This Artist Paints What Most Women Feel but Rarely Say Out Loud I Haifa Melliti

Every creative journey begins quietly, sometimes with a single colour, a small moment of joy, or a gentle spark that lights the path back to oneself. At Arts to Hearts Project, we honour the artists who follow that spark, especially when it leads them toward a life shaped by intuition, healing, and the sacred act of creation.

For Haifa Melliti, that moment was not a dramatic revelation, but a feeling an inner awakening. Painting became the place where she felt most alive, where her heart, her hands, and her spirit finally spoke the same language. What began as a simple, intuitive joy grew into a sanctuary: a space of clarity, softness, and expansion. Through colour, symbol, and emotion, she discovered a calling that connected her to her light, her heritage, and the deep feminine energy that breathes through every brushstroke.

Haifa’s artistic world is built on transformation quiet yet powerful. Her journey moved through motherhood, healing work, intuition, and the natural rhythms of her own growth. It was in guiding her daughter creatively, and in listening to the whispers of her spirit, that her artistic identity blossomed. Her paintings began carrying stories: of womanhood, resilience, celebration, and the divine presence of feminine intuition.

Today, her work radiates with Mediterranean warmth, sacred symbols, musical influence, and emotional depth. Birds, moons, flowers, talismans, musical notes they aren’t decorations, but living energies that appear intuitively, each symbol a messenger. Her canvases honour the women who came before her, the women who walk beside her, and the women she hopes to uplift through the healing power of art.

Haifa paints in harmony with music often the piano allowing sound and colour to merge until her brushstroke becomes rhythm, breath, and movement. She paints not only what she feels, but what she wishes to offer: alignment, protection, softness, and a return to inner peace.

Let us now enter Haifa’s world and discover how her colours, her symbols, and her intuition weave together to create art that uplifts, protects, and radiates with the quiet power of feminine light.

1. Could you share a bit about your background and what was happening in your life or heart when you realized painting wasn’t just a hobby anymore, but an essential part of who you are?

For me, the shift happened the day I realized that painting was the place where I felt the most alive. What started as a simple moment of joy and intuition quickly became a space of clarity, freedom, and inner peace. There was a moment when I understood that art wasn’t just something I loved it was something that lifted me, something that connected me to my light, to my heritage, and to the feminine energy I celebrate in all my work. Painting became essential the day it brought me a feeling of alignment, as if my heart, my hands, and my spirit were finally speaking the same language. I felt an immense sense of purpose, a positive flow, a calling to express beauty, strength, and the sacred through colors and symbols. Since that moment, creating art has been my way of shining, of sharing joy, and of honoring the women who inspire me. It is not a weight it is a blessing. Not a necessity but a natural expansion of who I am. Art became essential the day it made me feel more connected, more vibrant, and more myself.

2. What does “womanhood” evoke for your creativity, strength, vulnerability, identity, transformation and how do you aim to capture that in your paintings?  

For me, womanhood is a radiant source of inspiration a beautiful balance of strength, intuition, softness, and inner transformation. It evokes a powerful energy that is both grounded and luminous, an endless well of creativity that flows naturally into my art. Womanhood represents the ability to evolve, to rise, to feel deeply, and to shine from within. It is the courage to be sensitive, the grace to be strong, and the joy of carrying beauty in our gestures, our voices, our memories. In my paintings, I capture this essence by creating women who are not just figures, but presences symbols of wisdom, peace, rebirth, and divine femininity. Their eyes, their posture, their colors reflect the journey of every woman: her resilience, her tenderness, her inner fire. I use bright Mediterranean colors, sacred symbols, birds, moons, flowers, and musical elements to express the softness and power of feminine identity. Each painting holds a sense of transformation a reminder that womanhood is a continuous blooming. Through my art, I want to honor the light of women, their intuition, their healing energy, and the sacred beauty they carry. Womanhood, for me, is a celebration and I translate that celebration into every face, every color, and every symbol on my canvas.

3. You paint while listening to or playing music often piano letting colours and notes dance together. What happens inside you in those moments when sound and paint merge? How does music alter your brushstroke or your choice of symbols?  

When music and painting meet, something very natural and joyful happens inside me. It feels like my inner world opens, and the colours begin to move with the rhythm of the notes. The piano brings me into a soft, intuitive flow where everything becomes clearer, lighter, and more connected. Music changes my brushstroke completely it gives it a direction, a heartbeat, a vibration. Slow melodies make my gestures gentle and fluid, while brighter notes bring more energy and light into the colours. It’s as if the sound chooses the colour before I do. Many of the symbols I paint moons, birds, flowers, protective signs appear during these musical moments. The piano helps me listen to my intuition, and the symbols come naturally, almost like they are whispered into the canvas. When sound and paint merge, I feel aligned, inspired, and deeply present. It is a moment where my art breathes, my spirit expands, and my creativity becomes effortless. Music doesn’t just influence my painting it guides it, elevates it, and turns each canvas into a small vibration of light

4. Many of your pieces incorporate symbols: moons, birds, musical notes, protective talismans, etc. How do you choose which symbols to use are they personal, cultural, intuitive, or universal?   

The symbols in my paintings come to me in a very natural, intuitive way. I don’t choose them with my mind — they appear as part of the energy of the moment. Each symbol carries its own vibration, and I simply listen to what the painting needs. Some of them are personal, connected to my own memories, emotions, and spiritual journey. Others are cultural, inspired by my Tunisian roots the protective hand, the moon, the eye, the colours of the Mediterranean. And many are universal, shared by women all over the world: birds for freedom, flowers for softness, flames for inner fire, musical notes for harmony. In truth, my symbols are a blend of all three: personal, cultural, and universal but always intuitive. When I start painting, I enter a soft, listening state. The piano helps me reach that space. Then the symbols appear like small messages: a moon when I feel calm, a bird when I feel open, a flower when tenderness rises, or a protective sign when the painting asks for grounding. I don’t force them. I let them come. They arrive like whispers, guiding the story of the painting. My goal is that each symbol speaks directly to the heart, regardless of the viewer’s background — because light, femininity, protection and beauty are universal languages.

5. Do you hope your paintings offer healing to viewers, to women, to collective memory? If yes: how do you sense when a painting becomes more than image when it becomes a vessel for healing or transformation?  

Yes, I truly hope my paintings offer a sense of healing to women, to anyone who looks at them, and to the collective memory we all carry. For me, healing is simply a return to light, softness, and presence. If my art can bring even a moment of peace or warmth to someone’s heart, that already feels like a blessing. I sense that a painting becomes more than an image when something inside me shifts while I’m creating it. There is a moment when the colours, the symbols, and the energy align, and the canvas starts to feel “alive.” It’s subtle like a breath, a warmth, a quiet clarity. The painting stops being a composition and becomes a vessel: a place of calm, a reminder of inner strength, a small portal for someone to reconnect with themselves. I know it’s complete when it radiates a feeling rather than just a form. When I look at it and feel softness, elevation, or harmony I understand that the painting carries something beyond me. My intention is not to teach or to guide, but simply to offer light, through colour, through symbols, through presence. If someone receives that light, even for a second, then the painting has already done its work.

6. You wear many hats: painter, naturopath, entrepreneur, healer. How do you negotiate and integrate these different facets of your identity in daily life and in your art?   

For me, these different roles are not separate they are deeply connected. They all come from the same source: my desire to create beauty, to support women, and to bring harmony into the world. Painting expresses this through colour and symbols. Naturopathy expresses it through care and natural balance. Entrepreneurship expresses it through the spaces I create for women. Healing expresses it through energy, intuition, and presence. I don’t negotiate between these identities; I let them flow into each other. What I learn through naturopathy nourishes my art. What I feel while painting inspires the way I accompany women. What I build as an entrepreneur gives structure to my creativity. Everything is connected; everything circulates. In my art, these facets merge naturally: the colours carry softness, the symbols carry protection, the figures carry intuition, the melodies carry peace. My paintings, my institutes, my piano — they all reflect the same inner intention. My life feels harmonious when I honour all these parts of myself. They don’t compete; they complement each other. Together, they allow me to express the full spectrum of who I am a woman who creates, who cares, who builds, and who brings light.

7. What is the dream you still carry for your art, your audience, your legacy what you hope to bring into the world through your paintings, your healing, your voice?

The dream I carry for my art is very simple and very pure: I want to bring more light into the world. Through my paintings, my symbols, my colours, my healing work, and even my voice, I hope to create spaces where people feel uplifted, understood, and reconnected with their inner beauty. My greatest wish is that my art continues to touch hearts gently — not through drama, but through softness, intuition, and radiance. I dream of an audience that feels supported, inspired, and empowered when they encounter my work. If someone looks at one of my paintings and feels calmer, stronger, or more aligned with themselves, then my purpose is fulfilled. As for my legacy, I hope to leave behind an artistic universe that celebrates the sacred feminine, honours ancestral wisdom, and reminds people that beauty and healing can be found within themselves. I want my daughter, and all future generations, to see in my art a message of courage, intuition, tenderness, and spiritual freedom. My dream is not fame; my dream is resonance. That my colours continue to vibrate long after me. That my symbols continue to protect and inspire. And that my art remains a small light a reminder that transformation, peace, and magic are always possible.

8. What advice would you give to young artists especially women who want to work deeply with memory, femininity, emotion and hope, but fear exposure or vulnerability? 

My advice to young artists especially women is to trust the quiet strength that already lives inside them. Working with memory, femininity, emotion, and hope is powerful, and yes, it can feel vulnerable. But vulnerability is not a weakness in art it is a doorway. It is the place where truth and beauty begin. I would tell them: Create from your inner light, not from fear. Your story, your emotions, your softness, your symbols they are gifts. The world needs them. You don’t have to expose everything at once. Start gently. Share one painting, one colour, one feeling at a time. Let your confidence grow naturally. Artistic vulnerability becomes easier when you realize that your sensitivity is your strength. Memory, femininity, intuition these are sacred sources of inspiration. Honour them. Protect them. But don’t hide them. The more you create from your true self, the more your art will resonate. And remember: You are not alone. Women have always carried wisdom, emotion, and transformation. When you paint, you walk with all the women before you their courage flows through your hands.

As our conversation with Haifa comes to a close, her work stands as a testament to the transformative force of creativity guided by intuition, softness, and spiritual clarity. Her paintings are more than images; they are vessels of healing, offerings of light, and celebrations of the sacred feminine. Each symbol, each colour, each gesture carries her intention to uplift, protect, and reconnect.

Haifa reminds us that art is a bridge between memory and imagination, between heritage and modernity, between the inner world and the outer one. Her journey weaves together painter, healer, entrepreneur, and woman with seamless grace, proving that creativity becomes most powerful when it reflects the fullness of who we are.

Her dream for her art is simple yet profound: to leave behind light, resonance, and the courage to feel deeply. And in every piece she creates, that dream already breathes.

Follow Haifa to witness how her colours continue to bloom, how her symbols continue to guide, and how her artistic voice expands into a universe that is tender, radiant, and unmistakably her own.