By Syma Sayyah, Tehran

Payvand.com - One of the best things that happened to me toward the end of the year was to come to know a lady painter who just paints for the love of it. I had seen an example of her work in the restaurant at the Artists Forum and asked for her contact details, and last month I went to meet Ms Mahdokht Khanboluki at her house and was impressed with the warmth of her works. I guess this is the thing about art - at times it speaks with you and you can see through its meaning as if it were clear water. This is how I felt when I saw Mahdokht's paintings as well as the peace and quietness in them.

At the age of 7, typhoid led to loss of Mahdokht's hearing. She told me "what you see in my work is the silence that I have lived with since childhood."� From childhood she had been looking inwards. In the early 1970's she went to Germany and had several operations and now she can hear with the help of a hearing aid.

She is lucky to be married to a wonderful man who loves her and has given her a great deal of self confidence. This in itself is unique especially since she lost her father in late 70s. She holds Reiki 3 rank and is an active member of Painting Artists Society of Iran and works voluntarily at PAC (Middle-East Transactional Analysis Association). She has three children; a boy in Canada, her daughter who is married and her younger son who helped to show us his mother's works with pleasure.

When I asked her why she paints, she said "because I think this way I can have many discussions and exchanges with many people without being constrained by language, culture or personal taste."� She went on to say that her life has two phases, before and after she started painting some 15 years ago by going to formal classes. She was a student of Mr Ahmad Vakili who has helped and encouraged her enormously as well. Her interaction has widened hugely since she started to paint: "My viewpoint has changed as my opinion and I feel that every day I have room for growth."�

She said when everybody goes you are left with the spaces and views; this is what we see in her work. The viewer can see and feel the spaces that she brings to her canvasses. Since she remembers a lot of her childhood she paints many of the scenes in her father's home when she was unable to communicate with others well. She said "when I compare myself with other middle aged women who are wrapped up with kitchen and house, I know how happy and content I am with my life and what I do."�

With a supportive husband who treats her like a princess in the way that her father used to, and three kind and caring children, she feels truly at peace and has joy and glee in her life. We loved being in her warm and cozy home and having a chance to see many of her paintings. We have a few samples for you to share and draw your own opinions.