Custom Artwork for SALUTE Summit in New York City

This blog was originally published on my old website on 10/10/2023

On October 5th , I attended the SALUTE Summit in New York City. This trip to NYC was special because I got to create something for the Summit. 

When the founders of SALUTE approached me to create a custom painting for the Summit , I was excited because the painting represents what the Summit stands for. 

The painting brief was to create something with the New York City Skyline , the Bathhouse Studios in the background with a group of women - diverse South Asian women - moving forward and leading the way. 

Originally, I was going to paint live at the venue . But after discussing the logistics , it made more sense for me to paint it in the studio and have it displayed at the venue. 

I was given full creative freedom based on the brief . It really does bring the best out of me . 

I used acrylic paints on canvas. I started painting the Bathhouse Studios first . I wanted it to be in the center of the canvas and have the skyline in the background - and have the women painted in the front of the Bathhouse Studios.

As with any painting , I worked and reworked the color palette and placement of the buildings in the skyline , so it wouldn’t take the focus away from the women. 

Once I painted it , I varnished it and it was ready for the summit. 

It’s been a while since I was in NYC for work / fashion week . I drove to NYC with my 24 x 30 finished canvas the morning of the summit and attended it in the afternoon. While I love painting at events, I’m really glad I got to attend this one without painting live. I got to fully immerse myself in the summit and listen to the amazing talks from the various women on the panels. 

The conversations centered around leadership , finance and investing . It woke up the dormant side of my brain , because I think very differently about finance.  

Thinking and creating a vision artistically is very different from how one thinks about finance and investing in businesses and other people’s business ideas . I left the summit feeling very inspired and energized. It was a wonderful experience meeting other attendees and making some new friends and exploring a different thought process. 

This was their first summit and I look forward to attending more in the future. 

Connect and learn more about SALUTE and their mission .