She grew up in Colombo, where her earliest influences were the Cora Abraham Art School, Shyamala Pinto Jayawardena and Nadine David.
She studied Fine Art at The 'Lasalle College of The Arts' in Singapore for four years, during which time she met her husband, Kevin D' Silva, whose profession of marine engineering keeps them both out at sea for much of the year.
Shaanea works primarily with pen and ink and water colour on paper, but she also explores the boundaries of what can be termed "drawing" with her work with rust on canvas.
The primary inspiration for her work is biological forms and patterns in nature.
The series, which she calls “CELLSCAPES”, has grabbed the attention of art lovers in Sri Lanka and abroad for their beautiful and intriguing depictions of imaginary organic structures.
Her work in "CELLSCAPES" tends to draw in the onlooker gradually into a meditative contemplation of nature's building blocks.
Her work is beautiful and intricate, thought provoking, yet never didactic.
"CELLSCAPES" will be on at the Lionel Wendt Art Gallery from the16th -18th of May 2015.
