Saudi graphic and fashion designer Dalia Darwish makes creative art pieces out of ordinary pictures. Her canvases have a vintage feel to them, making them popular as unique gifts for the newlyweds.
“I’m a graphic designer and I graduated from the American University in Dubai, but I always had a passion for fashion. I started a fashion line specializing in Ramadan women thobes and kaftans,” said Darwish, who is in the fashion business for six years now.
Canvas by Dolly, named after Darwish’s nickname ‘Dolly’, is a line under the Dolly brand and was issued only three months ago. “I love anything that has to do with creativity and design and I wanted to start a line that features new and creative ideas,” said Darwish. “I had seen a lot of work involving photography and arts and I wanted to combine them both in one piece and make it look magnificent. That’s how I started the Canvas,” she added.
Darwish said she likes to work with portrait and personal photos. “I have done many wedding pictures. I once focused on only the wedding cake because it was so beautiful by itself and I wanted to make it even better by adding beads and crystals,” she said. “I added all sorts of items to the canvas, such as, crystals, ribbons, lace, beads, different textile and flowers to give it quality and texture,” she added.
“I have to make sure that the items I add match the pictures. I focus on the details in the pictures in an effort to make them more apparent,” said Darwish.
Darwish uses a variety of mediums to work on the pictures. “When you see the picture, you see the photograph and you see the details popping out of the actual photo in 3D,” she said. “The process of making the canvas starts with choosing a powerful high resolution picture. I choose the composition and blow it up on the chosen size and print it on the canvas,” she added.
The creative artist then adds her graphics and at times changes the colors to black and white or attaches a background to make the picture more interesting. Canvas sizes vary from A3 to three meter in height and width depending on the picture and the artist’s vision. “It takes three weeks to a month to finish one piece because I do everything from scratch and I don’t use any machine. I do the sewing, painting, sticking as well as installing different materials,” she said.
Canvas by Dolly also makes art pieces for special occasions, such as, birthdays, and designs logos and other items for personal projects.
You can visit Darwish on her facebook page titled ‘Canvas by Dolly’.
