Ochre Studio · Fort Kochi, Kerala

Nila Varghese

Painter & illustrator

Oil paintings, watercolours and digital illustration about water, monsoon light and the old port towns of Kerala. Original works, prints and commissions from a first-floor studio on Princess Street.

See the works Commission a piece
Oil painting of coconut palms and a houseboat on an indigo backwater under an ochre noon sky
Backwater Noon, 2025 · Oil on linen, 90 × 120 cm

I.

Selected works

Nine pieces from the last seven years. Select any work to see it larger, with its size and whether it's available.

Illustration of Nila painting a backwater scene at her easel, palette in hand

The studio, Princess Street, 2026

II.

Artist statement

“I paint the hour when the light in Kochi turns the colour of turmeric, and everything near the water seems to hold its breath.”

I grew up between Kottayam and Fort Kochi, in houses where the monsoon was a season you listened to. My work starts there: water, weather and the slow life of port towns that have been trading with the world for six hundred years.

I move between oil, watercolour and digital tools depending on what a subject asks for. Oil for heat and weight, watercolour for rain, and digital for pattern and print. All three begin the same way, with a pencil sketch made on site.

Nila Varghese

III.

Exhibitions & residencies

Solo and group shows across South India and Mumbai since 2019.

  1. 2026 Salt & MonsoonNow showing · until 30 Nov Kayal Art House, Fort Kochi Solo
  2. 2025 Water, Light, Wood Marine Drive Art Space, Kochi Group
  3. 2024 The Port Towns Gallery Neelam, Mumbai Solo
  4. 2023 Tungabhadra Artist ResidencySix weeks · works on paper Hampi, Karnataka Residency
  5. 2022 New Voices of the South Bengaluru Art Collective, Bengaluru Group
  6. 2021 Paper Monsoons Studio Kaveri, Chennai Solo
  7. 2019 Young Painters PrizeFinalist Malabar Arts Foundation, Kozhikode Award

IV.

Commission a piece

Portraits, book covers, murals and gifts. Tell me what you have in mind and the form will turn it into a WhatsApp message or an email for you to send.

  1. 01Talk We agree on the idea, size, medium and date.
  2. 02Sketch Two pencil roughs within a week, one round of changes.
  3. 03Paint Two to eight weeks, with progress photos on WhatsApp.
  4. 04Deliver Framed or rolled, insured shipping anywhere in India.
Portraits, oil or watercolour
from ₹18,000
Book & album covers
from ₹25,000
Digital illustration
from ₹12,000
Wall murals
from ₹450 / sq ft

Medium

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1 / 9

Backwater Noon

Oil on linen · 90 × 120 cm · 2025

Available

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