As Pablo Picasso once said, ‘every child is an artist.’
Fatimah Nadeem, is a self-taught painter from Karachi. Her paintings, which include her depictions of social and religious issues, have gone viral over Instagram.
Fatimah’s watercolor paintings have earned her a sizable following, especially with the choice of materials she uses to convey emotions in her creations.
Flashing back all the way to her childhood, Fatimah tells a tale about how her journey as an artist took shape. She remembers that her journey started with just dried out paints and scrap calendar paper. She relied on them to practice her craft, and to become what she is today.
‘My Sunday morning routine for years, as a child, was to set up my paints and brushes and paint out sceneries and abstract art behind calendars.’ – Fatimah
As for how she goes about her work, she usually has a good idea about what colors to use beforehand, as most painters do. She says that for her, deleting out colors from her pieces is unacceptable.
‘My greatest inspiration comes from colors. A luster or shade or even a new color sets my creativity working. I love bright colors, and I’m particular drawn to blue shades.’ – Fatimah
She says that the biggest challenge for her was figuring out the right mediums to work with comfortably. There are so many mediums in the world – from watercolors to oil paints to color pencils, even coffee stains, and fruits, like strawberries – that it gives artists more opportunities and ways to express themselves.
‘There is so much variety to choose from, all you have to do is use your imagination.’ – Fatimah
A perfect blend of paints and picking out the exact tints and shades to work with, this young artist knows how to command her paint brushes and have them dance along to her muse.
She says her favorite medium is watercolors due to its simple techniques. She started painting watercolor galaxies since she is very much intrigued by stars and what lies beyond them.
Later on, she branched out to florals and abstracts. She also started experimenting with acrylics and fell in love with the vibrancy and texture of the medium.
Her work also incorporates words and quotes where, according to her belief, lies the emotion of an author or a poet.
‘Words inspire me to paint using certain colors, objects, and shapes that go well with them.’ – Fatimah
‘Art is like a safe haven for me, it has been that one thing that I turn to when I have had a bad day’. – Fatimah
To Fatimah, art isn’t just therapeutic. It has also changed who she is as a person.
She claims that it was her art that taught her to love herself and be confident.
‘During my early teens, there was a point in my life where I had no self-identity. Thus, the day I picked up my brush again, I knew that this is the real me.’ – Fatimah.
Although she’s self-taught, Fatimah’s love for colors and paints has helped her find her identity in this world.
You can check out the rest of her work here.