Thursday, February 12, 2009

My most precious piece of art

I'm not a huge collector. I tend mainly to go for small handmade things from Eid bazaars and the cool pictures that almost everyone has from Ikea. (In fact, M and I are in love with Ikea art. At least 3 separate walls in our apartment are graced with Ikea art. Imagine if we had more wall to cover! We'd probably buy out the entire collection.) Anyway, my hubby is definitely the one with the skill (and the knack) for decorating, and he's managed, with precious little of my assistance, to give our home a beautiful aesthetic, which I can wholly appreciate but couldn't have dreamed up for my life.
But yesterday, I got a new piece of art that I fell immediately in love with. It's simple and small, 8.5 X 11, on a blue background, and some with more refined taste might consider it amateur. Not me. This piece is going up on my cubicle wall at work.
It's from my Little Angela in Dubai, a jumble of red circles (roughly circles... maybe 'circle-like shapes' is a better description?) with some smaller, green circle like shapes around the edges. Then, there is my sister's annotation (probably word for word recitation of my niece's description of her work) along the bottom of the construction paper. In Arabic:

"This is a boat named jeen hay.
(Noha's note: this is not an Arabic word. Not one I can think of, anyway. It's simply Little Angela's wild imagination running away with her as usual... Correct me if I'm wrong, sis!) There are people in the boat named grandma and grandpa and me and my brother and mama and baba and my uncle and my cousin. I'll let Khalto Noosa and Khalo M (Noha's note again: that would be myself and M) ride on the boat too. I'll let them."

There are other annotations, informing that the green circles are waves, and then along the top there's a dedication to me.
I love it. Simple pleasures, man. Simple pleasures.

6 comments:

Big Brother said...

Always the best art... cuz it goes right to the heart. :o)

VioletSky said...

Ah, sounds so sweet.

Am so glad she'll "let" you in her boat!!

noha said...

BB, yup, it's totally my favourite piece... And it was free! (if you don't count my parents' plane ride back from Dubai!)
VioletSky, I'm happy she let me on the boat too, although I bet if I were to ask her about it now, she'd give a long, convoluted reason for why I might not be allowed on anymore. Or not. You never know with kids, they're so fickle...

Anonymous said...

Noha - Your sister here. Yep, Angela's mama. So, this was such a super sweet post. I loved it - made me very very very happy to read. Just wanted to say that if you like you can take a pic and stick it on here. I know I'm a privacy stickler, so I thouht I'd tell you. Not that I'm pressuring you to show my daughter's artwork to the world or anything (hint hint)

Anonymous said...

You should scan it in so we can all see it! My cubicle used to be plastered top to bottom with my daughter's art -- with only a little room for some photos of her.

noha said...

well, the verdict is in! Next week, when I'm in Ottawa, I'll scan it or take a picture and you'll all have evidence that my little angela is a michaelangelo (I know, I know, I'm taking the loving aunt thing too far. they're 3 year old scribbles, seriously, but extremely ADORABLE 3 year old scribbles...)