Mustafa's Photo

Hello. My name is Mustafa Alami.

I create and illustrate stories, paintings, prints and cards.

The News:

Visit my shop if you would like to place a purchase, or visit my wholesale page if you are a retail store. Email numyum@malami.com if you have any questions.

I also help companies launch applications as a UX Design Director at malami.com.

Painting of a group of people watching a wave.

Big Wave

Sketched while sitting on the beach in San Diego, this illustration captures the powerful connection we feel to the sea. Perfect for anyone who finds wonder in the rhythmic pull of the ocean.

The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever. – Jacques Cousteau

Available as a signed print and card.

Painting of two kayaking the Russian River.

No Rushin’ on the Russian

Two enjoy a peaceful kayak ride down the Russian River in Sonoma in this illustration. Sketched during my summer cycling trips along the river, this design captures the joy of slow moments and outdoor adventures. A reminder to savor life’s simple pleasures.

The river said to itself, There is no hurry. We shall get there some day. – A. A. Milne

Available as a signed print and card.

Painting of lady in a swimming pool with grapes in the background Buy

My Day in Napa

A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world. – Louis Pasteur

Available as a signed print and card.

Painting of lady in a swimming pool with grapes in the background

Blast Off

Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known. – Carl Sagan

Available as a signed print and card.

Painting of a hawk looking out at a field of pumpkins. The San Mateo coast is in the background.

On the Lookout for the Great Pumpkin

I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be. – Douglas Adams

Available as a signed print and card.

Painting of Man walking his dog through San Francisco with the painted ladies houses in the background. Buy

Walkin’ The Dog

If you don’t have a dog – at least one – 
there is not necessarily anything wrong with you, 
but there may be something wrong with your life. – Vincent van Gogh

Available as a signed print and card.

Painting of a Bird about to go snowboarding. Buy

Snowbirder

To appreciate the beauty of a snowflake it is necessary to stand out in the cold. – Anonymous

Available as a signed print and card.

Two Painting. Painting of a Bird standing under a flower during a rain storm and Painting of a bird in a puzzled state

Oh! I Forgot

To err is human, to forgive divine. – Alexander Pope

Image from Bird's Wisdom story. 3" x 3" pencil sketch and Procreate on iPad. Available as print or card:

Weathering The Storm

Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars. – Khalil Gibran

Available as a signed print and card.

Painting of Four Robot cards. Robot and Red Balloon and Happy Sprint Robot and Civilized Robot.

Presence is Presents

The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away. – Pablo Picasso

Pencil sketch, Affinity Designer, and Procreate

Civilized Robot

Great is the fortune of he (or she) who possesses a good bottle, a good book, and a good friend. – Molière

18”x18” Acrylic Paint on Wood.

Robot and Red Balloon

Nobody can be uncheered with a balloon – A.A. Milne

20"x20" Acrylic Paint on Canvas.

Happy Spring Robot

Pencil sketch and colored in Procreate.

Painting of Skateboarding San Francisco Buy

Skateboarding San Francisco

The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease forever to be able to do it. – Peter Pan, J. M. Barrie

Available as a signed print and card.

Painting of lady on a SUP in the San Francisco Bay Buy

What's SUP and What's Down

Life is a journey, not a destination. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Available as a signed print and card.

Painting of the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge and Bicycle riders Buy

Golden Gate Bridge to Paradise

Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of a bike ride. – John F. Kennedy

Read Story

When I lived in SF, I couldn’t wait to get up on a Saturday morning and ride across the bridge. It was a joy to see people beam with excitement as they glide through fog for the first time. If I am lucky, I make it across without getting hit by a selfie stick. I drop down to Sausalito, enjoy the scene, ride through the bicycle path and start climbing Camino Alto hill. Take a right on the other side, cross over the freeway and merge into Paradise Drive. An 8 mile stretch of rolling hills with stunning views of the bay. I can just go. The cold city fog is a distant memory. I roll into Tiburon, have lunch, finish my wrap around the Peninsula and ride it home to SF.

Available as a signed print and card.

Painting of Surfer on Stinson Beach Buy

Surf Stinson Beach

Read Story

When COVID hit and my design projects fizzled, I switched gears and started painting things that made me happy. I flipped through my sketch book and found this character. I don’t actually surf, but always enjoyed being at Stinson Beach, California. I am perfectly happy on my boogie board taking on the waves with my son.

The original was painted with a mix of acrylic, house paint, paint pens, and color sticks on 16” x 16” wood. I photographed the painting and digitally enhanced it. Now it is available as a framed print and card:

16"x16" Acrylic Paint on Wood. Available as a signed print and card.

Painting of Great blue heron in Sausalito Buy

Great Blue Heron in Sausalito

Creativity is the Blue Heron within us waiting to fly; through her imagination, all things become possible. – Nadia Janice Brown

Read Story

I would ride my bicycle around Richardson Bay for a project in Tiburon. Not many things would make me completely stop and sketch. The sight of a Great Blue Heron does it.

After painting Surf Stinson Beach and the pandemic continued to drag on, I flipped through my sketch book and found this. It was a simple sketch that needed an interesting background. I used acrylic, house paint, paint pens, and color sticks on 16” x 16” wood. I photographed the painting and digitally enhanced to improve on the original. I printed a few and they quickly sold. Now it is my most popular artwork in Sausalito.

16"x16" Acrylic Paint on Wood. Available as a signed print and card.

Painting of Bicycle Rider climbing up Mt. Tam Buy

Climb Mt. Tam

The mountains are calling and I must go. – John Muir

Read Story

Getting on my bicycle and climbing Mt. Tam is one of my favorite things to do. This image started as an idea going up Bolinas Ridge trail on my gravel bicycle. I generally ride alone, take breaks and sketch the things that come to mind. I focus on a few simple elements. If I cannot make it work on 3"x3" paper sketch then I usually abandon the idea.

When it was time to paint it, I wanted to experiment and find a more interesting way to create trees. I did the background with a brush and acrylic paint, but for the trees I started drizzling layers of watered-down paint, waiting for each layer to dry to see what happens, then repeating the process. The finished original is acrylic paint on 24"x24" canvas. It was a little dull. I photographed it and spend sometime on Procreate to remove the canvas noise, enhance the colors, add the layer of fog and make it pop.

24"x24" Acrylic Paint on Canvas. Available as a signed print and card.

Painting of an upset lady. Buy

Perfectly Imperfect

Good enough is good enough. Perfect will make you a big fat mess every time.— – Rebecca Wells

Available as a signed print and card.

Painting of Vespa riding to San Francisco Buy

Bridgeway to San Francisco

San Francisco is the only city I can think of that can survive all the things you people are doing to it and still look beautiful.— – Frank Lloyd Wright

16"x16" Acrylic Paint on Wood. Available as a signed print and card.

Painting of boy giving his mom a flower. Buy

The Gift

We are born of love; love is our mother. – Rumi

Read Story

It was May and I was at the Depot Bookstore in Mill Valley. Mother’s Day cards were on the rack. My mom passed away and the thought of celebrating the day always makes me sad. But, somehow, a happy moment came about and made this drawing. The thing is, it never really mattered what I gave my mom as a gift. A scrappy flower would bring her joy.

Available as a signed print and card.

Painting of Quails and Poppies Buy

I Love California

Life without love is like a tree without blossoms or fruit. – Khalil Gibran

Read Story

I started a line of greeting cards and quickly realized that love is a big topic. I wanted to fill that gap. But, I didn't want to drift away from my "create local themes" focus. Quails and Poppies seemed like the perfect match. It was February and Poppies were about to bloom and we had a flock of Quails running around. I had 10 different poses made to get here. For the most part, they were facing each other. That never really worked. I wanted to create something that engaged the viewer more. This sketch came together at the end. It was time to paint it.

I had a 16"x16" wood panel in the closet. I started with a base layer using a brush and acrylic paint but quickly jumped to just drizzling and pouring the paint. After I finished the background, I traced my sketch of the birds and used paint brush to finish things. Unfortunately, I couldn't finish this in time for valentine.

16"x16" Acrylic Paint on Wood. Available as a signed print and card.

Two Painting of a fisherman.

Big Catch

The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope. – John Buchan

18" x 24" Acrylic Paint on Canvas. Available as print and card.

Man of the Sea

My big fish must be somewhere. – Ernest Hemingway

20"x20" Acrylic Paint on Canvas. Available as print and card.

Painting of four chickens Buy

Petaluma Chickens

I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

20"x20" Acrylic Paint on Canvas. Available as a signed print and card.

Painting of Man in a suit Buy

Bada Bing!

20"x20" Acrylic Paint on Canvas

Painting of a Bicycle under a Redwood Tree Buy

Joy is a Redwood Tree and a Bicycle

No one has ever successfully painted or photographed a redwood tree. The feeling they produce is not transferable. From them comes silence and awe. – John Steinbeck

Read Story

Once a month I ride up Mt. Tam and when I reach the intersection of Bofax and Ridgecrest, I take a break under my favorite Redwood Tree. It is hard to describe how magical that moment is.

24" x 48" x 1.5" Acrylic Paint on Canvas. Available as a signed print and card.

Painting of robot thinking while sitting on the potty. Buy

The Thinker

Life is a tragedy to those who feel and a comedy to those who think. – Molière

16"x16" Acrylic Paint on Canvas. Available as a signed print and card.

Painting of a character flying in the middle of space with a spaceship in the background. Buy

Lost in Space

The universe is a pretty big place. If it's just us, seems like an awful waste of space. – Carl Sagan

36" x 36" Acrylic on Canvas. Available as a signed print and card.

Painting of a man surfing in Bolinas, CA.

Surf Bolinas

24" x 24" Acrylic Paint on Canvas

Painting of yoga pose. Buy

ZoOm Yoga

just breathe

Read Story

I miss going to hot yoga, but joining a zoom yoga session is just strange. I really don't want to stream my awkward posses. The background was digitally illustrated and foreground was done on 10"x10" acrylic paint on canvas. I just masked the background and blended the two together to make something that works.

Available as a signed print and card.

Painting of the Beast from the book Rabbit's Wit. Buy

The Beast

24" x 36" Acrylic on Canvas. Available as a signed print and card.

Painting of two cows and a red barn in Sonoma, CA. Buy

Moo Too Sonoma

Moo may represent an idea, but only the cow knows. – Mason Cooley

24" x 24" Acrylic on Canvas. Available as a signed print and card.

Two birds lost in a field of orange paint. Buy

Two Lost Birds

24" x 24" Acrylic Paint on Canvas. Available as a signed print.

Painting of a elephant reading a book on the potty. Buy

Even Elephant Reads on the Potty

If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking. – Haruki Murakami

12" x 12" Acrylic on Canvas. Available as print and card.

An image with two paintings. Painting one is santa facing santa. Painting two is Santa on a skiff being pulled by pelicans.

Santa Meets Santa

Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, ‘What! You too? I thought I was the only one.’ – C.S. Lewis

West Coast Santa

A wonderful bird is the Pelican. His beak can hold more than his belly can. – Dixon Lanier Merritt

Available as a signed print and card.

Painting of two Turkeys on the table with a human foot. Buy

Is it organic?

Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet. – Albert Einstein

4"x4" Pencil Sketch and Procreate. Available as print and card.

About Numyum

The name Numyum was inspired by “birdie num num,” a line in an old Peter Sellers’ movie. Along the way, numnum somehow became numyum and represents one of my simple pleasures – tossing crumbs to birds.

I am frequently reprimanded for this behavior at outdoor restaurants, parks, and in Europe in general.