The name of the Arabic letter 'Ayn ع has a number of meanings, among them: water spring, source, fountainhead. In this respect I'm using it as a symbol for the Source, whatever this may mean to you, and the dot that properly belongs to its twin letter Ghayn غ is there as a reminder that this wellspring dwells in the Unseen (غيب)… well out of reach of human depradations and ownership claims.

Good morning! After years of wanting to do this, I'm finally releasing my first print edition done in the #mokuhanga technique, with my own botanical inks:

WELLSPRING, buckthorn lake and white gold. #printmaking

Shop: https://payhip.com/b/7F41j

Symbolism below…

I think this copyist likes this ink… "It is the best of the best. I have made it for myself as described here, and I haven’t found better, may God reward with goodness the one who pointed to it. Even if I store it a whole year in a jar, it doesn’t change, doesn’t thicken, and doesn’t separate, even if it’s stored, mashallah." #editing #medievalinks

A few days ago as I was having breakfast with the door to the garden open, a squirrel stepped into the kitchen carrying an enormous walnut. I said “No.” and he turned around to find some other place to stash it.
This is the only reason I wasn’t bewildered by the bins under the apple tree today.

I had the best day ever. #owls

I spent today oozing anxiety but still managed to type up chapters 8 AND 9. Only three to go and I expect a lot more nonsense from this scribe.
But not tomorrow. I'm taking my birthday off and have the best day ever planned out.

Working on my manuscripts in here today, just cuz I can…

he birds of the quest are present in the many feathers I carefully assembled to create the different colours and textures (all ethically sourced and collected over many years).

They're each 40x50cm and all available for now.

For lots more photos and links to prints: https://majnouna.com/project-category/seven-valleys/

… takes them across seven valleys symbolising stages on the mystical journey.

To represent these concepts, I used a bold Kufi of my own design, reflected to evoke valleys in an abstract way. I wanted the result to look strong and alien, like totems standing on pedestals formed by the initial Alif.

These were inspired (pretty suddenly I should say) by Fariduddin Attar’s mystic poem Manṭiq-uṭ-Ṭayr (The Conference of the Birds), a poem which aligns all too well with my ongoing bird obsession (and other things). In it, a myriad birds of all kinds set out together to find their King, a quest that…

7. Valley of Poverty and Annihilation

(I've no idea what's going on but I'm getting an error message when I try to add alt text so have had to stop)

6. Valley of Bewilderment

5. Valley of Union

4. Valley of Detachment

3. Valley of Knowledge

2. Valley of Love

Yesterday I completed an #art series that kept me working late into the evenings for a fortnight. It's called Seven Valleys. Let me hit you with the images before I explain. 🧵

1. Valley of the Quest

I'm continuing to transcribe Umda manuscripts in preparation for working on the edition, and I just typed half a paragraph before realising I didn't switch the keyboard 🤦‍♀️

Garden harvest ❤️

Learning about the Melsonby Hoard at the Yorkshire Museum. The whole thing’s amazing, but what really caught my eye is the way copper vessels corroded way past verdigris to turn jnto copper carbonates —malachite and even azurite!