Sneha K. Mahajan

Did you know? That a very good boy, named Silo, has his 9th birthday today?

🥳

He’s still my little puppy…or my sweet potato…or my little lemon…or my bubble bum…or shulie…shmylie..flooshy…foofie…fafudu…or the million other things we call him…as he politely wags his tail in acceptance of our madness. He came from Mississippi as a castaway pup and through a dog shelter right into our lives and hearts. His heart has grown so much. He has learnt to love and accept us and given us so much more than we can ever give him. He has learned our little quirks just like we’ve learnt his..we work around his fear of the oven and flies. I can’t wait to get to know him even better… way beyond 9 years. A big birthday like this is a reminder that he’s getting older…but boy has he become lovable as he ages…senior dogs are the best ones, I say. They know love like no one does. Do you agree? 🙂

“Do you remember that song?”

Still perfecting the picture taking process in the basement. I’m probably gonna have to invest in some new bright lights!! I’m having to edit the pictures a little too much to make them seem like the actual painting 🥲

Also, I have a sweet little collection of collages coming together from all this experimentation in 2023. I need to decide whether to put them out as a collection or not!! I have at least 15 so far. Enough??? 🥸

An old favorite of mine! I named it, ”I Feel Everything”

Still available…although…I’m unable to sell any art temporarily! :(

I moved back to the US recently and I’m waiting to receive my work authorization before I can get cooking again!!!

Sigh. 😒

Working with pencil like I would with ink…every mark made stays. Two more studies I did recently. It’s fair to say I like sharp edges and pointy things. 🤓

Quick studies in pencil 🙃

Still mastering the art of taking pictures in my basement. I no longer have ALL that amazing natural light 😭….but…on the other hand…once I do figure it out..the results will be more consistent than before! 🤷🏽‍♀️

So happy to be making art again. When I don’t do it for a while….and it’s not my choice…it feels like I’ve shut a door on some sunlight that wants so desperately to get in…you know? Or like shut a door on an excited little puppy with a furiously wiggly bum. 😁

Also, have you noticed I don’t often share pictures of finished work these days? If you have…and are wondering why….I have an answer for you. It helps my creative process. I think. Cos I’m still not immune to effects of all the likes (or not)…over here on IG…and if I don’t share EVERYTHING…I can still have that buffer between that and my process. Doesn’t mean I will never share the finished stuff…gotta get over that hump. But, tell me have you tried this? Not sharing the finished pictures? How did it affect you or your process? Help you? Hurt you? Agnostic about it?

Let the messiness begin 🫠

We have finally moved. 🫶🏽

Here’s a few snippets of how I’ve setup my studio/ home office so far. It’s cute but majorly spidery right now. Lol. Any of you working through an unfinished basement right now?? I need tips!!! 🙈

I can’t change up too many things since this is a temp rental…but I’d love to not have such ardent company of spiders. I’ve been using peppermint, eucalyptus and tangerine oils to shake things up. Other thoughts??

Decided that I wanted to incorporate my eyes in this one. The significance of the card I cut up before I could use those eyes is huge. It was my Canadian permanent residence card. Cutting it meant I am now a Canadian citizen. Yay!

I wanted to forever remember this feeling. Immigration struggles and a search for home have become an inescapable part of my journey as an artist. This is one way to embrace all that and turn it into something beautiful. What better way to remember this feeling than to make art from this permanent resident card? Not sure what I’ll name this painting yet. “Searching for home” perhaps?

And yes…I’m still moving but I’ve kept some art materials and supplies with me to keep me sane through the moving process.

Gotta keep making something. Eh? 😉

I’m moving y’all. 🥲

Finally dismantling my studio today. Packing up all my art to take with me. Books. Paper. Tools. Unfinished art. And a million other things I was hoarding. Packing it all up.

I’m definitely feeling the heaviness of what having this studio space has meant to me in the last couple of years. Here…my art practice grew into something unexpectedly central to my being. I became a little bit more me. I’ll be forever grateful. 🫶🏽

The walls look SUPER empty now that I’ve pulled off each and every postcard / trinket, but I’ve taken a million pictures so I can remember what it was like to create and think in such a beautiful space.

Who knows what the next family that moves into our home will make of this room….but I hope it’s something weird and fun. It will forever hold a little bit of the magic that I’ve felt…immersed in a state of flow. Slinging together shapes…ideas…thoughts…and making art.

In the spirit of appreciating what we have…can you DM me a picture of what you are grateful for right now? Could be a pet…your own studio…a book you read…something pretty you saw…anything!! I’ll share it. If it’s not something you can take a pic of…just DM a word or phrase and I’ll share that in my stories. 🙂

Ready for varnish now 🙆🏽‍♀️…there’s over a 100 pieces of cut paintings that went into finishing this one. So many paintings had to NOT work….for this one to come together and find it’s way. Come to think of it..I might have over done it a bit lol. 🤓

But, I enjoyed it so damn much. 🫶🏽

Trying to lay things down to see what works and what doesn’t. Often I lay things out like this and walk away for a few days so that when I come back I can see everything with fresh eyes. It’s easier to spot what is missing this way. 🫠

With this one…I’m certain it’s going to look a little different when I get back to it…I know I need to change something so it feels slightly more compelling than it is. 💁🏽‍♀️

It’s been a lot of fun exploring collages ✨…here’s the latest one I finished. What should I name this one? Something silly and whimsical. Tell me what comes to your mind 💁🏽‍♀️

On to the next one 👉🏽🙆🏽‍♀️

🙆🏽‍♀️

Playing around with Silo 🫠…not done yet.

One piece at a time. One step at a time. 🫶🏽

She looks sassy. 💁🏽‍♀️

Still working through the format of this one….and swipe to see some other pictures of art in process. 🫠

I adore the process of creating. It can be a painting, a website or 🧁

This is the collage I was most excited about sharing with you all. It took so many tiny pieces…cut perfectly…and the black borders for each of that piece so it looks crispy and fresh. So many hours. I may have gone a little overboard with all the details but oh well. 🥹🫠

For this one too…each piece came from an old painting that I cut up, except that lady’s photo. That came from an old Hollywood pictures book. There’s also a silk scarf in there..some washi tape..an old greeting card. I especially had fun working on her 👑…there were a couple of iterations of it.

I always worry about sharing a variety of styles here on IG…since it can kinda “hurt” your account. But literally who cares anymore. I am the kind of artist who simply cannot stay in my lane…I have to deviate…and I enjoy creating art with multiple styles and techniques.

Here’s the other tiny collage. My favourite part was putting together the birds wing and it’s red beak.

There’s my hand again 🫠

Holding a little collage I made a few weeks back. Every piece used in this , including the background paper, is from a painting I did that didn’t quite work out. Glad I got to reuse some of those failed paintings and create something interesting!!

Some favourites from the In Between collection. I still have 39 of the 42 little paintings I released last year as a part of the In Between Collection. No surprise. I do such a bad job of mentioning my art is for sale. Some of you may not even know. I too forget (thought of naming an entire collection around paintings I just forgot to put up for sale 🥵). Lol. No fear. Now you know. 🫠

They are all quite tiny and between 35 to 50 USD plus shipping. Link in bio. ☀️

This post will probably get terribly suppressed by IG cos I cannot pay for boosting my posts right now but oh well. It will help if *you* share this post in your stories. I mean only if you like my work. No pressure. 🥸

I painted a sketchbook page after a long time!

Every little piece counts. I am a hoarder when it comes to anything with a remotely interesting visual. So this little red piece comes from a random painting that was a bunch of red, yellow, and orange marks. That painting didn’t go anywhere…it was ugly..it said nothing…I then cut up interesting parts of it and stowed them away.

That was about 10 months ago. 😅

For who knows what reason…I went through that pile and decided that I wanted to try making a collage. I especially loved the idea that stuff that could have been discarded can still be made into something interesting and beautiful.

Almost everything in a collage is something that must have been rejected….had it not been for someone who decided it could become something more. I’m coming to see that collages are full of hope and stories in that way.

Also…on another note…I do not like taking pictures of myself but it’s important for me that you know that there’s a real person behind all this mess and beauty you see. This is that persons hand. Lol. Enjoy your weekend.

This is a piece of a painting on its way to be another painting. Pretty. Agree?

This one is exactly as pink as it looks. Its still in process but it’s turning out to be feisty! Juicy. Angry. Intense. Too much. All over. Immediate. Messy. Full of feelings. Sensory overload.

Some words that come to my mind as I work it. It sat around unfinished for the looooooongest time while I gathered courage to add the first ink mark. It can take a while sometimes. Still very unfinished!

Another gorgeous painting by is here!!! This is the second painting I got from her. I absolutely adore her work. One of the very best things about being an artist is running into other amazing artists. This is going to go up in my studio inspiring me to keep on creating the kind of art I want to create. She still has a few pieces available from this vases collection I think! Take a peek y’all.

Here’s a few recent paintings I’ve made. Most are still in process. It’s been harder to find time to actually paint with me currently studying 📖..along with my work schedule and my art practice…but there’s no other satisfaction like making one of these.

Silo of course is my constant companion. 💛

These have been satisfying to make. Really liking the look of matte-y gouache vs transparent watercolour. I don’t know if these will become “something” but I’m enjoying the process so far. 🤷🏽‍♀️

Still working on that red one.

I painted after a long time this weekend and I t felt great. 😌

If you scroll all the way…there’s one I made from one of Silos photos. I had too much fun scratching away at that one. I’ll share the photo in the stories. 😄

My 10 minute commitments have been turning to these colorful pages. 🙃

This a familiar style to most of y’all. Swipe to see a mid process picture.

This is for the challenge I’m doing with this June. This again took more than 10 minutes!

Todays journal page isn’t anything special or new, but I did it anyways. 🤷🏽‍♀️

This is for the challenge I’m doing with this June. This again took more than 10 minutes 🙃..but swipe to see what I did in 10 minutes. I took a pic.

Todays experiment. Dots. MANY dots. 😌

This is for the challenge I’m doing with this June.

Journal is a place to experiment…here’s todays experiment. I won’t be doing these everyday but I’m gonna try. 😉

This was fun cos I had to dry each of those lines before adding the next one. Created that layered effect. ☀️

I feel like I might use this style some more somewhere. And…I never do landscapes. So that was new too. I also want to say this definitely took more than 10 minutes…but if you commit for 10 minutes..that alone helps.

This is for the challenge I’m doing with this June.

I’m doing the challenge with this June and here’s what I made today. Hadn’t put anything in my sketchbook for a while and this is a great excuse to do that. Here’s 4 little studies I did.

Which one speaks to you the most? No wrong answer. For me it’s top right. 🧐

Remember this one? I told you how much this one changed. Swipe to see the initial photo I had shared.

I’m naming it “All at once”…it’s 7x10 inches and Arches cotton paper.

To be honest…I really liked how they both look. Before and after. Different compositions…and although the “before” one isn’t complete I feel like this could’ve gone in a different direction and become an entirely different painting. You know what I mean?

Do you feel you prefer one over the other? Before or after?

Also, you’ll probably see more of these thick-ish black ink strokes. I’ve found black Indian ink and love how deeply black it is. I love it. I’ve got to thank for this by the way. He uses ink in his work too and I’d seen him use black Indian ink way back when….and I finally got around to trying it. I highly highly recommend it. I’ll share which one I used in the stories.

This is by far the strangest paintings I’ve EVER made. Don’t you agree? 😅

I’m naming it, “Crumbly Cake Lady” for unexplained reasons…🤷🏽‍♀️ cos let’s keep things weird.

It is 9x12 inches and done on Arches cotton paper with Daniel Smith watercolour and of course…archival ink.

This was a big one after a long while and I kinda forgot how much time these ones with tiny details take. But, they are infinitely satisfying to make too. 😘

Can you tell how my style has evolved over time? Different elements mish-mashing with each other. Is this growth?

I like that I’ve felt comfortable enough to keep exploring, but also wonder if each thought was given the time it deserved. Was it explored enough?

Anyhow, these two are a part of the In Between collection…and after doing this collection…similar shapes and forms have found their way in to my current art making. They just show up out of nowhere. The straight or twisty lines. The dots. 🙃

1) Slowdown and breath (Available)
2) Take a break (Sold)

Ok…so…I’m cautiously optimistic about this one.

Only feel comfortable sharing a little corner of this so far…but it’s a wild one. I’ll tell you that much. Swipe to see how it started. It’s still in process. Felt so damn good to get to work on a couple of paintings this weekend. 😘