This self-taught Omani artist is taking the internet by storm

Muscat: Waad Al Harthy, a self-taught Omani artist is taking the internet by storm for her time-lapsed painting videos.

Unlike the norm, the 20-year-old Waad uses her hands, soft colours and acrylic paint to produce her artwork.

Speaking to Times of Oman regarding the impact art has had in her life, Al Harthy said: “ I feel freer using my hands than being restricted to a paintbrush or pencil because I feel a direct bond with my pigment and paper.

“I only recently started using my hands as a means to draw. The soft pastel medium requires you to use your fingers in order to blend the pigment it produces. My art is an expression of my feelings and imagination, every detail I make, every colour I use has a significant meaning to my work.”

Al Harthy said she drew inspiration from her mother who also draws from time to time.

“The first person to tell me I had talent was my mother,” she said.

Al Harthy is currently studying marketing at university in Melbourne, Australia, and from a young age, she said that she always knew that she art was her passion.

“My love for art came from a young age and it grew with me until this day. The reason I decided to pursue it further, was because people enjoyed watching me produce my art and how it comes to be,” she said.

In order to develop her skills, Al Harthy began teaching herself all the basics through reading books and watching tutorials online.

“I started learning around March 2018, I am still learning till this very day, constantly trying to improve myself, and what motivates me to work hard are my viewers and their feedback,” Al Harthy said.

Last year, Al Harthy began posting time-lapsed videos of her paintings online and sharing them with the rest of the world.

“I started presenting my work on social media in March 2018 and have been gaining followers ever since. Majority of my art has been inspired by artists like David Ambarzumjan and Feliks K because of their use of colour and how they portray their imagination on to a piece of canvas or paper,” Al Harthy added.

Since the beginning of her journey, Al Harthy was blessed to have the support of her family and friends every step of the way.

“All the reactions I have received from family members have been positive, to the extent that they proudly share my work with others. I owe it to them for the amount of online exposure I have received.

“When I was a child, my Aunt Nadia — My father's sister — was one of my role models because she would show me a few of her beautiful pieces.”

Once she graduates, Al Harthy hopes to merge her love for art with her marketing skills, “I wish to further develop my artistic skills in order to integrate it with my career as a marketer. I did so by, taking graphic design courses in university to be able to get a glimpse of how are could be used in the digital world as that is where the future is headed.

“However, I do wish to still pursue my art as a hobby and hopefully become successful in the coming years. My aim is to show people that imagination will often take us to worlds that never existed and without it we lose colour in our life,” Al Harthy added.