Watercolour, ink, and the animals we love.

I’m Tulsi, a watercolour artist based in Geneva. Like a lot of people, I loved art as a child. Then life carried on, and art quietly fell away. I came back to it in 2022 when I bought my son his first set of paints. One day I started painting with him, and art quickly became one of our favourite ways to spend time together. It also became my own creative outlet, a way of slowing down and paying attention.

The first years were mostly experimentation. Everyday life became material: Lake Geneva, sketches from work travel, the Alps, and of course my pugs, past and present. While I still enjoy experimenting with other mediums, I love the simplicity and unpredictability of watercolour.

The piece that really focused me was a continuous line portrait of my pug Elsa — quick, quirky, imperfect, and full of personality, just like her. Something about that drawing made me realise animals were my subject.

I work primarily in ink and watercolour drawing inspiration from urban sketching and atmospheric, loose watercolour. I’m less interested in realism than in personality, expression, and presence. Whether it’s the coziness of a sleeping dog beside you or a familiar expression seen every day for years, I hope my paintings capture something of that feeling of the animals we love.

Alongside my career in international development, I continue to paint and experiment, from 5 × 5 cm miniatures that fit in the palm of your hand to mid-sized studies, and larger A4 or A3 pieces. In addition to pet portraits, I paint original animal and wildlife studies.

If you’d like a portrait of your own animal, I’d love to paint them.