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Getting On With It
As a self confessed and proud perfectionist I admit that I drive myself a little crazy at times. I’m not ashamed of being nit picky at all as that keeps mediocrity at bay at all times but sometimes I...
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Anguish and Luxury
A cool October breeze blows gently through the trees outside my house as leaves rustle, swoosh, and swirl to the ground. Along with the rustling of leaves there are other sounds that waft through the...
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Voices Not Forgotten
The world seems crueler in 2019. It’s not really any worse, but it feels like it is. With the advent of the internet and social media we are all now hyper aware of the worst things that happen in our...
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Lux Aeterna
When I woke up on the morning of February 24, 2005, I did so knowing that on that day I would have to do the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do: ask my mother if she wanted to continue living. I also...
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Creating A Drawing
1. Prelim sketch. 2. Second phase prelim pencil. 3. First version. 4. Second and final version. People often inquire about how I go about creating a drawing, so I thought I’d take this week’s post to...
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Alive and Kicking
Preliminary study for Ensueño. 2020. Pen, ink, and gouache in sketchbook. Great things take time and hard work to make; there’s no two ways about it, you either put in the time or you don’t. I have...
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It’s Always Expensive
Dr. Nina Ansary (Preliminary Drawing). Sketchbook. I became a professional artist at the age of 25. At that point, I had some knowledge and a somewhat refined set of skills, but I had a long way to go...
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A Week In Review
Dr. Nina Ansary (Preliminary). 2020. Pen, ink, and gouache in sketchbook. Today will be another might-as-well-be-living-in-Sub-Saharan-Africa day in the Central Valley. Summers here are relentless...
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Live The Life
Marco Pierre White. 2020. Pen, ink, and gouache in sketchbook. Everyday, somewhere in the world, there’s someone who will spend another day of their life toiling away in anonymity, hell-bent on...
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A Silver Lining
Dr. Nina Ansary. 2020. Pen, ink, and digital color. This blog post originally started as a spontaneous “Here’s what I’m doing this Monday morning,” but after ingesting a near lethal dose of uneducated...
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An Idea
Lately I’ve been thinking that I need to do something in between my regular blog posts. I feel as if there needs to be spontaneous updates of some sort in order to keep me going and to keep this blog...
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Tiny Gems
Dr. Nina Ansary. 2020. Pencil preliminary in sketchbook Some weeks ago I lamented the anti-intellectualism that’s running rampant in my beleaguered country. This week isn’t any different; the flagrant...
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A Decade of Evolution
The last ten years has been a time of great change and growth for me. A decade ago, I was in a very different place both professionally and artistically. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I found...
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An Introduction
Things have not changed. Even after all this time, making art is still a thrill; the creative flame burns more intensely than ever, and I continue to be susceptible to that spontaneous surge of...
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Why So Expensive?
In all my years of making art, there’s one question that never ceases to come up: “Why is your work so expensive?” I set the price of my work based on the amount of time it takes me to...
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Death, Art, and The Universe
My father-in-law is nearing the end of his life, and his passing in the coming days will tear our family asunder. The heartbreak is palpable in the thick, hot desert air that blows around us....
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The Fine Art of Hypocrisy
The terms “Starving artist and “Famous after death” have never sat well with me. They’ve always struck me as being simplistic and condescending. People who toss around these dimwitted epithets do...
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Up A Tree
One of the challenges of writing a fortnightly blog is accepting that real life can and will step in and throw a wrench into the best laid out plans. I wrote and edited the blog post that you...
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Onward, Ever Onward
In the fall of 1971, when I was five years old, I had a peculiar experience that changed my life forever. Up until now, only a handful of people have heard this story. One afternoon, in my...
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Ink Stains and Paper Cuts
The lines of my drawings have meaning. Every line I make has a story behind it. Those stories come from the past three decades of my life and my current and ongoing adventures. Those stories...
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