Bristol Drawings

My new favorite drawing paper is Bristol paper. It's very smooth and is great for markers or pen/ink. I did these over the course of a few months. I've been moving back and forth between geometric designs and organic designs, and as always I love color. I made some of these just on my own, and a few by request of a client. 

All of these are done on Bristol paper with Prismacolor markers and in some cases I used black/sepia india ink pens, and some metallic gold and silver pens. 

These are all 9x12 and unfortunately my home scanner is an 81/2 x 11, so some of the images are slightly cut off. 

Allahu:

Allahu Akbar:
God is Great

La Illaha Il Allah Muhammad ur Rasoolullah:

There is no God but God, and Muhammad is the Messenger of God

SubhanAllah:

Glorious is God

Bismillah Hir Rahman Nir Raheem:

In the Name of God, Most Beneficent, Most Merciful

This calligraphy design (above)  was not originally my own.
It is one that I found online and really loved, and so I reproduced it here. 

2011-2012 Calendar

Every Ramadan, I like to give myself a project to do. It helps to pass the time while doing something productive, and keeps my happy, lack of food tends to make me a little cranky. So in Ramadan of 2011 I had the idea to make a calendar of designs: the first use of my amazing markers for calligraphy. I did most of the designs on plain paper and then pasted it onto colored cardstock. (8 1/2 x 11 inches)

This Calendar, I also started to experiment with my own calligraphy designs, conforming the arabic letters into different shapes, making them abstract, etc. 

Cover
(Bismillah)

Bismillah Hir Rahman Nir Raheem

In the Name of Allah, Most Beneficent, Most Merciful

Allahu

The Name of God

Allahu Akbar

God is Great

Alhamdulillah

Thanks be to Allah

Subhanallah

Glory be to Allah

La Illaha Ill Allah Muhammad Rasool Allah

There is no God but Allah, and Muhammed is the Messenger of Allah

La Hawla Wala Quwwata Illa Billa Hil Aliyul Azheem

All Power and Might Belongs to Allah, the Most High, The Great

Al Fatiha

The Opening 

The first chapter in the Holy Qur'aan

Ayatul Kursi

Al Baqarah 

2:255

Surah Al-Isra

The Night Journey

17:24

In the Name of Allah, Most Beneficent, Most Merciful

Lower the wing of humility to them [parents] out of mercy, and say

 "My Lord! Have Mercy on them, just as they reared me when I was a small child.