Tena Koe,

I am Lydia Gottipalli, Alcohol ink and mixed media artist from West Auckland, New Zealand.

I am a self-taught artist and painting with alcohol inks since 2018. But I have always loved painting since early years. We had few resources growing up but during primary years I had some opportunity to play with acrylic paints. I loved drawing pencil portraits of family, friends and celebrities, drawing well known Bible stories with pastels and painting floral designs on dress materials for friends and family in my teen years. Then for many years due to busyness with work and life, I did very little painting except on handmade greeting cards.

A few years ago at a craft show, I purchased a set of Alcohol inks. I just heard of alcohol inks and was curious to try them on my card making projects. Soon I enjoyed making patterns with them and found myself drawn to painting.

Alcohol inks are different to other mediums. The colours are so vibrant and beautiful but controlling the inks was so hard, like they have a mind of their own. They are very unpredictable in how they flow and can take you by surprise. Inspired by their unusual nature, I was drawn to them and completely fell in love with these inks.

Soon, I realised the possibilities are endless with alcohol inks. I began to experiment with jewellery, polymer clay, ceramics, silks.

My favourite subjects to paint are nature / birds, expressive landscapes and enjoy painting with bold colours.