Thursday, May 25, 2006

Islamic Arts Society

I have had interest in Arts since childhood. Just joined the society which also keeps a blog on Blogger.com. I want to learn about Arabic calligraphy and hope I will get good updates from this site.

1 comment:

Umm Aisha said...

Assalamo-alaikum Brother Atif

Thank you for your kind words on my blog.
I have seen some of your drawings on your site and am very impressed.
I dont think I can teach you much as you already are very talented, Masha-allah.
I myself am a self-taught artist.
I took art in school but once leaving school at 16, never carried on till a year and a half ago. I used to love sketching with pencils and loved pastels. I sketched scenery and portraits. Had I carried on then, maybe I would never had started Islamic Art now.
Since I came back from umrah 2 Ramadans ago, I was searching for peace and relaxation which I found in Makkah. I took up painting and started painting abstract art. As a teenager I had studied English calligraphy and so there stemmed my interest in Arabic calligraphy. I bought and borrowed lots of books and practised Arabic calligraphy and here I am today. I have a large portfolio Alhamdullillah and sold many paintings already Masha-Allah.
The following were some artists whose books I had studied:
Khurshid Alam Gauhar Qalam
Gabriele Mandel Khan
Robert Field ( Reference book re Geometric Patterns )
Another member of the IAS is Eric Broug who's work is fantastic. His website is www.broug.com.
Also check out http://zakariya.net/resources/becoming.html
as this site is quite informative.
I hope I have helped you and good luck exploring Islamic art. Trust me there is so much to learn, you never stop learning or loving it for that matter.

Wassalaam
Umm Aisha