I am completely honored to be one of the featured Artists at the Concordia Forum this year in North America! My art work will be in the company of some of the most respected Muslim Artists who I have been personally following for years -- Bangladeshi photojournalist & Time magazine Person of the Year Shahidul Alam, extraordinary paper-cutter from Australia Tusif Ahmad, and award winning painter from London Siddiqa Juma! MashaAllah. My only regret is not being to attend in person because of pending baby (inshaAllah! please say a prayer for me :), but I am nevertheless extremely grateful for the opportunity to share my art work with such a diverse group of entrepreneurs and professionals. I will be updating the post with more pics as I receive them. For now, hope you enjoy photos of the three works of art I'll be exhibiting and auctioning at the Concordia Forum. Please leave your thoughts in the comments section below! :) Beautiful month of October to you all.

Details of Art Work, from Top > Bottom Left > Bottom Right

1) “Al Khaliq”
Fluid Acrylics on Canvas
24 x 36 inches
This painting features one of the 99 names or attributes of Allah SWT, “Al Khaliq,” meaning “The Creator,” or “The One Who brings things into existence from a state of non-existence” in Arabic. 

2) “Alhamdulillah ala Kulli Haal”
Fluid Acrylics on Canvas
12 x 24 inches
This painting features the Arabic saying “Alhamdulillah ala Kulli Haal” which means “All praise & thanks are for Allah SWT in every situation.” It is a Hadith, or saying of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him).

​3) “Allah Nur Asamawati Wal Ard”
Fluid Acrylics on Canvas
24 x 30 inches
This painting features the Arabic verse “Allah Nur Asamawati Wal Ard” means “God is the Light of the Heavens and the Earth” in Arabic. The phrase is from the Holy Qur’an, Surah Noor (24), Verse 35.

When I first had my son, I experienced these incredibly profound, yet ambivalent moments of both joy and sadness. I didn't have the alertness, time, or energy to paint or even step foot in my studio for more than a year, but what I had was time on my phone while I nursed my son. So, I would write -- nothing lengthy or marvelous -- just snippets of my thoughts on motherhood, little phrases, or moments, and I titled the iPhone note "Letters to You."

Tonight, as I was worked alone for five long hours in studio, my husband would periodically send me pictures of our son laughing and a having a great time at his grandparents home, mashaAllah. My heart would go up and down as I wished to be right there enjoying those moments with him, but also felt so grateful that he was able to thrive on his own with other family members. I thought of his smile constantly as I painted; I chuckled to myself as I would remember something hilarious he said; I could feel the softness of his cheeks from all the kisses, all day long; I narrated everything I was doing as I worked on my paintings out loud as if he was right there . . . it has become such a habit now because we talk about everything, mashaAllah.

After several paintings of a similar color palette, I made these two triangular paintings with quite a different color scheme with so many rich colors. As I stepped back to take a look, I realized something -- all of these paintings I have been making the past 5 weeks WERE my letters to my son, subhanAllah. I had been looking for something explicit or literal, or just, something else that would represent my first two years of motherhood, but this was it. And as always with this magical alchemy that art is, the struggle of being a mother for the first time has been expressed in the most beautiful, colorful ways with this new series of paintings I've made.

I am excited to share my "Letters to You" series once it's all complete! For now, I hope you enjoy the snippets :)

Peace & Blessings.

This has been a LONG time coming, whoo! After six years of starting this journey of branding and website design, with many failed attempts and much loss, I have finally got it up and running just as I like, Alhamdulillah (Thank God)! It is still a bit in process, but I am so excited to showcase my work in this beautiful way. I have been hustling hard during winter break with my sweetest 2-year old shadowing me everywhere I go to get the site functional at the beginning of this New Year. I hope you'll take the time to browse new and old works, and explore the visual stories throughout the site. And please share with all your friends! :D 

This post is dedicated to my father, who, after listening to me share my woes about losing so much money to a company who ended up being the wrong fit for my website design, told me to get a book, take a class, and do it myself. That's what I did Papa! (in my own sort of way) :D Alhamdulillah.