Jan DSaNothing thrills me more than to mix two forms of arts modalities, whether it is painting and spontaneous dance movements or of course writing a poem and sketching spontaneously. And Sofitel Dubai Downtown in conjunction with DrawDeck offered me just the opportunity, to paint a bottle of grape and write our own message in a bottle, alongside the other brave souls.
The best part of the whole experience is I was so absorbed in the act of painting that I just forgot everything around me, except for the music which was rather staccato, which encouraged me to do a blend of stippling and cross hatching on the bottle that had been painted white. I had NO idea what I was drawing, but like a man that draws his woman into a beautiful tango or a rhumba, the music led me. As they say Rhythm is going to get you and that’s what happened (to read how the Rhythm got hold me on a totally different occasion, read a blog story called Zero Point).
Now, I didn’t know that there was going to be a competition for the best bottle, as voted by the public. I was the 1st runner up, but as I say, I did it for fun!
That’s me in the centre. Look at the concentration on our faces! Photo, courtesy Sofitel Dubai Downtown. Used with permission.
We used markers to paint over the white canvas. Starting with purple for the rim
My bottle art work in progress. I have no clue what I’m painting, but it comes together anyway. That’s the beauty of spontaneous creativity.
More people painting away. More fun. You won’t believe if I told you but it took me 2 hours to finish the bottle art. BLISS. Photo courtesy Sofitel Downtown Dubai and used with permission.
My finished work of art. In the end, it turned out to be the Burj Al Arab and the moon on one side of the bottle, and the Burj Khalifa on the other side. Considering that Sofitel Dubai Downtown faces the Burj Khalifa, it made sense that I subconsciously incorporated the tower into my painting. And if you peeped into the bottle, there was a tiny smile. The message in the bottle was really straightforward.
Close up of the details! Quite proud of my bottle art 😀
And how could I resist posing with the painted bottle of grape, and the message in the bottle 😀
And the message that I wrote and stuck into my bottle was:
“Why, you ask?
Why, Dubai?
I, Dubai, my, my…
Look @ the sky! Oh, What a high.
That’s why I choose Dubai.â€
I remember a rhyme song that we learnt as kid. Ten green bottles hanging on a wall. Well, there were more than ten green bottles submitted into the competition, lining up the side table. Fab ain’t it?