The symmetry of this leaf drew me to pick it up. I arrived home, serendipitously, at the same time as my copy of “Islamic Design Workbook” by Eric Broug
This five-fold pattern in the petal-shaped composition highlights an Islamic geometric design principle called ‘self-similarity’. The pattern can be zoomed in as it contains smaller-scale of the motif within itself or zoomed out to construct a larger composition infinitely.
I complemented the natural deep emerald green of the leaf with turquoise and a shimmery white with an outline of gold to highlight the geometric pattern.
The finished work reminds me of ‘Pietra Dura’ also known as ‘Parchinkari’ in Persian. It is the technique of in-laying colored precious and semi-precious stones into marble or other hard stones and smoothing them so the effect appears like a seamless, unified piece.
I am amused by those who are asking why I have recently chosen to paint on leaves which (even with the methods of preservation I use prior to painting) will eventually turn to dust, as if each of us aren’t also continuing to fulfill our Divine Purpose before we too end up as particles of dust indistinguishable from those of ones that make up a leaf.
Symmetry, geometry and mathematical beauty appear in everything around us. The trunk of a tree and it’s branches are mirrored in each leaf with a central vein and inner branching vines, each of which then branch down on a smaller and smaller scale until it becomes invisible both with the naked eye and with a microscope.
My soul rejoices at its exploration and discovery of yet another mystical passageway that brings it to a door to the Unseen.
All paths, in any direction, inwards or outwards, at a sub-atomic level or up to the farthest point of the galaxy at the end of the unraveling Universe, every single way, leads to “Al-Baqi”, ٱلْبَاقِى, (The Infinite, The Immutable, The Ever-lasting).
“You say Illa, (only God), then your hungry eyes see you're in (nothing), La. You're an artist who paints with both existence and non. Shams could help you see who you are, but remember, You are not your eyes”...“Eyes cannot see You. You are the Source of Sight” - Rumi
