The Aerogram’s Quick Picks of the Week: Visual Artist/Painter Saba Barnard

Each week, we ask writers, artists, and people of interest to share what’s inspiring them lately. This week we feature picks from visual artist and painter Saba Barnard. She is a first-generation American woman from North Carolina. Her artistic perspective draws from her experience growing up Pakistani and Muslim in the United States. Saba’s portraits provide commentary on the labels used to identify and separate ourselves, with specific regard to gender, race, and religion. She explores her heritage by incorporating the geometric patterns of Islamic art and the colorful designs of South Asia within a contemporary American context. Visit her website Art By Saba and follow her on Twitter at @SabaBarnard. Her work is shown at Pleiades Gallery in Durham, North Carolina, and her series of portraits “The Light” will exhibit at The Carrack Modern Art in Durham, January 14-25, 2014.

1. Textile Printing, Traditional and Digital Techniques

When creating designs or finding patterns for my paintings, much of my inspiration comes from textile designs. A textile is the perfect vehicle to express an aesthetic within functional settings. Our couches, curtains, bedspreads, are covered with patterns and designs that can communicate our personality and even our heritage.

I love to play around with block printing on fabrics, napkins, and in my paintings.

Troubleshooting at the kitchen table. Duhhh… How have I not been using this process until just now?? #motherland pic.twitter.com/niu8rQHV8q

— Saba Taj (@itsSabaTaj) September 17, 2013

Now, there are companies like Spoonflower who make digital printing on textiles extremely accessible to people doing small projects for fun and serious designers alike. You can design your very own textiles through their website, or use one of the bazillion designs they have available on the site. You could make some curtains with your face printed all over them. Just sayin’.

2. Alabama Shakes Pandora Station

Good music is essential for getting in the zone. These days I’m listening to the Alabama Shakes station on Pandora. It’s like the Bermuda Triangle (in a good way) of Pandora stations, where all these different genres of music meet and create some serious headphone perfection.

3. Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention by Mihaly Csikszentmihaly

I’ve just started this book, but it is extremely interesting already. The author, a psychologist, has compiled information about the lives and creative process of 91 successful creatives in various fields. He makes the distinction between personal creativity and a creativity that makes a mark on culture, asserting that Creativity with a “big C” is defined not only by the creative individual, but also by society’s support and valuation of their work. I look forward to reading the rest.

4. Winnie the Pooh on Netflix

I have a toddler, and I struggle to find shows for him to watch that are cute, age appropriate, and don’t seem to be giving him ADHD in real time. Winnie the Pooh is really sweet and the songs are great (“Little Black Rain Cloud” is my fave). I don’t think it’s particularly educational, but I love having a quality thing to watch where he can snuggle and wind down after a long, hard day of pooping his pants and squishing food in his hair.

5. Sketchbook App for iPad

The Sketchbook App for iPad has transformed my drafting process. I have both the free version of Sketchbook and Sketchbook Pro. I mostly use the free version. I start my paintings by sketching the old-fashioned way, but then I use the app to take those sketches to the next level. It’s easy to try different colors, import digital images, and manipulate the images and hand drawn sketches in separate layers. With options for different drawing tools and opacities, I can create different versions of a sketch and compare them to one another, or use the symmetry feature to create complex symmetrical designs. And it’s all done with a stylus, which is makes it feel as natural as drawing with pencil and paper.