Lavender Light

5.5″ × 3.5″

Artist statement: Two years ago, I shifted from drinking coffee to tea during my studio sessions. I discovered an unexpected material in the process. The delicate, silky texture of used tea bags, with their deep, organic stains, felt like beautiful miniature canvases, full of artistic possibility. I began saving, drying, and painting on them. Since then I’ve created more than 150 small-format works exploring a wide range of subjects.

My garden remains one of my favorite sources of inspiration, and flowers and weeds appear often in this ongoing series. This piece depicts lavender from my kitchen patch, arranged in a small mason jar. The painted tea bag is mounted on a vintage music sheet for added stability and visual interest. It has been created using gouache, acrylics, brush pens, and distress inks. I leave the original tags attached as a nod to scale and origin.

Each work measures approximately 5.5″ × 3.5″. This process continues to bring me immense joy. I see it as an intimate ritual of working with everyday materials and discovering the artistic possibilities that emerge through their transformation.

Oormila Vijayakrishnan Prahlad is a widely published and awarded Indian-Australian artist and poet. She has been painting for over 25 years. Her work has been published on the covers and within the pages of numerous literary journals and anthologies including Club Plum journal, Yale Divinity School, Amsterdam Quarterly, West Trestle Review, and Pithead Chapel. She lives and works in Sydney, on traditional Gameragal land. Find her @oormilaprahlad and see more of her work here: www.instagram.com/oormila_paintings

A Song for Oormila