Michelle Farooqi has been drawing and painting since childhood, encouraged by her parents in her pursuit of art. While working as an illustrator and website designer, Michelle studied at the Ontario College of Art and Design in Canada. Later, in search of more traditional art instruction, Michelle joined the Academy of Realist Art in Toronto, where she learned 18th century drawing and painting techniques, and acquired expertise in the fields of portraiture, figurative painting and still life, with oil paints, charcoal and graphite.
Michelle's first exhibition in Pakistan took place at Art Chowk, Karachi, in 2012, where she displayed four portraits in a group portraiture exhibition, using oils and charcoal.
Later, her long-time interest in landscape painting led to a period of self-study in that genre. After a successful first exhibition of landscape paintings in soft pastels at Alhamra Art Gallery, Lahore, Michelle expanded her skills to include oil pastels and once again exhibited her new paintings at Alhamra Art Gallery, from 11-13 September, 2017.
From November 2019 to December 2020, Michelle studied miniature painting, thezip (illumination) and geometry at Hast-o-Neest, a private academy specializing in the instruction of traditional Islamic arts. Currently, she is creating a body of miniature and tehzip paintings, while continuing to work with the guidance of her Turkish tehzip teacher.