I recently got published in the Advertiser, totally thrilled about having such a massive picture in there. When they called, for an interview with me, I seriously thought it would be a tiny picture and alot of writing along with it. So when my friend Ratih got the newspaper, the first paged I opened and there I was ‘BANG’ in my face!!!

It’s a beautiful feeling seeing yourself at that scale in the main newspaper, of the city you live in BUT at the same time it’s a bit strange too. I did feel a bit over whelmed, slightly shy and extremely honored about it really, very mixed emotions. I had never even in my wildest dreams had ever thought I would make it to a newspaper in Australia and so I’m still a bit shaken by the love, respect and attention I have received.

The simple story of my encounter with the beautiful Aboriginal man in my low days is an extremely strong symbol of  how welcoming, helpful the people here are. I had read the below quotation years ago, but after meeting this man, I realized it’s actually true.

The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.  ~Nelson Henderson

I was sad and lonely sitting on a bench in the city one day, in my own world dreaming of a better day, and suddenly saw him sitting next to me on the bench, made me jump up my guts, scared and at first I didnt want to talk to him and told him, “No English, sorry!” when he said,” kan ya spare a dollaa!”. Even though I acted like such a weirdo, he still was nice to me and asked me why I was sitting there all alone. At that time, I had no friends, no family and no one to even talk to and someone had shown the tiniest of concern for me. I felt so HAPPY…and told him how I have come from Pakistan, where I used to work as an artist and have been rejected as ‘over qualified’ when looking for a job here and was finding it so difficult to adjust in this new culture and so on. He was polite and listened carefully and told me the directions to a shop in the western suburbs where his artist friend used to buy pottery and paint it.

I never met that man again, I’ve dreamt about him  many times tho. I wanted to gift him one of my bowls but I guess he didnt help me for a bowl, he helped me because he just did. He was an angel for me who guided me to my path. I feel extreme pleasure in knowing he was a true aboriginal man, who belonged to this land who got me started. It means the world to me that he welcomed me here with such open arms and chatted to me on the day I felt lonely and he will always be there in my prayers. I just hope and aim to be following his footsteps and one day help someone like me to believe in their dreams and welcome them into this land of good people.

To the lamp of love:  may it burn brightest in the darkest hours and never flicker in the winds of trial.  ~Author Unknown

On reaching there, the first thing I felt was that the dried creek to me looked like the condition of the world to me. Each rock symbolizing a person, a life or a being. The water, which was meant to be there had dried, so these rocks have been exposed and left naked. I walked up and down the creek, and picked whichever one called me and started painting, one by one.

While painting, I looked up and wondered, if my ‘one’ rock that I paint would make a difference at all, when I looked from a distance, it was totally invisible and lost amongst the other unpainted ones, because there were more of them than the painted one. I felt that ‘one’ was how i felt in the world, being on my own in this massive world of all these other big huge rocks(people), and if at all i matter. A moment later I heard a reply:

“Just because it’s not visible in the big picture doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. To some you might be just another person in the world, but to some you are their world, so don’t worry too much about being visible or not, just be the real you, and always remember, the creek can have a thousand rocks, but you are still you and that’s more important!”

A moment later, again my restless brain wondered again, “If the pattern i see on the rock isnt even going to be visible to anyone, then why am I painting this?!”… again the voice replied:

“The bird flies everyday, do you stop to look at it?! The fishes are swimming, do you stop and look at them?! Just because no one is going to be looking at them, they don’t stop doing what they are meant to do!! Your calling is to ‘see’ people beyond what’s visible. See and hear their souls and bring to the world that mystic side of things, so people can understand and enjoy the magical universe we all live in.”

Being a warm day, Henna started drying really quickly and looked almost invisible, blending into the skin of the rocks. And as we know the brain just never stops working, my fear was, “it’s drying so quickly, oh no!! i should stop doing this and take pictures… aah my work is going to be lost!!!!!!”. Suddenly the birds started chirping extremely loudly, flew in one direction and the wind blew heavily for a few seconds totally helping me to come back to the moment, and I heard the voice again:

“It’s NOT about holding on to what you do and who you are. It’s all about moving on, learning, giving without expecting, growing and doing what you’re meant to do this moment and NOT worry about keeping it forever, because it’s seriously a useless exercise, that does nothing but make you jump into the future, that doesnt exist this second”

Usually when I paint, I have really REALLY LOUD music in my ears to block away any distractions. But while painting these rocks, I felt the immense need to connect more to the nature and listen to the surroundings to absorb the energy that would show through my patterns, as a reflection. As i put down the first rock after painting it, I realized that’s exactly what I do, when I paint people. I see through them, reaching out to their real inner self, bring it out on their skin and make them see a mirror, and till the Henna stays on them they remember me and themselves and feel happy, safe and alive.

This morning when I woke up, the first thing I read is the poem below. After reading this how can someone not believe in the magic of the world?!

You’ve no idea how hard I’ve looked for a gift to bring You. Nothing seemed right. What’s the point of bringing gold to the gold mine, or water to the ocean. Everything I came up with was like taking spices to the Orient.

It’s no good giving my heart and my soul because you already have these.

So, I’ve brought you a mirror.

Look at yourself and remember me.
- Jalaluddin Rumi

So many people as me, “How do I do it?!” I don’t really know…all I know is i don’t see you with my eyes, I feel you in my soul. With one look at you, you become my God. With a single touch on your skin, I start worshiping the sacred light inside you. It’s like a recharge for me. I touch, I feel and I live. I didn’t learn or practice this…I was born with it and i don’t know if something like this can be analyzed and taught to anyone through books or any other medium. You’ll have to breath in my soul to be able to experience and see things and people the way I do.

Try not to just see the rocks…try to feel, touch, hold and be with them. They do have magical powers as most things in the world. Enjoy your power within.

To see more pictures www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=425558&id=649730112

A few months ago, I received an email from Simon Lofler, in regards to creating a design, for a Tshirt competition www.newint.com.au/shop/tshirt-choice.htm by New Internationalist www.newint.com.au/. The design is still up for voting on their site www.newint.com.au/shop/tshirt-choice.htm so if you have time and you like any of the Tshirts then please do vote and support local artists.

Themes given to work with were, ‘ Sustainability, Peace, Permaculture, Multiculturalism,  Renewable energy, Education, Women’s Rights, Climate Change / Climate Justice’. All of them resonate with my thinking and so I decided to give it a shot and see what comes.

Ying Yang being one of my favorite peace symbols, was my first choice to begin with. I started working with the idea, ‘I know we dont look the same, but we can still dance together’. I did the first sketch of ying yang fishes, and surrounded them with the swirls, as you would think I would do!! It looked a bit weak, so I decided to work with the idea, ‘Start by saving one drop of water, because it to you it’s just a drop but to some it’s their life’… the design started looking a bit too strong. Looking through books, magazines and other tshirt designs, I thought of just making the fishes so strong that they will just stand out themselves without anything needed around them, so then came the third design. The last design was just working with making the fishes stronger again, but really they started looking a bit scarrrrryyy !!

After trying these out, I gave up because the submission line was the next day, as it’s always so much closer than you think!!! So emailed Simon, told him cant to it and he said he liked the second one, couldn’t believe my eyes when I read that!! Anyway, decided to just send it to him to make him happy and also to keep my promise to him.

It’s my first T shirt design, LOVED making it and hope I can continue making some more. Many thanks to Simon for making me think outside the box and utilize my patterns on a different canvas. Hope you enjoy the designs!!!

I recently decided to collaborate with Nick Gralmaan in creating an experimental shoot, above.  You can see more pictures on www.bit.ly/NickGraalman (We appreciate the comments/suggestions/criticisms that have been given by everyone and look forward to hearing more as it helps us to improve!!!).

I met Nick, randomly when one day I woke up after having a dream to make a video of my patterns.  I came across the site www.quenchstudios.com.au when I googled ‘Timelapse in Adelaide’, which directed me to www.nickgraalman.com where I watched his beautiful show reel which totally blew me away. The soulful music, natural photography and how the video made me feel was just what I was looking for.

I did call his number a few times but was terribly nervous about speaking up to him, after looking at his impressive creations.  As my heart was having a battle with my head as to what I should say, how I professional should I sound and so on…my mobile rang… “Hello, this is Nick Graalman, I had a missed call form this number I’m just returning the call. Who is this?!” I was so excited and nervous at the same time to hear his voice, I apologized for the missed calls and told him about the idea of making a video of my work. The universe is quite magical, if you believe in it, it guides you to your path and in this case it guided me to Nick through a dream of bringing together our passions.

We organized a meeting straight away, so I could show him my work, and obviously I did a Henna on him which turned out really well, which for me was a sign that our friendship would be something very special. After a few meetings we planned some experimental shots which gave us a chance to spend more time together to understand how we both work and who we were and if at all we are able to bring our passions together, to create something special.

It took a few hours for Nick to set the whole thing on the day in my studio and about 2.5 hours for me to paint him. He occasionally practices yoga and hence he could sit there so still for that long, which is extremely impressive. I felt extremely guilty for giving him so much pain of sitting in one position for so long, and did offer to give him a break but he refused any breaks because that would spoil his video. I am still in an awe of how he made me look at my work. I only know how to create the patterns but I have never seen myself create them, so I am quite touched by this experiment.

After coming back from Europe I was feeling a bit lost here in Adelaide, and was aiming to move closer to my family somewhere in Europe. BUT after doing this video I feel like I am getting the inspiration for creating such work from the people of Adelaide, I don’t feel I can leave them after what they have given me, so I continue to call Adelaide my home at least for now.

I am extremely thankful to my Allah for gifting me with such a precious friend Nick, who because of his beautiful work has made me want to stay here, to keep creating and sharing my passion with you all. THANK YOU!

I met Mandi Whitten of http://weensyweb.com/ a few years ago and our friendship has grown since then. We did a beautiful exhibition together called http://athreadawebaworld.com/ which not only narrated the story of Henna as it traveled through the land and time but also gave us a chance to explore more deeper into our passion, as a result making the whole journey of putting the exhibition together such an amazing experience, which I look back at today and feel extremely blessed.

Every time I meet her she teaches me something new, guides me about people here and helps me understand the western world a bit better. We don’t usually agree on everything obviously, as we come from such different backgrounds, but we still accept each other as who we are and to me in a friendship or any relationship that’s the most important thing ever. She has helped and opened so many doors for me and I truly feel special in her presence. I have grown so fond of her, that refusing her has become a problem and in beginning of this year she told me about her desire of having a tattoo and would like me to design it for her. Obviously I couldnt refuse her and started working on something that would tell a story of me and her.

I was surprised and slightly shocked that someone would like my work on their body forever, and not get bored of it. I still cant believe it that she carries me with her 24/7. I am short on words how it makes me feel, so the simplest way of saying it for me would be, ‘…to be with her is a blessing, to be on her is an honor, to be in her is friendship and to be her is love!’

The picture above is the Peacock I design for her, with the Henna painted around it. I call it, ‘ Cheeky Peeky’. It’s placed on the inside of Mandi’s left arm, and it’s not always visible to everyone, it only peeks out to people she feels close to and with whom she is happy to share cheeky with.

I feel like this piece symbolizes a few things for me, one that I will always be in Mandi’s life, reminding her how wonderful our friendship is, has been and will be. I have been requested to design more so the patterns keeps growing and that to me means our friendship will grow with time giving us lots of moments we will treasure always.  On a very different level it also reminds me again and again how welcome I have felt coming in Australia, that people here not only want to be with me today but want to rememeber the time spent with me for as long as they live.

Hopefully I’ll design the next bit of the tattoo soon, and then will update you guys about it. It has been a long journey for me, being able to say yes to something so permanent, but as you all would know by now, my relationships are the the most important things in my life…and by giving such a permanent gift to Mandi, I feel even stronger about my them and my desire to remember the people I love so much, forever till life and time allows.

Thanks exactly how I felt when painting Rebecca’s Henna necklace. I thoroughly enjoyed creating the pattern, as always but it was my first one in that size. I felt it was a tricky place to paint, because it’s a softer skin, and the person cant look here and there as even a slightest movement in the head, changes the way the patterns comes out. Luckily sitting still was not too hard for Rebecca, and the pattern just flowed out smoothly.

To me it felt like she has a strength of a queen to stand up in front of whoever, and keep a focus on her powers. She’s an artist, a massage therapist and a wonderful mum. While painting her I don’t know why, but I kept thinking of the Egyptian queens who wore the most beautiful necklaces around their necks. I wont say the pattern is inspired from Egyptian designs, but the form is surely from there. Who needs jewelery when you can get painted like this whenever you like?!

I sincerely hope she enjoyed the creation as much as I enjoyed creating it, and cant wait to paint another one soon!!

And then it hit me, some of my very close friends who I absolutely love, are going to come along to a Bollywood movie with me in the open air cinema, where I will be doing Henna before the movie starts, organized by the West Torrens Library in Hilton. I thought to myself, it’s only two days to Valentines day and I have extremely fond memories of this day from my past…how about make some brownies and share them with these people who I so am in love with and celebrate the night away with LOVE LOVE AND more LOVE all around us!!

I have always felt it’s a Valentines is beautiful day because it’s a day especially to actually say, ‘ I LOVE YOU’ to your partner and also it’s about saying that same very thing to everyone and anyone you actually truly love. I wish people would celebrate this day every single day, but lets face it…no one does!! When I asked a few people, what they do for valentines here?! I got some extremely boring and sad answers. Most people think it’s such a commercial exercise and an American event and bla bla bla a…hearts, cheesy cards, soft toys and so on. I know, it sounds bit cheesy for sure… but don’t you think it’s not about all those things…it’s about treating people right and saying it out loud not only by saying, ‘I LOVE YOU’ but also by your actions. To make others feel special you don’t have to buy a card, make one. Don’t spend money going out, cook something special at home… just think of ways to share the love around with all who you care about… oooo well I decided to make my loved ones special brownies from my sister’s recipe tonight!!

Aaannnnd then… I felt like decorating them!! So I started drawing on them with cream in my Henna style FIRST TIME EVER!! SO SO SO EXCITING for me!! I realized it’s kind of fun doing this…so hopefully will practice a bit more and who knows, next valentines day, someone might give me order to make some Valentines love brownies or a Wedding cake! Yum oh Yum !!!

When someone, calls me to do a Henna on their birthdays, or when they want to give my Henna as a gift to their loved ones, I feel extra special being able to share such an experience with them on a day that means to much to them ( and to me, even tho it’s NOT my birthday!!)

So recently I received a call from a client who wanted to gift my henna to her lovely daughter Matilda and her friends. She dropped the girls at the studio, gave me a chance to get to know them a bit better and talk not only about Henna but about men, marriage, kids, life, food etc etc. The girls got very curious about what their patterns meant, so after painting them all I started doing mini readings for each one of them. Some got serious and opend up more and some went quite in a  bit of a wonder how a pattern could tell me so much about them…

I spent two hours with them, and realized that when you spend time with younger people, strangely you feel younger and start talking about things you thought of when you were at their age…strange but FUN!

In the end the girls decided to create a friendship star, as a symbol to celebrate their time at Diyastudio. I am assuming that was a six star rating for the Henna experience they had with me, dont you think??!

Iphone Picture of Lila's wedding Hennaed Hands

“A bell’s not a bell till you ring it.
A song’s not a song till you sing it.
Love in your heart is not put there to stay.
Love isn’t love till you give it away.”
~ Oscar Hammerstein

As the quotation suggests, when Love is not shared what use is it to have such a beautiful emotion! I love weddings and every single little happiness attached to it, so doing Henna for a bride is quite exciting for me. Every time I paint one, my brain travels back to memory lane, of my own special day.  To me marriage is something that needs working on every single day of your life, but it’s a magical commitment and submission to the one you love the most. Once you understand the meaning of being together, life totally feels like a bliss and a dream that just flows through without any breaks. Things or people don’t matter anymore, the only thing that’s important is the understanding a couple shares.

Lila and Tylor, came together for getting Henna done on Lila’s hands and feet last week. After seeing so many couples, two days before their big day, I was highly impressed by these two.  They sat there peacefully discussing everything but the wedding day, and when I asked how the preparation was going, and they both seemed so relaxed and I think Lila answered, ” it’s all coming together beautifully!” It almost felt they were happy the wedding was surely happening and all, but to them what mattered most was what was coming after. They didn’t focus all their energies on a single day and to try and make it absolutely perfect, which to me sounds totally sane and quite refreshing.

I still remember when I got married, a few things happened that I didn’t want or wished for but had to go along for my family. So I was talking (complaining rather with anger and frustration!) to my Baba (father) about it and he said, ” don’t think of this day as the one and only big day of your life, think of the BIG DAYS to come. And also if most things didn’t work out today as you had wished for, still try and see the bigger picture, of what you’ll be getting by the end of it all…a life with a man you love and who loves you, rest doesn’t matter!”, so it felt so easy to overlook what was missing because when I looked at the end, I knew I was ultimately getting what I had dreamed of. So it didn’t really matter!!

I pray, wish and hope Lila and Tylor a life filled with happiness, as they walk down the path of marriage, blessed by the magic of my Henna.

Model - Michelle Lee, Photography Humna Mustafa

As always, doing something new for any artist is extremely exciting and challenging. And recently my close friend Michelle Lee, Adelaide based artist www.michelleleeart.com asked me to paint one of her shoulders as a practice. I wont say this is my first shoulder that I did with Henna, but it truly was my first that I thoroughly enjoyed painting!

Usually I get a chance to paint shoulders at events, and have to work really quickly on them but this time, Michelle came to our house, we had a lovely dinner together, sat down talking about some really funny stuff and then I started painting her. I wanted to capture the special friendship bond we shared, in my Henna work on her shoulder and a prayer to wish this friendship stays alive for many many more years.

I have always admired her for the beautiful and strong person she is. She’s extremely encouraging giving…while working on her I kept thinking of all the moments I had spent with her. I remember, how she came to support my art when I had my first fringe show in 2006, and got a Henna done from me there. We have been friends since then. She always makes me believe in myself and go for my dreams, comes with an open and trusting heart to get a Henna done and appreciates and enjoys my work fully.

It’s people like Michelle, I live, work and am in Adelaide for. They are my friends, my inspiration and a family I choose to be with. Thank you for giving me an opportunity, I could only dream to have.