For some collecting art is about making an investment,

For others it’s about the need to fill an empty spot on their walls

But the art you’re drawn to is more than that

It’s about surrounding yourself with beauty and spirituality to find solace in the face of challenges and overwhelm.

It’s about embracing your inner-journey of transformation.  

I’m Merna Liddawi, an award-wining artist, mentor and creative.

I bring nature’s Divine Beauty into your home by using ancient forgotten techniques,genuine gold and carefully curated hand-made materials to create sensational art.

I want to shine inner peace, beauty and light into your life

‘Beauty will save’ Andrei Tarkovsky

I believe…

I believe art can inspire us to transform and heal and bring inner peace and solace to your life.  We need more art and beauty now than ever before as we are distracted overwhelmed in a digital age and have lost touch with ourselves, with nature and with the Creator. I want to bring spirituality and beauty into your life through my unique paintings.

For me, the process of painting is a time of stillness, a moment of prayer, a moment of connection with my true self and with the Divine God. I call these moments, ‘Selah’ Moments. 

My mission is that you experience ‘Selah’ moments in your life too.

How? I create what I call a ‘Selah’ Space with my paintings: a space for meditation and prayer through nature’s pure elements ….. pigments, gold, glue, chalk, egg, clay and the meditative process.

It’s a space where the painting acts as a ‘window’ to experience inner peace and wholeness in a noisy world.

From the Cradle of the Middle East

I was born in Jordan to an Orthodox Christian family. Every week I absorbed the vibrant colours of the sacred images, listened to chanting music, smelled the incense and feasted my eyes on the shimmering gold and beauty of the icons. As a child, I also enjoyed visiting the ancient Roman ruins, old buildings that had become abstracted from their original purpose, leaving a trace.

Yet becoming an artist wasn’t something that was part of my cultural upbringing. My path to painting was not a linear one. I gained a Science degree, moved to England, studied theology, married, became a Maths teacher, and a mother. And then my journey continued till I became a professional painter. I consider it a divine calling.

Coming from the Middle East, neither landscapes nor figurative paintings were part of my art culture. My work instead explores ancient marks, the microscopic, the universe, repetition and the rhythm of nature, influences from the relics of my childhood, calligraphy of my language, science, math and spirituality.

 I developed my techniques over many years of intensive training and practice. Inspired by the sacred icon of my youth, I gravitated to using gold, earth pigments and geometry as symbols of light and spirituality.

Every part of the painting is made by hand with much love and care: from making the gesso to gilding, to the paints themselves just as the old masters did. It requires so much time and patience. It reconnects me with the sacred art of making things by hand again just as our ancestors once did.

My art is a spiritual journey to discover the mysteries of beauty in creation.

Through the process of painting, I slow down and the work becomes a series of  ‘Selah’ moments, moments of prayer.