Gallery
A selection of works
Click on The Story button to link to a particular piece
The Raven
Created in 2025.
"Set me free", cawed the raven. And a voice said, "You have wings".
Self Portrait
Pencil sketch of yours truly created in 2025.
Programming
Created in 2025. This was bedtime doodling to show the concept of multiple generations being in "the matrix", not extricating themselves, with each generation programming the next to be in it similarly.
Tree of Life
Created in May 2025. I love to create things spontaneously. Ink has its own will that teaches you to flow along without exerting too much structure and control. This is the result of appreciating the beauty that ink can create on its own, and gentle persuasion to give it a form that creates meaning. I used the back of a paint brush to "etch" the lines on the tree, a very satisfying experience using negative space to depict texture. The piece symbolizes vitality and interconnectedness.
Choice
Created originally in 2013 and redone in 2025. The original painting was chosen for a juried exhibition themed 'Duality' at a gallery in Pasadena, CA in 2013. At the time, I submitted this entry 'Choice' with the metaphor as choice always existing as an invisible ladder in front of us where we can choose to ascend or descend. The sharp contrast of black and white was effective in conveying the idea of duality.
I reworked the same piece in 2025. It incorporates my interest in mandalas. The black area showcases a mandala composed of straight lines while the top one has circles and curves. It speaks to the choice of taking straight paths versus curved ones and how the curvy paths can lead us to interesting experiences and insights, depicted as colorful.
The stark contrast is also toned way down as with experience, I see things more on the spectrum of shades/grays, than black and white. I also wanted to change the feel of the previous work which seemed to depict choice as necessarily hard, but without seeing light at the end of the path. In the new work there are patterns to discover as you're on a path. And the black is not necessarily just emptiness either. Sometimes there is comfort in "ordinariness". We don't need to feel compelled to "ascend" or even "descend". If we sat right in between, we could have a view of either depending on which way we looked.
Dandelion
Created originally in 2020 in honor of #blm. Reworked in 2025.
I had had the vision for a painting I wanted to create for a while before I painted this, of a child with dandelions growing out of their head as a representation for joy and free-spiritedness. After the George Floyd episode in 2020, I was reading the words of a black mother about how her 7-yr old boy was like any other child with curiosity and joy, but in a few years his life could change completely as the society might view him as a threat. Being a mother myself, it moved me enough for me to decide that the kid I painted had to be black. I hope that our society can preserve the child-like joy and free-spiritedness of every precious human life.
The slight lack of symmetry of the eyes in the original painting bothered me, so I redid it in 2025. The dandelions pop more, and also float around symbolizing spreading joy.
Incidentally this boy looks more grown up now than the previous one. Joy is ageless.
Fluid Form
Created in 2023. This was an exploration with a serendipitously discovered medium, alcohol ink.
Untamed
Created in 2023. Ink has its own will that teaches you to flow along without exerting too much structure and control. This is the result of appreciating the beauty that ink can create on its own, and gentle persuasion to give it a form that creates meaning.
Mandala Butterfly
Created in February 2025. My girlfriends and I have done a few group art sessions together and this was one of them. I picked two things that intrigue me- butterflies and mandalas. Working on mandalas is truly meditative.
Hummingbird
Created in 2017. A coworker at the time gave me Black Walnut Ink. I had no idea how to use it but was excited to see what I could do with it. This uses a mix of media including the ink and charcoal. Some of this charcoal is actual raw charcoal (not specifically art charcoal) that I picked up from a man in India who irons clothes for a living. Yes, there are people who do that in India, and they use a special heavy iron that uses heated charcoal.
I painted this on a Canvas Paper in a notebook. When I looked at it several years later, it had formed this interesting impression on the under side of the page on top- an accidental work of art!
Future
Created in 2021. A vision I had of an ideal future where human civilization is built around sustainable living, and is AI-first and multiplanetary. There's a colony on Mars (top left corner). All life is depicted as thriving and at peace, coexisting with humans. The Buddha denotes the constant even as life changes as a fast pace.
Swimming
Created in 2013. Sometimes, swimming rough seas, each of us thinks we are the only one, but my suspicion is that's never true.
Happy Field
Created in June 2024. My littlest girlfriend, my daughter, and I did a Sip 'n Paint together. We worked on the same canvas and used a trick we saw on a YouTube video to do the flowers by dipping paint on a plastic fork. We had a wonderful time! I sipped actual wine while she sipped non-alcoholic "wine" which was grape juice, gifted for Mother's Day by my oldest friend Ms Cheryl! She had asked my son if I had wine and he'd said no!
A heart that is free
Created in 2022. A heart that is free- to love, to dream, to care and to dare.
Metamorphosis
Created in 2020. This canvas held two completely different paintings at different times that were painted over. Bacl in 2018, I had painted the below image when I was going through a challenging time in my life and working hard to get out of a rut.
Once I had dusted the mental cobwebs, the painting looked disturbing to me, perhaps because of how black it dared to be especially at that size (24"x36"). It just wasn't something I could stand looking at hung on the wall any more. And it was time for a transformation in my life too, so I chose to paint a butterfly to symbolize metamorphosis.
And guess what? That cobweb image was not the first one painted on this canvas. It was painted over this original one, which bothered me because it lacked originality. :-)
Change
Created in 2020 with my favorite girlfriends at a Sip n Paint session I led in one of their homes. It was our first social art session.
Joy
Created in July 2023. I felt liberated taking some creative risks with this one after a long time!
Neural Owl
Created 2019.This was a commission for AI2 when I was working there as a Research Engineer.
The piece represents the AI system Aristo, we were building at the time. Aristo was a Science question-answering AI system originally conceived of as the ‘digital Aristotle’. Since Aristotle was said to “know it all”- the idea was to build a system that would know all of (or a lot of) Science. This was in the pre Gen AI days, and specifically this painting was done about a year after BERT came out, for those familiar.
This is Neural Owl- owl with an overlay of a neural network, taking knowledge as input from a textbook. Output layer of the neural network is the crown of the owl. I chose owl because of the Owl of Athena considered a symbol of knowledge and erudition in Greek mythology. Since Aristotle was Greek, it was befitting to choose it. There are AND and OR gates in the tree branches to represent logic. The atom, the flask and the DNA symbolize Science and the tree and the rock represent the natural world.
Home
Created 2016 when we moved into our new home, as my vision for how I wanted to live. 'Home' visualized as a sanctuary that embraces bonds and life in various forms. This home could be one's heart.The red soil denotes vitality.
Relax
Created 2017. In the midst of life's captivating chaos, we need to find the quiet place within. The vibrant curves depict Samsara. The chair is placed in an almost womb-like space depicting a world of its own, the inner world. The chair is deliberately composed of straight lines to contrast the drama of the outer world with pure and simple logic, which if we followed, we would be less complex, see things for what they are and shave all the "fluff" off that is caused by strong emotion and projection. Ironically, though the painting is named 'Relax', the chair itself does not evoke a calming effect, because of how straight it is and seemingly not offering any comfort. This is very much reflective of the stage of spiritual development I was at at the time when I felt that seeking truth was uncomfortable but had to be done. From the sole perspective of form, I intended to bring together curves and straight lines contrasting and complementing each other.
I have toyed with the idea of making the chair look more comfortable for a while now, as my perspective has grown over time, and I don't think I need to "beat myself up" and feel discomfort to advance in my spiritual quest. My views of the ideal and ways to pursue it have softened.
Here are some sketches of my brainstorming of some ways I could preserve the lines-vs-curves contrast but make the chair look more comfortable. I haven't quite got the time to rework the painting, and not sure I necessarily will, but possible. We'll see!
Spring
Created in 2017. There was a super old, run down house behind our home that got torn down, which had this beuatiful cherry tree in front of it. I was very sad when that tree got cut down during the demolition and wanted to give it a life on canvas that I could remember.
Peacock Fish
Created in 2015 over winter break. A fantastical creature.
We had sold our previous house and the construction of the new house was delayed. We spent 3 months in a tiny fully furnished apartment in downtown Kirkland with almost all our stuff in storage. I was missing canvas, paints and most importantly space to create art! This opened the door to indulging in and experimenting with other media I had barely tried and this was one of the resulting works.
Caffeine
Created in 2015 over winter break.
We had sold our previous house and the construction of the new house was delayed. We spent 3 months in a tiny fully furnished apartment in downtown Kirkland with almost all our stuff in storage. I was missing canvas, paints and most importantly space to create art! This opened the door to indulging in and experimenting with other media I had barely tried and this was one of the resulting works.
Life glares- awake, ruddy-eyed.
Ecosystem
Created in 2015 over winter break.
We had sold our previous house and the construction of the new house was delayed. We spent 3 months in a tiny fully furnished apartment in downtown Kirkland with almost all our stuff in storage. I was missing canvas, paints and most importantly space to create art! This opened the door to indulging in and experimenting with other media I had barely tried and this was one of the resulting works.
Though the stuff on the icecream looks like gummies and toppings, they are supposed to be germs, and yes, you read it right- germs! This came out of the thought which intrigued me. Each of us is indeed an ecosystem in its own right as we house trillions of bacteria and other microorganisms in our bodies. Digestion and metabolism would be impossible without them! And extending that to outside our bodies, we are in a world of countless organisms that we unknowingly interact with at a biological level all the time.
Organism
Created in 2015 over winter break. A fantastical creature.
We had sold our previous house and the construction of the new house was delayed. We spent 3 months in a tiny fully furnished apartment in downtown Kirkland with almost all our stuff in storage. I was missing canvas, paints and most importantly space to create art! This opened the door to indulging in and experimenting with other media I had barely tried and this was one of the resulting works.
Breaking Barriers
Created in 2013. This was me wanting to break all barriers, as an artist, and as a person.
Whistle-Blower
Created in 2013. From WikiLeaks to Snowden: The power of the whistle-blower in today's world of interconnectedness.
Mouth Wide Shut
Created in 2011 and reworked in 2013. This piece has been in multiple shows, including a juried show at Parklane Gallery, Kirkland WA and at Kirkland Performance Center for a dance drama titled 'Yavanika: Veiled Perspectives' in 2014'. The piece shows the tension between expression and restraint.
Fire of Flamenco
Created in 2013 through layered use of pastels and acrylics. This was featured for a themed art exhibition on what it means to be a woman as part of an Indian Classical dance drama titled 'Yavanika: Veiled Perspectives' at the Kirkland Performance Center in August 2014, along with two other pieces of mine, 'Mouth Wide Shut' and ' Water'.
Water
Created in 2013 through layered use of pastels. It paints a glimpse of the women who provide and nurture while their feet burn from miles of walking to fetch water. This work was featured for a themed art exhibition on what it means to be a woman as part of an Indian Classical dance drama titled 'Yavanika: Veiled Perspectives' at the Kirkland Performance Center in August 2014, along with two other pieces of mine, 'Mouth Wide Shut' and ' Fire of Flamenco'.
Sleeping Buddha
Created in 2013.
Silence
The Buddha's eyes are closed. Wonder why. I sit, staring endlessly at the walls that are polished and magnificent. I see the most meticulously etched figures of men and women- intrepid, unflinching. There are galaxies, countless stars, scenes of wars, horses, lions, dragons and angels. There are oceans and waves, the sun and riots of dust. There's fire, swords, showers of flowers, birds flying in the vast skies, men with wineglasses and woods with tombstones. I have never known any work of art and expression like these walls. The more I look at them, the more I look at them disbelievingly.
I slowly shift my gaze upward. Why a dome? There's light cutting through the skylights on the sides of the dome, and there's air flowing in and out, up and down doing a dance of release; I ask myself “Why a dome?” A dome has a broad base that's a circle. Broad base…makes me think of all encompassing, all embracing. Circle- is that not a polygon with infinite edges? How many facets are there to life, to the world, to quality, to the mind, to the universe? Infinite! And wait…circle…sure enough, is that not what the Greeks thought was a perfect geometric shape? The dome gently sprawls upward – as if to lead anyone at the base higher. Where does it all end? At a single point– the crest of the dome- the seat of consciousness, knowledge, perfection, exhilaration.
I look down at the painting that I have just finished – the theme is enlightenment. It's the picture of the human who forgot himself. At the bottom it bears a signature. Egotist! All of a sudden my eyes fill with self-sarcasm. I take a deep breath, wishing that the molecules that bounce around in bliss would jolt me out of my stupor that is too obstinate to leave when politely asked to.
I look up. Questions are unanswered.
The Buddha's eyes are closed.
Krishna
Created in 2009. Abstract representation of the Hindu god Krishna. This was sold in 2015 quite unexpectedly to someone who contacted me through my website and asked to buy it.
Blue
Created in 2012. Bright outside, blue inside. This was sold to my sister's friend in 2013.
The Artist
Created in 2013. I was browsing The Mother's paintings after a trip to Pondicherry, and one particular work, "An Apparition" stuck with me both for its title and artistic style.
Additional inspiration came from a gallery call for a themed exhibition focused on "The Tortured Artist." I did not plan on entering that exhibition, but created this for myself nonetheless.
This drawing depicts the extent to which a work can haunt an artist until its completion. It explores the phenomenon where creative works overwhelm the artist's consciousness, making the individual feel diminished relative to their creation—an experience I find personally familiar.
It is up to the viewer to interpret this as a moment of enlightenment or the nightmare experienced by a crazy artist.
The piece represents the complex relationship between artist and artwork during the creative process.
Journeys
Created in 2013. This piece explores multiple layers of human experience through symbolism.
The composition features an open trunk representing memories of the old, alongside a bicycle symbolizing the past. An airplane depicts the new and the travel from the old to the new, both in time and space.
As an immigrant who relocated to the U.S. from India, I use travel as a metaphor for transformation. Every time I go back home, it's not only a travel in space but also in time.
A sleeping figure represents travel through different layers of consciousness, while abstract planes surrounding the trunk suggest different dimensions of living, traveling and experiencing.
The Buddha figure occupies a central position where old and new converge, embodying the concept that change is the only permanent.
This work captures the essence of existence and experience.
Fun fact: I reworked this painting in 2025. Its earlier version was:
Dance of Passion
Created in 2012. A homage to the intriguing bird. The two eyes and what appears to be a third eye in the middle is deliberate to depict nature as sentient.
Interconnections
Created in 2011.
Rain on Baked Earth
Created in 2009. Sold while on display at Artisan Cafe in Belltown in 2010. The person who bought it wanted to meet me, so I had coffee with him. He was buying it for his boyfriend for his birthday. I was so thrilled!
Polarity
Created in 2013. This painting combines my dual background as both an engineer and artist, utilizing different vocabularies that ultimately communicate the same fundamental truth.
The circuit imagery represents the concept of polarity as essential to energy flow. Any flow of energy takes a positive pole and a negative pole. Without flow of energy, life would not exist.
The lightbulb depicted in the work symbolizes the generation and birth of ideas. Ideas emerge from the interaction of two opposing forces: need and the desire to fulfill that need.
What's your interpretation?
Planes of Existence
Created in 2008. This painting employs unconventional materials including thermocol, wall paint, acrylic paint, gloss polish, alcohol bottles, chocolate wrappers, and copper wire.
The Three Planes:
1. The Sense/Pleasure Plane: Located at the painting's bottom, this plane represents revelry, enjoyment, merriment, and hedonism. Visual elements include alcohol bottles and chocolate wrappers, complemented by liberal orange splashes.
2. The Intellectual/Spiritual Plane: The upper blue-purple section depicts intellectual and spiritual dimensions. Geometric shapes symbolize both mathematics and abstract reasoning. White portions transitioning into the upper area feature square waveforms representing engineering, a representation of left brain development and technological advancement.
3. The Hybrid Plane: The middle section combines sensory and intellectual experiences. A flaming red guitar symbolizes music—largely sensual experiences but at the same time also intellectual as well as taking us to the spiritual dimension.
Which plane do you spend most of your time in? Which one do you enjoy the most?
Shiva
Sold as a pair with Vishnu painting.
Vishnu
Sold as a pair with Shiva painting.
Buddha
Created in 2010. My love for the image of the Buddha is unending! This one is gifted to my sister. This was paired with the next piece, 'Aum' as part of an exhibition I did in 2011 at Art/Not Terminal Gallery for the Belltown Art Walk.
Following is the excerpt from the art opening this was part of:
I have always been fascinated by color and the way color seems inextricable from the soul of an object in general, and also importantly, from a piece of art. But equally intriguing is black and white (grayscale), which brings about a certain stillness even in images that show fluidity and movement. Indeed, I think it's an interesting exercise to work on depicting both movement and stillness with both black and white and color.
While black and white has been explored heavily in photography, it hasn't quite been associated with painting. My journey of exploring this in painting has resulted in a series of pairs of black and white and color paintings, a collection of vignettes and abstracts.
Aum
Created in 2011. I came across this symbol as a Balinese representation for Aum and immediately liked its teapot-like form. In this work I present the symbol on a backdrop of layers and texture. This piece was part of the Belltown Art Walk at Art/Not Terminal Gallery where I had an exhibit of paired pieces with a theme of exploring color and black & white (grayscale) through painting. This was paired with the almost-black-and-white 'Buddha', which I gifted to my sister. One of my coworkers at the time bought this piece as a housewarming gift for his friend.
Following is the excerpt from the art opening this was part of:
I have always been fascinated by color and the way color seems inextricable from the soul of an object in general, and also importantly, from a piece of art. But equally intriguing is black and white (grayscale), which brings about a certain stillness even in images that show fluidity and movement. Indeed, I think it's an interesting exercise to work on depicting both movement and stillness with both black and white and color.
While black and white has been explored heavily in photography, it hasn't quite been associated with painting. My journey of exploring this in painting has resulted in a series of pairs of black and white and color paintings, a collection of vignettes and abstracts.
Prayer
Created in 2010. I set my baggage aside. My shoulders eased. I closed my eyes and I prayed.
This was paired with the next piece, 'Monk' as part of an exhibition I did in 2011 at Art/Not Terminal Gallery for the Belltown Art Walk.
Following is the excerpt from the art opening this was part of:
I have always been fascinated by color and the way color seems inextricable from the soul of an object in general, and also importantly, from a piece of art. But equally intriguing is black and white (grayscale), which brings about a certain stillness even in images that show fluidity and movement. Indeed, I think it's an interesting exercise to work on depicting both movement and stillness with both black and white and color.
While black and white has been explored heavily in photography, it hasn't quite been associated with painting. My journey of exploring this in painting has resulted in a series of pairs of black and white and color paintings, a collection of vignettes and abstracts.
Happiness
Created in 2011. Not for sale. I painted this from an internet image I loved for how it captured pure in-the-moment joy.
This was paired with the previous piece, 'Prayer' as part of an exhibition I did in 2011 at Art/Not Terminal Gallery for the Belltown Art Walk.
Following is the excerpt from the art opening this was part of:
I have always been fascinated by color and the way color seems inextricable from the soul of an object in general, and also importantly, from a piece of art. But equally intriguing is black and white (grayscale), which brings about a certain stillness even in images that show fluidity and movement. Indeed, I think it's an interesting exercise to work on depicting both movement and stillness with both black and white and color.
While black and white has been explored heavily in photography, it hasn't quite been associated with painting. My journey of exploring this in painting has resulted in a series of pairs of black and white and color paintings, a collection of vignettes and abstracts.
The Dive
Created in 2010. This was paired with the next piece, 'Desert Dust' as part of an exhibition I did in 2010 at Art/Not Terminal Gallery for the Belltown Art Walk. The pair represents turbulence in water and fire.
Following is the excerpt from the art opening this was part of:
I have always been fascinated by color and the way color seems inextricable from the soul of an object in general, and also importantly, from a piece of art. But equally intriguing is black and white (grayscale), which brings about a certain stillness even in images that show fluidity and movement. Indeed, I think it's an interesting exercise to work on depicting both movement and stillness with both black and white and color.
While black and white has been explored heavily in photography, it hasn't quite been associated with painting. My journey of exploring this in painting has resulted in a series of pairs of black and white and color paintings, a collection of vignettes and abstracts.
Desert Dust
Created in 2009. This was paired with the previous piece, 'The Dive' as part of an exhibition I did in 2010 at Art/Not Terminal Gallery for the Belltown Art Walk. The pair represents turbulence in water and fire.
Following is the excerpt from the art opening this was part of:
I have always been fascinated by color and the way color seems inextricable from the soul of an object in general, and also importantly, from a piece of art. But equally intriguing is black and white (grayscale), which brings about a certain stillness even in images that show fluidity and movement. Indeed, I think it's an interesting exercise to work on depicting both movement and stillness with both black and white and color.
While black and white has been explored heavily in photography, it hasn't quite been associated with painting. My journey of exploring this in painting has resulted in a series of pairs of black and white and color paintings, a collection of vignettes and abstracts.
Ladder
Created in 2009. This was on exhibit at Art/Not Terminal Gallery in Belltown, Seattle and got sold. Someone bought it as a Valentine's Day gift!
When I originally created this, it was a combination of wanting to depict a simple but powerful everyday object, and a metaphor I wanted to convey. I called it 'Dream & Reality'.
Or stride into reality through realized dream?
More about the work and the metaphor: Regarding the choice of colors, to me, dreams are yellow because they are free like light and air. Reality is red, the color of vitality since the vital plane is the earthy plane representing 'reality'. The dream-space is larger than the reality because I think we belong more to our dreams than 'reality' (well, whatever that is). Dreams are closer to our consciousness. From an aesthetic perspective too, I thought it was best to break symmetry.
Circles of Life
Created in 2009 when I was pregnant with my son. I posted this on social media with a note that I was still thinking of a title, and one of my friends suggested "Circles of life", which I loved and decided to use.
Flamenco
Created in 2009. This was my first painting to get sold! I displayed some of my paintings at a Starbucks in Seattle right opposite to the building where I worked at the time and to my big suprise, I got a call that someone wanted to buy it! The lady drove to our house later to pick it up, after the display was over. I had just given birth to my son at the time.
Motherhood
Created in 2009 for Mother's Day. I reproduced this cherished image from a greeting card I had purchased in Hawaii several years earlier. The original card had captured my artistic sensibilities, prompting me to recreate it as a painting.
The painting depicts a tender moment between mother and child, capturing the essence of maternal love, connection and overwhelming joy.
Mother with Two Children
This piece speaks to mother with two children through color, form, and emotion. The story behind this artwork will be added soon. Each brushstroke carries intention, and every element has meaning waiting to be shared.
Grace
Created in 2008. A painting inspired by a photograph from the book 'Masterclass in Photography' © Michael Busselle.
Aging can happen gracefully, peacefully, even joyfully, if we will allow it to happen that way.
This is one of my favorites from my own paintings from several years back, courtesy of a portrait from a photography book.
The woman behind that inspiring photograph exuded 'abundance' in every way.
Old Man
Created in 2008. A piece inspired by a photograph from the book 'Masterclass in Photography' © Michael Busselle.
I created this miniature portrait using mixed media—pencils, pastels, and acrylic paint.
For the first time in my life, while working on this I saw beauty in aging. The wrinkles seemed to add character to this man's face. Despite his age, all I can see when I look at him is hope and life.
Old Man
And what underneath that silvern crown?
Is that prayer between those strained brows?
And hope hidden in the profound furrows?
Angst
Created in 2009. Another portrait copied free hand from the book 'Masterclass in Photography' © Michael Busselle. I was glad this took me just 4-5 hours to finish.
Peace
Created in 2009. This was later gifted to a friend.
The Cosmic Dance
Created in 2012. The Cosmic Dance of Nataraja.
Monkey
Created in 2011. This represents a major revision of an earlier monkey painting from 2009, transformed significantly from its original version.
I returned to painting after a hiatus with this piece, marking the start of a renewed creative period.
Monkey Mind
Jumps and hops from place to place.
But just last night he sat still,
And absorbed beauty, grace and will.
Tiger
Created in 2008. A tribute to the magnificent, and endangered tiger
Strands of Spirit
Created in 2012, inspired by photographs of Mt Everest.
