She is a passionate artist from London who is also committed to raising money for a Hindu temple in the city and she is doing it by selling one of her beautiful art forms.
Meet Shreena Patel, a full-time abstract artist who specialises in acrylics, metallics, sparkle. While she calls herself an upcoming artist, Patel already has among her clients some high-profile people, ranging from cricketers to actors from India and the UK, including Harbhajan Singh, his actor wife Geeta Basra, Seema Malhotra from the Real housewives of Cheshire, among others.
Besides private ones, Patel also works for commercial clients in the UK and abroad.
The artist is currently more excited about the sale of her painting 'Kleem' which was displayed at the Sanatan Hindu Mandir in Wembley during the recently concluded Navratri festival. It took almost 50 hours for her to complete the painting to celebrate Durga Puja and the acrylic-on-canvas art, measuring 120x100 centimetres, is now up for sale and Patel will dedicate all the earnings received from the painting's highest bidder to the same temple.
"I'm giving back to my community," she told Eastern Eye over email.
One of the first art pieces that Patel sold was a painting of Lord Ganesha. The artist, who has been practising art from a very young age, holds religion very close to her heart and loves to paint deities that are placed at homes and make families happy.
She also sells prints of her art on her Etsy store.
Patel studied at the University of Arts London and Brunel University (fine art -- graphics and multimedia technology & design) and after completing her graduation, she worked in the civil service. She is also a mother of a baby and while carrying out all her duties, she never lost her focus from her passion, which is art.
"I’ve been lucky enough to focus on my art full time and have many of my paintings placed in homes, offices and temples," she said in a tone of contentment.
Her painting of Pramukh Swami Maharaj titled ‘Divine Joy’ will be featured at the Neasden Temple this Diwali.
Patel set up her own business during the Covid-19 lockdown and has been making her best efforts to give it wings despite shielding herself still since March 2020, when the pandemic started wreaking havoc, owing to some health conditions.
Patel has also been nominated for the Asian Achievers Awards under the Art and Culture category and finished as a finalist for the Eastern Eye ACTA awards (which has been postponed due to the Queen's death in September).
To know more about Patel's creative brilliance, click here. You can also visit her website here.
Bob Blackman MP speaks during the event