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with colors and shapes. "I work on my painting or whatever I use, till it is achieving my purpose of what I am saying," she said. It is important to have the artist's emotions balanced with colors, textures, and lines.

A technique used in abstract art is contour drawing, which is a type of drawing contouring the image. Mahfouz explains, "Let us say you are drawing a human body. You draw the lines of the human body without details."

Art pieces produced Mahfouz are created with a message. She is motivated by a cause such as peace, charities, shelters for humanity, and emotions. "My artistic emotions are a reaction towards one of those causes," Mahfouz said. She also listens to classical music while she is creating art because it "energizes" her mood while she paints.

Mahfouz is quick to give credit to some of her college professors for their encouragement in creating abstract art. She was influenced by professors Robert Piepenburg, Suzan Stephenson and Barry Avedan. She feels fortunate to have study under them. "I owe these wonderful professors the credit. They always encouraged me. They guided my art."

For people who want to study abstract or other types of art, Mahfouz says there are many ways to do that. Some examples she gave were: read about lives of the artists, take art classes, visit museums and reflect art pieces that are viewed, and practice painting and other types of art. "Keep working, and try to exhibit your work. Always be optimistic because hard work does pay off," Mahfouz said.

For more information about Mahfouz and her art, here are two websites: www.artistilhambadreddinemahfo uz.com and www.ilhamart.com.

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