How has your close proximity to three art personalities, Sheikh Ahmed, Anna Molka Ahmed and Colin David influenced your growth as an artist?

I grew up surrounded by art and artists. As neither of my parents had family here in Pakistan, my mother’s colleagues became our family. My greatest regret in life has been that I never knew my father, Sheikh Ahmed. My mother and father were divorced when I was six years old and my father went out of my life forever. I am not familiar with his work.

My mother was a very vigorous personality and our home was always full of her friends and colleagues. There was always music and singing in our home and as my mother loved music, I got the opportunity, at a very young age, to learn and perform on various musical instruments and learnt classical dance as well. I always felt myself to be in her shadow. She was a figure larger than life and very demanding and determined. And her paintings were as vibrant and forceful as she was. At times I felt my life was not my own.

By contrast, Colin David was very understanding and had a laid back personality. He was a marvellous person and teacher; he would guide but not trample upon your feelings. He would let you find your own way. He taught me for four years at the university and later on I realised how different and more peaceful my life was when I was married to him.

I feel that Colin has played a very important role in my life, making it possible for me to be my own person. When I was a single parent bringing up my children and having to fend for myself, my own strong beliefs gave me the courage and fortitude to stand on my own two feet and rely only on myself.

Your artworks are described as ‘spiritual paintings’ and you also write poetry. Are they both expressions of one's thought process?

I paint from the imagination and my strong belief is that whatever is in your heart is visible in your work, whether it is in the form of painting, poetry or music. They are all related to one another. You cannot divide them into compartments.

Vision and soul come together. People say they find a sense of calm, of peace when they see my work. I have done a series of 30 poems related to my paintings and I have set them to music as well. I never pre-plan my paintings. The colour I start with denotes the mood I’m in and the painting develops as I go along. Remember that everything is interlinked; the hand will only do what the mind tells it to do. We learn as we go through life and everything comes together to tell a story.

What is your source of inspiration and what is the central message in your artworks?

My source of inspiration is my belief in God and the goodness of man. We have been given one chance at life and we must do the best we can.

My artworks have themes and titles like, ‘Life’s journey’, ‘The mists of time’, ‘Vanishing’, ‘Distance’, ‘The shining light’, ‘Hope’, ‘Prayer’, ‘Waiting’, ‘Searching’, ‘Dreams’, ‘Choices’, etc. I feel very strongly about the oppression of women and have done a series on this topic. At the same time I paint landscapes of how I want the world to be, how I see a united, happy world with love and friendship in abundance and above all, peace.

How is colour employed as an expressive form in your paintings?

Colour has always played a very important part in my life and work. I was surrounded by such different personalities… my mother with her vibrant, strong colours and forceful technique of painting… my teachers like Khalid Iqbal, Colin David and Naseem Qazi who had a more restrained palette… then I, myself, working for over 20 years as a colour consultant surrounded with colours.

Colour speaks to me. It is either restrained, cool and calm in whites, blues and greens or I let loose when I’m in the mood and then I come out with brilliant yellows, oranges and reds. I love painting in black and white as well. I have always felt tied down with responsibilities and worries but now I have reached a stage in my life where I feel free and whole again. I am enjoying life and the freedom to enjoy ‘colour’.

You have been participating in national shows at the Arts Council in Lahore for many years. Has the landscape genre moved forward since the heyday of the Punjab Landscape School?

I feel in the past the quality of observation in the genre of landscape was strong. The modern trend is conceptual. Nothing stands still.