I am always drawn first to light. My name means light in Hindi and following the light defines my day. I want to see the sun making shadows, dancing on the water or shimmering in the leaves. This means I spend a lot of my day focused on color. I have my “favorite colors” like everyone does, but the longer I work with color, the more interested I have become in odd parings, in seeing something work out unexpectedly. I don’t like hot pink, for example. I may even despise hot pink. But, there it is, next to something all lavenders and creams or in a peach toned piece, a little hot pink hit, it elevates the whole thing. Experiment and play is necessary, leaving room to be surprised, to have a conversation with my work. I don’t like to assume I know all the answers when I’m working. I like to wait to be surprised or humored and respond to it, I like to draw a character that makes me laugh, or I like to lay water out and coax color in a direction, not sure of what will happen.

I grew up in a hand-built log house in the woods, along the Salish Sea. I had nature for a companion, tall Doug Fir, red-trunked Madrona that reached out over the water, shells and stones on the beach. Summers were spent in salt water, ever hypnotized by the play of light through the water onto stones, or dancing across the body of the seal swimming with me. Underwater, eyes open, that green, blue and yellow world has always been my sanctuary.

I spent a lot of time in the garden in Home, WA with my Grandmother Ruby. Granny grew all manner of wild looking perennials, but was known for her tall, bearded iris for which she competed and also judged local competitions. The bedrock of my style was absorbed from her. Granny designed in a very organic and loose way that was much different from the floral trend of the 80s. She used only what was available to her in her yard at the time and she styled things in a way that would highlight the way things grew in nature. An arrangement could be only snowball viburnum and lilac en masse in a large vase, or could be an ikebana design employing minimalism to show off a gorgeous iris. So, I started, like many do, by following behind my Granny in the garden, eating strawberries and attempting to emulate what she did. This has informed my arranging, my gardening and certainly my painting. I spend absolutely as much time as possible outside. I feel claustrophobic if I’m away from it for too long.