Sudbury Art Club celebrates the season

Shehnaz Pabani is one of the 50-some artists showing work at the Sudbury Art Club's annual fall show.

The colours, shapes and forms in nature help Shehnaz Pabani keep an even keel in her busy life.
Pabani will be one of more than 50 artists with paintings on display at the Sudbury Art Club Fall Show and Sale, taking place Oct. 19, 20 and 21 at the CNIB auditorium at the corner of York and Regent Streets.
“Before you start a painting, you have to contemplate — make time to calm yourself and really look at your subject,” Pabani said. “I find painting can really be like a meditation.”

Calm, quiet time for herself is what helped her maintain her equilibrium during the years she was raising two children and maintaining her busy medical practice. Her home schedule is a little less demanding now that her children are both in their late 20s, however Pabani still practises family medicine, and teaches clinical skills in her position as assistant professor at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine.

“I find painting rejuvenates me,” she said. “I can come home beat from a long day with patients and students but sometimes stay up late into the night painting. When it comes to thinking about doing my art, I often get new energy.”

Pabani said one of her painting goals is to replicate the beauty in nature.

“In Islam, as in other beliefs, nature is revered as Allah or God’s creation,” she said. “When you see the beauty of a sunset, or the amazing form and colour of flowers, every detail  is so fascinating, it’s really humbling.”

Pabani recently completed a watercolour painting of a Cyclamen she pampered for more than a year, and finally coaxed into flowering. It’s no wonder she has titled the painting Harmony. She says it has given her countless hours of beauty, both in the pot and on the canvass.

You can see Harmony on display at the Sudbury Art Club fall show and sale. The event begins Friday evening with a free wine and cheese reception from 7 to 9 p.m.  Saturday and Sunday the show runs from 10:00 a.m. till 4:00 p.m.