The Silent Architecture of a Painting: How Structure Gives Emotion Its Shape

Every painting begins long before the first stroke touches the canvas. For me, the process starts with an invisible architecture—a rhythm of lines, imagined spaces, and the faint outline of a story waiting to unfold. Even in abstraction, structure is essential. It is the quiet skeleton that holds emotion in place.

I often begin by sketching shapes that echo the arches, corridors, and sacred geometries found in India’s artistic heritage. These structures aren’t meant to be literal; they act as a pulse beneath the surface. Once this foundation is set, color steps in—sometimes softly, sometimes with a fierce insistence.

As layers build, the initial architecture begins to shift. Edges blur, forms dissolve, and a new world emerges. The final painting rarely resembles the first sketch, yet its soul remains tethered to that early whisper of structure. It is in this dance between discipline and intuition that the artwork finds its voice.