Rose in Purple Tunic

Bewildering Art

Facebook has introduced me to many great artist and I was very fortunate to come accross the profile of Karen Hull. I was very bewildered and inspired by her work. Even though I know it takes a very high level of discipline to practice and develop such refined skills and sensitivity to detail, I can't help but wonder what kind of talent a person must have to achieve her skill. Using the most simple artistic tools and being able to create such sophisticated work shows how much an artist loves what they do. Her work also shows a thorough understanding of the relationship between her medium and her tools and what she wants to depict through them.

I have a great desire to find a silk artist that has Karen's skill and is able to accomplish the same sophisticated level of work on a silk canvas. Do you know someone?

Please visit her website. Karen Hull

I hope that you become as inspired by her work as I was.

Leyla Navab Handpainted Silk Jersey Ruana

100% Silk Jersey

Hand-dyed and hand-painted spring flowers

Tips on how to wear a scarf or a shawl by Leyla Navab

Wearing a scarf with any outfit will add color, fun, elegance, uniqueness, and flair. A pair of jeans with a plain top immediately looks chic by adding a scarf or a shawl. The always fashionable French people love silk scarves and shawls and know how easily one can pull an outfit together to make it simply sophisticated.

Any simple outfit with a scarf can become an entirely new outfit. People will think you have a new wardrobe by simply adding a couple of scarves to compliment the items you already own.

A scarf can be used as a pocket accent on your favorite blazer or jacket. It can be used as a hair accessory to keep your hair pulled back on a hot summer day, and it can become a fun sash to wrap around your waist.

There's nothing tricky or difficult about wearing a scarf or a shawl. A scarf with a simple bow is already very Parisian and fashionable. Simply draping a shawl around your shoulders is enough to make your outfit elegant and original.

There is no one way to wear your scarf or shawl. Have fun with it and enjoy it forever because it will never go out of style and you will always be chic.

Working on a new top collection

Floral Paintings on Silk - 2005 Collection

The Truth Is...

For ages and ages society, religion, and civilization have repressed the feminine, leaving us with hardly any clue about what true feminine power entails.

Feminine power comes from being able to choose for ourselves rather than letting society choose for us. Choosing our own path with confidence and not feeling guilt or shame for wanting to be true to ourselves.

Comparing ourselves to men and wanting to imitate the image of what a powerful man is leads us to ignore our feelings.

At a very early age us women are stripped of our right to choose in order to become acceptable, presentable, and fit nicely into society.

A women who knows what she wants is usually called demanding. If she's interested in having financial security she is called a gold-digger. If a woman doesn't follow the rules of society she is called a bitch.

It's time for women to stop being victimized by society and be our own self.

The highest value of a human being is freedom and if we're looking for world peace all the women in the world have to become free to choose.

To be powerful women we do not have to condemn men. It does not have to be one or the other.

Connecting Through Technology: Real or Not?

I visited Urth Cafe over the weekend and as I was scanning my surroundings, I noticed that most of the single people present were completely engrossed with their gadgets, iPhones mostly.

The statement I receive from observing this behavior is, "Even though I'm here by myself, don't judge me as being a loner. I'm "connected" to the entire world through my gadget. I don't have to look at you, to notice, that you notice my loneliness."

It's strange to be connected but at the same time not be connected. Like the picture below, regardless of the type of relationship these two individuals have, they were more involved with their computer than with each other. They arrived together, they sat down with each other, but there was a wall made of laptops between them. They didn't look at each other, they didn't speak to each other, and the guy even had headphones on.

Are we going to let these devices that are supposed to connect us take away our opportunity to look around? Are we are going to let them tell us how to be?

Connecting through technology let us remain "safe" and not show our vulnerability to each other. If we don't want to communicate with someone we can just "delete" them and pretend they never happened.

All this technology, online social networking, and texting have become the fastfood of connection. They are readily available and satiate your hunger, however, its's fake, has zero nourishment, and very soon you'll be feeling empty again.

I hope that one day we get to the point where our differences are seen as beautiful and not as a threat, so that we can connect in a true way.

This TED Talk is great Sherry Turkle: Connected, but alone?

Santa Monica, California - City of Shocking Fashion

A simple morning trip to Lazy Daisy and to RiteAid produced the pictures below. It appears to be that Walmart isn't the only place that is frequented by people who like making shocking fashion statements.

If you go to Macy's right now, it is difficult to find a chic, elegant, simple, outfit for a person who wants to look well put together without sending a bold statement. Manufacturer's shape the way society dresses. I recently observed many clothing items that are age inappropriate. Manufacturer's make clothes for children that look like they belong on a young adult, and they make clothes for older women that look like they belong on a teenager.

Every designer has his or her own touch for presenting their design, color, and texture to the world.  Designers don't only make clothes; they actually distribute a point-of-view. Each design has a message and ALL fashion makes a statement.

Fashion signals the time that we are living in and what is happening around us. The way we dress sends messages about our lifestyle, our problems, our insecurities, even our level of anxiety. It talks about obesity, it talks about wanting to blend in the crowd or attempting to standout, it even talks about our political views. It can also sends a message about our state of mind regarding richness; meaning richness of the soul and how capable we consider ourselves.

Today's predominant message of fashion is, "I don't care what people think about me." This is a blatant statement of denial. It says, "I don't matter so I cannot make a fashion statement; I cannot make a statement about me; I cannot get the attention I desire; I cannot make an impact on people; I am invisible; I cannot be as beautiful as I want to be so I just won't try."

"I don't care what people think about me" is a statement of self-negligence. It is not a statement of self-confidence and it is actually far from it.

 He had a white feather on his top-hat and a long feather as an earring.

His outfit is saying to me, "I am different than the rest of the people, but I am clueless about fashion."

This lady is wearing her sports-bra on top of her gym shirt.

Her selection in layering order is saying to me, "I don't care about anyone else, and I definitely don't care about myself."

It takes effort and discipline to look presentable and the amount of effort you put into the way you look always shows.

We need to stand by our skills

Silk painting is very critical but many people do it.

The gracefulness of silk allows for mistakes and low skills to look presentable because it is so generous and lets paint spread beautifully. When people take silk painting lightly their technique remains very basic. Their silks look like they let a cat walk over them with paint on its paws. When Andy Warhol painted naked women and let them crawl on his canvas the idea was fresh and original, but he had a strong art background.

Of course, I'm old school, I appreciate refined skills. I don't believe in praising work that does not deserve praise. Being politically correct holds us back from giving clear criticism and the praises that are given hold artists back from improving their art.

As artists we need the guts to give our opinion to each other instead of giving each other hollow words.  

Leyla Navab ArtSilk

Shawl Collection

May 22, 2012

Watercolor Inspiration Drawings

As an artist who likes adventure and spontenouity in life, I usually paint freelance without a premedidated design; gutta becomes my pen and dupont is my color. The experience is completely suprising because I never know what the result will be. Sometimes the result is not to my liking but it can still appeal to others. The entire experience of painting on silk becomes a complete suprise.

I began to experience a different way of painting by making watercolor sketches like the ones I'm sharing below. Any painting on silk is suprising but doing the sketches beforehand actually allows for me to explore more. The final painting does not only satisfying my expectations but it has greater composition and richness.

Painting silk without a skecth is spontenous creation without a set goal. Painting with a sketch is less spontenous but it still gives great opportunities to add more richness.

Leyla Navab ArtSilk Meditation Cushions

Today, I had the idea of writing a blog about meditation, but as I was getting ready to begin typing something told me that a blog on meditation had already been posted. I searched through the archive and found the post Meditation Cushion, which is almost a year old. However, I do want to revisit the subject and share my opinion about it a bit more.

It seems to be that meditation is seen by many people as something "spooky" and "cult-like". Some people feel that practicing meditation will change their lifestyle, which is scary because change itself can be terrifying for some. One person shared with me that they practiced meditation for a long period of time but then quit. I think this is the result of not knowing the true meaning of meditation which results in unfulfilled expectations.

I try to define meditation in the most simple terms as a "stage of complete presence". This means that through meditation you enter a place of mental silence and stillness that results in total vitality; you don't feel fatigue, depression,  anxiety, nor boredom. Even though you do nothing, the mind is free, and it does not navigate through one's past nor future.

One of my personal experiences with meditation was when I decided to meditate next to the ocean for a month straight. I would sit next to the ocean and feel its energy and at the same time follow the flow of my breath. After the month passed I was able to release an emotion I didn't know how to face. Every time this emotion arose I felt powerless but meditation created strength within me to deal with it.

Meditation is being recommended by many physicians as a way to improve one's physical, emotional, and mental health. The Hammer Museum holds meditation sessions, which are free and open to the public, and even Dr. Oz says that meditation is one of the most powerful ways to release stress.

The most simple way to enter meditation is to follow the in-and-out of your breath. The breath is the only sign of life that is always with you and is ALWAYS readily accessible.

Meditation Cushions on LeylaNavab.com