At Little Italy ArtWalk, nature serves as muse for featured painters

At a recent art show, Karla Preciado watched from across her booth as a woman walked straight through the crowd to her paintings, put her hand to her heart and gasped, tears in her eyes.

“She said, ‘Oh my God, I feel your paintings,'” Preciado shared. “I think that is the biggest compliment I have ever received. That was so meaningful to me. Because that’s what you do. That’s why you do it, to reach people and connect.”

That kind of moment is what draws 100,000 guests each year to Mission Fed ArtWalk, San Diego’s beloved outdoor festival now celebrating its 42nd year. On April 25-26, more than 250 artists will set up along India Street in Little Italy, filling the neighborhood with original work in every medium, live music and interactive experiences.

Among this year’s featured artists are two women whose paths to painting could hardly look more different, yet both share a deep connection to the natural world.

Sangeetha Gopalakrishnan didn’t plan to become a painter. She planned to be an engineer, and for 19 years, she was. Born in South India, she arrived in San Diego County in 2007 to pursue a graduate degree in electrical engineering at UC San Diego, settling in La Jolla. 

What she didn’t expect was a back injury that would send her outside. Prescribed walking as part of her recovery, Gopalakrishnan discovered hiking, then camping, then backpacking. A decade of outdoor adventure followed.

Then, during the COVID-19 pandemic, she picked up a brush for the first time. 

“It was a random discovery,” she said. “I learned that I could paint outside, so it became a natural extension of my life outdoors.”

She found she couldn’t stop. After long days at work, she would paint for hours to decompress. By early 2024, she quit her engineering job entirely. 

“Sometimes you get that very strong certainty about things,” she said. 

Gopalakrishnan works in oils, but not just any oils. Her practice is certified as a California Green Business. Troubled by the toxic solvents common in oil painting, she spent years researching alternatives and now uses a fully nontoxic process. 

“It’s important the art I deliver to my collectors is safe,” she said. “If they sleep in a bedroom with my painting, I don’t want it to have any toxic varnishes.”

Now based in Irvine, she carries her easel into mountain ranges across California and the Southwest. The same trails that helped heal her back now feed her work in ways she can trace by stroke. 

“All my paintings start on the trails,” she said. “When I’m happy those colorful, joyful, bold brush strokes show up. I know what mood I was in when I was painting. It’s like an art journal.”

For ArtWalk, Gopalakrishnan is bringing large-scale California works including paintings from the Kern River, Yosemite and Wine Country, plus a nearly finished beach painting from Encinitas she is racing to dry in time. 

Gopalakrishnan will also be accompanied by Ginger, her 4-year-old Labradoodle and trailside companion. 

Her advice to first-time ArtWalk visitors is to slow down. 

“Really take in the art because just glancing through it, you cannot decide how you would feel once you bring it home,” she said. “Be present and enjoy the art.”

Karla Preciado grew up in Tijuana, just across the border from Chula Vista where she lives now. Ask her what the word Mexico brings to mind and the answer is immediate. 

“To me it’s color,” she said. “You see color everywhere, color in the buildings, color inside the restaurants, you have a party and it’s full of color. To me, color is happiness. Color makes me feel just a little bit better and that’s why I paint with saturated colors.”

Color is also, Preciado adds, a kind of alter ego. 

“I’m so shy,” she said. “In a group conversation, I’ll participate, but I’m not the loud person in the room. Color is my alter ego trying to get out.”

Preciado’s path to painting ran through southern Spain, where her husband, a retired Navy officer, received orders to move the family to the coast of Andalucía. She took her first painting class there and eventually developed a fluency in abstraction. She has since shown at ArtWalk’s Carlsbad and Liberty Station events, but this year marks her first time at Little Italy.

“It’s such an honor,” she said of being named a featured artist. “It’s over 250 artists and to be chosen, I’m just thrilled.”

Working in acrylics, Preciado builds up paintings in intuitive layers — covering, reacting, revealing. The process leaves behind discoveries buried in the work. 

“You get these glimpses of history that you can’t see from afar,” she said. “I love that about a painting. You keep rediscovering each time you see it, you notice little things that you didn’t notice the first time.” 

Like Gopalakrishnan, Preciado finds painting and nature deeply intertwined, two routes to the same stillness. 

“Painting is a form of meditation,” she said. “It keeps me grounded. My troubles melt away and I get the same feeling when I’m in nature.”

Preciado is bringing a new collection of abstract landscapes to ArtWalk that she describes as “a little bit more representational but still abstract.” 

She is equally eager for conversations the weekend brings. 

“You create for yourself, and then when you get to talk with people and see what they like, that’s very valuable,” Preciado said. 

Her advice to visitors is ask questions. 

“Get to know the artist,” she said. “And if something pulls on your heartstrings, get it.”

Mission Fed ArtWalk runs April 25-26 along India Street in Little Italy. Find Sangeetha Gopalakrishnan at Booth #154 and Karla Preciado at Booth #358. 

For more information, go to www.artwalksandiego.org/missionfed.