Freshman Kangana Modi first got involved with St. Jude because of an old friend who had cancer. Through her, she connected with the hospital personally.
Modi spends around 30 to 40 hours on each of her artworks. “The time spent varies on the difficulty,” she said. “Paintings that involve skin tones are the most difficult ones.” For example, a painting she painted of her baby cousin took her half a year to finish. Modi determines the prices of her art based on the time and effort she puts into them.
What she decides to paint for the day depends on her mood. “If I am in the mood to paint something simple, I’ll go with nature,” she said; “however, if I want to do something different and new, I’ll include difficult elements such as people.”
Before starting her paintings and sketches, Modi often likes to go online and look at photos for inspiration. Sometimes, an image of the picture she wants to paint pops into her head, and she follows that without any reference.
Modi’s top three artworks so far are “Lord of Ganesha,” “Cousin Arya,” and “Pluto the Pug”. She explained that “Lord of Ganesha” is in her top three. “It was my first painting working with skin tones and creating something that was symbolic to me and my Hindu religion. She chose “Cousin Arya” as her next one simply because of the joy she experienced as she painted someone from her family she values so much. Lastly, she picked “Pluto the Pug” as her final favorite. “It introduced me to a new medium and surprised me in many ways since I did not know that working with colored pencils would make it easier to add details,” she said. “It also increased my skill level since I couldn’t erase any marks because I was using non erasable colored pencils that left a noticeable gray mark if I tried to erase it.”
Lord of Ganesha
Cousin Arya
Pluto the Pug
