How far would you go to master your art?

If you’re Melanie Francis, then you’d be willing to travel to the other side of the globe to hone your talent.

For three months she studied under a miniaturist master in India.

The result of that trip can be seen in her latest exhibit ‘Elements of Paradise’ showing now at Bermuda Society of Arts.

The show will feature 41 pieces all inspired by different interpretations of paradise. Ms Francis studied religious texts like the Bible and Koran, as well as traditional literature and poems before embarking on the project.

“I found there were certain principles a paradise had to have like land and water,” she explained. “All the descriptions of paradise are set in a garden. They usually have wine, milk or honey and the lushness of fruit, so this collection is based on those interpretations of what paradise is like on earth.”

She decided to show the collection here, considering Bermuda is often compared to a paradise. She hopes overall the works will remind people of the “beauty and joys of living on this planet”.

Ms Francis actually grew up in Mumbai, India. Her father was an engineer and started one of the first companies in the South Asian country with a business partner.

She remembers her mom was always fascinated by the area’s beautiful gemstones and as a child Ms Francis would accompany her to the bazaars to shop.

This interesting upbringing is what led her to become a gemmologist. It also piqued her interest in art later on.

She said: “India was really colourful and exotic in the eyes of a little child and a lot of the paint was opaque to make the colours really strong.

“I started painting in that style, but it wasn’t my career choice to become an artist.

“By trade I’m a gemmologist and worked in parts of the Middle East, like Kuwait, Bahrain and Iran.

“But once I got married in Bermuda in 1978 and started to live here I got carried away with the water colour and the vibrancy of it all, and that’s when I fell in love with art.”

More than anything else, she said she enjoyed the emotive quality of the landscape around the Island.

“I found inspiration in the vastness of the sea and the colours of the sky as you drive along the shore,” she said. “I started painting and showing my art work here and had my first solo show in 1989.”

A few years ago she moved to London, where she learned how to do gold leafing at The Prince’s School of Traditional Art.

Her latest works feature 24 Carat gold leafing, shell gold and pigment paints, as well as small gemstones and pearls.

Ms Francis said working with the precious materials came with its own set of challenges.

“I love working in gold,” she said. “It fascinates me because it is quite hard to use. “

She explained that to apply gold leaf she has to put down a binding agent, like glue.

“In India that was a garlic paste and you have to wait until it gets tacky before you apply the leafing. You can also only do it early in the mornings I found, because when there is moisture in the air it doesn’t work very well.”

While in India she spent hours each day creating small, discrete works of art.

“The classes took place in a traditional Indian studio where you sit on the floor and the miniaturist is the boss, what he says goes,” she said.

“I really liked the discipline to it because when you are working that way there’s an aesthetic where you are aiming to discover your higher self.

“But it was also really hard. There are times when you want to do your own thing because your entire culture [in the West] is about doing it your way, but it’s not about that in India.

“They believe the deeper you go into obeying the miniaturist master the more there is to learn.

“So we would sit in the absolute silence of the room, where there’s no noise other than the sound of the Indian radio, and you just paint for hours and hours.

“After eight to ten hours your eyes feel like they are falling out of your head and you want to go home, but the master looks at you surprised that you’re done for the day.”

When going “full steam ahead” she would typically produce two pieces in a week — after working six or seven days straight.

She learned to practice her design on eggs, which are cheaper than paper in India.

Ms Francis will be giving away some of her delicate egg creations to anyone who purchases a painting.

Elements of Paradise runs until December 9.