Neela is
an 80+ year old grandmother, doctor and artist. She began her creative career, painting watercolors at age 49 under the tutelage of Sarita Anne Cooke at the Summit Adult Education program. Following Ms. Cooke’s advice, Neela attended watercolor classes at du’ Cret, in Plainfield, NJ as a part time student. These classes ignited her passion to paint watercolors and motivated her to take various workshops predominantly with Barbara Nechis.
Her career as a hospital pathologist thrived while pursuing her artistic passion. Due to her strong connection to the hospital, Neela was able to start an art gallery at the Radiology dept at St. Francis Hospital where she displayed her work for her peers to enjoy. Neela has generously donated her art for fundraisers, both at hospitals and at the Rotary in NJ. You can often find Neela demonstrating her watercolor painting technique at area art clubs.
Neela’s favorite way of painting is to add colors to wet or damp paper. She then allows for shapes to emerge from the paper by picking them out with negative painting. Neela loves to use COLOR in her work and uses a veritable feast of colors in her floral works which are semi-abstract to sometimes totally abstract. When Neela paints landscapes and still lifes, you will find that she is more restrained with her color palette. Many of her prints hang at St. Francis Hospital in Poughkeepsie, NY and six of her semi abstract floral prints are in the radiology department of Atlantic City Medical Center. These purchases were a result of being chosen from a statewide competition a few years ago. You can also find several of her paintings on display at FCG Advisors, a local financial services firm in Chatham, NJ.
Neela is a member of the NJCVA, NJWS, GSWCS and the Essex Watercolor Club. She occasionally exhibits with these organizations and has received first place awards for watercolors as well as a certificate of honor from NJCVA in Summit. In addition to these awards, she has had several solo shows at the Radiology Gallery at St Francis, she has exhibited at the Morristown Memorial Hospital, the Bouras office building in Summit as well as at the New Providence and Summit libraries. She has also participated in group and solo shows at The Temple in Livingston, NJ, New Century gallery in Chelsea, and the Jadite gallery in NYC, Locust Grove, Poughkeepsie, NY. Neela has participated in multiple art residencies at the Scenic Hudson, Red Barn in Beacon, NY and in Poland. For several years, she was the art director of a show called Woman-Art, which was run by the Summit College Club for women artists of the NY-NJ-PA area at the New Providence library where artists could exhibit two-dimensional art in any medium without restrictions. She has won awards in multiple venues for her watercolor paintings, and she has exhibited her works in Rome. She is represented by Montserrat Contemporary Art Gallery in Chelsea, NYC.
“Painting is an integral part of my Life. It is an expression of my joy in everything I see.”
Solo Shows:
- Morristown Hospital
- Temple in West Orange
- Locust Grove, Poughkeepsie New York
- Bernardsville Library
- Mendham Township Library
- New Providence Library x2
- Summit Library
- Jadite Gallery, 413 W50th Street, NY, NY.
Awards:
- multiple awards Newburgh public Library
- multiple awards NJ Visual Arts
- Essex Watercolor Club
More Recent:
- London Biennalle 2019
- Published in Spotlight Magazine x2
- Was in Masters of Contemporary Art 2019 & 2020