Always, at all times, in every season — सर्वकाल — Sarvakaala — Sanskrit in Devanagari calligraphy by S. J. Thomas. www.palmstone.comRead More
Three Fish Motif — I am fascinated with the number of images that can be developed out of the paisley or buteh form. Fish is one of the motifs I explore over and over again. www.palmstone.comRead More
“Knowing is not enough” — تنها دانستن کافى نيست — Farsi calligraphy by S. J. Thomas. From the German poet Goethe: “Es ist nicht genug, zu wissen, man muss auch anwenden. Es ist nicht genug, zu wollen, man muss auch tun.” In English
“Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do” and in Persian:
تنها دانستن کافى نيست .مهم نيست شما چقدر ميدونيد .مهم اينکه چقدر از دانسته هاتون رو تبديل به اقدام ميکنيد.Read More
Doodle Motifs: anyone who knows me knows that I doodle any chance I can get. Pretty much all the time. Helps me think, listen, stay calm. Most of them get tossed out or are on random packages and pieces of paper. Here are a few to share. Eventually some of these tidbits find their way onto more completed works of calligraphy. palmstone.comRead More
甲骨文字 — 金 — jīn — metal. Before the Chinese characters were standardized, there were many variant forms of the characters, especially on the “oracle bones” where they were carved into tortoise shells and bones. Sometimes the variants are simply the result of the non-standardization, but once in a while it is clear that a was using the art to make a point. Here is a variant of the character for metal. I was very excited when I first stumbled across this character because I could see immediately that this is a diagram of the lungs within the chest cavity, the calligrapher making the visual connection that is part of medical theory of the metal element with the lungs. The standard modern character is in the top right hand corner. Calligraphy by S. J. Thomas www.palmstone.comRead More
HUMATA, HŪXTA, HUVARŠTA — In Pahlavi script, with modern Persian below. The ethical core of the Zoroastrian Faith since ancient times is also well known to every Iranian, and to many others around the world. In the Avestan Pahlavi the words are “well thought, well said, well done” but usually rendered in English as “good thoughts, good words, good deeds” and in Persian as پندار نیک، گفتار نیک، کردار نیک
or اندیشه نیک، گفتار نیک، رفتار نیک
There is still a very tiny Zoroastrian community in Iran, and through a mutual friend I was fortunate to obtain this rendering of the Pahlavi script from an elderly woman in Kerman who still reads and writes the script and can recite the ancient songs. The symbol at the top is the Faravahar. Calligraphy by S. J. Thomas, www.palmstone.comRead More
OMEGA — the last letter of the Greek alphabet — the “great OM” — with the Sanskrit symbol for OM, made up of the sounds A – U – M, thus containing within itself the A and the UM, the Alpha and the Om. So the “Om-mega” contains in its end, the beginning Alpha. calligraphy by S. J. Thomas. www.palmstone.comRead More
NEW BAMBOO — Chinese ink on handmade paper. Brush painting by S. J. Thomas, www.palmstone.comRead More
NATARAJA — नटराज — Closing out the year with my calligraphic interpretation of Nataraja, the “Lord of the Dance”, the cosmic Shiva dance of creation and destruction and keeping the time beat of the universe. Sanskrit calligraphy in Devanagari script on rice paper mounted on wood panel, by S. J. Thomas. www.palmstone.comRead More
Dove in flight, zoomorphic Persian calligraphy in Arabic script. Design by calligrapher S. J. Thomas. www.palmstone.comRead More
