Tej is a British born, largely self taught artist, with Indian-Kenyan heritage who lives in Wimbledon, SW London, with her husband and two young daughters.

Tej has always been passionate about art and painting portraits, but her early education was in science and she completed a masters degree in optometry which gave her the opportunity to volunteer and work abroad. Self-reflection around the time of a milestone birthday in 2019, coinciding with her youngest starting school, inspired her to start drawing portraits again.

Having studied visual perception, as part of her undergraduate course, and working part time as an optometrist, it’s through portraits she combines science and art. Observational skills are a key element in clinical optometry and art alike. She uses her academic study of the behaviour of light and knowledge of facial anatomy with her love of luminosity and colour to reveal the subtleties of the human face. Faces fascinate her; how the curve of a smile or an eyebrow arch can express personality. The allure of portraiture for her is something much greater than the likeness; it is the expression and character that she seeks to capture, which most intrigues.

Bringing happiness to her clients by transforming their photographs into a cherished portrait, to be treasured for generations to come, is what drives her to keep learning and developing as an artist.

On a technical level Tej works with pastels, charcoal and more recently oil paints, using some traditional techniques in her own unique contemporary style of realism.

Exhibitions

Tej has been fortunate to have her portraits exhibited in the Great Big Art Exhibition by First Sight Colchester, in the online magazine, Volup-2 Tej Kahlon — VOL•UP•2 (volup2.com) and Healthcare Heroes on Google Arts and Culture On the front line - Tej Kahlon — Google Arts & Culture.

Examples of her commissions can be seen on the Gallery page and please do get in touch if you would like a commissioned portrait.