I am thoroughly in love with the vast coastline of our beloved country and, of course, the imposing lighthouses, many of which are over a century old. I decided to visit all of them by way of five different expeditions over the last few years. This involved travel of over 35,000 kilometers by road around the coastline and many nautical miles around the Andaman Nicobar and Lakshadweep Islands, visiting tiny seaside towns and hamlets not marked on standard tourist maps, and capturing on camera the vibrant coastal life and the lighthouses as my reference material for my paintings. It was wonderful to talk to and hear the stories of the lighthouse keepers who live in isolation but unafraid, proud to keep their lights burning so that seafarers may have safe passage along the jagged coast.

These expeditions and the resultant paintings in different media have been instrumental in helping me evolve as a marine artist. My work on the lighthouses led to further specialization in marine art, with painting assignments for the Mazagaon Dock, and several paintings commissioned by the Indian Coast Guard and the Indian Navy for their various establishments, including the Indian Naval Academy at Ezhimala, INS Valsura, and Naval Dockyards at Mumbai and Visakhapatnam. My paintings of various warships, missile carriers, frigates and aircraft carriers are on permanent display at various naval establishments.