How would you describe/define yourself?

Hi there! My name is Faten Khalil, and I’m a Lebanese artist. I have a master’s degree in fine arts. I love art, and I love making art. It’s my passion and what I do for a living. I am an artist inspired by the natural world’s beauty and mystery. I am very hard-working, and meticulous in my attention to detail, but I also welcome my own errors, which always lead me towards improvement and development. I feel confident about my own artistic ability and experience. My paintings celebrate color, form, and texture and meditate on the relationship between light, shadow, and atmosphere. Looking at my artworks puts you inside a moment to experience the laughter, the fear, and the bliss shared in a single expression.

When and why did you decide to choose painting designing as a career? 

Creativity and talent were born within me. My mom started discovering my artistic talents when I was eight years old in several artistic fields like fashion, dancing, and drawing. Over the years, I discovered that art is in my heart, when I  paint, I love to express a story and to communicate with my intuition and inspiration and my pains. After that, when I finished high school, I decided to choose fine art as my future career, I entered the College for Arts I completed my master’s degree and now I am enjoying the challenge of succeeding as an artist.

What according to you is a favorite part of being a Paint Artist?

Being a paint artist allows me to share my art and perspective with the world. Being a paint artist means to me to enjoy every bit of my work, and feel freedom. which allows me to create whatever subject or object I want, in whatever medium I want, whenever I want in an open environment where I feel safe to explore my own creativity, also when I create visually appealing artwork that others admire and buy it, gives me a sense of pride and happiness.

What inspires you as an Artist? How do you visualize your muses?

So many things come to my mind, I am very affected by my surroundings, my society, natural, the wars and the remnants of war, the struggles of humanity ,other artists , books of art, dreams , and inner vision and imagination .I think just being in the studio and experimenting all the time , making mistakes and learning from them is very important . Putting the hours in the studio , is the only way to improve myself as an artist . And by working everyday in the studio , I’ll find that I won’t have to worry about looking for inspiration at all .Inspiration will come to me . Vision is not enough to visalize my muses , it must be combined with venture . when I work on my studio for a new project , I try to visualize the steps needed to get to the outcome I am hoping for. This can help me to see the steps and how they innterrelate each effecting the next . Preparing the surface , affecting the color , changing the texture , building the structure ,providing for additions . As the project is visualized I see where there are areas to grow and problems to work through further. This allows me to focus on the unresolved areas . Meanwhile methods and techniques . 

What’s your signature painting element? And why?

At the start in my artistic career , I struggled with how to sign my paintings . With some practice through I settled on a signature . Now , I sign all my artwork. I don’t always sign in the same place. It is almost always on the bottom but which side depends on which side it will be noticed and to help balance out the piece I always include the year below my name and I only use the first letter of my name and I put dot and my last name(F.khalil) .It is the most challenging part for me. In the world of fine arts we are required to have one signature style that brands us in the eye of the public . When a client buys one of my pieces ,they are a fan because they love my style and execution in the piece. They commission me because they see a consistent style they gravitate toward , so they want a unique original piece that follows my signature style. So if i really want people to recognize my work , it’s not just the style of my art that helps do that, my signature can act as a kind of logo for my work and help people who don’t know me learn about me .

The paintings you created are the best without any doubt, but who and which things were your inspiration while creating such paintings?  

It’s ultimately a personal matter, noticing what creates desire in me . My inspiration may come from my own history of inspiration and expression , or when I put a song and listen to it , it can refresh and inspire me .We know all of us have an instinct – I may love tulips, or animals ,birds , spiritualism ,or….so I don’t think about millions of objects I like to paint ,I think instead at that moment about what is happening in our society ? which makes me feel sadness or happiness ? what object influenced me?..I let my emotions take control of my pencil or brush ,I just relax and paints my first stroke and see what happens. Sometimes I get stuck, and I stop. I walk away . Go back to it later. Because inspiration and creativity needs space and time , then it’ll all burst forth.

What’s the best piece of artistic advice you’ve heard? And do you follow it?

The best advice my mom said to me and I follow it is:” Never look back , because life only moves forward .Never give up ! Art cannot be mastered overnight – it takes years of practice and dedication to perfect your craft, continue learning and refining your work , you will eventually reach success .So go forth and pursue your dreams !

As we all know the job of a painter is very tough. So how do you keep your mental and physical health fit?

Artists and creatives face innumerable challenges given that their career path often doesn’t come with a playbook, a steady paycheck or any form of safety net. It’s definitely not easy ,artists feel stressed and it’s impacting just about all areas of their lives, including their art . For me ,this battle made me more patient and faithful ,control my fears and madness,  when I was depressed .Art have given me known my exact strengths and weakness . when I paint I am always happy ,and have confidence in myself, I feel free to do what make me smile and approach my creativity with a positive and abundant mindest  this will help me in mental fitness ,there are a strong connections between art and mental health as well as physical health benefits .Specially when I paint or do sculpture these affects my brain and body leads to benefits like increased my mood ,decreased my anxiety , heightened my cognitive function …As well as the importance of physical fitness I have many options of activities to maintain my health and well -being of my body .like going to gym ,or walking and running outside every day ,eat healthy food, clean my house ,take care of my kids ,sleep well, try relaxing activities... Health and fitness are important to me because creativity stops when I die ,putting my health first will have a positive effect on my art business and in my life

What advice would you give to someone just starting out in their career and hoping to make it big as a Paint Artist? 

Be free ! And put a dream and target to your life. Work hard ! Live your dream your way ,the way you want it to be. Because if you don’t dream big , nothing will damn for sure happen.To be creative you should not copy anything ,give yourself a chance ,to do something new. Find out your choice area and work on it for improvement. Try to know yourself more and more.

To whom would you like to give credit of your journey till now?

I would like to thank my God (Allah). Without him ; I wouldn’t be where I am today . Along with my family especially my mom and my kids, thank them for always loving me and supporting me ! To my doctors in my university, thank you for allowing me feel at home , a place I could build and grow and achieve my dream , thanks for the advice you gave me. I would like to thank the jury in Sfumato gallery for giving me this awards and appreciate and admire my artworks. To all friends , thank you all for your love warming support.

Anything you wish to share or quote in your interview?

N/A.