Where It All Began

Sometimes I wonder when my journey with art actually began. Was it when I made my first painting? When I learned my first technique? Or much later, when I finally decided to take my art seriously?

I think it began much earlier, with curiosity, colors, and the simple joy of making something with my hands.

Where Science Met Color

I was born and raised in Coimbatore, a city in Tamil Nadu, India. I completed my schooling and my bachelor's in biotechnology there, and later went to the UK for my master's degree.

Growing up, two things fascinated me: science and colors. Even as a child, I was curious about how things worked, and I could spend hours playing with colors. I remember mixing colored water from two different bottles just to see what new color would appear, then trying those combinations on paper.

I didn't know anything about color theory then. I simply loved watching one color turn into another. Maybe the scientist and the artist in me were already growing up together.

My Grandmother, Kolam & Summer Vacations

Some of my fondest childhood memories are of time spent with my grandmother. She loved making kolam, the traditional South Indian art of drawing patterns, usually at the entrance of a home. I loved watching her and learning from her, and during summer vacations I would sit with her for hours. My mother kept my hands busy the rest of the year, teaching me stitching and embroidery, among other things. A lot of my free time naturally went into arts, crafts and making things.

I was also fascinated by nature: trees, farmland, gardens, birds, rain, water and beaches. But the sky always had a special hold on me. I could watch a sunrise or sunset without ever getting bored. I still can. Maybe that's why dusk and dawn keep showing up in my work today.

Then Came Teddy Bears...

During the summer vacation after 10th grade, I learned how to make fur toys. And, as usually happens with me, making one wasn't enough. 😜 I started making teddy bears, puppies, parrots and whatever else I could figure out.

I also discovered something about myself during those years. I didn't only enjoy learning something new; I loved teaching it to others too. That thread has run through the rest of my life.

Discovering Reverse Glass Painting

Later, I discovered reverse glass painting. This Ganesha was my very first piece.

I spent a lot of time practicing and refining the technique, and many of my paintings from that period were inspired by Indian gods and traditional imagery. Eventually I started teaching women in my area who wanted to learn it.

I also began getting requests for paintings and sold some of my work. The money went back into materials for my next pieces, and some of it went toward helping others learn painting and supporting education.

Without meaning to, I had built a little cycle for myself: Learn. Create. Teach. Share. And then learn something new again.

Learning the Beauty of Tanjore Art

My curiosity eventually led me to Tanjore painting, a traditional South Indian art form. It was very different from anything I had done before, with intricate painting, raised and embossed details, decorative stones and rich gold foil. I loved the patience and precision it asked for, and the richness and depth it created.

I can still see traces of it in my work today. My love for gold, texture, dimension, fine detail and Indian artistic elements never really left me. It just evolved.

Art Took a Pause, But It Never Left

When I moved to the UK for my master's, art dropped down my priority list. Being away from home and focused on my studies, I didn't have much time to create. But my love for art never went away, and I've always believed that when something truly matters to us, we find time for it. 😜

When I returned to India, art came back into my life. I began teaching painting in small batches with limited seats, usually two or three batches at a time. Between creating and teaching, I must have worked on more than 50 pieces during that period, and I kept experimenting.

I never wanted to stick to one style. Sometimes I wanted detail. Sometimes color. Sometimes something playful. And sometimes I wanted something much quieter, like a landscape, a moon or simply a feeling.

Apparently, Even My Kitchen Wasn't Safe 😜

After marriage, I moved to the United States. At first I was at home, and suddenly I had something incredibly valuable: time. Time is the one thing we can never get back, so I didn't want to waste it. I used it to learn.

I experimented with materials and slowly stopped thinking of a paintbrush, or even traditional art supplies, as the only way to make art. At one point I looked at the grains, beans and seeds in my kitchen and started seeing colors, shapes and textures instead of ingredients. So naturally, they ended up in my art.

That curiosity has stayed with me. Today I might work with acrylics, resin, clay, mirrors, gold foil, texture or mixed media. I don't limit myself to one medium; I choose whatever helps me bring the idea in my head to life.

Inspiration Is Everywhere

A lot of my inspiration starts with simply noticing. Peacocks have always been one of my favorites, and I love birds, gardens, trees, farmland, water and beaches.

Travel has added another layer. Wherever I go, I'm drawn to temples, churches, museums, galleries and old buildings. Often it isn't the whole place that stays with me. It might be one pattern. A window. A reflection. A color combination. The way light falls on a wall. Or two people walking along a beach.

I may not paint something right away, or paint it exactly as I saw it. But those moments become part of the visual memory I carry with me, and eventually some of them find their way onto a canvas. Perhaps that's why water, rain, reflections, dusk, dawn and changing light keep coming back in my work.

The Unexpected Turning Point

As much as I loved art, science has always been an important part of my life. I built my career in biotechnology and have worked in the field for several years. Art stayed on the side, waiting.

Around that time I was traveling, and visiting local galleries is one of my favorite things to do on a trip. In Fort Bragg, California, I walked into Edgewater Gallery and came across a competition with the theme "Reflections - Now and Then."

Something clicked. My background in reverse glass painting, together with the inspiration I'd brought back from Seattle's glass museum, sparked an idea. I made a piece and submitted it. It sold.

That meant much more to me than selling a painting. It made me stop and think: maybe I should really give this a chance. So I did.

And Arts by K Began to Grow

I gave myself permission to make all the ideas that had been sitting in my head, waiting to come out. And I stopped worrying about whether I had to fit into one particular style. Why should I?

Sometimes my work is abstract. Sometimes it carries influences from India, or from nature, or from a place I've traveled. Sometimes it's resin, texture or three-dimensional work, with gold, mirrors, clay or materials you might not expect to find on a canvas. And sometimes it starts with nothing more than a color or a moment I can't get out of my head.

All of these directions are connected by one thing. They are pieces of what I notice, remember, imagine and love.

So, What Is Arts by K?

For me, Arts by K holds pieces of my childhood in Coimbatore, afternoons with my grandmother, my Indian roots, experiments with color, years of learning different techniques, my love of science, places I've traveled, landscapes that made me stop, mistakes that taught me something, and ideas that refused to leave my head until I made them.

I'm still learning. I'm still experimenting. And I hope I never stop. For me, art was never about mastering one technique and staying there. It has always been about curiosity.

So when someone chooses one of my original pieces, they aren't just buying something for a wall. They're taking home a little piece of my life and its story. Knowing that something I made can bring color, warmth, curiosity or happiness into someone else's home? That is my dopamine. ❤️

Welcome to Arts by K. I'm so happy you're here.

K