Meet Shilpa Kancharla | Machine Learning Engineer & Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Shilpa Kancharla and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Shilpa, do you have any habits that you feel contribute to your effectiveness?
I believe in brainstorming about projects that are interesting to me. I made a habit of taking tons of photos, playing around with colors in Adobe Lightroom, and writing stories behind paintings. I try put a lot of thought behind each creation. I also attempt to paint a wide variety of subjects – from portraits, landscapes, planets, abstracts, still life, etc.

I also think building fundamental art skills behind painting is important. I break them down into drawing, color theory, understanding values of color, and how colors work together to set a mood. Creating studies of other artists’ work (with credit to them), without getting caught up about copying them exactly, but developing my own style, has been essential. I also try to make sure I paint once a day if I can, listen to other artists’ advice, and it’s become a lifestyle choice entirely.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I work on several different areas of visual art: painting (oil, gouache), printmaking (relief carving), pottery, and photography. My newest interest is woodworking!

Working in two-dimensional and three-dimensional space, as well as playing around with negative space, has helped me see the world differently. I started oil painting and pottery during the pandemic, and ever since then they’ve become core parts of my lifestyle. I’ve picked up printmaking along the way, and I continue to experiment with other forms of art.

At first, I felt intimidated by all these forms. But once I got past the first 15 minutes of struggling and found a groove to all my work, I couldn’t put whatever tool or canvas I was working with down. There are definitely times when my vision isn’t met in my work, but I make sure to study what I wasn’t satisfied with, and then I paint the entire canvas white again, prime it, and start over. I tell myself that no time is wasted, because I learned at every step.

I’m the most excited about an oil/acrylic painting series I have coming out of each of the planets/celestial bodies in our solar system. I’ve always been fascinated by astronomy, and I find very little of it painted in oil.

I want the world to see me as a creator with an eclectic amount of interests, trying to explore each interest slowly and meaningfully to better understand the world around me.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
LA Itinerary:

Food
– WAKE AND LATE
– Bohemian House of Espresso + Chai
– Saffron & Rose Ice Cream
– Ruen Pair

Visit
– The Getty Villa
– Point Mugu
– Venice Canals
– Descanso Gardens
– Eaton Canyon Falls

SF Itinerary:

Food
– Hila Ice Cream
– Zante’s Indian Pizza
– Han Il Kwan
– Tartine Bakery
– ABV

Visit
– The Filbert Steps/Coit Tower
– Haight Ashbury
– Valencia Street
– Baker Beach
– Mile Rock Beach
– Marin Headlands

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d like to thank my mom, who has always been supportive of all my hobbies, and hangs up even the work that I’m not the proudest of all around our home in North Carolina.

Website: https://shilpakancharlastore.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shilpakancharlastudio