Oil Painting Looks Hard Because Everyone Teaches It Wrong
I will say it plainly. Most oil painting tutorials online are made by people who have forgotten what it felt liketo be a beginner. They skip steps. They use language that sounds impressive andexplains nothing. They make you feel like the problem is your hands. Your hands are fine. I have been teaching oil painting […]
If I had a rupee for every time a client said “just make it like the one on Pinterest,” I would not need clients anymore.
That is not even the worst one. There is a whole language artists have learned to translate in real time. “I don’t know, you decide” until you decide, and suddenly they knew exactly what they wanted, and it was not that.“Can you make it for free? It is just a small thing” as if seven […]
The Artist I Became (And the One Who Always Was)
Someone once went up to my sister and asked, “Are you Batool, the artist?”She smiled and said, “No, I’m her sister.”That small moment became a proud one at home. For Ammi. For Zahra. And quietly, for me too.But here’s the truth most people don’t know Zahra was always the real artist. The kind who didn’t […]
I am a Visual Artist.
But that word alone never quite covered it. I started as a fine artist. Oils, acrylics, canvas, the whole thing. That was the beginning and honestly it is still the foundation of everything I do. But I got curious. And curiosity in a creative person is a dangerous thing in the best way. So I […]
Why I Stopped Calling Myself “Just a Teacher”
For years, when people asked what I do, I said “I teach art.” Full stop.As if that was the small version of the answer. But here is what I actually do.I walk into a room full of people who think they cannot draw a straight line. And I walk out leaving behind people who just […]
I painted smiles that weren’t supposed to be “perfect.” And then something unexpected happened.
I made this painting back in 2020. At the time, I was thinking about how we see children represented in the media. Somehow, the children chosen are always perfectly cute. Perfect hair. Perfect smile. Perfect little faces. But real children? 😄 Their hair is messy.They have little marks on their faces.Their teeth aren’t always perfectly […]