(Suspenseful music) (door slams) (soft music) - We are at the Tillamook State Forest on the way to the coast.

I think we found this place like two years ago I was just driving with a friend to the coast.

I just love that it's by the river and different seasons you get to experience different things, different colors.

I've been here in winter a lot and that brings on its own beauty with the bare trees.

So it's just like really exciting to come here every time because I don't know what I'm gonna find.

I'm Bhavani Krishnan, and I paint landscapes, figure, still alive.

I love to come out and paint in nature.

(water splashing) Oh, wow this is so beautiful over here.

I just love that I could just look any direction and it would make a good painting.

I used to be a software engineer and about eight years ago I just started painting as a hobby.

And then very quickly I became more and more passionate about it.

And so about five years ago I transitioned into painting full time.

For me, it was just like how many people get to find their true passion?

I just felt like I had to go for it.

I had to give it a shot.

I was born in Switzerland, but we moved to India.

Like when I was two years old, I always feel like my love for mountains comes from me being born there.

I don't know, like, I don't know if it makes sense.

I just feel that... (laughing) (soft music) Being out in nature is always been a way for me to clear my head.

All the time, while growing up I sought groups that would go hiking.

I remember there being lots of waterfalls and we would just jump into the water and it was a lot of fun.

That's how I've developed a deep connection with nature.

Look at that water it's so golden with all the reflection of the trees.

It's just beautiful.

When I look at a scene I kind of see in terms of shapes and colors.

So it's kind of like a puzzle piece where different shapes fit together.

I try not to be very logical about it but just use nature as a jumping off point.

(soft music) Especially when there's a lot of green in the landscape the complementary color will help pop it.

I like to be very loose and expressive with my painting.

When I pick up the brush I don't even know exactly what I'm gonna do with it but I'm just going with that pure instinctual feeling.

And what happens is I get all these marks on my canvas that are quite quite unexpected which you can not produce if you're just thinking in a very calculated manner.

(soft music) If I can use minimal strokes to describe something that's always like way more exciting.

(soft music) I came to Oregon for work.

The very first time I came here was to interview with Intel and I saw Mt.

Hood from the plane.

I almost instantaneously like fell in love with it.

(soft music) I love to paint along the Columbia River Gorge.

I think that's just a really beautiful area.

I just love places that are open and natural.

I love going up to Mt.

Hood especially in winter to paint snow.

(soft music) I like coming here to Tillamook State Forest.

The color of the river, the color of the trees or the textures I see.

Each of them are beautiful in their own ways.

So I just like coming back here in different times of the year to try and capture that.

(soft music) When I'm out on location time just flies by.

Nothing seems to bother me.

It's kind of a euphoric feeling where things are happening organically and you're not forcing anything.

When I first started I learned a real very realistic style of painting where the most important thing was to make something look three dimensional.

And that was what was driving me.

But now recently I found that I need to say something that's a little bit beyond that.

I don't want to just copy a portrait and get an exact likeness, but try to, I don't know like just try and capture something about their personalities.

(soft music) So basically everything is already blocked in and everything is sort of in there, but I'm just trying to refine some of the colors, add some complexity.

There was like sunlight on the river, so I tried to capture that.

Towards is the end of the painting.

I like to step back more often because sometimes you can keep going and ruin it.

So it's a good idea to just step away get a fresh perspective and see if you're actually done.

Up close, it's kind of a big mess but when you step back, everything's sort of, you can see trees, the river, it sort of all comes together.

Yeah, I think I'm done.

Yeah, I think so.

(soft music) I would hope that people would have an emotional response to my painting.

(soft music) That they feel something, that they would be moved by my painting.

(soft music) Because when I look at art that's what I feel I'm moved by paintings that make me feel excited or invigorated.

And that's what I hope to transcend into my paintings.

(soft music)