Patricia M Osborne

I’m delighted to welcome artist and poet, Oormila Vijayakrishnan Prahlad, to Patricia’s Pen. For this blog, Oormila is sharing details about her artwork. You’re going to love it.

My Artwork

Oormila Vijayakrishnan Prahlad

Painting is my favorite form of therapy. When I find myself in a rut, I take my art supplies out and play around. The disquiet just melts away. Making art, for me, is the way to feel centered and grounded.

I have been painting for as long as I can remember. Even though I have never been to art school, I had many wonderful mentors at different points in my life who helped shape my practice. I find inspiration in everyday sights and scenes, and these are the main subjects in my work.

Song for Wintering, 8.5″x 13.5″ mixed-media on canvas grain paper, painted in response to Kaitlyn Bancroft’s poem of the same title. Published as a broadside by Thimble Literary Magazine.

In the early 2000s I used to be an IB English teacher. When I quit teaching to be a full-time mum to my kids and moved to Singapore, I took up painting seriously. I set up a studio space, and embarked on a-painting-a-day goal for a few years. I also started exhibiting my paintings at local galleries.

When I emigrated to Australia in 2015, I joined an amazing group called Art Together. We were a bunch of artists who painted together every week at a pub in the city. Then a chance meeting on a train with a nurse who worked at a renal hospital, resulted in a three-year gig where I taught painting to elderly patients while they underwent dialysis. I found immense joy in this art-therapy undertaking. The patients and I created over 50 paintings together which we exhibited in a gallery space. Eventually, I started teaching art to young kids at an after-school program. Then Covid struck and I lost my job. And a lot of things changed for me and my creative practice—I discovered the exciting universe of literary magazines and started publishing both art and poetry in journals and anthologies. I also moved away from my impressionistic roots and began dabbling in collage and mixed-media.

Dragonfly, 8″x11.5″ mixed-media on canvas grain paper.

I love vibrant, bright colors. I am an optimistic person at my core, and I want my art to affirm life, to celebrate the beautiful moments. I like to make pretty things from waste materials and scraps. I have several shelves in my studio that are stacked with what most people would call junk: assorted wrapping papers, packaging tissues, cloth bits, lace trimmings, and all sorts of random odds and ends. I love to mix and match these in my artworks, experiment, and explore the possibilities.

Hill Street, 8.5″ x12″ mixed-media on canvas grain paper.

I am deeply inspired by the works of Carol Marine, Froyle Davies, Mike Bernard, Elizabeth St. Hilaire, Carol Nelson, and France Papillon. I am a life-long student, keen to pick up new skills and techniques, always looking to improve and try new things. I value the process of creating more than the finished piece. I often donate my works to fundraisers and charities I love. I am very grateful for this gift of expression I’ve been given—art has helped me navigate life’s vicissitudes, connect with people, and above all, find peace and purpose.

About Oormila Vijayakrishnan Prahlad

Oormila is an Indian-Australian artist, poet, and improv pianist. Her art has been featured on the covers of several journals including Pithead Chapel, Stonecoast Review, and Amsterdam Quarterly Yearbook. She has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and multiple times for the Best of the Net in both art and writing categories, and was a finalist in the Dai Fry Memorial Award for Mystical Poetry 2022. Her poetry book, Patchwork Fugue, is forthcoming from Atomic Bohemian Press (Wales) in February 2024. She lives and works in Sydney on traditional Gammeragal land.

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