Padmini was born on 12 May 1940 at Kadancheri, a small village near Ponnani, a coastal town in the Malappuram district of the south Indian state of Kerala[2] to Kinattinkare Damodaran Nair, a government clerk.

Her uncle, Divakara Menon, urged the poet, Edasseri Govindan Nair, who accepted the girl in his house so that she could continue art studies under Devassi.

[4] Padmini joined the Government College of Fine Arts, Chennai in 1961, with assistance from Edasseri, Devan and Akkitham Narayanan, who was a student at the institution during those days.

Portrait and Burial Ground, are on display at the National Art Gallery, Chennai, and a few others are at Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad; besides private collections in India and abroad.

[7] Kerala Lalithakala Akademi published a book on her, titled T. K. Padmini, a Monograph, in 2005,[8] which featured a foreword by Kanayi Kunhiraman, and reminiscences by T. K. Divakaran, her maternal uncle and mentor, K. Damodaran, her husband and Edasseri Govindan Nair, one of the guiding figures in the artist's life, besides the colour reproduction of 28 Paintings and 8 drawings.

[9] In 2012, The Information and Public Relations Department of the Government of Kerala produced a 30-minute documentary on the life of Padmini under the title, Pattam Parathunna Penkutty.