She started painting in traditional folk style and later gradually moved towards oil and acrylic on canvas and watercolor on paper, which allowed her the freedom to broaden her artistic imagination as well as find a language to express her views on women, children, urban and rural.
[6] Madhvi Parekh's early works have been inspired by narratives and folk stories from her childhood spent in a rural part of India.
Traditional floor designs of Rangoli made art a part of everyday household ritual for Madhvi, and this morphed in the first introduction to early forms of painting.
[7] In the initial days of their married life, artist-husband, Manu Parekh gifted Madhvi a book called Pedagogical Sketchbook by Paul Klee, a Swiss German artist[8] which formed an early influence on her style.
Beginning with many solos, Madhvi participated in notable group shows such as, Play Turkey and Yugoslavia in 1985, Watercolours by Four Women Artists, Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal in 1987 and Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai in 1987.