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I started at a very young age; I was about 5 when I started using my mothers’
cuts of material. I used to glue things together and make all sorts of patterns.
I remember they used to be so beautiful. From there, I started cutting up my
poor mother’s lace curtains - I really drove my mother crazy, but just couldn’t
help myself! It was only when people pointed out to my mother that Shaida has a
true creative talent, that she can’t help herself, and then my mother started
buying me little felt fabrics, and gave me her spare materials she no longer
needed, and I was able to continue with my passion for art.
I was always happy being creative - I isolated myself many times and still do,
just to have some peace while my head was in a creative frenzy. It’s as if this
is how I was supposed to be, some have art as a hobby, for me this is not a
hobby, but something deep in my soul, waiting to be discovered and to be used
for a good purpose towards life.
So my paintings go far far back say 30 years of my life, being brought up in
England since the age of two. Then I used to get told about all the culture of
Pakistan where I was originally born and I took a lot of interest - as this was
the country where my mother gave birth to me.
I continue to be fascinated by my eastern background and this is mostly the
starting point to my paintings. I will sit for ages, remembering what my family
say about Pakistan and I look around where I am now in England and I get ideas
through my thoughts and feelings, and through what I have experienced.
My eastern style paintings come from my background, with a twist of west in them
- most times I don’t apply just one kind of paint as I have far too many ideas
and thoughts in my head at any one time just to paint a landscape. I have to use
different types of acrylic paints, as I love the thickness and texture you can
create with them. I love to use different types of media - that to me is
adventurous and daring, expressing myself. This allows me to put my feelings and
expressions into my art – sometimes, I apply some kind of sequins or beads, to
“glam” my paintings up, and that brings back all my past memories, to show the
full beauty of art. I get a buzz out of the unknown and I get such a huge
pleasure out of making happy accidents come alive and well.
As I got older, I have travelled back and forth to my country and other
countries to grasp more of what I can out of life, these valuable experiences
helped me to add more depth, drama and richness to my paintings, as I had smelt
the different air and experienced the different cultures.
I also discovered other ways of making art, such as the eastern tradition to
paint a bride’s hands with beautiful henna patterns - you see the amazing wet
brown powder applied to the hand, with delicacy, intricacy and precision. With
the bride later applying oils which soften the skin, and enhance the colour into
such beautiful, rich amber. Even more amazingly, on different tones of skin this
colouring of henna comes out in wonderful tones of deep red, shades of orange,
and brown. I got well and truly fascinated by this process and I apply it to my
paintings now.
My final cultural journey ended in Vietnam, where what I saw was enough for me
to say, that’s enough now. I simply know what the world’s about, enough is
enough, and I must try and do something little or big to change someone else’s
life for the better even if I have to use my art in some way or other to get a
message across or try and sell them for me to be able to be in a position to do
so.
I stayed in Vietnam for a whole month; something inside me had given me
direction to head to go there. Vietnam was beautiful, there was amazing scenery,
and they seemed to have it all, the villagers seemed to have little, but lived
well.
Then I saw the sad side, I saw helpless mothers carrying their skeleton-like
children, begging and crying for help, they were simply dying from starvation
and dehydration, this was poverty! There was us, with our bottled water
everywhere, just in case we get thirsty, and there was them, without a choice to
even do so. I went back to the apartment to cry my eyes out ... how could this
be possible, next day I left the apartment to set out sight-seeing with no water
- the immense heat I couldn’t take any more. I didn’t let the others know what I
was doing, but I wanted to feel what these people are going through, but I will
never know, as how could I know, I only suffered one day without some water and
food, and it nearly killed me, as I felt irritated, angry, thirsty, hunger
pangs, I felt sick and weak and I knew I had food and water at the end of my
day.
For the first time in my whole life, I truly felt my heart bleeding like never
before, they had hardly anything and these people happened to be the most
humblest, thoughtful, grateful, passionate, kind but unfortunate human beings
... their souls were full of warm love, and true kind spirits, as they didn’t
want much, neither did they expect much, neither do they ask much from life,
just food and water would be enough for these kind souls.
I gave my water bottles and used to buy candy for children as I passed through
the streets of Vietnam, even a little candy made one girl give me the biggest,
warm smile I have ever seen. She wept with joy, her eyes twinkled with such
passion, she held my hand and squeezed it so tight, and couldn’t stop kissing my
hand and arms ... my heart just sank. Here, we give a child a PlayStation
and yet he will moan if it is not the latest, what a truly terrible sad world we
live in.
I feel I have to do something. Allah (god), I don’t know who to save and who not
to, but to even lighten up a whole months of someone else’s life like that
little girl, by even just giving her so little. I made a mission in life now, I
must do something, to even help provide some water, to keep these poor people
from suffering so much, as man can live on water for so much longer than food,
so that’s where my water project has come about.
I may not be able to work around the clock to save the world, but I surely can
put my heart and soul into my paintings and try to help them this way, now this
is what my art is about. These days ... the more I saw the more I wanted to see,
like my art, the more I knew, the more I wanted to know, so today the more rich
and detailed my art has become, just like my life experiences.
I am artist not seeking richness in fame, or richness in money, for myself or my
paintings, as this simply means nothing to me, as I have more than enough
gratefully from god, and neither does or will it ever do anything thing for me
alone spiritually. I am an artist on a journey to fulfill my heart by fulfilling
others first, knowing someone out there has suffered a little less by my help in
some way means the world to me. Nothing else or no amount of money will give me
that feeling, so I will follow my golden heart and do all I can on my new
journey in life as an artist, this is my purpose in life, to follow Allah, and
use the beautiful talent he has given me to help others less fortunate than me,
through valuable life experiences I learnt it is was those with nothing that
taught me the value of life which is simply priceless ...
I am grateful to ArtGallery.co.uk for helping me get my true message across, for
giving me such an opportunity to express myself, and let me show my art in such
a way, that will fulfill my heart by touching other hearts, that will further
reach out to other yearning hearts.
I do hope you will be moved to buy my paintings to allow me to fulfill my
mission to provide water to those who regard it as so precious.
Shaida Parveen's art gallery »
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