesting challenge to try to channel some darkness into his sketch but still maintaining my style of drawing. I was pleased with the result and my lack of the use of the colour black.

My first idea seemed a bit gruesome which involved childbirth itself and a baby crawling out of a womb, so I kept on brainstorming. At the time, I believe I was reading some horror stories of vampires and zombies. The key thing that stuck out to me was the theme of rebirth and how the characters had a new albeit different lease on life. The concept suited me as it was done with his birthday in mind and of course graveyards do contain skulls which kept with his request.

This sketch was great fun, as it challenged me to think outside of the box and allowed me to experiment with different concepts. It was a thrill to stretch my imagination and come up with some spooky, sinister concepts that could possibly one day make it to future drawings/illustrations.

This illustration was done digitally using Corel Painter and my HP Touch Smart. Looking back at it now, I see a lot of improvements I would like to make! I suppose that is a normal reaction to old artwork which hopefully means that your skills have improved vastly since that point in time. (I hope!)

Blood Donation: Silly Reasons People Give

I'm helping out with a Blood Drive in school. I don't want to sell out what the following illustration is going to be used in until the project is done but I thought I should update my Blog on some current art projects I've been working on with some amazing people. Part of the project involves illustrating some of the silly reasons/excuses people give as to why they don't donate.

Of course for the purposes of this blog post, I added the extra phrases to make it more poster-like so it would have a dual purpose. There is a dire need for regular voluntary blood donation. So go out and donate! You may not have real super powers but your blood can save a life ;)

Silly excuses people give as to why they don't give blood.

First coat of watercolours. A lot of layers went
down after to get the above result!

More about the process:

I did a pencil outline in my sketch pad after thinking of some silly reasons. I was inspired by HBO's True Blood series about vampires and how some drank blood from blood bags stolen from a hospital.

For the text, I wanted the look of dripping blood that's close to being congealed :D I used watercolours and white gouache paint. I should have done the entire thing in gouache or acrylics. I think I had to work a little harder on the finish by using watercolours to get a nice solid opaque colour and because I was trying to illustrate blood and wanted a bit of gloss, the watercolour proved to be a little difficult.

I am not 100% happy with the lips. I wanted to do more black ink detailing on the lips but was not sure if to proceed, because I also wanted a bright dramatic red lip. Also maybe I should have done the mouth bigger? I'm not sure. Thoughts?

Working on this I realised that its been a while since I have attempted to do lips (if I ever attempted at all).  I think I need to brush up on my figure drawing, and facial features. I definitely think some practise is in order!

Anyway, I'm still thinking up some other reasons people don't give blood and how to illustrate them. What do you think I should do next?

Tropical Flowers (Clay Plates)

From L to R: Bird of Paradise (2010), Anthurium (2010), Heliconia (2010), Hibiscus & Humming Bird (2010); Acrylic on Clay Plate, 7.5" 

From L to R: Orchid (Dancing Lady 2010), Amaryllis (2010); Acrylic on Clay Plate, 5"

Clay Plate Paintings I did for my mom one year. She is such a genius at interior design and landscaping. She put them up in a wooden bookshelf she designed to mimic a plantation house. 

Bookshelf/ Clay Plate Stand

My Mom also loves tropical flowers and grows them so she can make fresh floral arrangements for home.  It is one of the things I miss from home when I am at school during the semester. I used her garden and various floral arrangements for reference material.

One of the Floral Arrangements that she did for Eid this year. Isn't she amazing?

Chess Themed Challenge! New Submission

In response to my last post, where I issued a Chess-Themed Challenge, I received a submission this week from artist Santiago of  Massachusetts, USA. 

Santiago puts out a weekly comic strip on his blog called Really Jesus. I think that his quirky drawings and sense of humor makes his comic strips so unique and entertaining that they are appealing to anyone regardless of their beliefs. His blog: http://reallyjesus.blogspot.com/ 

Check out his fantastic artwork in response to my Chess-Themed Challenge below!

Chess King by Santiago

Isn't it awesome?! Many thanks again to Santiago for taking part in my challenge! From his drawing, I think that it is safe to assume that he found my challenge very entertaining :D

As I said previously, I thought it would be great to see how different minds interpret the same theme, i.e. one of Chess. So feel free share to your friends and simply sketch, draw, paint, write, etc your thoughts or ideas of what comes to mind when you think of life as a Chess Match. Remember to send what you come up with to me and most importantly have fun with it :D

Chess Parallels: Sketchbook

A conversation with a good friend led to this. I believe she posed the question, "Which move to make?" Of course she was referring to the dilemmas faced in life at the time but the question reminded me of playing Chess with my brother. A match against him required brain power and concentration, and I always had to consider all my options carefully. I replied to her with a resounding, "Checkmate!" to which her reply was that she didn't even know that she was originally in check. I was so consumed by it, because it was an echo of similar emotions I was experiencing at the time myself. I immediately picked up my Mokeskine and started sketching.

Solo chess piece on a chess board but only the possible moves of the piece visible

Forgive my little annotations. I write rather dis-jointedly when I'm sketching sometimes.  It's like talking to myself but recording the convo so I don't forget (lol) I sound so crazy!

I saw the work of Gabriella D'Abreau at her exhibition a few weeks ago. Her piece called "Street Hecklers" (I believe) was the first I saw of shadowy menacing figures in the background in watercolours that was done so amazingly! It really stood out to me not only for her technique but for the story of the piece itself and what it represented. I always thought it would be too difficult to do in watercolours so I was thinking that with a digital rendition, I might have gotten a better result much easier. However after seeing her work, that idea has been thrown out! I want to experiment with W/C on this. 

Then there is the Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland approach. When I get some time, I hope to revisit these.

My friend actually did sketches as well of her interpretation of the conversation and the chess-theme itself. She came up with something totally distinct from what I was thinking of. Like this concept but with human characters (chess piece personified). Kinda like Harry Potter's Wizard Chess.

It is so amazing to me how the mind works and how one idea/phrase if posed to a group, can be interpreted so differently by each individual. I really can't wait to see her sketches :)

My question to you, what concepts can you come up with based on the chess theme that parallels to life?

Let's make it an experiment/ challenge for those so inclined to draw/sketch as well. A....

Chess-Themed Challenge!

I'm curious to see how different people interpret the same theme. Link me to your sketches of your interpretations of it :) I would love to see how your mind works :D

Mt Hope Sketches #1

Recall my post about the photographs of Mt Hope? Well here is a sample of what I did with those photographs. I'll write more about this current project later on but I thought I should update my blog on what I've been doing recently.

This is the first of the Mt Hope sketches that progressed into painting form. It should have been completed last week but as I have an exam on the upcoming Friday, I put a pause on all my artsy endeavours to study.

I hope to do a few more paintings based on the other sketches of Mt Hope that I did. Thoughts and views? Should I post the other sketches?

Ref Image: Mt Hope has definitely gotten its walls
power-washed since then. 

Trying out my Inktense Pencils on the pencil sketch

Usually I finish painting the entire thing first, then Ink over but I was a bit excited to finish it. Also I needed some new ref pics of the lower portion of the building. I had a feeling my prelim sketches weren't as accurate as they should be.

Happy Birthday Hailz!

Today is one of  my oldest friend's birthday!

She's not really old but I've known her since my First Year days at primary school. After which we attended high school together, so I can safely say that that's a friendship that's older than the fourteen years we attended together at school.

To honour her special day, I'm posting a drawing I did for her. Before I do that, let me tell you the story of how it began.

Winx Club Memories

In high school, about Form 3 after watching a cartoon series, I was inspired to do a sketch series of all the girls in my life portraying them as either urban sassy individuals or strong warrior like women.

(Did I ever mention I attended an all-girl school which probably influenced my feminist ways?)

I am ashamed to say that the inspiration for that idea came from watching that cartoon series, called the Winx Club.

I am mostly ashamed because of the mere idea that I was watching the Winx Club in Form 3. But they dressed so nicely and it was so colourful! Also they had wings and magic too with cute boys! I could not resist :D (lol!) 

I began to draw in my sketchbook. Now back then I really disliked drawing people I knew. I still do for a variety of reasons. However with Hailz, I made an exception. The character I had in mind was supposed to be cool, sexy, sassy and fashionable. Which was exactly how I saw Hailz back then-the strong independent woman who was confident and comfortable with who she was, and I still do. I also loved when she left her gorgeous hair out in its natural state with millions of tiny curls and rocked the huge hoop earrings. So I tried to capture that.

I completed her drawing and soon abandoned that entire project because I couldn't figure out how I wanted to portray the rest of friends. I eventually forgot about it altogether until a few years later when I began doing my One-A-Day Sketches and Hailz requested (/demanded? :P) hers.

I took a photo of the drawing I did back in high school then but was not pleased with how it looked on my computer. I ended up retouching it on my laptop with my drawing software- Corel Painter. The following was the final result :)

Urban Sass, Digital Art © 2012 Shazanna Khan

This girl has been one of my longest and dearest of friends. I wish her all the best and I cannot wait to celebrate her birthday with her.

The following is a quote I stumbled upon the internet that I think sums up our friendship just right.

"Even though we've changed and we're all finding our own place in the world, we all know that when the tears fall or the smile spreads across our face, we'll come to each other because no matter where this crazy world takes us, nothing will ever change so much to the point where we're not all still friends."

Happy Birthday Hailz! One year I'll give you the real drawing :)

W.I. Cricket World Cup Win!

After 33 years, the West Indies cricket team has won a World Cup at the T20 Cricket Finals against Sri Lanka! :D Wasn't our last world cup win in 1979? Anyway 2012 is really an amazing year !! :D

I edited a drawing I did in 2010 for this purpose. The following is the original drawing I did, which was for my good friend Amit. It was part of my One-A-Day Sketch Series. Possibly he also one of the few people who didn't get one of my flower drawings as their sketch. 

I wanted to continue with the flower stuff but it didn't seem fitting for Amit. He's such a guy with all of his interests in sports. Not only interested in them, but he is pretty decent at them. Especially at cricket. The flower idea seemed a bit too feminine and additionally it was a bit difficult drawing leaf hands holding a cricket bat.

As I told him, pretend the hot cheerleaders in 20-20 cricket were holding up the letters for his name at the stadium cheering him on.

Blue gloves because I believe it was his favourite colour and a West Indian helmet and test cricket attire because when he was finished with medicine and wanted a career change, it was for the WI he was going to be playing for.

I realise that of late I have been focusing more on some architectural pieces. Should I be trying my hand again at portraits of people?

Photos of Mt Hope/ EWMSC

I've been working on some new projects for some time now. However my life has been a bit busy juggling those art projects with exams fast approaching, that I never make time to finish writing the blog post!

Until then here are some photos I took of the student section at Mt Hope/ Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EWMSC) over my last vacation.

Mt Hope's architecture is so distinct from the other two teaching hospitals (Port of Spain General Hospital and San Fernando General Hospital). Its design is more contemporary and geometric while with the other two hospitals you can see the influence of our colonial past. Port of Spain General was after all once the colonial hospital in Trinidad.

Consider this a hint as to my current projects ;) Thank you to the people who are helping me make them a reality.