We recently connected with Rohini Mathur and have shared our conversation below.

Rohini, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I have always been a creative person at heart and art has always been a significant part of my life from early childhood days. I remember the only class I looked most forward to it in elementary school was my art class! I was actively engaged in a lot of creative projects and art activities all through my high school and received numerous accolades for my creative endeavors. But somewhere along the way, the pressure of pursuing a formal education and corporate career took precedence over my passion for arts and the creative field.
My educational background is in business and finance and I worked in several finance roles in Corporate America for over 11 years.
About 7 years ago, I had an epiphany while I was crunching numbers on a financial spreadsheet at my day job that there was something really missing in my life. Even though I was successful and had a cushy corporate job, I felt like there was a big void and deep down, I knew it was somehow linked to being creatively unfulfilled. I was trying hard to balance my stressful work with some creative playtime after work hours and on weekends; but unfortunately, still felt incomplete and discontented.
Finally, I took a giant leap of faith and decided to pursue my art passion full time; and thus quit my successful corporate career at Amazon. This is how my creative journey started and Rohini ArtWorld, my creative business was born.
It has been an incredible journey filled with numerous accomplishments, accolades and invaluable career milestones. There were several challenges, failures and disappointments along the way too. It has been very interesting navigating this unknown area of creative world and embracing it wholeheartedly to pursue my undying passion.

Rohini, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m a self-taught floral and botanical painter working from my home studio in Bothell, Washington. I’m an award-winning artist and enjoy creating vibrant floral, botanical and garden paintings that pay homage to the immense wonders of Mother Nature. Being an avid flower gardener and nature enthusiast, creating colorful garden scenes with playful and whimsical pollinators is what I enjoy most in my art practice. By blending detailed designs, symmetrical patterns, and doodles inspired by Zentangle and other doodling art forms with my floral subjects, I want my viewers to experience the texture and movement in my artworks.

Inspired by this deep desire to express and capture the incredible beauty of the natural world, I attempt to bring life into my paintings using my own distinctive style. Through my paintings, I want to share my deep appreciation and wonderment of the natural world and want viewers to pause from their busy lives and admire the beauty that surrounds us each moment.
My artwork takes the viewers on a visual journey with focus on vibrant colors, harmonious compositions and a myriad of textures, shapes and forms. I like to capture the essence and mood of my subjects rather than a complete detailed mirror image; and thus enjoy painting from carefree abstraction to subtle realism. Bold and bright colors are my go-to palette and I paint in different art mediums such as acrylics, oils and other water media while continually exploring creative ways to intermix these art mediums together.

I have won several accolades and awards and have been juried into several exhibitions in Washington and Oregon. I’m also a Public Artist with art installations at City of Bellevue, Issaquah, SeaTac, Redmond, Mount Vernon and paintings that are part of City of Kent Public Art collection. I have been awarded with the City of Issaquah Public Art Grant this year and enjoy collaborating with local art communities to spread joy, hope, positivity and color through my work.
I’m passionate about sharing my love for creative arts and enjoy teaching several classes and workshops with Kirkland Arts Center, Bellevue College, Bellevue Botanical Garden, UW Botanic Gardens and through my own Rohini ArtWorld studio.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I feel as an artist or creative, you have valuable influence and power to make a difference in the world by sharing your art, your story and a unique perspective. Besides adding beauty to the world, Art can truly inspire change, make people feel certain ways and impact others in profound ways. As an artist, you have the ability to move people intellectually or emotionally through something you’ve created. Seeing your creativity touch someone’s soul and watching them respond to your artwork in different ways is really heartwarming!
I feel so much joy and experience creative fulfillment when people connect with my art or the story behind my art making process. Through the creative expression of different perspectives, art can help challenge and break down stereotypes, provide a platform for marginalized voices, and foster understanding and empathy; which is very relevant in today’s increasingly interconnected and diverse world. The satisfaction of sparking community discussions, encouraging critical thinking, and prompting viewers to see the world from different perspectives is a significant reward of being an artist.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

One lesson I had to unlearn is the idea that “perfection is the ultimate goal”!

Working in Corporate America for over a decade in business and finance-oriented roles, perfection was something that was ingrained within me and expected because of the kind of work I did. But as I transitioned into my art journey full time, this was something that I struggled with initially with great challenge and frustration. I had to completely change my mindset from being perfect all the time and giving myself more grace and freedom to make mistakes, embrace them and continuing to learn and grow from those setbacks. As a creative, the art making process is full of experimentation, unbridled play, exploring and trying new things to creatively push boundaries and so much more. Embracing the joy in the creation of something even if it was not what I intended it to be really helped change my mindset and attitude as I paved my art journey.

As an artist, striving for perfection can stifle creativity, lead to frustration, and really impede one’s natural, creative intuition and artistic expression. Embracing imperfections and understanding that they add more uniqueness and authenticity to your work is a valuable lesson that I slowly learned and imbibed along my art journey. Learning to enjoy, having fun and making “happy accidents ” while creating art really helped me fuel and further my creative expression. Letting go of the need to be flawless every time allows for more joyful growth and true artistic freedom.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.rohiniartworld.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rohini.artworld
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/RohiniArtWorld