My first picture book “A Girl Named October” can finally be pre-ordered at

https://www.amazon.com/Girl-Named-October-Zakieh-Mohammed/dp/0999024957/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1533997081&sr=8-1&keywords=a+girl+named+october

Can empathy be taught? The importance of empathy and its impact are explored in A Girl Named October. The title character, October, is ever present as the narrator navigates a life without realizing how even the smallest memories, interactions, and expressions can impact a very large, and often imposing, world. Touching the world is no longer an abstract idea, but a concrete action that reveals how everything we do affects everyone around us. Lighthearted in its approach, but powerful in its message, this book tells a story that will spur conversations with children and adults alike.

For quite some time now I have been contemplating to utilize my art on items other than print or canvas. I decided to create various bag designs with my illustrations and designs on them. For the special artist touch, I personally sew the images onto the bags.

Currently you can exclusively buy these bags at the RAIN TREE gift shop in the historic district of Melbourne FL at 826 E. New Haven Ave. The RAIN TREE gift shop also has my actual art work (Illustrations and Relief Prints) for sale. Come and check it out! Candlelight shopping every Saturday before Christmas is a fun event for the whole family.

I am working on making the bags available online – Look out for future posts.

Little Frog Princess

Mixed media (acrylics, oil colors & prisma colors) on cold pressed illustration board, size 11″x12.5″.

These are the sketches & color studies I came up with:

Final sketch & color study:

I had this idea for a while but couldn’t figure out how to set it up in an illustration. Finally I got back to it and here is my version of Medusa having a bad hair day. I kept the snakes in black and white (drawing quality) while I painted Medusa in full color and a little more detailed. Otherwise I thought it would be too busy and distract from the story.

Below is the sketch and the color study for this painting. The color study is quickly done in Photoshop (it’s the easiest way for me to try different colors without spending a lot of time).

This illustration is done in mixed media (acrylics, oil colors and prisma colors) on cold pressed illustration board.

Not to long ago my family and I went to the Kennedy Space Center. I was really impressed by the full sized rockets and knew right away I wanted them in a painting. It took me awhile to figure out what to add to the image to give it a little twist:  Someone who’s flying it to the moon!

Below are some photos of the painting in progress. The picture to the left shows some prisma color rendering with a layer of acrylic wash. The picture to the right shows the image after adding an oil color wash.

“The Pier” is a relief print (linocut), limited edition of 100.

Because it’s a very small print I wanted to frame it in a much larger frame to “pull” the viewer in. I think it gives The Pier much more depth.

Sorry for the bad photo. I was in a rush to get it done for a show and obviously didn’t take the time to set it up for a good photo.

Done and framed.

This is a mixed media illustration (acrylics, oil colors and prisma colors) on illustration board. I wanted the image to be abstract with real elements. The girl is holding her shark puppet that is swimming with real fish (which doesn’t look as realistic as the shark). But is the water real ? She is holding on to the “edge of water”… just a few things to make the illustration a bit confusing and hopefully interesting.

Here are some pics of my recent exhibition at the CityArts Factory in Orlando.