About

Ambika is a creative and versatile artist. Her work encompasses ceramic arts, fine paintings, murals, fashion, home decor, and landscaping.  She has participated in international exhibitions and taught art to adults and children. She has lived and worked in  England, Spain, and Africa. She has travelled widely taking in the culture, food and art of every place she visited.

Ambika attended the Royal College of Art in London, England, and was awarded a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1972. Her Raku ceramic art was exhibited at the Nicholas Treadwell Gallery in London and the Henley Gallery in Henley-on-Thames, near Windsor Castle.  

From 1972 to 1980, Ambika lived in southern Spain, where she taught art to children and adults at Finca La Follenca, a humanistic growth center in Estepona, Málaga, Spain. There, she was commissioned to paint murals, inspired by Islamic tiles and rugs. She also designed wall hangings and caftans that were hand-dyed, patchworked, and embossed with beads. These were sold in Rome, Italy, as well as in San Francisco at the Chair House, a beautiful boutique in Ghirardelli Square.

From 1980 to 1987, Ambika lived in Lubumbashi, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), Africa. She studied with two African artists, masters in their art. One was a master wood carver known as “ Chingai”. His carved panels are renowned throughout Africa and Europe.

The other was a Naïve painter, named “Pili Pili”. His work is included in the Royal Collection of the Belgian Queen Mother, Elizabeth, and is featured on UNICEF cards. It was his colorful paintings of nature, deer, birds, and fish that inspired Ambika to draw. She said in a magazine article she wrote about Pili Pili and his art that when she first saw his paintings, she exclaimed, “This is how I want to paint!” Ambika said his fingers were like paintbrushes, and he always told a story about every painting. 

After spending time in Africa, Ambika returned to the mountains of southern Spain, where she had a small ceramic studio. She organized art shows for the expatriate community and featured her work. In 1989 she moved to the UK to study and practice homeopathy. She was a member of The Society of Homeopaths for many years before returning to the United States in 1998.

Ambika showed her ceramic art in private exhibitions in the Denver area. It wasn’t until Christmas 2008 that she was introduced to the Waldorf painting method. This method of laying watercolor paints on wet paper inspired her to develop her angelic paintings. Ambika found that applying paints to wet paper and letting them dry brought out many shapes and forms, which she developed into angels, fairies, and nature spirits. All the paintings displayed in her digital gallery were created in this manner.

After a few years of developing and working with this unique method of painting, she was invited to participate in a two-woman show at the DeGrazia Gallery in Tucson, Arizona, in 2014.  Following the exhibition, she submitted 62 paintings to Eddison-Sadd Publications Ltd, UK, as  illustrations for an oracle card deck called “Angels of Light.”This was published in 2017 in several languages and has become an international success.  

Ambika continues to create her “spirit paintings,”. Her themes include angels, Madonnas, nature spirits, and, more recently, illustrations of Native American culture she calls the Rainbow Tribe. These paintings are now featured in her new book, ANGELS HEAL US, a full-color rendition of her paintings accompanied by meditations, prayers, and affirmations.