About Me and my paintings

Welcome to my little treasure. I have been painting for as long as I can remember. However, the worldly acknowledgement, in the form of an accredited degree, came a bit later in life for me. I went back to full time education a few years back to fulfil my life long dream of studying Art. I graduated with BA Hons in Mixed Media Fine Art from University of Westminster.

My influences

I watch the rain fall on the lush green leaves; I stand in the street and stare at the yellow tree; I beam at my children playing in the tree house; I marvel at the new white blossoms on the tree in the back garden; I soak up the warmth of my son sitting next to me; I gaze intently at bare branches to find a pattern; I admire the tiny yellow leaves fluttering like gold coins in the gentle breeze…and I want to hold these moments forever, never let them go.

Fleeting moments, familiar sights, my family and my memories become the essence of my work. My work lingers between past and present. I want to keep the memories fresh and don’t want the present to slip out of my hands. Through my work, I attempt to relive the past moments and seize the present ones. My paintings are tinged with nostalgia and sometimes fear of loss. They are a celebration of all that is around us and is taken for granted. I try to construct another realm which is recognisable and unfamiliar at the same time; where my memories exist in contented captivity.   

Hovering between figurative and abstract, I draw inspiration from landscapes and familial influences. I work from photographs; photographs seize the moment and are like an initial sketch for me. I have painted from photographs I’ve taken recently or I take them with the intention to paint them later and they are mostly of landscapes or times spent with my family. To these photographs, I add my response with the help of colours and textures. The subject matter I choose is essentially a result of the influences I have been exposed to while growing up. 

My tools 

I primarily work with oils and acrylics, combining other material like charcoal, acrylic mediums, impasto gel, thread and gold leaf into the composition. Colours articulate my sentiments with their warm and cool associations. They play the role words play in a piece of text, illustrating pleasure, melancholy, contentment or longing that I feel for the subject. Textures add a third dimension to my predominantly two-dimensional work. I make use of brushes to convey a smooth, still, calm feel to the painting as well as palette knives to add energy and movement to the otherwise figureless scenes. I have recently started to include people in my paintings as their presence inject a narrative into an empty backdrop. It makes the image more intriguing and compels the viewer to rationalise their presence in the painting. 

Commissions

I am happy to undertake commissions to help you materialise your imaginative pursuits onto canvas. Please get in touch to discuss the requirements and time lines at info@saharimran.com or through the Contact Form.