Hi everyone,

I went to the Lake District a few years back and came upon a gorgeous market town surrounded by majestic mountains and breathtaking scenery. It was a warm day, the sun was shining and I could feel every muscle in my body relax as we had a little wonder through Hope Park. I saw a beautiful scene that was framed by an archway. Of course I took a photo of this incredible view because I knew one day I would paint this image. Well it has taken me a good few months to complete this, but I have succeeded.
 
So here you go folks, I hope you get a chance to visit this attractive town and sample some of its award winning food and browse through shops offering all kinds of handcrafted gifts. There is something for everyone, I thoroughly recommend it.
 
Much love
Samira 😊 

 Hi everyone,
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As you can see, I'm trying out new ways in advertising myself. Leave a review and comments on what you think.

Thanks :)

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Last year was difficult for everyone. I wrote a blog talking about what I had experienced in 2020. Well what did I learn from last year? I recognised the fragility of humankind and also its strength, what was important to me and how if we stick together we can accomplish anything. I hope this year we can start our lives from a different perspective, learning from our past and amending our future as a result.

I pray that we come together as one, without judgement, after all we are all we have and if we cannot live together and respect each other’s right to sovereignty over our own lives, allow individuals to have an opinion that we may not agree with then how are we going to move forward as one? Surely an evolved human race would be a patient, calm, understanding and accommodating one, a society that loves and supports one another so that we can be the best version of ourselves.

I wish for the best for all of you, I choose abundance in freedom, love, health, success and happiness for everyone. Look after yourselves and one another.
 
Much love
Samira 😊

‘I love experimenting with colour’
Posted by apc1606


Samira Butt

Rotherham Open Arts Renaissance (ROAR) chief executive SHARON GILL talks to artist Samira Butt
THERE has been a great deal of attention in recent years around everyday creativity, all those actions we may do naturally that we do not think of as being expressive. The Arts Council’s new 10 year strategy, Let’s Create, highlights this even further by embedding the idea into their three outcomes: Creative People, Cultural Communities and A Creative and Cultural Country.
Samira Butt is potentially the embodiment of that ethos, as a self-taught artist with no formal training beyond O-Level but with ambitions for a creative career.
I wanted to talk to Samira because she had just launched a new website – https://www.arimasarts.com/ – which is something many trained and mid-career artists do not do for themselves, partially because you need to generate an artist statement which is a challenging thing to do, to write about yourself.
We begin with the decision to move their family to Rotherham in 2004, from nearby Tinsley. Samira and her husband have three sons who at one time were in different schools, and due to catchment areas and a reorganisation of the school system, the school run became a trial, so moving to Rotherham helped to minimise the travelling time.
This also meant one of their sons could take the performing arts opportunities offered through Open Minds Theatre Company, which at that time was a thriving organisation. As supportive parents, this led to getting involved in the delivery of the Diversity Festival. In fact when I started at ROAR and began the journey with the Diversity Festival, both Samira’s husband and son were on the management committee...

To read the full article, please click on the link below.

‘I love experimenting with colour’


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 ThI painted this about a year ago when I was practising figure drawing. At that time my sister in-law was opening up her own business selling organic produce and offering holistic therapies. She inspired me to think about how I could show the beauty of living off the land and eating food fresh from the ground.

I really admire native African people who live harmoniously with their environment, being able to thrive in areas we would consider inhospitable. Their knowledge of the land and how they can use the local flora and fauna to survive in any situation is awe inspiring. I love how they are in tune with the seasons and the bounty that they bring. It makes me wonder how little I know of the land I live in and would I be able to thrive as comfortably as they do in their environment without supermarkets and NHS? Are we really evolved as we think we are? We rely heavily on others to maintain our lifestyle, which can be worrying when you think about it. In the olden days people knew how to heal themselves using local plants. They knew how to hunt and forage for food to survive. We do not have a clue about any of those things. I believe this knowledge is important and have decided to take a course in foraging. Anyway, just something to think about.

Here is the painting depicting a beautiful African woman taking home an abundance of food fresh from the field for her family. This woman is not only beautiful on the outside, but also within. Her spirit is strong, resilient. There are not limits to her kindness and grace. Courage and honour is her natural state. She is mara mma, beautiful. ‘Mara mma’ means beautiful in the Igbo language of Africa.

Take care
Samira :)