She is known for her acclaimed performances, but there is another side to actor Shefali Shah that not many are aware of. She is passionate about painting and has been sharing a number of her vivid watercolour paintings on social media. In fact, during the lockdown, she took to sketching and created a number of sketches. Her next set of paintings are currently being used in her director husband Vipul Shah’s web show, which she says is “quite exciting”.

“It is never about the destination but the journey for me. The process is what drives me to paint and I find that exciting,” she says talking about her passion for art. “It consumes and fulfils me. It is an artistic expression.”

Shah also pursued a three-and-a-half month painting course in Spain, in 2016, which she says was a novel experience. Talking about taking up an art course abroad, Shah explains, “I have been choosy about my work, so there was a vacuum of expression that I needed an outlet for. I started learning to paint with my kids, their teacher and later from online videos. When I wanted to pursue it as an art form, I took up this course in Barcelona, Spain. We had an exhibition at the end of the course for what we wanted to create and I wanted to get out of my comfort zone. So, living like a student was one of the best things I did,” says the actor.

She admits that selling her painting in a group exhibition at Jehangir Art Gallery was thrilling even though her first solo exhibition in Pune in 2017 was not such a success. “It was disappointing. But I am a student, so you learn, you fail, fall and pick up. I am continuing doing what I love.”