000%
The Sangeet Samaroh painting shown in a dark carved wooden frameSangeet SamarohOil and acrylic on canvas, 24 x 18"
In the studioOil, a loaded palette and a tattooed hand
A long horizontal pichwai of Krishna multiplied among dancing gopis in a grove, with a lotus border along the bottomRaas LeelaOil and acrylic on canvas, 12 x 48"

पेंटिंगवाली

Paintingwali

Archana Nakhua Bhanushali, Visualiser & Tattoo Artist

Scroll

The studio

The undying
urge to create.

Archana Nakhua Bhanushali decided at a very young age to be an artist, and was lucky enough not to be stopped by the whole family — who knew she was born for it even more than she did herself. After her diploma in applied arts, not enjoying it as much, she went back to canvas, and later started learning tattooing from the simple urge to create on every canvas possible. The urge became a passion and a career, for the past sixteen years, and she is well known for her tattooing skills. Paintingwali was born in 2020, when she could not touch skin and nor could she stop the urge to create.

She is naturally more inspired by travel, and by the nature she gets to experience through her journey.

Collections

The Collection

From five-foot devotional panels to a postcard you can put in an envelope.

कैनवास

Canvas Paintings

Original paintings in oil and acrylic on canvas. Each is the only one of its kind.
चित्रांकन

Portraits and Commissions

Faces, families and animals painted from photographs — including the ones people bring when someone is no longer here.
राधा कृष्ण

Radha Krishna Prints

The series that became Paintingwali's signature. Prints on paper and on canvas, from postcard to two feet.
जलरंग

Watercolours

Original watercolours on paper, and the print series — Kerala, Kutch and the Kathakali dancers.
लेखन सामग्री

Stationery and Books

Diaries, spiral sketchbooks and drawing books carrying the artwork — the most affordable way to own one.

Selected work

Radha and Krishna embracing among pale pink and blue clouds, framed by a carved stone archway painted into the canvasGharThe Sangeet Samaroh painting shown in a dark carved wooden frameSangeet SamarohThree horses at full gallop — one black, one white, one chestnut — against a dark gold groundGhodeA self-portrait: the artist laughing, holding two pink gerberas over her eyes, enclosed in a large brown oval on a deep red ground marked with cream dots, tribal symbols and a small painter's paletteAatma ChitraA vast pale snowfield under a deep blue starlit night sky, with a single small figure in red standing alone at the horizonKhoj Mein KhoyoKrishna as the king of Dwarka in saffron robes against turquoise, holding a conch, with cows at his feetDwarkadhish Moj MaiA wide pichwai of Shrinathji standing on a lotus at the centre, flanked by gopis, cows, peacocks and deer under dark treesShreenathji SwaroopA figure reclining on a green and gold embroidered flying carpet with a horse's head at its prow, gliding through pink-grey cloud with birds passing alongsideMoujKrishna oiling and massaging Radha's hair from behind, against a bright mandala of petals in orange, green and violetChampi

About

The vibrant colours bring life
in the harsh but beautiful deserts

Though Archana was born and brought up in Mumbai, her roots in Kutch never faded. Kutch has always had a tattoo history — known there as Trajva — and almost everyone in her family had at least one dot tattooed, if nothing else. She has always been drawn to the way the Rabari women wore tattoos on their necks and hands, and that shows in her tattoo style and in her paintings too: neem trees and leaves, animals, birds, the sun and the moon, and a great many dots standing for seeds and for farming. Then come the vibrant colours, bringing life to the harsh but beautiful desert.

Read about Archana →

A self-portrait: the artist laughing, holding two pink gerberas over her eyes, enclosed in a large brown oval on a deep red ground marked with cream dots, tribal symbols and a small painter's palette

Studio

Work in progress

Commissions on the floor, canvases too big for the easel, and the slow middle stage of a painting when it looks worse than it did the week before. The studio page is where that gets shown.

Into the studio →

A wide pichwai of Shrinathji standing on a lotus at the centre, flanked by gopis, cows, peacocks and deer under dark trees

Somewhere
to hang it.

Every piece here can be bought directly from the artist. Tell her which one, and where it is going.

Start a conversation

Instagram

Her studio,
her happy place

Work in progress, finished pieces leaving for their new walls, and occasionally a cat sitting on those artworks, blessing them with positivity.

Follow @paintingwali
Krishna oiling and massaging Radha's hair from behind, against a bright mandala of petals in orange, green and violetA self-portrait: the artist laughing, holding two pink gerberas over her eyes, enclosed in a large brown oval on a deep red ground marked with cream dots, tribal symbols and a small painter's paletteA hardbound diary held in two hands, its cover carrying the Samavisht drawing of Radha and Krishna in cloudsA group of pink flamingos wading in shallow turquoise waterRadha and Krishna lying in a garden among large pink lotuses, both laughing, with a white calf resting beside themThree horses at full gallop — one black, one white, one chestnut — against a dark gold groundTwo Kathakali dancers in full costume and face paint sitting at a bamboo café table with coffee cupsA calico cat sitting upright on a grey sofa, painted in soft daylight