From lab to canvas

A few years ago, I paused among the chaos of chemicals, glassware, and sensors, struggling to convey a design to my team. On the spur of the moment, I grabbed a piece of paper and started sketching the flow paths, mechanism, form, and placement of the sensor by hand. And whoa! Just like that, not only did my colleagues comprehend the concept, but we were able to further clarify the technicalities and identify the critical missing path that evaded both our calculations and descriptions.

In this moment, I realised the exceptional value of traditional art practices, particularly sketching and painting, in making complex sciences easier to understand.

Sketching has since become an integral part of my research workflow. When dealing with microfluidics devices and materials, quick little sketches help me to visualise a problem, troubleshoot, and plan much more efficiently than just text.

Sketching is not just the process of illustrating an idea; it is an analytical practice that requires us to refine, redraw and reshape concepts. When I sketch any idea, I have to break it down to its important individual sections, observe how each interacts, and refine the sketch with multiple adjustments.

By adding more dimensions to these visual representations, painting opens pathways for innovative problem-solving in scientific practice. It fosters open-minded creativity, which helps me design experimental protocols and devise approaches for novel research problems. During a hands-on workshop on designing paper-based devices, my painting practice helped me devise imaginative design patterns. Maintaining my painting practice enriches my mindset and strengthens my scientific abilities, enthusiasm, and adaptability.

The art of transformation

There lie deep parallels in chemistry and artistic creations. Both entail iterations, observation, and transformations. Artists create in layers, adjusting and observing how each stroke changes the composition, whereas chemists enhance their experiments step by step. Each move guides the next – from a blank canvas to a magnificent visual tale, or from raw materials to an entirely new material. We play around with combinations, ideas, trials – and at times accidentally land upon brilliant breakthroughs.

Even setting up an experiment in a laboratory is analogous to composing a painting in a studio. A deliberate choreography between the instruments and glassware, an interplay of colours from reagents, inducing a sense of visual harmony, just like the composition of shades on a canvas.

The aesthetics are not just decorative; they reflect the underlying artistry in scientific practice. Adjusting different parameters, such as temperature, concentration, quantity, and solvents, is similar to artists playing around with brushstrokes and colours. These are acts of creativity. Chemical reactions themselves are art, with the mix of reagents often generating colour changes, precipitates, or light; a live performance art.

Artful storytelling is what translates complex ideas into accessible, memorable sparks of curiosity

Visual art also enables research findings to be communicated, with illustrations in articles, conference posters, educational materials, and digital outreach events. I have worked on various visual arts for interdisciplinary audiences at conferences and on blogs. One such instance was when I set out to explain significant innovations in microfluidics in applications such as water monitoring and healthcare. I often found myself facing a wall of complexity, especially when thinking about how to speak to people outside of the field. The technical aspect seemed complex and inaccessible.

Therefore, I turned towards visual storytelling. I designed infographics that made innovations clear and engaging. Sharing the principle with everyone, from specialists to the general public, became effortless.

Envisaging new discoveries

Other artistic techniques help shape scientific thoughts into realities. Notable examples include Yves Chauvin, who developed the olefin metathesis reaction with a very visual approach by imagining molecules as puzzle pieces. Richard Robson, one of the winners of the 2025 Nobel Prize in chemistry, transformed chemistry into a discipline closer to that of architecture. His exploration with wooden models helped him to see chemistry spatially to develop metal-organic frameworks (MOFs).

Art augments observations, enhances problem-solving, and refreshes communications in chemical research. Artful storytelling is what translates complex ideas into accessible, memorable sparks of curiosity that can spark interdisciplinary dialogues.

As researchers, we need to embrace the creative and artistic thought process to innovate and share our discoveries effectively with a wider audience. We need to incite curiosity, diversity, and art inside labs and classrooms to foster the next generation of scientists who can expand our knowledge and imagination.