Today we’d like to introduce you to Aruna Rao.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I’m Aruna Rao, a Florida-based impressionist painter specializing in what I call “shimmer paintings”—landscape oil works that explore the luminous, atmospheric effects of light on the coast.
I grew up in India in a literary household surrounded by art books—Monet’s haystacks, Degas’ pastels, Van Gogh’s night skies. Those early encounters planted a spark that never faded. After moving to the U.S., I built a career in IT, but the pull toward painting only grew stronger. Eventually, I earned my MFA in Painting with top honors from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and committed fully to life as a professional artist.
What drives my work is a lifelong fascination with those transformative moments when light turns an ordinary scene into something transcendent—the way morning mist softens a shoreline into layers of silver, how midday brilliance fractures across rippling water, or late afternoon light that saturates the coast in unexpected warmth. I’m not painting places; I’m painting light itself: the shimmer, the glow, the atmosphere that makes you pause and feel something. I often weave in subtle human narratives—a distant sailboat, figures on the shore—to emphasize our connection to these coastal moments.
My work is represented by established fine art galleries including Sheldon Fine Art in Naples, Florida and Thornwood Gallery in San Antonio, Texas. From my Florida studio, I create paintings that invite viewers into those fleeting, luminous moments that connect us all to the coast’s enduring beauty.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The path hasn’t been entirely smooth, though I see every challenge now as essential to finding my voice.
One of the biggest was geographic. Moving from Michigan to Colorado and then to Florida meant starting over each time—not only socially, but creatively. Each place has its own character, its own light, its own atmosphere. What works in the Rocky Mountains doesn’t translate to the Atlantic coast. Every move required me to relearn the landscape from the ground up, and in many ways, it felt like beginning again.
The pandemic arrived just as I was gaining momentum as a full-time artist. Galleries closed, shows were canceled, and the entire ecosystem I had planned to grow within suddenly disappeared. It forced me to rethink how to connect with collectors, build visibility, and keep creating in a time of uncertainty.
But perhaps the most meaningful struggle was artistic: discovering my true subject. I spent years exploring different avenues—gardens, cityscapes, varied coastal scenes. The work was solid, but I hadn’t yet found what felt distinctly mine. That searching period was uncomfortable, as any artist looking for their signature voice knows well.
The breakthrough came when I stopped trying to paint everything and committed to one focus: capturing the atmospheric shimmer and play of light on water. It felt narrow at first, almost restrictive. But that specificity opened everything up. It gave my work depth, a recognizable identity, and the clarity I’d been searching for.
In hindsight, those challenges weren’t setbacks—they were the road itself, shaping me into the artist I am today.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I create impressionist coastal oil paintings centered on the “shimmer”—those luminous moments when light transforms water into something sublime. At certain times of day on the coast, light transforms everything—the water, the land, the air itself. But my work isn’t about documenting coastlines. I’m drawn to capturing how a moment of light feels: the shimmer, the atmosphere, the very experience of standing there as light dances across water.
What distinguishes my work is this narrow but deep commitment to atmospheric light and how it creates both intimacy and universal connection. While many coastal painters create beautiful waves or detailed realism, I’m drawn to something more elusive—the emotional resonance of these fleeting moments. I also often include suggestive narrative human elements in my work to emphasize the connection between humanity and nature.
Technically, I work in oils, building luminosity through layers of glazing and subtle shifts in color temperature. My palette is intentionally unexpected for coastal work—blue-violets, soft mauves, teal-greens, warm rose tones—because atmospheric shimmer isn’t created through local color, but through relationships between colors that vibrate and glow against one another. This is what thrills me most about impressionism: exploring the nuances of shifting light and color.
My paintings are represented by Sheldon Fine Art in Naples, Thornwood Gallery in San Antonio, and placed through DE Fine Art. From my Florida studio, I’m building a cohesive body of shimmer paintings that explore different moods and light qualities within this coastal theme.
What I’m most proud of is finding true clarity in my artistic voice. I experimented for years with different subjects, but discovering this focus on atmospheric coastal light has felt like coming home. It’s allowed me to create work that feels authentic, recognizable, and uniquely mine.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
The book that changed everything for me was Lust for Life by Irving Stone—a fictionalized biography of Vincent van Gogh. Reading it years ago in college ignited something in me and planted the seed that eventually grew into my love for painting full-time.
Beyond that, the best resources are the sum of all my influences and for a landscape artist like me, nature itself. I spend time scouting Florida’s coast, observing beautiful light shifts and scenes that strike me, making notes and taking photos. Those experiences are irreplaceable—no book can teach you how light behaves on water at 7 a.m. versus 4 p.m. You have to be there, watching, soaking everything in.
I’m also deeply visual in how I gather inspiration. I spend time looking at and absorbing the works of master painters and other artists whose works I admire. Pinterest has become an unexpected tool—not for copying, but for collecting images that capture a particular quality of luminosity I want to remember or emulate. Movies with beautiful cinematography, photographs that capture fleeting light, even elegant interiors—anything that makes me pause and think “yes, that feeling.”
In the end, my creative process is more about sustained connection and observation. The best work comes from spending time in silence with the subject itself, letting the landscape and my work at the easel teach me what it wants to reveal.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.arunaraofineart.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arunarao.coastallight/
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/arunaraofineart/
