About me

 

Artist bio

Hi, I’m Omar, and I’m a self-taught painter.  I enjoy creating colorful energetic paintings.  

In my early painting years, I aimed to achieve accurate realistic representation in my compositions. I gradually drifted into a looser, and more abstract painting style. Being a Moroccan born American, and having traveled or lived in a few other countries, I feel that my life experience is a weave of American, European, & African cultures. Abstract expressionism allows me to fully express my thoughts and diverse life experiences in a direct way through color, form, and composition without the limitation rigid representation.

My paintings are my truth, inspired by everyday life, dance, people, color, nature, music, and places. My work is about the process rather than a specific end in mind. I start with minimal guidelines in mind, such as color palette and composition. I then let the process take over, working in layers and allowing each layer to tell me what I should add or change next. My search is for a vibrant, colorful compositions that adds positive vibrations and beauty to any space.

I’m regularly producing new paintings to add to my body of work, and I also work on small and large custom paintings and commissions with private and commercial clients to create unique abstracts for home and office space.

 

My Journey

 I started my creative journey in my birthplace of Morocco before I could remember. My earliest recollection of an artistic inclination was on my 4th birthday. At my birthday party I remember getting Color pencils, sketching books, drawing pads, drawing books, pencils, markers …etc.  I was so excited, that as soon as I finished opening my gifts, I started drawing using my new art supplies.  At one point I realized that my drawings were getting a lot of attention and made people happy and excited. I received many encouraging words that day. I associated creating art with creating an uplifting emotion. I felt proud. It was clear to me that drawing was a big part of who I was. I kept drawing and sketching regularly from that day on.  

While in school, I was advised by my parents, that an education in engineering or business was a safer route to make a secure living than creating art.  So, after graduating high school I moved to America to pursue a BS in Computer Engineering. After earning my degree, I started a corporate career as IT manager for a multi-state wholesale distribution company, and remained with the company for 3 years. I left my corporate job to pursue a career as decorative artist specializing custom art commissions.

 The idea of leaving my corporate job for a career as decorative artist came to me when my wife was pregnant with our first child. We wanted the sex of the baby to be a surprise, for that reason we had a tough time deciding on a wall color for the nursery.  So, after some discussion, I offered to paint a fun panoramic mural on all walls. My wife liked the idea, and I started working on the nursery mural project.  Having no experience with acrylic paints or big surfaces, it was a challenging task, but a very enjoyable experience.    It took me about 3 weeks to complete the mural and the result was a huge hit with visitors.  I was very happy with the finished work, but the knowledge and discovery from the experience gave me the confidence that my next mural would be better. All I could think about for the following weeks and months is how wonderful it would be if I did that kind of work for a living. So, I started researching and learning everything I could about the art and business of decorative painting, and started preparing for the transition. A few month later I started my decorative painting business. I continued to read, practice, go to workshops, bootcamps, events, and train with some of the most respected masters in the field.  My experience as a decorative painter allowed me to hone many techniques and skills to create large realistic landscapes murals, as well as textures, and painted imitations of elements such as wood, marble, stone, rusted metal, etc.

During my career as decorative & mural painter I was commissioned countless times to paint landscapes, jungles scenes, wild & domestic animals, winery scenes, portraits, children’s themes, and any other subject requested by the client.

I eventually started expressing my own personal artistic thoughts on canvas by creating a body of artworks. As the time went by and my art collection grew, and I made my paintings available to my existing clients, and designers, at first, and later to the general public.

I’m very grateful that I’m able to live a life in which I able to create from love and share my creations with others.

 

Best Regards,

Omar Boujlil