Akeem Albouy never imagined he would become an artist. Four years ago he went off to school in Britain. It wasn’t long before he realised he was more interested in painting than he was with the coursework.

The 26-year-old hopes to one day make a career out of his art. His acrylics on canvas are on display in the Members’ Winter Show at Bermuda Society of Arts until February 2.

• Why did you start painting?

Art was another way for me to express myself creatively. I was always into music and have been producing for about 15 years now, so when I paint it’s an extension of that.

I’ll have my own music playing in the background and then just start creating. It’s urban music and really modern, so whatever I’m feeling when I listen to that comes out in my art work; if I’m feeling happy or energetic, that gets reflected in my paintings.

• How long have you been doing this?

It’s been a while now, but I never really took the art too seriously because engineering was always my field of study. Art was always something I did on the side.

Then maybe three or four years ago I got back into it while I was studying electrical engineering in Manchester. While I was out there I started looking for something else to do in my spare time to help me with my music production and with seeing the bigger picture on things.

I went to the store and bought a canvas and some paints and got to work. It was fun being able to create things and not have to worry if they sold or not.

• Is this a full-time gig for you?

I’m not a full-time artist, but hopefully I can put myself in a position to become one in the future. When you’re doing something you love it’s easier to do it every day. You don’t have trouble waking up, you can put everything into it.

• What’s your favourite part about creating art?

You never know what you can come up with at the end of it. There are always endless possibilities; once you sit down with it you never know.

It might be a masterpiece or you might want to throw it in the trash and hide it away from everyone. But it’s the possibility that I like. It’s just like with music — you might have that next hit, so you always want to come back.

• What challenges do you have?

Knowing when to stop; when it’s actually finished. With painting I always feel I could do something more to it. Sometimes I just have to take a step back and say, ‘That’s cool, just leave it as it is’. I try to find the beauty in the imperfection of it.

• Which medium do you typically work with and why?

I use acrylic on canvas and that seems to be attracting the most attention. It’s more fluid, so the paints kind of flow into each other and blend instead of smudging. It’s good because you can create some really interesting colours.

I call what I do abstract expressionism. It’s inspired by how I feel. I like to try to create new colours that people haven’t seen before. I use different amounts of colours, some fluorescents, and you try different things and experiment to get new shades. It’s not the traditional way of painting.

• How many of your pieces are being exhibited at BSoA?

I have four pieces at the moment. I did have six, but smudged two of them on the way to the gallery.

I might add one more, but I’m not sure yet. For now it’s just the four.

• Have you learnt any lessons from your art?

It’s taught me not to be afraid of taking risks and doing what I love because you never know who might enjoy what you create.

Some people are afraid of taking those risks out of fear of someone saying it’s not to their liking. But if you’re fearless, and doing what you love, you don’t have to worry about that because more than likely someone will appreciate it for that reason.

I want my art to inspire people to maybe pick up a paintbrush and try something for themselves. There’s an artist inside all of us that’s waiting to be released and people are just holding back out of fear.

Someone might be the next best thing, but they could be too afraid to try.

• For more information, e-mail akeem.albouy@outlook.com