Painting a life in flux

I was born and raised in Tehran/Iran.  In 1999, I met my husband to be, M. R. Nikou, in San Francisco/California and moved to Hawaii to join him.  

Now, we are a family of three living in the Kailua Town of Oahu. 

My formal and academic education include Persian-English translation, visual arts history and studio with a concentration on PAINTING.

I am a woman, a mother, a friend, an artist, a painter and many things more.

My childhood years were filled with family love and friendship.  Above all, my father was my source of strength and vitality. 

I am the youngest of six siblings.  After I finished my high school education, I earned my degree in English-Farsi Translation.

Years later in 1998 I immigrated to the US, and in 1999, I married my husband, Marty Nikou.  And, with him, I finally moved to a little island called Oahu, located in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean. 

In Hawaii, I started my formal art education at Windward Community College mainly with Toni Martin and Snowden Hodges.

Then I transferred to University of Hawaii at Manoa and worked with Don Dougal and Yida Wang . 

Snowden helped me to build a handsome body of realistic drawings and paintings and later Toni, Don and Yida opened my eyes to the heavenly art of abstract and impressionist paintings.

While I have displayed interest and talent in a variety of art mediums, I have consistently find myself brushing paint and colors on canvas.

I draw inspirations primarily from Mother Nature.  My memories from our family's estate in Rayhan and the natural beauty of the Iranian countryside  are also, without a doubt, in the back of my mind every time I begin a new project.  

Additionally, the Hawaiian islands' natural beauties posed against a backdrop of the infinite blue shades of the Pacific impact my gestural and spontaneous application of colors and textures.

And finally, my taste for Qajar Dynasty (18th Century) Persian miniature paintings, French impressionism, and Chinese Song Dynasty (10th Century) landscape paintings have influenced my imagery, palette and application of paint.