Framed!

Some time ago, I posted about my Barbados Painting and how I used it as inspiration when I hand painted some wooden earrings. (More Here)

Barbados/Island inspired hand painted earrings by Shazanna Khan

Recently one of roommates got married and I decided to frame this piece for her as her wedding present. I always promised her some artwork.

Today I collected the framed artwork from Fine Arts in Grand Bazaar where I dropped it off for framing.

I was a bit nervous picking out the framing by myself so I am so happy that it turned out so well. I am most pleased with it and the service I received at the art store. 

Just need to write the backstory down for her, wrap it nicely and deliver it :)

 If you would like to read more about how this piece came to be, you can read it here: Travel Sketches #1: Barbados Seascapes

I can't wait to see her expression!

Decorative Wooden Box

This was a wooden perfume box. When I did this some years ago, I was going through a sunflower stage at home. I think I was painting our mailbox at home for my Mom. I channelled my inner Van Gogh here. 

I used Acrylic paint and various gel ink pens to add some glitter and highlight some pieces. When it was dry, I sprayed the entire thing with Windsor and Newton's Matt Varnish, so that the ink pens would not rub off. 

It held up well. This project is over 6 years old. There is only one bit of wear and tear, which was due to my extreme carelessness and before I added the varnish. I never fixed it but with varnish, it is extremely durable and long lasting. 

New WIP progress- Lilies

I got some beautiful lilies for Christmas and could not help myself. Still a WIP. It was such a treasure to see all the buds gradually open every day and to go to bed at night with the scent of lilies :) They unfortunately perished this week but I took enough photos to finish it out. 

Here's a look at some photos of my prelim work.

I started working on this on Boxing Day and then again one day in the new year.

I am working on a few other pieces simultaneously so this seemed to have taken a back seat. I have also restarted my "one sketch a day project" for my art journal. I am trying to squeeze as much as I can into my holidays and oh its alot! But so much fun to try! I've decided to set goals though. This and the rest of paintings that I have been working on must be done by Sunday. Let's hope that my deadlines keep me in check!

New Artwork! (Eze, France)

My blogging took a little break as my classes resumed this week and my trusty laptop started to give some trouble. To cope with the stress of a new semester, I began working on a small watercolour painting this week. The painting was based on a photo I saw of Eze in France on a Facebook page. It seemed like somewhere out of a fairy tale. 

I just happened to visit Valpark with my roommate on Thursday and got some art-related supplies! I stopped by Horizons Art Studio and purchased some blue pre-cut matting for this piece. I thought it went perfectly with it. 

I was so excited about the matting, that I worked all afternoon to get it done. Here's a picture of the finished matted piece:

Eze, France. Watercolour and Ink on watercolour paper, 8.5 x 11 inches. © 2012 Shazanna Khan

Eze is such a beautiful village. I will definitely be adding it to my list of places to visit.

I have already made prints of it for 2 of my roommates, and touched up their prints with my Inktense pencils to enhance the colours. You can barely tell that they are prints. One of my best friend's birthday is next week as well. While I worked on this piece, I had it in mind as a possible birthday present. I think I am going to frame one of the prints as her present. Hopefully I'll be able to get it done in time. I am also hoping that she doesn't see this blog post before then (lol).

At Valpark, I also got 2 lovely wooden tabletop easels from the store that engraves medical pins. I have been looking around for some recently. More for my painting purposes than decorative, BUT when I saw them (at their amazing price too!) I knew I had to purchase it. I probably would have bought all if they had more.

Sadly, I don't think I'll be able to work on anymore new paintings as the semester progresses. I don't think I will have any more time to do a full painting. The only good thing, is that my sketchbook will be full of ideas and reference images for when next I do have time to paint. If you have any suggestions for future drawings, let me know :D

My Father's House (Update #4) COMPLETED

Status: Completed

My Father's House is finally finished! Here is a quick review of what it looked like when I first started it and the progress as it went along.

Update #1: Reference picture and first sketches <--Refer to this link for the inspiration for this piece

       Update # 2: Watercolours added                             Update #3: More watercolours and Ink pen details

I ran the finished piece by my dad and uncle and the "old house" got their seal of approval for authenticity. Here's a picture of the finished product!

My Father's House.Watercolour and Ink on watercolour paper, 16 x 20 inches. ©2012 Shazanna Khan.

 According to my dad, the bushes look a bit more overgrown than he remembers but perhaps we can pretend that my grandfather forgot to cut them.  All that's left to do with this piece is to make a print for my Dad's office and send them both to an Art store to be matted and framed. Maybe when I write my book of the Chronicles of Ahamad Khan, I will include it.

I am so glad that I finally have some new artwork! Not only to hang around the house but for next year, when the Art Society of Mt Hope hosts its annual Art exhibition.

Let me know what you think of the finished piece and thank you for reading.

Blue-Grey Forest & Contest

My brother is currently redoing his room. Instead of buying some art for his walls he decided to paint his own abstract masterpiece (which turned out really fantastic).

I lent him my art supplies last night and while he brainstormed his concept and experimented with colour and technique, I borrowed his idea of a tree and came up with the following based on the proposed colour scheme of his room (blue-greys, greys, browns and black).

 Blue Grey Forest, Watercolour on Watercolour paper. 15 x 11 inches. © 2012 Shazanna Khan.

My scanner was not large enough to capture the entire piece. It was cropped on the sides during the scanning process, but you can get the basic feel of the piece from it. Also I thought that the colours showed up better on the scanned version than the photographed one.

Now that its finished it reminds me a bit of the woods in that Twilight movie, albeit a more gloomy one.

I need a name for this piece! SO let's try to make this into a contest. Let me know what you think it should be called. I will pick my favourite one at the end of the week and that person will get their own digital sketch (at a later date, i.e. when I have free time). Emphasis on the sketch part too. Content to be decided upon discussion with the winner of this "contest".

What do you think I should call it ? Leave me a comment and let me know your title. OR leave me a comment anyway of your thoughts about this blog post :)

Thank you for reading!

My Father's House (Update #3)

Made some time on the Eid holiday to work on this piece. Almost done! It is amazing how far it came from Update #1 and Update #2.

According to my Uncle Ahamad who lives with me, the house was made from one Cedar tree, with each piece of wood cut by a two-man saw. Now that's a lot of work! Plus one very large tree.

Another uncle came over today, my Uncle Nazir. While I worked on this piece, all 3 men reminisced and shared their funny stories from the old days.Uncle Nazir apparently stayed in the 3rd room with the closed windows. Before my dad was around, every Christmas holiday that Uncle Nazir visited, he was given the task to clean the copper tank, because he was the smallest and could climb into it.

I am really glad that my painting could remind them of fond memories.

Update #3: Filled in the vegetation.

What do you guys think about it so far? Also should I do any pen & ink detailing on it?

Thank you for reading and remember to subscribe to my blog :)

Edit: This piece has now been completed! Click this post for the finished product- My Father's House Update #4 Completed

My Father's House (Update #2)

Continuing from yesterday's project, here's what I did today. 

Day 2: Watercolour added

It has been so long since I've worked with watercolours that I had to keep testing out brushstrokes on a paper nearby.

The agenda for tomorrow is the background, and all the green vegetation. I am a bit rusty with trees and plants so I hope I don't spoil it! 

Comments/thoughts appreciated.


EDIT: An update to this piece is available. Click here for the next recent update to this piece--> "My Father's House (Update #3)"

This work by Shazanna Khan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

My Father's House (Update #1)

Status: Current Work-in-progress

I am a big fan of doing Architectural pieces. I like the idea of being able to capture a piece of history. So often we take for granted the landscapes we are familiar with, but it is ever changing and its only when we look at an old photo that we can actually see how drastically things have changed.

Two buildings that I have always wanted to work on was that of the Lothians Plantation House, an old plantation house that was around in the early 1900s, which I shall describe in a next post; and the Old House that my father and his siblings grew up in.

When I was younger, my uncle would tell us stories of both. It was quite sad to me that the only thing left of them were a single photograph of each of the buildings and his stories. That was where the idea began, to maybe record his rich life and write a book so his many adventures and stories would always remain, as well as to try and illustrate both houses and capture them as they were.

Now that I have some free time, I decided to begin work on the "Old House". My uncle had this old photograph in his album. Apparently this photo was taken after they no longer lived in it, and modern day amenities like washing machines and running water were available. 

Photograph of the Old House

Sketch #1

In Sketch #1, my Dad and I sat down together and he explained to me how the house really looked when he and my uncle both lived in it, as well as the landscape of the time. 

Imagine, galvanized spouting to collect water into a large copper tank, outhouses/latrines and pitch oil lamps.

After we ironed out the fine details, and we were both satisfied that the image was as authentic as possible, I did Sketch #2 on Watercolour paper.  

Sketch #2

So far I am having a little bit of difficulty with the cylindrical copper water tank at the side of the house. The photo was not clear about it, but thankfully the tank is still around. It is still in use in my neighbours' yard. So I shall try to take a good peek over the fence tomorrow when there is better light :D

The next step for this, is to remove all the extra pencil lines on the drawing and begin painting with watercolours. I usually like doing black pen & ink detailing after all my architectural pieces, but this time I think I will hold off til I am finished to see if I am partial or not to it.

Stay tuned for more updates on this piece tomorrow!

EDIT: Click here for the most recent update on this piece --> My Father's House (Update #2)