My Paintings

 

I have been interested in Art all my life. My mother Shireen Gheba Najib is a well-known artist. She has held 13 solo exhibitions so far in her life and participated in hundreds of group shows all over the country.

 

When I was only in grade 4, I started loving miniature art. I used to look at books with Mughal miniature art and try to copy it. During this time I made many but gifted them away. In 7th grade, I made another miniature art masterpiece for a school competition called ‘A Marriage Ceremony’ in which I made a bride with her friends ready for her Mehendi. Unfortunately, I had no picture of it and the school never returned it.

When I was in grade 8th, I had an amazing art teacher Ma’am Leyla as well who inspired me a lot. During that grade, I made most of the paintings of my life. Unfortunately, most of my artwork got damaged/lost during our house moves.

 

I still remember in class once, she put on calm music and asked us all to close our eyes and let our hands paint whatever we feel. During that grade, I painted not only on canvas using paints but also used different mediums like glass, aluminum foil, Styrofoam on my work of art.

 

Decisions – An oil painting I made in grade 8 about how our important decisions affect our whole lives and hereafter.

 

After grade 8, I moved to many more schools and almost lost interest in art. I always had so many hobbies at one time so Painting got sidelined for the longest time. Years later in London, when I moved to an apartment, the blank white walls started getting on my nerves. I went and bought some paintings from a boot sale. However, those paintings were made by strangers and I couldn’t relate to the content. I then told myself that I can start painting again. That’s when I made two paintings using Acrylic paints.

I made this when I lived in London in 2011

 

 

This truck art painting was also made in Islamabad in 2016

 

When I made these paintings, I got an amazing response from my mom, sisters, grandparents, colleagues and fiancé. That’s when I was motivated to make some more. Soon thereafter, I got the news that my fiancé would be getting a job in Lahore. I then got excited to make some more pieces of art to decorate our first new room together as a couple. So I made the following pieces:

 

 

 

A random blue and white painting from 2016

 

 

Faisal Mosque, Islamabad

 

During our honeymoon in Sri Lanka, I saw the cutest hand painted masks and elephants that stole my heart. They were so exuberant that I was cheerful only by looking at them. We went to the wood carving factory where we saw workers painting the masks and tiny elephants with vibrant colours. That’s when I decided to make at least one painting on Sri Lankan art.

 

 

‘Dekh magar pyar se’ made in 2016