Nitish Tandon

"The mountains taught me to look slowly. Painting is how I answer back."

I was born and raised in Himachal Pradesh, in the lap of the western Himalayas. I never went to art school — my classroom has been the forest, the high meadow, and the long winter hours in a small studio outside Manali.

I work in oil and acrylic on canvas, drawn to wildlife — the snow leopard, the Himalayan monal, the barking deer — and to the landscapes that hold them. My practice is patient and observational; many works begin with weeks of walking before a brush is ever lifted.

Each painting is built up in slow, deliberate layers. Where oil gives me depth and luminosity, acrylic lets me chase the quick light of dawn. Both media, in their own way, carry the texture of the place I love.