Painted by hand. Rooted in story.

I grew up where beauty was a daily habit. Rangoli appeared on driveways up and down the neighborhood each morning, drawn and swept away and drawn again. The intricate details and towering majesty of the Mughal monuments scattered through my hometown of Aurangabad, became ordinary in the way extraordinary things do when you pass them every day. I drew constantly. Painting was how I held on to what I was looking at, and it was how I worked through what I was feeling — it still is.

In 2015 I moved to the United States for my master's. Building a life somewhere new meant finding ways to keep the old one close. The motifs that had simply been around me in India — in doorways, textiles, gardens, festivals — now had to be made on purpose. So I made them. Earth Notes began as a private effort to stay rooted in the country I came from.

Gouache gives me structure: repeatable, forgiving, a steady base for the subjects I paint. Around it I experiment with materials that carry their own history. I've made paints from flours and natural pigments, worked with inks and textiles, pressed patterns from flowers, and painted on shells found near where I live. Gold finds its way into nearly everything I make. It reminds me of Indian festivals, when everything glitters.

My visual vocabulary started in our garden in Aurangabad — gulmohar, jasmine, mogra, roses, hibiscus, frankincense, mango, pomegranate. New England has since added its own: pine, hydrangea, roadside wildflowers. I didn't trade one for the other. The library simply grew.

When someone unwraps a piece of mine, I want them to feel a little more joy in their day, and to take on a little of the richness and story I grew up surrounded by.