Artist Rowaida Hakim shows her paintings with diamonds

Jamil Khan, Senior Reporter

Rowaida Hakim, a contemporary artist based in Dubai, has adopted a new technique and became the first artist to use a total 307 small diamonds (3.9 carats) in her new series of paintings to tell the world that nothing is impossible but what matters most is practice in the right direction.

Pyramid of Gems

“I love diamonds and it gives power as these precious stones reflect energy around us. Everyone knows that a diamond is one of the hardest stones on earth and also has energy,” she said while talking to  Gulf Today on the opening of the 4-day exhibition ‘New Spirit’ in Dubai.

Love Situation

“For the New Spirit series, I spent a lot of time to create my own new technique which has never been used by any artist in the world, as far as my knowledge goes. I practise my method many times to see the result of using a diamond on canvas along with paint. In my paintings I am also using a 24-carat gold leaf to convert my feelings on the canvas,” she said and added that “there were some artists who used diamonds or semi-precious stones in their artworks with some help but I am the first one to adopt a new technique to use small diamonds.”

Keys of Success

One of her artworks is called “Pyramid of Gems” which she completed in over 100 hours. “The pyramid is known for its richness  and is also used as a storage. It has a shape of a pyramid rich with multiple colours which reflects multiple gemstones such as emerald, rubby, amethyst, citroen, sapphire and many others as it is also incorporated with more than 300 stones of diamonds all over the painting,” she said.

The latest artworks will be displayed in her private gallery in Dubai and once the arrangements are done these artworks will go directly to auction houses. “These artworks are my unique work and these are the first in the world that use diamonds along with acrylic colours. I am a very selective person and my paintings reflect ‘a message.’  I will only keep these in my gallery and invite people to view,” she said.