Saturday, November 30, 2013

Microtones and Microcones

This is the sixth (and last) of a series of six drawings I made between 2005 and 2006, inspired by the group Sufis Without Borders.
Ink on tracing paper, 30x30 cm/12"x12".

Friday, November 29, 2013

Celebration Dance

The elephant in image b comes from the Padshah-nama (c. 1640-5) while the background of the same image is in folio 378a of the BL Babur-nama;

Image c is also kept at the British Library (BL) and represents *Sufis in Ecstasy*;

Image d contains a spade of the kind worn by Emperor Aurangzeb and intricacies from a jali (perforated wall) in the Jami Masjid at Ahmedabad, India.

Should you thirst for more images from Mughal India, along with an excellent text and at a very reasonable price, turn to Valerie Berinstain: THIS is the book for you (the original is in French).

Add your colours to the Froggies!

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Happy Thanksgiving 2013

The Frogs Without Borders wish you a Happy Thanksgiving full of Gratitude and Remembrance of God.

603d

Your love teaches the warrior
how to handle her spade
your love keeps her drunk
at your gate!

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

603c

Oh! You who opened her eye
to the beauty of the sea
you who lent her the key
of Paradise...

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

603b

Who gave fruits and fish
to this lonely darvish
to this heart
that was wandering wild...

Monday, November 25, 2013

603a

Oh! Let me sing
a song for the King
for the Owner
of the Tavern of Ruin...

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Saturday, November 23, 2013

A Tap on the Heart

This is the fifth of a series of six drawings I made between 2005 and 2006, inspired by the group Sufis Without Borders.
Ink on tracing paper, 30x30 cm/12"x12".

Friday, November 22, 2013

Flowers of Love

The frog and the bird (images a and b) come from the Babur-nama kept at the British Library.

Image c represents Jahangir contemplating the portrait of his father Akbar. The original, painted c. 1614 by Nadir az-Zaman, is in Paris, Musée Guimet. A very good article about *The Imperial Image* by B.N.Goswamy can be read here.

Image d comes from a hanging of cotton and silk, c. 1650-1700, kept at V&A Museum, London, U.K.

Enjoy Colouring the Froggies!

Thursday, November 21, 2013

602d

Consciousness and the many poems that spring out of me!

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

602c

Consciousness is what I get out of love. Consciousness...

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

602b

But... What do you get out of Desert's Love?!?

Monday, November 18, 2013

602a

Love is made of luscious gardens as well as of barren deserts...

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Friggitoria Giorgia (Fish and Chips Georgia)

This is the fourth of a series of six drawings I made between 2005 and 2006, inspired by the group Sufis Without Borders.
Ink on tracing paper, 30x30 cm/12"x12".

Friday, November 15, 2013

Frogs Are Frogs

These images are inspired by four Indian miniatures of the Mughal Era (1656-1857).

The first image (upper left) represents Prince Selim, the future Emperor Jahangir, on his throne.
Painted by Mansur and Manohar, 1605 ca., it is kept at the Institute of Oriental Studies, Saint Petersburg, Russia.

The second, third and fourth images are inspired by miniatures of the Vaqi'at-i Baburi (Babur-nama), translated into Persian and illustrated around 1590 under the reign of Akbar. They are kept at the British Library.

Enjoy Colouring the Froggies!

Thursday, November 14, 2013

601d

Frogs are frogs... They can't learn love if they don't jump beyond!

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

601c

So why did she quit her to go with him? And why did she quit him and joined the howling zebras?!?

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

601b

And before him, the Shaykha, she loved her so...

Monday, November 11, 2013

601a

She loved the Shaykh of a new kind of love...

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Candy Shop

This is the third of a series of six drawings I made between 2005 and 2006, inspired by the group Sufis Without Borders.
Ink on tracing paper, 30x30 cm/12"x12".

Friday, November 8, 2013

Thursday, November 7, 2013

600-d

From its rotten roots the frogs carve a pond!

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

600-c

Our garden's old tree will be cut tomorrow...

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

600-b

How many roses are ready to bloom...
The rain fills the heart of the sweet nightingale...

Monday, November 4, 2013

600-a

This image is inspired by a garden described in the *Baburnama* (Book of Babur or Memoirs of Babur) and illustrated by the artists active at the Mughal Court at the time of Emperor Akbar.

The name of the place where Babur is having the garden built is *Khodja Seyaran spring* ("Spring of the Three Friends of God") and is located in the vicinity of Kabul.

The original manuscript (of which I have a copy bought in Kabul year 1975) is kept in the British Library (Or. 3714) with two miniatures referring to this particular garden (ff. 180b, 181b).

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Fana-fi-Shakespeare

The first stage of Fana happens through one's Shaykh.

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Active Learners Learn More

This is the second of a series of six drawings I made between 2005 and 2006, inspired by the group Sufis Without Borders.
Ink on tracing paper, 30x30 cm/12"x12".

Friday, November 1, 2013