Random Sketches and drawings

This sketch entitled the King's Courtyard was done from the Movie Lawrence of Arabia with the figure of Alec Guinness as Al Malik Faisal while he was talking to an American reporter. It was done in about ten minutes.
I will start translating into Bahasa Malaysia as requested by one on my grand nephews from now on. As my BM is not fluent I will do my best.
Trans:
Lakaran ini betajuk, di sekitaran laman di raja? Lakaran di ambil dari cerita 'Lawrence of Arabia' dia mana pelakon terkenal Sir Alec Guinness berlakon sebagai Emir Al Malik Faisal.

This sketch, 'The Solitary Rider' was also done from the same movie as above. For those who find it hard to find the model or topic or theme to work with, movie shots are a boon dont waste this technological gift, use it, thats what its there for.
Trans:

Gambar penungang unta ini juga di ambil dari tayangan gambar di atas. Untuk mereka yang selalu rasa susah na'cari bahan untuk di jadikan subject atua tema untuk di lukis wayng dan lain2 bahan dari internet sangat mudah di guna dan ini tidak menjadi pantang larang jikalau kita saorang pelajar.

Furthermore in the privacy of your own room and with music in the background and a sketch pad before you and a Diet Coke beside what more can you want, you become an arist. AAH the wonders of the computer if only you know how to put it to use!
Trans:
Lagi pun kita boleh lukis di bilek sendiri tampa di gangu dan dengan belatar belakang musik dari computer apa lagi?




'The movie' The Last Samurai" has some of the most beautiful scenes to capture from. It transport you in time to the medeaval Japan and at the right moment, PAUSE, just choose a face or a scene and sketch!
Trans:
Hanya dengan guna PAUSE saja kita dapat apa2 gambar yang menarik bagi kita untuk di guna sebagai topik.

The Rooster was sketched from one of my friend Ismail Hashim's photos when he had his Solo Retrospective Exhibition at the Penang State Art gallery.
Trans:
Ayam Jantan ini di lakrkan semasa melawat pameran Ismail Hashim yang bertajuk Ismail Hashim Retrospective Solo Exhibition yang di pamerkan di Balai Seni Lukis Pulau Pinang.

The Boy sitting on the rock was done at the Malay Art Gallery on Chulia Street, Georgetown, Penang. It was done from one of my friend's, Rashid painting when he had his first solo exhibition at the same venue. Rashid is an excellent Portrait painter in my opinion. Yoyu can view some of his works in my blog dated Oct.28th.2008 or just search Rashid's Art in the blog.
Trans:
Budak bogel di atas batu ialah satu karia pelukis portret Rashid Abd. Razak yang di lukis semasa saya di Balai Seni Lukis Pelukis2 Melayu Pulau Pinang.


This rustic scene of two challets was done from a movie with Julia Roberts entitled Eat,Pray,Love. I have been to this location myself in my travel to Bali sometime ago.
It is nostalgic doing sketches like these, some scenes in life sticks in our mind more than others. Trans:
Lakaran dua challet ini di ambil dari tayangan gambar lakonan Julia Roberts yang bejodol "Eat, Pray Love". Saya sendiri pernah ka lokasi yang menarik ini semasa saya melawat Bali pada suatu masa dulu. Melukis pemandangan sebegini mebawa perasaan nostalgia bagi diri saya.


The leafless trees winter scene was done in Giswil, Switzerland where I visited my son. The scen is a few hundred meters from his grandfather's house located next to the church.
Trans:
Pohon yang gondol tampa berdaun dan keadaan pada musim sjuk ini di lakrkan semasa say melawat anak saya di Giswil, Switzerland. Lokasi in tidak jauh dari rumah Dato' beliau.

This mountain scene was done from the Julia Roberts movie and believe it is Mount Agung in Bali.
Also from the same movie this next sketch was taken of a driveway towards an Italian villa where the actress spent her thanks giving with a friend's family before her trip to India.

Trans; Kedua2 lakaran dia tas ialah dari filem Eat, Pray, Love. Pemandangan Pergunugan mingkin dari bali ia itu gunung Agung, dan pemandangan 'Villa' ialah satu adengan yang berlaku di Italy.

Well there goes my first translation of my blog i hope it helps.

Hanging Out with the Boys

I always wanted to do a wheely on a chopper and I got it now!

A man feels safe walking along with these two guys whether they knew it or not. It was hard to fit in though hard trying to suck that belly in all the time.

Naz and his close buddy Jay the boys who are taking their time getting there where ageing is comcern. No big hurry here guys just take it easy plenty of time to think about settling down and so on...

Bike Week at the Dubai mall and sure enough there were bikes and bikers from all over the World and with bikes came the noise and the leathers. I have had my eyes on the one below for a long time now, however the payment on my kancil is still a couple of months overdue cant risk it.

Naz in Magna-Tripoli

Sometime in 200 AD history recorded a local boy from the seaside port city of Leptis Magna became the Roman Emperor in Rome known as Emperor Septimus Severus. Upon his return to the City in his honor and through his influence the city was greatly developed and today its ruins still stands on the Eastern shores of Tripoli. (May not be totally true but I like the way it sounds.)

Today through the influence of the Present ruler of Libya and UNESCO this sight is being considered a World Heritage Sight, like Georgetown, Penang. Leptis or sometimes Lectis Magna is located 130 km. East of Tripoli on the coastal region of Wadi Lebda and its interjection with the Mediteranean Sea.

The Roman City was actually founded as early as 1100BC. by the Phoenicians and the city gained its importance during the rule of Cartage in the 4th Century BC and it came under the ruleof the Roman Empire later in 200BC. It became the Roman Province in the North African Region.

I do not know aht my number one son gets from all these when he visited the site other than act like a camel rider riding the fallen columns, however it looked like he was having a good time.

His flight from Dubai took him to tripoli where there was afour days lay-over and so the Emerates Crew had a field day. What a life!! I should have been a Pilot, whatever made me want to be an artist!!

Oh well at least i can still enjoy these sites through his travels and share the pictures he took with the rest of the world and now that trouble is brewing in Libya like the few Arab countries who knows when the place will be inaccessible to the rest of us.

Here you find the head of Madussa mounted on columns why? who knows. Do you know who Madussa was? She was the lady with the most eye catching hairdo in the history of mankind at least in the Grecco Roman myths i.e. It was said to look at her in the eyes can turn you into stone. What a lady!! Hollywood made alot of money off of her and her snakes hairdo. Qhat a charmer!

Flight Captain and Flight officer taking a stroll towrds the ancient city site of Leptis magna and soak in some history overlooking the Mediteranian. A historical stroll!!

Nine Inch Nails was scheduled to perform at this amphitheater, however it was cancelled due to unforseen circumstances.

The Sweetness of Doing Nothing

What is tough about painting like this on the floor at my age is that the back hurts so bad sometimes I have a bad time getting back up on my feet! But it is what comes with painting large canvasses in your living room!

I did this painting simply because...always wanted to do a painting of flowers ala Georgia Okeefe. It can be absording once you gat down to refining the brush strokes and color tonal values.
It is not fully completed almost needs something out of the ordinary to bring it to life, what is it? Will have to just sit and meditate on it and let it come. One thing I am learning being here cooped up in a large house most of the time alone is that there is no hurry to finish or complete anything, sometimes sitting and doing nothing can be very pruductive.

Yeah took the subject from some artificial flowers in a vase how else can you get such flowers in Dubai without coughing out Dirhams! Everything is so expensive here that it becomes a paranoia for me to even go grocery shopping what more shopping for art materials! The last time I went looking for an art store here was with one of my son's friend and we took almost two hours getting there and when we got there they ran out of supplies especially mounted canvasses, what we wanted. We laughed it off by accepting the fact that we were driving in his new BMW all over Dubai, which dont happen too often in one's lifetime for most of us.

I miss my little Kancil in Penang and am wondering if it is still there as i am sliding in my payments!

More Random Sketches

When living in the Desert it is imperative that we sketch some camel riders! These sketches were done as a good practice in order to not waste time on Face Book or staring at the fish tank! Pen and ink is one of my favorite medium but i tend to get carried away like the need to 'finish' the piece with more and more details! Soon I end up with an overworked piece as always.

Knowing to quit with minimalism is an art in itself and very seldom do one get to find someone who has mastered this, at least not me. I enjoy putting things in subliminally if possible so others may see more than what is.

I also have th tendency to creatte a story whenever i sketch something or someone, like I have the need to portray the inner character of what i am sketching, thus the 'overwork'?

Most of these sketches came off the works of 'Masters' like my choice of Paul Rubens and the likes. I also take still pictures from Movies by pausing the pictures and rendering what i see that i like. In doing this often enough you also begin to enjoy the artistic expression of the Film Maker in capturing the aesthetic beauty of each frame of picture in terms of lighting and so on.

In copying the works of the Old masters especially their sketches, one gets the feeling of the strokes and the freedom by which they were expressed. You become a little more intimate with their works.

As you keep sketching away you are also developing your own rythm and strokes, your hand movement and the weight of the pressure you use to heighten or lighten the image. This kind of spontaneous motion can only come from alot of doing.

Sketching from an oil painting or a water color takes a different king of approach and feeling. I have to find the best ways to cover space with strokes of my pen and thus creating a design to render these in one form or another making it pleasing and somewhat tells the picture you are trying to create. Leaves in the trees, water in the lake and the feeling of shades and textures in the tree stems and the delicate branches, all has their own rythm and technique to achieve.

There is alot of advantages that one can utilize from using images from the computer espeically in being able to zoom in on the images while working with them and sometimes just taking parts that you like and eliminating the rest thus often creating your own new scene.

I am neer good at portraits, never had the confidence nor the desire so much to do it, but I still enjoy capturing faces if they are distinct in fratures and personality. I always like to nkow what these famous faces looked like, Doestoyevsky, Tolstoy, Hemmingway and the likes. These are names only but when you find pictures of them especially in black and white it becomes a great study of characters.

The MIxedup Kid

Ice Hockey Goalee a form of self induced physical torture or endurance, the Art of Being on Skates and stopping a 150MPH pug flying right at you, or stand in the way of an on coming assault by a 200 pounds muscles slip sliding your way with a stick in his hand intent on ramming it up your throat, this is my son's favorite game and I accompany him to his games like a good Dad who was not around to watch his games when he was growing up. My most memorable time watching a Ice Hocket game with my son was when I fell asleep at a San Jose Shark's game! He has never forgiven me for it. What is the common factor between NIN and NAZ? They have appeared at 25 different places together, NIN (Nine Inch Nails) as the performer and NAZ (Nazri) as the die- hard fan. Naz practically tailed NIN on his world tour concerts.
" The only country I missed Dad, guesse where....Malaysia!! Could not get the day off!"

Everytime you drive with Naz you are subjected to NiN and after a whle you kinda get used to it and even begin to enjoy the head splitting drums and heavy duty lyrics. It must be my aging process I guesse not to be able to keep with the fast yelling and screaming accompanied by ear splitting drums and accoustics.

His head is always full of ideas sometimes too many for his own good, however he makes things happen and is persistant in getting things done.

The looks is not yet the Bahari 'scowl' which is the inheritance of all my children when they get pissed. If looks could kill... the Bahari scowl probably will if and when provoked.

Then there's the winning charms that comes in many forms and escpecially cooking, we love to eat.
My son has a too big a charitable heart that is almost to a fault when it comes to friends and family and it is sad for me to see him lving his life alone most of the time. My time here with him is precious as I get a chance to love my adult son and again be there when he needs me most.

And.. just hang out...this is the flip side of being an airline pilot, it is either this or sleep at all the odd hours in order to prepare for the next fkight.

Going places is one of the major fringe benifit of flying as a creear among other things that need be mentioned here. Hence one can tail the NIN concert all over the world if the timing is right or visit one's friends in Seattle or San Francisco for a short visit from Dubai.

But most commonly theres the hanging out and shooting the breeze with friends over margaritas watching the Green Bay Packers with the Super Bowl and take home the Vince Lombardi Trophy, just chilling out.

On rare occaisions you play host to family and friends who drop in for a tour of Dubai its the time to blend in with the tourists.
Every once in a while when I look at him from the distance I can feel the bond I have with him and his Granma's words would float into my concious mind..." whaadya know! that mixed-up kid!!"

BATTLE STAR GALACTICA

My son has insisted that I should sit and watch the whole series of this made for TV series of a space psi-fi which I did not think much of when I first watched it when it first appeared on TV while i was livng in the US. It was a choice between Star Trek , The Next Generation and this space odessy and I opted for Star Trek being a Trekky back those years.
Having sometime on my hand I told myself why not, if my son the genius thinks the series is worth all the hours there must be something to it and so last night i watched the final part of the series after (over three weeks), where it all came to a conclusion with the return to 'Earth' of what was the remainder of the colonies that had been dritfting through space in their various space ships, 'looking for a home'. With Cylons (machines created by man-robots as well evolved new species) ever on the persuit with the intention of annihilating the human race or what was the remains of it (40,000 or so ),the story unfolded with the most mundane of human dramas to the basic question of the existance of God.
Under the command of the Admiral Adama (Edward James Olmos) commander of the Galactica, the fleet ventured into the unknown recesses of outer space both escaping the Cylons attacks as well as looking for a final resting place for the last groupd of survivors of the human race. It was like a civilization on the run with its own administerative goverment and the common people living their lives within the confinements of their vassels each supporting the other for the survival of the whole. It was like watching the Planet's population in its miniscule trying to survive as food and fuel runs out and not to mention the lives that were sacrificed in the battles against their everpresent enimies the Cylons.
To add to the dilemma of the human survivors, the Cylons had evolved to the extent that they became human replicas and infilterated the human colony which created an envoironment of suspicion among the humans and the hatred for the Cylons fueled an uncompromising vendetta which almost tore the Humans apart preying upon eachother...Needless to say after watching the series for a while one gets to come to see the frailties that we humans harbor within us and the strength we can master up from within us in the times or dire need. The story cast a glimpse for me of how humanity can come to a common faith when all else failed and how individuality can become a virtue or a vice in the face of adversities. The final triumph of humanity in this case was not over the enimy so much over their own beliefs and fears...over themselves, their simple Greed, Hate and Ignorance.
If there was any triumph in the final say it would the triumph of the "Spirit", both for the Cylons and their creators the Humans.

Hangin out in Falcon City, (of Wonders!)

Cannot find any more pictures although took alot of them and cannot download my drawings and sketches cause have not learned how to scan them with the scanner here...I am stuck with writing my thoughts of the last few days after being back from Switzerland.

Yep, thats about how it is feeling inside like the demon is about to break loose just waiting for that excuse and don know what it is or would be yet, trying hard to cap it down like. Maybe its the place, cant put my finger on it but it seems to have no energy or just dead plain old lifeless. I am taking advantage of the solitary quietness of the place and doing my meditation, reflectiobns contemplations whatever you want to cal it as much as I can. Mostly watching and observing my thoughts as they rise and disolves. It is very intrestning how your thoguhts works when you can step back and watch them without any attachment. With any judgement or encouragement: just bare observations.

Questions after questions arises and answers upon answers responded and itbecome like a ringling circus of discussions after awhile over subjects that can be from if my daughter is ok where she is or my persuing the course of action in this life is foolhardy, a waste of a lifetime. The movies i watched, the eel in the tank that refuses to eat, my son and his nose problem my friends in Penang with their daily life... thoughts will rise incessantly like hundreds of channels on Astro network. For years now i have been trying my damndest to understand this most routine of all phenomena in my life. Who or what is rattling the chains in myhead?And how can I stop this never ending train of thoughts? this load of incessant noises hankering in my mind depriving me from any form of peace and quiet. What is worse most are like broken records that keep playing the same lines over and over.

So,for years now i have set upon myself to quest for a way out of this mental gridlock and it has been one long trip often boring as hell and most of the time a great waste of time just sitting there on my arse staring into emptiness looking for a solution and answer, a way. All the while off course it was right there before my eyes, the answers! It did not come in one smackdown drop but trickled drop by drop breath by breath, it is not easy to break the "Seventh seal". The veil of ignorance and enter the prescence of 'Being'.. I touched this feeling in this house. I look inside my heart, i look inside my soul...with thoughts hovering in silence like a bunch of 'Squids' at the gates of Zion. (Matrix, The Movie))

Oh, it's not that I made any big discovery as far mind trips goes and spirituality for that matter, but I discovered little indicators of what and how of my thoughts, move on into deeper layers of my subconciousness without feeling any fears or doubts. Exploring the workings of your mind can be quite disturbing at times without a guide or teacher especially if you are sitting alone in a large house with no one else around and thoughts conjuring up images you would not like to really confront if you can help it. Hey wake up! You will be telling yourself, dont let your thoughts fool you! And you find yourself talking to your 'self'. Fear is the key.

We believe and dis- believe out of fear! Fear is the conditioner that dictates our state of mind, nailing our feet to the boards so we cannot take another step towards the light of wisdom. Fear is the demon that rules our sense of being who we are or what we are, our beliefs, conciousness, impulses, perceptions, fear lurks behind every choices we make in order to liberate our-self. Fear of death,of what lies beyond death, fear of the unknown of what we do not know about the mysteries of life, of how our minds works...fear locks us in our closet of ignorance. And how do we overcome fear?

It is doubtful that we can..overcome fear not entirely, not while living in this conditioned state of being, however we might be able to make every effor to understand the nature of fear. What is it that we are afraid of? What is the worse that can happen if this fear grips us in its claws? We die? We are subject to suffering or excruciating pain? These are the manifestations of what we fear or the outcome. We fear imprisonment if we break the law. we fear redicule if we fail in what we claim to be good at, we fear disappointment when what we expect so badly does not happen, fear comes in all kinds of forms and shapes and we are the victims of our own self created fears. How do we circumnavigate our conciouness in the ocean of fears?

We can only overcome fear through 'right understanding'.
Whats is right understanding of fear? Read J. Krishnamurti on fear. Just type exactly as it says.
or you could listen to Erkhad Tolle on You Tube on the nature of 'Fear'. It is my belief that each and everyone of us has to at least make an effort to get to know one's fears, their origins and their negative effects on our lives.