Some decisions look crazy from the outside. From the inside they feel like the only option.
In March 2026 I walked away from a stable career to become a full time artist. I didn’t have a backup plan. I didn’t have a guaranteed income. What I had was a studio, a stack of canvases, and the quiet certainty that if I didn’t do this now I never would.
Three months later three of my paintings were selected for an international exhibition at Milan Art Gallery in Sarasota, Florida.
This is the story of how that happened. And more importantly, why it matters.
The Leap
I didn’t arrive at art suddenly. It was a slow, deliberate move that took years.
I trained as a civil engineer in India and spent years building a career in government sector that looked good from the outside. Stable. Respected. Safe. But somewhere along the way I realised I was missing something.
In 2021 I moved to Australia during covid. New country, new culture, no friends or family nearby. Just me, figuring out who I was without all the familiar things around me. That quiet unfamiliar space is where I started painting seriously for the first time.
I painted in the early mornings before work. On weekends. In every spare hour I could find. Art wasn’t a hobby anymore, it became the place I felt most alive. Most like myself.
In March 2026 I finally stopped doing things halfway. I walked away completely and committed to painting full time.
The first three months were equal parts terrifying and liberating. No guarantees. No plan B. Just showing up to the studio every day and trusting the work.
The Theme That Found Me
About three months into my full time art life I came across a call for art for SOPA members from Milan Art Institute, a juried exhibition called Abstract Horizons at their gallery in Sarasota, Florida.
I stopped scrolling.
The brief described the horizon as a threshold moment, the quiet pull toward what’s next, the feeling of possibility opening up in front of you. Work that feels alive with movement and yet grounded in calm. Abstraction that says something is shifting.
It didn’t feel like an art competition. It felt like someone had written the brief about my life.
I was standing at exactly that horizon, somewhere between who I was trained to be and who I was becoming. The engineering career behind me. The artist’s life ahead. The ground shifting beneath my feet in the best possible way.
I submitted three paintings.
The Three Paintings
Each painting in this collection came from a different part of that journey.
“The Space Between” lives in the quiet before the decision. The moment just before everything changes. I moved to Australia during covid alone, far from everyone I knew, and this painting carries that in-between energy. Look closely and you’ll find pages from my old engineering textbooks collaged into the layers. My past still underneath everything, quietly holding it together while something completely new grows on top.
“Still Becoming” is honest about where I am right now. Not at the destination. Not fully arrived. But walking. There is gold in this painting because there is real beauty in this season of my life. But there are also raw edges and unfinished corners because that is the truth of transformation. The journey isn’t neat. It doesn’t wrap up cleanly.
“The Other Side” came together differently from the other two. Everything fell into place naturally, like my hands already knew what to do. I think that’s what happens when you stop fighting yourself. Years of practice. Years of showing up. And then one day it just flows. This painting is that moment.
All three are mixed media with collage on 30x30 inch gallery wrapped canvas. Engineering textbook pages are embedded in the layers of each one, my past quietly present underneath everything new.
The Selection
When the email arrived confirming all three paintings had been selected I felt something I hadn’t quite felt before.
Not surprise. A quiet knowing that the work was honest and the story was real. That when you paint from a true place something in that truth reaches people.
The Abstract Horizons exhibition opens July 10 2026 at Milan Art Gallery, 72 South Palm Avenue, Sarasota, Florida, USA. The show features artists from across the world and the works will be judged by both a jury and the public, with cash prizes awarded.
My three paintings, The Space Between, Still Becoming, and The Other Side, will be hanging there.
What This Means
For me this exhibition is more than a career milestone. It is confirmation that the leap was worth it.
Not because of the selection. But because of what making these paintings asked of me. They required honesty. They required me to paint from my real life rather than from a safe distance. They required me to trust that my story, an engineer who became an artist, who moved countries, who started over, was worth telling through paint.
If you are reading this as a collector, these paintings carry a genuine story. They are not decorative. They are not generic. They are the most personal work I have ever made. When you bring one of these into your home you are bringing in a piece of a real human journey.
If you are reading this as an artist, especially one who is standing at your own horizon, wondering whether to leap, I want you to know that three months is enough time for something real to happen. Show up. Do the work. Trust the story only you can tell.
See The Collection
The originals are exhibiting at Milan Art Gallery from July 10 2026.
view collection here: https://admin.shopify.com/store/tabassummalaniart/collections/513800995114
Follow the exhibition journey on Instagram at @tabassum_malani_art