Cheema is a realist painter, but his paintings are more than an imitation of what is seen. He has the magic of capturing the essence of the vignette that he replicates on canvas. Beyond realism he understands his subject matter well. His canvases are well balanced and the imagery strong and fascinating- One can almost taste and touch the fruit or smell the fragrance of the roses and lilies that he renders skillfully. He intricately works his still life compositions depicting fruits at the peak of ripeness or flowers in full bloom.His skillful use of color invigorates his subjects and breathes life and vitality into each composition.

In this recent body of work he moves away from using fruits, flowers and birds in their pure form for still life portraiture, by incorporating embroidered Kashmiri textiles as well as exquisite sea shell compositions infusing a different dimension to his work. His  paintings which may all be described as beautiful, make references to beauty in its various guises, and  attributes such as pattern and decoration, nature and sensuality , clarity of color, luminosity and convincing detail and to symbolic references of  femininity, and temporality. Beauty seems to be almost embedded within the very subject he paints. His work, overall celebrates nature, life and heritage of places that he has visited, lived in and loved!