Today I ruined three screens in an attempt to burn a pattern. I like my pattern but the screen does not seem to like it. Now I have to cover more screens with photo emulsion, oh my. The only bright side of the evening is that Jahida Wehbe, a Lebanese singer I discovered recently, was singing: "I will not let flowers wither in my garden." Nice thought.

This is the front arch of the model. Blue from the inside and covered with ornaments from the outside. The life size installation will be displayed in January in Concordia Gallery in St. Paul.

Hi, I am here working on the geometric design that will be part of my third shrine. The working title is "Blue Happy" but I'm not sure. Although this may look it was copied from a basic Islamic design pattern, it is not. I made it from scratch. Of course it is an Islamic design pattern but it is original. This will be printed on the walls of the shrine.

It is almost there. This dome will be the mold of the final paper mache dome that I will make for the "God At Mid Day" artwork. I started with wooden frame (with very flexible wood) then covered it with cutt-to-shape pieces of very thin insulation board (1/4 of an inch). I glued pieces of paper on top then painted and taped it with  plaster spackle in layers.

My dome is taking shape. Hooray!!

  Making a large dome is challenging but never an obstacle.  يتحداني صنع قبة كبيرة لكن لا يستعصي علي

I put this photo on top of the store page. I am, here, packing up an artwork to ship it to a customer. It was a self portrait and not an easy one to take. The whole store thing was/is challenging. I hope some fruit comes out of it.
I also hope that people might give me a feedback of how it looks!

And finally I finished this model. And yes, there is light inside.
Now I need to make the real thing!

I get to use my multi-blade scissors today to make the fringes on my little prayer rug for this model installation.

This tree will go on the facing wall of the little green Mihrab.  It is inspired by Umayyad art. See below.