Pots, Flowers and Water

I don't know what my fascination is with pots of all sorts. The round ones known in India as "matkas", and vases or "kundas". I really love pots and things coming out of them, largely flowers or water.  It started off with a drawing I did in my 2011-2012 Calendar: 

I really loved this piece, which led me to do a few more drawings with markers on bristol paper, that I have in my "Bristol Drawings" Post:

So far, I had only done pieces with pots using my markers. But then, I decided to transfer the idea into paint. This was the first one that I did in paint. It was the first in this series of paintings that I sold. All of the following paintings are done with acrylics on canvas. 

Bismillah Hir Rahman Nir Raheem
"In the Name of God, Most Beneficent, Most Merciful"
12x24

After completing this one, I decided to create another one similar to it. Instead of this one portraying the water falling out of the pot, it portrays the splash of the water as it hits the ground. This one is currently hanging at my mosque, the Al-Fatemah Islamic Center. 

Allahu
24x36

Upon seeing this painting at my mosque, I had a client ask me to make a few paintings for her new home, and so I created these based on the same theme. 

Fabi-ayyi Ala Rabbikuma Tukazhiban
"Which then of the bounties of your lord will you deny" (55:16)
24x36

MashAllah
'By the Will of God'
24x36

My client has a store in the mall in Albany called Arch, and this painting fit very well with the color scheme of the store so she put it up on the wall. I love the way the light hits the painting in the picture, you can really see the shine from the gold and silver paints. 

I had another client in town request a similar painting, but with a darker gold/black color scheme. This is the result: 

MashAllah
'By the Will of God'
24x36

I think thats pots have some element of mystery to them, and along with that they are so varied that there are an endless amount of ways that they can be used in paintings or drawings. I think that this is something that I'll keep doing for a while. 

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. 

Circles

I was in Chicago this past weekend visiting my sister and her husband and came across this piece at World Market. I thought it was absolutely awesome. 

The circles, the colors, and the overlapping of color blocks. So, I decided to play with some circles of my own. 

These are both made on Cardstock/ sketchbook paper with pens. Just experimenting with black and white circles and then some colors. Circles with lots of details take forever, but well worth it. 

2012-2013 Calendar

After my last calendar finished, I decided to try and come up with a concept for my second calendar. I decided to go with the 99 Names of Allah. Throughout the 18 months, I covered all 99 names, in order. According to the Islamic Tradition, the 99 names represent the different attributes of Allah. 

Here is a link with all 99 Names and their meanings
99 Names

There is a phrase in the Qur'aan that repeats itself multiple times, and translates roughly to 
There are signs for those who can see

I wanted to use this idea that if you believe and look for Allah in all things, you will find it. I created this calendar by drawing images from nature and then camouflaging the names within the image itself, symbolizing that the Allah is there, for those who look for it. 

This calendar was made using PrismaColor Markers and PrismaColor Paint Markers (for the metallic gold and silver colors) on 8 1/2 x 11 inch computer paper. 

Cover

1. Solar System

2. Planet Earth

3. Sunset

4. Desert

5. Forest Sunrise

6. Tropical Flower

7. Autumn Leaves

8. Squash and Corn

9. Mountains

10. Winter

11. Northern Lights

12. Caves

13. Glaciers

14. Coral Reef

15. Green Trees

16. Waterfall

17. Fruits and Berries

18.Volcano

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.