Certain individuals are theoretical and systematic in their thoughts, while some tend to be more artistic and creative. Jazeela Sherif is someone who has both sides, she is an engineer who holds an MBA, a PhD, an MSc in financial engineering, and also a trained singer and a brilliant artist specialising in the watercolour medium.
She chose to fully immerse herself in the world of colours after quitting a high-flying corporate job as CFO of a private company. “Painting has been my passion,” says Jazeela, who recently held a solo exhibition at Durbar Hall in her hometown Kochi.
“After years of hectic corporate life, I decided to take the plunge. My goal has been to infuse ‘real life’ into my works. The response at the show was overwhelming; many people and artists visited and gave positive feedback. Many of my artworks were sold.”
Jazeela adds that the biggest joy was people commenting that her paintings “have a life”. “My heart becomes full when they say the works touch their souls. That is all that I want; that is what I intended with my paintings.” The self-taught artist reveals that she learnt different methods and techniques through video lessons and studying paintings by maestros on the internet. As a person who travels a lot, Jazeela loves capturing cityscapes around the world.
She uses streaks of natural light, shadows, and the play in between. Besides the extensive collection of watercolour paintings, she also dabbles in acrylic abstracts and soft pastels. Her latest collection, The Brighter Side, brims with vibrant hues in watercolour and, as the name suggests, lots of positivity.
“Nature is always bright, and that gives us hope,” says Jazeela. “Every object finds its meaning when light falls on it. In this world of chaos, if we dedicate a tiny fraction of our daily lives to nature, it can create life-changing moments. Nature brings us love and hope. I always tried to portray the ‘light’ in life through my paintings.”
According to her, creating an “atmospheric mood” is paramount when it comes to paintings. “Without the mood, the art will look bland. I used to put in a lot of effort to learn about the paintings. I used to read a lot of art books and observe over 100 paintings every day. This routine helped me immensely to get a better understanding of the process.” Buoyed by the success of her solo show, Jazeela is currently planning to recreate epic scenes and characters from Malayalam classic novels. “The process would be different and difficult. First, I need to read the books thoroughly. Only then can I start any work to get the finer details,” she adds.
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