art news and holiday greetings from linda dalal sawaya

i'm delighted to have sent my freshly designed art news email yesterday with colorfully good information  including my teaching art classes starting in january after a two year sabbatical! instead of in my studio, they will be taught at Village Gallery of Arts in the cedar mill area of portland.

Monday Night Collage class returns! this popular class i've taught over the years culminating a few years ago in a student exhibition at Washington State University, Vancouver campus, is great fun and starts up again in mid-January. sign up through their website; no experience necessary, and all materials provided.

this collage is by a wonderful artist nicknamed Kosmic Karen—her first collage of many exquisite ones done in my classes.

two workshops: collage and acrylic paint, and soulcollage® coming up in the new year in the same location have me very excited to get back to teaching as they are both great fun!  

my Tree of Life painting was mailed in poster size to a few thousand people by Friends of Sabeel North America for their Christmas fundraising appeal with a letter from Archbishop Desmond Tutu—an honor and a blessing to be sure! FOSNA does significant work working for peace in Palestine and Israel, which i support wholeheartedly, and encourage you to support as well.

one last item included is a special holiday offer for copies of my book, alice's kitchen: traditional lebanese cooking! email me to get your gift copies now!

wishing you all many blessings, happy holidays, and peace to all!

The Sweets of Araby illustrated by Linda Sawaya among NY Times Notable Books of 2011!

i was totally delighted this week to receive news from Countryman Press editor Kermit Hummel that The Sweets of Araby, which i had the pleasure of illustrating and designing the cover for, was selected as one of 18 NY Times Notable Cookbooks of 2011!!

the team at Countryman and the Salloum sisters (authors) were great to work with on this colorful and enchanting book of recipes based on the Tales from the 1001 Arabian Nights, providing me with excellent material for illustrating the 25 stories in the book. a unique holiday gift to yourself or your loved ones!

Sawaya painting in BEYOND BORDERS Arab American Art Exhibition in Long Beach, California

another beautiful invitation for this year's 2011 BEYOND BORDERS art exhibition in long beach, california at 2nd city council gallery, this weekend, october 22 and 23 sponsored by the House of Lebanon Artists' Group in Los Angeles. the show is up from noon to 5 p.m. on saturday, with a reception from 5 to 9 p.m.

sunday it is open from noon to 5 p.m. with a children's ceramic workshop from 1 to 3 p.m. i will be helping reem hammad out with the workshop, and this will be great fun!

the address is 435 alamitos avenue, long beach, california 90802. this year i will be there and hope to see you there if you're nearby!

it will be a great show featuring the work of 28 artists—lebanese-american, middle eastern, and american!

i will be signing copies of my cookbook, alice's kitchen: traditional lebanese cooking  and the sweets of araby, which i illustrated and was published in june!

the exhibition is sponsored by the Lebanese American Foundation House of Lebanon and the House of Lebanon Artists' Group.

a food photograph to post on my art blog or on my lebanese cookbook blog?

if you look at the sidebar on the right, you'll notice that i have two blogs, my alice's kitchen: traditional lebanese cooking blog, and this art blog. i have just added both blogs to "networked blogs", so i invite you to join and follow on that as well. interestingly, i have twice as many followers on my cookbook blog. conclusion: more people love to eat lebanese food than to look at art! 

recently i made a salad from my garden for a potluck, and it was so beautiful, but since it's not lebanese, i've decided to post it here on my art blog.

food is art. and photography was one of my first art forms. that's why i love having the alice's kitchen cookbook blog: it combines my love of photography with my love of food and cooking. and my mother, alice, was a great teacher of artful presentation of food and beyond. 

in case you're wondering, the white and red flowers are scarlet runner bean blossoms, which i just tasted for the first time—and you guessed it, they taste yummy...just like beans! the periwinkle blue star-shaped blossoms are borage flowers, tasting slightly like cucumber and adding beautiful color; and the orange petals are from calendulas blooming wildly all over the garden, another edible flower! the purple snippets are purple bush beans right from the garden. everything but the gorgonzola cheese. the cool thing about portland's cool summer, is the salad greens just keep coming!

i'm praying for some heat so the figs finally ripen...they're a month late! you can see a beautiful platter of a bumper crop of figs from my garden on the cookbook blog. 

enjoy and happy summer!

wall street journal review praises the illustrations in the sweets of araby

although the reviewer doesn't mention my name in the wall street journal online, mr. bakshian describes the sweets of araby, my latest book illustration project, as a "beautifully illustrated book". here's a link to the article which appeared july 2, 2011.


and this is good.


another painting from the sweets of araby for your pleasure is playful and of course colorful. illustrated by yours truly, linda dalal sawaya.

the sweets of araby reviewed in the boston globe!

delighted to see the first review of the sweets of araby in the boston globe! and especially delighted at their praise for my illustrations! "The eye-catching colors of Linda Dalal Sawaya’s charming illustrations make this book one to savor in or out of the kitchen."


here's one of my favorite illustrations from the book. as you can see i had such fun with this!

palestinian tree of life painting

my latest painting is a commissioned piece for an international organization working for peace in palestine/israel. it is a tree of life. the birth of this illustration occurred in perfect synchronicity. a couple of months ago i came across a tree of life painting and the concept resonated. i had not painted a tree of life and it was time. one week later, a phone call came to me commissioning a tree of life painting! goose bumps and joy!

the olive tree symbolic of the struggle for peace in palestine, as well as the source of the fruit that brings sustenance, health, and vitality, was a natural choice while the olive branch has been used as a symbol of peace since ancient times.

in researching the painting, i delighted in learning about the beautiful palestine sunbird a species particular to this region of the world, in addition to the gazelle, turtle, white stork, and other species.

it has been a delight and a blessing to make this painting for a wonderful cause.

linda dalal sawaya art website redesigned! check it out!

in anticipation of the new book i illustrated being published this month, i spent the past several weeks re-designing my website to feature my new illustration work. it is colorful and delightful, and i hope you'll visit and check out all the new work. let me know how you like the new look! and if you want to buy prints or commission illustration work, please be in touch! enjoy!

the sweets of araby cookbook published featuring linda sawaya illustrations and cover design

delighted to announce the publication of the cookbook i illustrated this past year—the sweets of araby—with twenty five interior illustrations and the cover illustration and graphic design featuring recipes based on the Tales of the 1001 Arabian Nights. a very fun project to work on with stories lending themselves to playful and colorful paintings. the book is published by countryman press, and is available from them, me, or amazon. 

in anticipation of the publication of this book, i have redesigned my art website with many of the illustrations from the book. please visit my site and make comments here letting me know how you like it all! my alice's kitchen cookbook pages are in process of being redesigned! 

linda sawaya featured as ARTIST OF THE MONTH for los angeles' House of Lebanon

what an honor and delight to be featured this month as ARTIST OF THE MONTH for the Los Angeles (my hometown) organization Lebanese American Foundation's House of Lebanon.

here's a link to the March newsletter with my bio and samples of my artwork. when you go to the link, please scroll down to find the story.

the organization hosts an artists' group, which is a great resource for exhibitions in LA and a wonderful networking group; also has a young professionals group. HOL sponsors fundraisers and philanthropic events to benefit hospitals in Lebanon.

the sweets of araby off to press!

the new year has started off with a bang, with my completion of twenty five illustrations for a new Arabic pastry cookbook being published in june by Countryman Press, a division of W.W. Norton & Company, plus the cover design and illustration shown here by yours truly, linda dalal sawaya. 

The Sweets of Araby went to press in early february for june publication! it has been a delight to work on this project, which features stories from the Tales of the 1001 Arabian Nights. the book's authors, Leila Salloum Elias and Muna Salloum are daughters of noted Lebanese-Canadian food author, Habib Salloum.

earlier posts on this project were in august and september. soon i will be posting a few more of the interior illustrations painted with acrylic paint on paper using tiny tiny brushes. would love to hear your comments!

black and white collage in art media's 10 x 10 show available now!

a bit late for the exhibition but not too late to buy the piece! the show was up in december and i've wanted to share the image with you since october...as you can see, i'm a bit behind! but delighted to get this posted on this sunny day in portland.

one of my collages exhibited in the art media 10 x 10 show where all artwork is 10 x 10 inches and sells for $100 or less. art media is a locally owned, dream art stores where i've been buying supplies ever since i moved to portland in 1977, started by art students who understood artists' needs and still own the store.

this year i discovered my cousins in LA are suppliers to art media that you can buy directly from online...greg daniels is the son of my cousin, sandy daniels! here's the link for cousin greg daniels and family art supplies! check them out!

my untitled collage (email me if you have an idea for a title! or post it in comments below...) even though it's a way low price for one of my original artworks, didn't sell. the original framed piece is available for $100...so let me know if you're interested! i will donate the funds to one of my favorite non-profit organizations working for peace and justice in the world!

it is 10 x 10" in a black matt, the medium is straight collage (no painting) on board, framed size is 11 x 11 inches; shipping will cost $15.

here's to the first buyer! good luck!

watch for lots more great news coming soon; i'm behind on posting!

happy new year to all!

peace, love, blessings, light, and much creativity!