Red Poppy Study Drawing

I was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY and currently live in Islamabad, Pakistan. I was always fascinated with art growing up but never thought that I could be an artist myself. My main creative outlet was writing and photography. And then my son died from leukemia. Words fell short to describe what I felt at that time. It was as if I needed to find a more basic, more universal method of communication to express the depth of my feeling. While there was definitely a sense of grief and loss that I felt (and will probably continue to feel for the rest of my life) what amazed me was that there was also a depth of POSITIVE feelings as well. I felt a closeness to God that I had never experienced in my life. I found an acute awareness of the world and a deep sense of connection to the people around me - their pain, their suffering, their quiet hopes and dreams. I was always a bit of an empath, but it felt like I was really able to SEE people in a way I never could before. I was also able to see MYSELF in ways I never could before. This experience put me on a path of spiritual and emotional healing. After years of believing I could only appreciate art as an outsider, a voice spoke up inside of me - how could I believe I couldn’t make art when I never ACTUALLY tried to before? I discovered that I COULD draw and paint and express myself visually. I read books, attended workshops and took online courses to train myself. Watercolor was my first medium of choice because I love how the end product is collaboration between the artist, the pigment, the water and even the paper itself. With time you can learn to master and control the medium, but there will always be an element of unpredictability with watercolor which I find so exciting and so analogous to life itself. Because I’m a Muslim, it’s important to me that the materials I work with are Halal. I do my best to ensure that everything from the brushes, to the paints and surfaces are vegetarian or vegan. My main inspirations are the different places I've lived and traveled to - the people, the cultures, the varied rhythms of life. I also draw inspiration from nature: I believe that flowers are a manifestation of Divine Love. Faith and spirituality are very important to me, and I believe that they feature strongly in my work.⁣ Through my art, I want to document my emotional and spiritual journey and share it with the world to help them on their own individual journey.