Dr. Hagar Elgammal

Painter and illustrator, MFA, PhDFA 

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Shrimp pencil drawing (time lapse)

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knitting for inner peace

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My latest two charcoal drawings in their mixed media frames (no wood no glass and frames can't be separated from the artwork) See steps and how I fixed some of my mistakes in stories highlight (2 flower frames) #fineart #charcoaldrawing #charcoal #drawing #botanical #botanicalart #flowerdrawing #flowerart #flowerartist #mixedmedia #mixedmediaart #framemaking #fineartframes #makingframes #frames #frame #artframe #artframing https://www.instagram.com/p/CNNSD9BhZCx/?igshid=tm8hqfdhz4wj

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Two warmup sketches I did in 2019, in their free standing frames I made last month. One of them is of Egyptian actor sayed zayan from a movie that I can't remember 😅 he was pretending to be Chinese I think, the other drawing may be also of an actor, I don't remember 🤣 I do these sketches while watching anything on TV or YouTube just to warmup my hands and to practice fast drawing, don't really mean to make pieces of art out of them, also I get rid of most of these warmup sketches. But last month when I found these two portraits among some of my old sketches, I thought they are good to be framed, and decided to make mini freestanding frames for them. sometimes I see my work in a different way after few months or may be years of doing it 🤷‍♀️ See steps of frames making and how I fixed the sketches after being ruined on my Instagram stories highlight: "standing frame" #sketch #drawing #pencil #pencildrawing #graphite #graphitedrawing #portraitart #portrait #portraitdrawing #fineart #frame #frames #fineartframes #framemaking #makingframes  https://www.instagram.com/p/CKoby-pFFCa/?igshid=fegx9tmskl6f

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Drawing and paintings in 2020 *prints of five of them available on saatchiart (see my pages link in bio) #fineart #painting #drawing #art #watercolors #acrylicpainting #portrait #portraits #stilllife #islamicart #islamicmanuscript #islamicpattern #date #coffee #energyballs l #botanical #botanicalart #mask #apple #academicart https://www.instagram.com/p/CJdL73-l_Qc/?igshid=10cqqkyn6xa5e

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Drawing and paintings in 2020 #fineart #painting #drawing #art #watercolors #acrylicpainting #portrait #portraits #stilllife #islamicart #islamicmanuscript #islamicpattern #date #coffee #energyballs l #botanical #botanicalart #mask #apple #academicart https://www.instagram.com/p/CJcSYQsl6j0/?igshid=11dcv1ctue656

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New pattern from old design Available as prints or on products on my society6 store (see my pages link in bio) Made this pattern from a design I made in 2002, when I was in my first year in faculty of fine arts (first year before choosing a major), we had a project to make design and then made pattern from it, they asked for one but because I was always make more projects than what they want, I made four (see photo no.2), they took the originals of three of them and I just had the copies with different patterns I made (see last photo). I keep most of my art work even the ones I made as a kid, and every few years I check them, get rid of some, get some inspiration from others, or framing them and hang on the wall (like the one in the previous post, I did it also in the same year and I think it was worth the +30 hours I took to make its yarn frame) so this time I choose these designs and decided to scan them and try to make new patterns on photoshop, I remade one of my old patterns I made with one of these designs (photo 3), and then rotated it 45 degrees and then made another pattern from it (photo 4: top left is the old pattern, right the new one which can be made by repeating one of the other two designs ) I'm really happy I kept them all that time and didn't get rid of them like most of students was doing. Also happy professor didn't take the copies. they were keeping the projects they like without asking, but that was ok for me back then because it meant my projects are good. But after that that was bothering me, like that time in pre-master year when one professor took some of our work and told us you should be happy, later you will be proud when you see your work on the faculty museum, but really we don't know where those projects are right now, may be they kept it to show students later or kept them as souvenirs from their students, or may be throw them after few years 🤷‍♀️ Anyway it's easier now to save artwork digitally, so I try to scan or photograph my artwork in high resolution after I finish it. https://www.instagram.com/p/CJMbR1yFLNF/?igshid=15u4or2klno3m

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One of my mixed media paintings, muqarnas-like shapes, that I made with paper, holding some of my brushes, and some souvenirs I bought from Turkey in 2016 when I went to get copies of two manuscripts from Topkapi palace museum in Istanbul to use in my PhD. (I like that the pattern with black frame has magnet on the back and that makes it the biggest fridge magnet I have ever seen) #paintings #mixedmedia #mixedmediapainting #contemporaryart #contemporary #painting #framemaking #paperfolding #fineart #craft #souvenir #turkey #istanbul #pattern #islamicart #islamicpattern #ventage #artiststudio #artistsofinstagram #artistsoninstagram #art https://www.instagram.com/p/CIQpjeklXOg/?igshid=dnnjjma5uuzo

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Trying to redraw some drawings from different  islamic manuscripts using different techniques and colors. I draw them by eyeballing* (see the time lapse video) and not trying to measure everything accurately, even the writings I started to make it with pencil that I cut like arabic calligraphy pens but it proke after writing two words, so I just tried to draw the litters with the regular pencil. although some artists prefer to do that sort of "Appropriation"** by photo transfer or by tracing the outline since their main aim is to use the exact image and to put it in a different design. In my PhD work my aim was to make contemporary botanical paintings and drawings that were done from life, and represent them in an antique and islamic miniatures style by using modern materials and techniques, but I also used some parts of islamic manuscripts in my borders, some drawn by eyeballing and some parts like complicated ornaments or manuscript writings was done by photo transfer technique.  (Contemporary in traditional style) Here I try to just use islamic illustrations and patterns from different manuscripts, and execute them with modern techniques and styles. (Traditional in contemporary style) These are some of the illustrations that have been my favorite since I was doing my master, I found them different than other illustrations because even in the same manuscript you can find that different skills and style in each illustration.  * 'eyeballing': the way an artist draws or paints by using his hand and eye alone and nothing else, looking at the object or the figure and then trying to re-create the likeness on the paper or canvas. ** 'Appropriation': In art and art history refers to the practice of artists using pre-existing objects or images in their art and make it their own with little transformation of the original using modern-day materials #islamicart #painting #illustration #manuscript #marvelouscreations #animalpainting #islamicmanuscript https://www.instagram.com/p/CH3ad27nt6X/?igshid=740i1wq5d5mh

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I have Just known that yesterday was the international Day of Islamic art, and that's my first time to hear about it, it seems like there is an international day for everything 😄 but I think it's a good occasion to talk about my interest in Islamic art. 13 years ago, after my pre master year  I said to one of my professors: "I want to make my research in any thing except islamic art", Three or four years later I was doing my master in islamic art😅 After that and while I was preparing for my PhD ,which was also in islamic art, I had an argument with two professors ( one was the head of the department and the other was former head of the department) that wanted me to include islamic geometric patterns in my PhD but I refused because it's far from my subject, One year later I started learning about islamic geometric patterns 🤣 So I was avoiding islamic art for long time, and that was because I didn't want to confirm what most people think, that because I wear niqab then I have to make "islamic art"! But I think it was my destiny to make my master and PhD in islamic manuscripts and then to make designs with islamic geometric patterns later, I know of course the reasons behind that but that would make the post too long. Additional notes: - I'm not a traditional artist and not willing to be, although I'm interested in learning some of traditional techniques. -  My main profession is painting (graduated from faculty of fine arts) - Didn't learn about islamic art in college but at that time me and my twin sister joined a calligraphy school (I didn't complete it, my sister did), so we learned some arabic calligraphy and how to draw botanical ornaments by grids, but we  didn't learn how to make islamic geometric patterns. -My pre master year was my first time to study about islamic art and it's philosophy. -my master and my PhD were both about painting in manuscripts during Islamic ages (just the scientific and botanical manuscripts), and not about ornaments or geometric patterns, these are so different. #internationalislamicartday #islamicgeometricpattern #islamicmanuscript #islamicart #fineart #phdfineart https://www.instagram.com/p/CHyZDRVnjM1/?igshid=5liic4cz7al4

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decorating a wooden spoon that i have been keeping for long time without using it, by adding a macrame and an impressionist ornament 🤣 That's my Second time to make simple macrame design to learn different knots, see 3rd photo for the first one that was very tiny.. The ornament is from the book: examples of chinese ornament by Owen Jones It could be done easily by photo transfer but I wanted to try it free hand, I draw it directly on the spoon more like I make my paintings (swipe to see some steps), but then I felt it wasn't a good idea for this type of art that are different than and wanted to leave it unfinished instead of ruining it by adding more layers of color to fix mistakes. It's better for ornaments to draw the design first in the same size or print a small size of the ornament photo and then transfer it to the work surface with clear lines and then choose the right brush to color it and of course before that practice to have a steady hand to be able to make firm and sharp lines that are more important in ornaments than in fine art paintings that messy brush strokes may make it more beautiful and valuable, so I need to work on that more if I want to do free hand ornaments. #ornamet #macrame #chineseart #woodenspoon #ceramicart #macrameart #fineart #craft #painting #acrylicpainting #watercolour #watercolorpainting https://www.instagram.com/p/CHh5mWwlQrh/?igshid=1odclgy9fgceo

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Adding details to show the lines more #carving #art #fineart #sculpture #islamicpattern #islamicart https://www.instagram.com/p/CGqbOKHlbZm/?igshid=1ar5wwltmukdn

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Miniature carving 😄 #airdryclay #carving #sculpture #islamicpattern #islamicart #miniaturecarving #miniatureart #miniart #miniature #botanicalart #ornaments https://www.instagram.com/p/CGlLqtelIIU/?igshid=190a73xvtla5s

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Another air-dry clay carving See the video and more photos 👉 #airdryclay #carving #geometricpattern #islamicpattern #miniature #miniaturecarving #sculpture #islamicart https://www.instagram.com/p/CGlKYBRFnNM/?igshid=1g4rkrhxm4uoh

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copied part of mughal miniature border and turned it into carving The miniture is from shah Shah Jahan Album: "The Emperor Shah Jahan with his Son Dara Shikoh"(see photo 9) I used the border in the front side (recto) of the same folio in one of my PhD work (see the last photo) I mentioned in the previous post that I have never carved plaster before but I found that air-dry clay is easy to be carved and sanded after it dries so I have been experimenting with it to make different designs. I also tried to make mould with the air-dry clay, it's good but not for delicate details. Swipe to see more photos and mini video teaching my niece how I carve it 😄 💕 #carving #plastercarving #airdryclay #clay #sculpture #islamicart #mughalart #islamicpattern #manuscript #islamicmanuscript https://www.instagram.com/p/CGlIfKXlRWB/?igshid=qtyee4tcil1l

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My boat for The International Burullus Symposium my design is inspired by three cultures that flourished in Egypt: ancient egyptian, ptolemaic, and islamic. Not totally finished but today is the last day and I'm happy with that My sister @sarra_elgammal always send me about exhibitions and art events, and I always reply to her that I'm not interested in participating in any of them But this time when she sent me about The International Burullus Symposium I replied: "I was about to say noway but I found that it's online🤣, nice idea I will try to make it insha'allah💕" I usually don't like participating even in online events but because I have been working on some designs using air-dry clay and it's my first time to use it, I thought it's maybe a good idea to make a clay boat to continue my experiments with the clay and at the same time make something new and different and maybe challenging. I started the same day she told me about it (7th of October) and worked every day (8 days) for more than 6 hours a day and I still have many ideas to finish this boat and to make other boats too, but that will take a very long time, that's why I'm happy it has a deadline 😂 #ملتقى_البرلس_الدولي #the_international_burullus_symposium @abdelwahab_abdelmohsen #the_international_burullus_symposium_7th #burullus #burullussymposium #Egypt #art #artistsoninstagram #boats #artistsofinstagram #watercolorpainting #watercolor #millcreek #washingtonstate https://www.instagram.com/p/CGU70HDnU5N/?igshid=1wvbhv3xyfpgy

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#Repost @sarra_elgammal • • • • • As a fan of The International Burullus Symposium I couldn’t resist the open invitation this year 🤩 and I’m happy that my twin sister @dr.hagarelgammal joined me and made a small clay boat ,she is still working on her design that involves a lot of carving..can’t wait to see her finished work❤️ #ملتقى_البرلس_الدولي #the_international_burullus_symposium #the_international_burullus_symposium_7th #burullus #burullussymposium #Egypt #art #artistsoninstagram #boats #artistsofinstagram #watercolorpainting #watercolor #millcreek #washingtonstate https://www.instagram.com/p/CGQK_IoFcMX/?igshid=17e8x744kftq6