Ashwini Bharathula is a representational fine artist working mainly with oils. “Growing up, I loved to draw and sketch in my spare time. It was mostly Disney characters and figures from Indian mythology.” She received her formal education in the field of Materials Science and Engineering. After completing her Bachelor's degree in Madras, India near where she grew up, she moved to the US in 2005 to pursue her Master’s and PhD at Ohio State University. There she happened to audit a painting class one summer for fun and has been hooked ever since.  After getting her PhD, she worked in the semiconductor industry for a few years. “Even while working in the corporate world, I had this constant itch to paint.” She finally took the plunge and quit her industry job to explore something at the intersection of art and science. She first started a YouTube channel where she created and shared science video lessons. She then collaborated with TED-Ed (www.ed.ted.com) and helped create a few short movies that have garnered millions of views. “I also started painting more seriously around this time and eventually decided to pursue art full-time. The act of creating something realistic and beautiful from scratch brought a lot of joy to me.”

Ashwini’s art education has been primarily through workshops at the Scottsdale Artists’ School and books like Richard Schmid’s ‘ALLA PRIMA’. While she loves to paint a variety of subject matter from portraits to landscapes, her current focus is painting flowers and floral still-life arrangements. “The endless possibilities of colors, textures and compositions that I can explore with this theme is exhilarating!"