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!

6 wands—victory! my tarot card painting at splendorporium in portland!

in the midst of a big deadline of 25 illustrations for the arabic pastry cookbook, sweets of araby, an opportunity to paint something completely different from what i had been intensely working on arose and i took a few days to indulge myself in a totally different process. 

i knew the size, as the tarot show had a minimum size, and i knew the content, as i drew this card, the 6 of wands—victory, to paint for the portland tarot card exhibition. 

wanting to do something totally different than brightly colored paintings on bright white paper that i had sketched and designed previously, i chose to gesso the canvas black for starters. then i put into place an interference blue border of 2 inches, leaving the corner squares for interference gold.

working without a sketch, i just went with the flow and my intuition. came up with the idea of the i-ching, and as i researched this, which has hexagrams of 6 lines, it was perfectly logical to do the first hexagram of the i-ching, which is six unbroken lines, Ch'ien, THE CREATIVE, HEAVEN both above and below. how auspicious as the 6 of wands could be represented by the 6 lines. one of the interpretations of the 6 of wands tarot card i discovered is victory over difficulties. so appropriate to what i have been dealing with, i could not have asked for a more positive card! and the i-ching hexagram 1—ch'ien, the creative, above and below, felt divinely guided.

next, i painted the black gesso with some dark colors to give it depth and texture. and then using more interference paint colors, i painted in the hexagram. the circle enclosing it seemed like a natural organic progression to represent the sun, earth, moon, creative energy, egg, birth, life. and the lines extending beyond the circle representing another aspect of the 6 of wands...and the number 6 at the bottom.

finally i added black circles on to the gold corner squares and came up with four elements to be included: earth, represented by the bare feet standing in the center of the circle; fire; water; and heart—all done with love.

and the word "victory" which appears on the 6 of wands card was added as the finishing element.

the exhibition is up at the splendorporium in portland through the end of december and this painting is for sale!

wishing you all victory over any and all difficulties, creativity, heaven, and many blessings this holiday season!

portland tarot show—opening friday night, november 5

my artwork for the "six of wands—victory" will be in the portland tarot show that opens this friday night at the splendorporium. dozens of artists were invited to draw a card from the tarot deck to determine the card each artist was to paint. a very synchronistic process, to be sure. the card i drew is extremely auspicious to me, as it's meaning relates to success after much hard work.

this is so fitting to my situation, and i am delighted to have drawn this card. in the midst of a huge deadline of 25 interior paintings for the arabic pastry cookbook, i managed to squeeze out a couple of days to work on the painting for the tarot show, which is totally different from the illustrations for the book.

instead of working on small images on white paper with brightly colored paints, i began by gessoing my canvas black. and instead of having a pre-planned drawing worked out, it felt right to work spontaneously, and just follow my intuition. i used interference paints, that work exquisitely on black, and although the theme for the card is joy, the painting is a bit on the dark side. one piece of advice that i learned while researching the meanings for this card is humility...victory with humility. in other words, the opposite of arrogance. a wonderful reminder.

will upload the photos from my camera soon to share with you here. and if you're in portland, please join me and many other artists at the opening friday night from 7 to 9 p.m.

sawaya in beyond borders: arab-american art exhibition, long beach, california

here's the lovely announcement done by artist reem hammad, for the BEYOND BORDERS art exhibition in long beach, california at 2nd city council gallery, this weekend, october 9 and 10. the show is up from noon to 5 p.m. on saturday, with a reception from 7 to 9 p.m.

sunday it is open from noon to 5 p.m. with a children's workshop from 1 to 3 p.m.

address is 435 alamitos avenue, long beach, california...

will be a great show featuring the work of 22 artists—lebanese-american, middle eastern, and american! if you're in the area, it will be worthwhile being there...i imagine great food, music, art, film screenings, and amazing people!

four of my paintings will be shown from the "at the top of the head" series: fireworks woman, spectral woman, rosehead woman, and nimrod woman. they look fabulous framed. also signed copies of my cookbook, alice's kitchen: traditional lebanese cooking will be available!

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

preview of new artwork for arabic pastry cookbook!

very delighted to present a preview of the artwork i recently completed for the cover of an arabic pastry cookbook to be published next spring. so far the response to it has been very positive; and i am so pleased with it as well! accomplished in record time to boot!

soon i will begin twenty five illustrations for the interior of the book...one of which was previewed pre-completion in an earlier post in august. what fun!

sawaya in illustration invitational show opening this week in portland

an illustration exhibition called DRAWING ATTENTION will open this sunday, september 12th at the Doll Gardner Gallery in portland, featuring primarily children's book illustrators. if you are in town on sunday from 12:30 to 2 p.m., stop by the gallery on sw oleson road for the opening reception with the artists. hope to be there myself! it looks to be a fun show.

i will be exhibiting original paintings from my two children's books: How To Get Famous in Brooklyn and The Little Ant/La Hormiga Chiquita. the show will be up through september 26th.

in other news, i'm going to be in an art show in long beach, california in october...watch for upcoming posting about this with all the details.

and i have just finished the cover painting for the arabic pastry cookbook. hope to post that image soon after getting the publisher's okay! it is quite a lovely piece done in record time.