Autumn collection · 2026
Original oil paintings by Hana Ruel, made in a small studio in Amman. 6 originals available, each one the only one.
Every painting here is one of a kind. Oil on Belgian linen, built up over weeks, signed on the back, and shipped stretched and ready to hang. When it's sold, it's gone.
Hung to scale with each other, centred at 145 cm like in a gallery. A red dot means it has sold.
Why an original
Knife marks, ridges, drips, the odd thumbprint. Move over the painting to see the brushwork at three times its size.
Every painting exists exactly once.
Deep stretcher bars with painted edges, so it hangs without a frame.
Wrapped in glassine, boxed in a wooden crate, and tracked all the way.
With a certificate of authenticity, dated and titled by hand.
Try the brush
This canvas is still wet. Choose a colour and a brush, then drag across it. The paint runs dry the longer you drag, just like the real thing.
Your turn. Drag to paint.
Will it fit
Pick a painting to see it at true scale on a 2.7 m wall, above a standard 210 cm sofa.
Step 1 of 6Stretch
Process
Oil paint dries slowly, and that's the point. Scroll to watch a painting come together.
Raw Belgian linen goes over kiln-dried pine bars, stapled every 5 cm and pulled tight like a drum.
3.8 cm stretcher · 390 g/m² linenThree coats of gesso, sanded between each, so the oil sits on the surface and never touches the fibres.
3 coats · 24 hours betweenA thin wash of burnt sienna takes the glare off the white. The composition goes on in charcoal.
Burnt sienna · vine charcoalSky, sea, sun. Big brushes, thin paint. Each layer carries a little more oil than the one below it. Painters call this fat over lean.
Flat 14 · lean mixtureThe slow part. Reflections, the boat, the last glints on the water. Days go by between sessions.
Round 4 · 2–5 weeksOnce it's dry to the touch it gets retouch varnish and a signature, then goes into a crate with its certificate.
Retouch varnish · signed on the back
The studio
I grew up in Amman, about as far from the sea as you can get, which is probably why I paint almost nothing else. Every summer we drove down to Aqaba, and I spent most of it drawing the water instead of swimming in it.
I trained as a printmaker and spent eight years in Lisbon designing labels for other people and painting the Portuguese coast at weekends. In 2023 I came home to paint full time.
Now I work in a small room above a bakery near Abdoun Circle, which means everything I make smells faintly of ka'ak for the first week. I still go back to the Atlantic every year with a sketchbook and paint what I bring home, four or five canvases at once, about thirty a year.
From the studio
Most of what I paint is flat water. This one is the opposite: the Atlantic at Guincho on a windy morning, from sketches I made there in September. It's nearly there, and it goes to the studio letter first once it's dry, probably in January.
Low Tide, Tuesday started as twelve pencil sketches on the sea wall in Cascais this summer. The wind took the best one into the water, so the painting is made from the second best. I've stopped minding.
Salt left for Dubai this week. Glassine first, then corner guards, then a pine crate that a carpenter two streets away builds to size. Packing a painting takes longer than signing it, and it should.
Commissions · 3 spots open for spring
Tell me about the room, the light and the colours you love. I'll send two small colour studies before I start on the big canvas.
Good to know
Add it to your bag and reserve it. I hold it for you for 48 hours and email a secure payment link with the exact shipping cost for your address. Nothing is charged until you pay that link, and if you change your mind the painting simply goes back on the wall.
Every painting is wrapped in glassine, given corner guards and packed in a wooden crate, then sent fully insured with tracking. After dispatch it takes 1–2 days within Jordan, 3–5 days to the Gulf and 5–8 days to Europe, the UK and the US. Paintings leave the studio within three working days of payment. If your country charges import duty on art, the courier collects it on delivery.
Yes. If a painting isn't right for your room, tell me within 14 days of delivery and send it back in its crate. Once it's in the studio in the same condition, you get a full refund of the painting price. Commissions are made for you, so they can't be returned, which is why you see colour studies before I start.
Yes. The edges are painted, so it looks finished without a frame, and the back is wired and signed. If you'd like a frame, a simple oak floater suits most of the collection.
Hang it away from direct sun, radiators and bathrooms. Dust it now and then with a soft, dry brush and never use water or cleaning sprays. Oil paint keeps curing for months, so let it breathe and don't wrap it in plastic.
The studio in Abdoun opens on the first Saturday of every month. Send me a message beforehand and I'll make sure the painting you want to see is out on the easel.
Your name and email are used to reply to you and, if you join, to send the studio letter. They're never sold or shared, and you can ask me to delete them at any time.