ISLAMIC ART - SHAMSA PART 3 - COMPLETING THE COLOURING This stage of creating my shamsa took me a lot longer than I expected. Sometimes you don't know how things will turn out until you actually do them and see the project as a whole, and what seemed like a good idea turns…
ISLAMIC ART - SHAMSA PART 2 - BEGINNING THE COLOURING A very fruitful session in the studio this afternoon, when I began painting my completed drawing. Before I started, I did a rough digital mock-up on the computer, using the quarter-view photo of the completed drawing, to help me to decide where I…
ISLAMIC ART - SHAMSA PART 1 - THE DRAWING A second-hand frame At the recent village fete we attended, my hubby bought a large square picture frame. I immediately saw potential in this for my own work and begged it off him - he gave it to me a little reluctantly! None of…
DOMESTIKA COURSE - ISLAMIC ART - COMPLETING THE PROJECT This particular Arabesque motif is called a shamsa. Etymology I am fascinated by the origins and relationships of words, and looked up the etymology of shamsa. This immediately rang a bell with me, because of its similarity to the Hebrew word shemesh, meaning "sun."Â …
DOMESTIKA COURSE - ISLAMIC ART - WORKING ON THE FINAL DRAWING Inking over the transfer After I had transferred the tracing of the drawing onto the watercolour paper, it all looked rather messy. It was hard to see the detail which was quite confusing. To tidy things up, I decided to go over…
DOMESTIKA COURSE - ISLAMIC ART - TRANSFERRING THE DESIGN Following yesterday's session in the studio where I created the first version of some design tracings, I had time to think about how it was working out. I realised I wasn't happy with it, and decided to start the tracings again with a different…
DOMESTIKA COURSE - ISLAMIC ART - TRACING AND BIOMORPHS I have skipped the final task in the previous unit because of time constraints. I've had a busy week, and I want to take advantage of the afternoon daylight in the studio for drawing, and not waste it sitting at the laptop in the…
DOMESTIKA COURSE - ISLAMIC ART - BIOMORPHICS AND GRIDS Looking for botanical patterns Continuing with the preparation stages of this course, Esra, our teacher, instructed us to find patterns featuring organic motifs, and to sketch a single motif. She suggested going to a museum to find things to sketch, but this wasn't possible…
DOMESTIKA COURSE - ISLAMIC ART - CONTINUING WITH INK PRACTICE Esra, our teacher, suggests we practise daily with the brush and ink. It's a question of training one's hand and eye and brain to get used to this unfamiliar technique until one perfects it. It is difficult! However, several days in, I think…
ISLAMIC ART - FIRST ATTEMPT, AND A NEW COMPASS In advance of the new Domestika course on drawing Islamic art, I decided to have one or two "dry runs" to get my hand in. I have been fascinated by the complex geometric patterns in Islamic art for decades, and have several books on…
