The passerby on the road between the city of Lattakia and the town of Slanfeh cannot pass quickly in front of the house of the plastic artist Reem Salhab without stopping to take memorial photos next to it and inside it, documenting the large amount of beauty and art mixed in a house that resembles an art painting that overflows with the magic of roses and colors.
Salhab’s passion for nature, colors and flowers made her invest all her small and big experiences with painting in making her old house a place outside of time, bringing its visitor back years.. to originality and heritage.. to the beautiful time that each of us remembers a story he heard from his parents or grandparents about what was abounding Its old country houses.
In small details, Salhab tells “Sputnik” how she made every part of her house a story of heritage and originality, starting with the drawings and colors that are consistent in one place, and conflicting in another place on the walls, to paintings and furniture consisting of sofas and wooden tables, passing through the bedspreads and covers that decorated the furniture and gave it a touch. From the antique originality, to the various flowers that covered the house, to become a distinctive masterpiece that attracts the eyes.
On the basis of the idea, Salhab recounts: Since I was 9 years old, I love to draw and love colors, as I used to paint on the floor and walls of the house and on every white space that I was quick to invest in expressing what was on my mind.
She adds: With the progress of the years, my experience with colors has developed to the extent that my passion for them has increased.
About the vibrant colors, Salhab explains: He chose harmonious colors in one place, and conflicting colors in another, pointing out that they mix red with green, and blue with yellow, to get bright contrasting colors that suggest beauty and magic.
The conflict of colors is not limited to Salhab in her drawings, but extends to decorating furniture and walls, noting that she puts on the cover of the blue sofa a red pillow or any other strange color. It is true that it is inconsistent, but it gives beauty and makes the sofa a painting that attracts people’s attention.
During the long time Salhab spends decorating her house, she does not feel tired or bored, but on the contrary, she feels time slipping in secretly from the time of the day to the night coming without feeling, and Salhab adds: I do not feel the passage of time when I paint with bright colors that symbolize life and renewal, so that every wall becomes painting. Not to mention the long hours I spend happily picking roses of all kinds and colors to decorate the house.
As Salhab explains about the process of picking roses, the roses are scattered monotonously and tastefully on the wooden terrace, which added a charming aesthetic touch to the resting house in the shade of the surrounding walnut trees. .
Authenticity, with all its popular heritage and ancient customs and traditions, Salhab tries to revive as much as it can of its features and rituals, as it says: In the old days, the owner of the house did not allow the pedestrian to pass unnoticed in front of his house without receiving his share of hospitality. Free honey coffee for my visitors.
And about the secret of coffee with honey, Salhab explained that coffee is an authentic drink and a tradition for all peoples, and that is why I wanted to offer it free of charge to guests after adding honey to it as an alternative to sugar because honey has great health benefits.
Salhab’s relationship with the raw, rural nature, not only translated by drawing, but also recycled the cloth pieces and made use of the wood to use it in making heritage contents that adorn her home.
Art sees Salhab as a renewal that hates stereotypes and repetition, and that is why every year she changes the decor of the house, including furniture, drawings, and flowers. inside the house.
Selhab, the lover of flowers and colors, passionately striving for visual renewal associated with reviving the authenticity of the countryside, her ambition does not stop at the threshold of her house, which has turned into a tourist destination full of charm and originality, but goes beyond it, if she has enough money, to establish a tourism project entitled The Secret of Beauty in Rural Authenticity.