woman with guitar

I was Born 1981 in Mardin, East of Turkey in a small village, l was brought up on a farm. l attended first school for 5 years in the village. Life in the village was difficult, poverty was rife but I particularly remember the strength of peoples characters the humour and the community spirit that carried people.

ln 1995 l went to west of turkey to work. l started work in a restaurant untill 2002 when i had to serve my national service in the turkish army. Following my 18 months in the army l returned to the west to continue work in the restaurant business. l worked very hard over the following years to support my family who were still in the East.

Although I worked hard and I thought the Restaurant business was going to be my life I never felt fullfilled. I was proud that I was helping my family but deepdown I was never happy, there was something missing. All my life I had an interest in art, although I had never had an education there was something inside me that drawn me to paintings. There was such feeling in some paintings that I could look at one for hours. I always had something in my head and in my heart to paint but I had never had the chance to try but I was convinced I could do it.

In September 08 I began painting, this is the first time I had picked up a brush. I painted a landscape, I was addicted. Since then my life has changed completely. I have moved to England with my girlfriend, I am learning everyday more about art. I will never be a textbook artist and I still have a lot to learn. I have recently started life drawing classes and this has given me the inspiration for my most recent work. My work must give emotion not only to me but to the viewers. I feel that the experience of my earlier years of village life although is a fading memory it the darkness and sometimes even lonliness that I feel I reproduce on the canvas. There is never a shortage of ideas for paintings in my mind and what I start to create on the canvas is always a million miles away from the final picture.

I am a dreamer.